Exodus 21:2

_IF THOU BUY AN HEBREW SERVANT, SIX YEARS HE SHALL SERVE: AND IN THE SEVENTH HE SHALL GO OUT FREE FOR NOTHING._ If thou buy an Hebrew servant. Though slavery was recognized in Israel, and the mention of purchase-money here seems to point to the procuring of a slave, it must not be imagined that Hebrew servitude bore any resemblance to the ancient slavery of the Greeks and Romans, or of the modern slavery in America. The Hebrew language has no word for a slave who was absolutely in the power or at the mercy of an owner. х_ `EBED_ (H5650), servant, properly signifies labourer; and so far from being a term implying degradation or infamy, it was applied to the chosen people, to Moses, to the prophets and kings, as well as to the Messiah. Accordingly it is rendered in the Septuagint by _ PAIS_ (G3816), not _ DOULOS_ (G140

1-11 The laws in this chapter relate to the fifth and sixth commandments; and though they differ from our times and customs, nor are they binding on us, yet they explain the moral law, and the rules of natural justice. The servant, in the state of servitude, was an emblem of that state of bondage to sin, Satan, and the law, which man is brought into by robbing God of his glory, by the transgression of his precepts. Likewise in being made free, he was an emblem of that liberty wherewith Christ, the Son of God, makes free from bondage his people, who are free indeed; and made so freely, without money and without price, of free grace....

Verse Exodus 21:2. _IF THOU BUY A HEBREW SERVANT_] Calmet enumerates _six_ different ways in which a Hebrew might lose his liberty: 1. In extreme _poverty_ they might sell their liberty. Leviticus 25:39: _If thy brother be waxen poor, and be sold unto thee_, c. 2. A _father_ might _sell his children_. _If a man sell his daughter to be_ _a maidservant_ see Exodus 21:7. 3. _Insolvent debtors_ became the slaves of their creditors. _My_ _husband is dead - and the creditor is come to take unto him my two_ _sons to be bondmen_, 2 Kings 4:1. 4. A thief

A Hebrew might be sold as a bondman in consequence either of debt Leviticus 25:39 or of the commission of theft Exodus 22:3. But his servitude could not be enforced for more than six full years. Compare the marginal references....

EXPOSITION THE BOOK OF THE COVENANT.—_Continued_. I. _Laws connected with the rights of persons_ (Exodus 21:1). The regulations of this section concern— 1. Slavery (Exodus 21:2); 2. Murder and other kinds of homicide (Exodus 21:12-2 and Exodus 21:20, Exodus 21:21); 3. Man-stealing ...

IF THOU BUY AN HEBREW SERVANT,.... Who sells himself either through poverty, or rather is sold because of his theft, see Exodus 22:3 and so the Targum of Jonathan paraphrases it, "when ye shall buy for his theft, a servant, a son of an Israelite;'' agreeably to which Aben Ezra observes, this servant is a servant that is sold for his theft; and he says, it is a tradition with them, that a male is sold for his theft, but not a female; and the persons who had the selling of such were the civil magistrates, the Sanhedrim, or court of judicature; so Jarchi, on the text, says, "if thou buy", c. that is, of the hand of the sanhedrim who sells him for his theft: SIX YEARS HE SHALL SERVE and no longer; and the Jewish doctors say d, if his master dies within the six years he must serve his son, but not his daughter, nor his brother, nor any other heirs:...

CHAPTER 21 DIFFERENT JUDGMENTS _ 1. Master and servant (Exodus 21:1)_ 2. Concerning injury to the person (Exodus 21:12) 3. Concerning property (Exodus 21:33) The Three Chapter s which follow the giving of the Ten Commandments give the practical application of the Decalogue in the daily life. The duties towards the fellowman are demonstrated in part. There are seven sections to these three Chapter s; each section contains ten precepts. The servant occupies the first place. He was to obtain his freedom for nothing after serving six years. In Deuteronomy we read that the master is commanded not to let him go empty-handed, but give him of his flock, his threshing floor and his winepress.

EXODUS 21:2 E. THE LAWS OF SLAVERY. In the 19th cent. slaves were bought and sold as chattels in Liverpool. Here we see one of the stages towards the abolition of slavery, _i.e._ regulation, then the only practicable course. Hebrews might become slaves through sale by parents, or forced sale for theft or insolvency, or through poverty (p. 110). Later stages of law are reflected in Deuteronomy 15:12 * and Leviticus 25:39 *. A male slave by six years'service earned the right to rest from servitude in the seventh year, his wife accompanying him only if he were already married (Exodus 21:3 f.), but if he could say,

Exodus 20:22 to Exodus 23:33 _The Book of the Covenant_ The -Book of the Covenant" (see Exodus 24:7 in explanation of the name) is the oldest piece of Hebrew legislation that we possess. The laws contained in it are spoken of in Exodus 24:3 as consisting of two elements, the WORDS (or commands) and the JUDGEMENTS: the JUDGEMENTS (see on Exodus 21:1) are the provisions relating to civil and criminal law, prescribing what is to be done when particular cases arise, and comprised in...

IF THOU BUY AN HEBREW SERVANT, &C.— The laws respecting male and female Hebrew servants, or slaves, are here delivered first; no doubt, to impress the just feelings of humanity towards them. Tertullian elegantly calls these laws _the precepts of humanity;_ a just denomination, if we consider the dispensation under which they were decreed. Perpetual slavery is absolutely forbidden. _Six years_ was the utmost term of slavery: to which they were sold, sometimes as malefactors by the judges, ch. Exodus 22:3 sometimes as insolvent debtors to their creditors, 2 Kings 4:1. Matthew 18:25 and sometimes, through extreme poverty, persons sold themselves,...