The Parapet Of Deuteronomy 22:8

When one builds a new house, as Deuteronomy 22:8 says, one is to install a parapet along the rooftop to ensure that no one falls from such a height to their end, a parapet being a railing or barrier of sorts that protrudes upward from the edge.  Found in the midst of miscellaneous laws pertaining to everything from how to regard lost property to the treatment of animals to clothing, this lone verse makes a very explicit, specific command about honoring human life, whether that life belongs to a family member or a visitor.

This also provides an indicator within Mosaic Law that the homes of the Israelites at the general time of the revelation would have had walkable roofs, something uncommon on the residential houses of America, which tend to have slanted roofs with shingles, often made of asphalt, which are accessible mostly by external ladders.  Since many American homes would not have flat or otherwise walkable roofing, this obligation could not be applicable to such houses.  The Bible is not prescribing flat roofs: it says to have parapets on roofs when relevant.

The command is analogous to how the instructions on the treatment of servants or how to respond to their abuse (such as in Exodus 21:26-27 and Deuteronomy 23:15-16) do not mean people must have servants.  These apply if someone has them.  Since the parapet command is about preventing the gratuitous deaths of someone else, a person living alone in isolation with a flat roof would also be exempt from the primarily emphasized part of the obligation to protect human life (of course, unless someone deserves to die).  However, it nonetheless is aimed at the preservation of lives bearing the divine image.

Where it is applicable, this moral duty concerns a particular way to express a broader obligation mentioned in Leviticus 19:16.  "Do not endanger your neighbor's life," this verse says.  Deuteronomy 22:8 says that to not add a parapet to the roof of a dwelling place would bring the guilt of bloodshed on someone if another person was to fall and die.  Similarly, minor to severe injuries from a fall that do not lead to death would be the fault of whoever did not take necessary measures beforehand.  As for lethal incidents, while someone would not have actively committed murder if they were to disregard this, they would still have sinned by not taking this prescribed precaution ahead of time when constructing their house.  See Exodus 21:28-32 in constrast with Genesis 9:6 and Exodus 21:12-14 on how negligence leading to human death is scarcely treated with lesser severity than premeditated murder.

Human lives are valuable enough if Christianity is true that it is immoral to not take the precise measure of Deuteronomy 22:8 to prolong them.  The verse is still unique in that, though there are multiple commands in the Torah about protecting innocent lives or lives in general, this very particular way to avert potential deaths is singled out as mandatory.  Simply not treating others with malice that leads to direct, unjust bodily harm or death is insufficient.  One might not be capable of preventing all accidents that could end lives suddenly and without any trace of murderous deeds or intentions, and still this, when applicable as previously addressed, is within the power of everyone constructing the kind of home that could support rooftop foot traffic or any equivalent structure.