Exodus 21:4

_IF HIS MASTER HAVE GIVEN HIM A WIFE, AND SHE HAVE BORN HIM SONS OR DAUGHTERS; THE WIFE AND HER CHILDREN SHALL BE HER MASTER'S, AND HE SHALL GO OUT BY HIMSELF._ If his master have given him a wife - should he have married a female slave-not a Hebrew maid, as Salvador assumes ('Institutions de Moise'), whose term of six years did not end with that of her husband; but a pagan maid, who had no claim to such a privilege-she and the children, after the husband's liberation, remained the master's property....

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 21:4. _THE WIFE AND HER CHILDREN SHALL BE HER MASTER'S_] It was a law among the Hebrews, that if a Hebrew had children by a Canannitish woman, those children must be considered as Canaanitish only, and might be sold and bought, and serve for ever. The law here refers to such a case only....

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 HIS MASTER HAVE GIVEN HIM A WIFE,.... One of his slaves, a Canaanitish woman, on purpose to beget slaves on her, since all born in his house were his own; this is supposed to be after he was come into his house, and into his service: AND SHE HAVE BORN HIM SONS OR DAUGHTERS; as she might have born him several of the one sort, or the other, if she was given to him quickly after his servitude began: THE WIFE AND HER CHILDREN SHALL BE HER MASTER'S: she being his slave, and bought with his money, he had a right unto her, and to the children belonging to her, the birth following the belly; and being born in his house, they were also his. Jarchi here observes, that the Scripture speaks of a Canaanitish woman, for an Hebrew woman went out at the sixth year, and even before the sixth, if she produced the signs, that is, of puberty: AND HE SHALL GO OUT BY HIMSELF; without his wife and childr...

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 HE CAME IN BY HIMSELF, &C.— That is, single, he shall so depart; if _married,_ his wife also was to depart in freedom with him. Leviticus 25:41. The case was to be different if he married while in servitude; when, _if his master gave him a wife,_ a slave like himself, and not of the Hebrew race,—the wife, and such children as he might have by her, were to continue the master's property, and the man alone was to be free. See Leviticus 25:44. But if, as was very likely to happen, the connection of wife and children, joined to a regard for his master, should induce the man to continue in slavery, Exodus 21:5 then the ceremony mentioned in the next verse was to take place....

THE TEXT OF EXODUS TRANSLATION 21NOW THESE ARE THE ORDINANCES WHICH THOU SHALT SET BEFORE them. (2) If thou buy a Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing. (3) If he come in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he be married, then his wife shall go out with him. (4) If his master give him a wife, and she bear him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master'S, and he shall go out by himself. (5) But if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free: (6) then his master shall bring him unto God, and shall bring him to the door, or unto the doorpost; and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him for ever. (7) And if a man sell his daughter to be a maid-servant, she shall not go out as the men-servants do. (8) If she please not he...