Whoever strikes and kills a man must surely be put to death.
12. He that smiteth a man, so that he die. This passage, as I have said, more clearly explains the details, and first makes a distinction between voluntary and accidental homicide; for, if a stone or an axe (Deuteronomy 19:5.) may have slipped from a man unintentionally, and struck anybody, He would not have it accounted a capital crime.
God guards life by law as surely as He gives it by providence: mercy to a wilful murderer is cruelty to mankind. The man who kills in malice or passion must die, even if he clings to the altar; but if God ordains a death by accident, not the slayer's intent, He appoints refuge for him.
AI summary
Commenting on Exodus 21:12-21
He that smiteth a man, so that he die,.... The Targum of Jonathan is, that smites a man or daughter of Israel with the sword; but there is no need to restrain the words either to persons of any certain nation, nor to any instrument with which a person may be smitten as to die: but any human person, man, woman, or child, of whatsoever...