Leviticus 25:44

_AND IF THY BROTHER THAT DWELLETH BY THEE BE WAXEN POOR, AND BE SOLD UNTO THEE; THOU SHALT NOT COMPEL HIM TO SERVE AS A BONDSERVANT:_ If thy brother ... be waxen poor, and be sold unto thee, х_ 'AACHIYKAA_ (H251) _ `IMAAK_ (H5973), thy neighbour]. An Israelite might be compelled, through misfortune, not only to mortgage his inheritance, but himself х_ WªNIMKAR_ (H4376)] - not, be sold but sell himself (cf. 2 Kings 4:1; Nehemiah 5:6; Isaiah 50:1; Isaiah 58:6;...

44._Both thy bond-men, and thy bond-maids_. What God here permits as regards strangers was everywhere customary among the Gentiles, viz., that their power over their slaves should exist not only until their death, but should continue in perpetual succession to their children; for this is the force of the expression, “ye shall possess them for your children,” that the right of ownership should pass to their heir’s also; nor is there a distinction made only as to perpetuity, (153) but also as to the mode of their treatment. For we must observe the antithesis, “ye shall make use of their service, but over his brother no man shall rule with rigor;” (154) whence it appears that a restraint was imposed upon them lest they should imperiously rule the children of Abraham, and not leave them half their liberty in comparison with the Gentiles. Not that a tyrannical or cruel exercise o

39-55 A native Israelite, if sold for debt, or for a crime, was to serve but six years, and to go out the seventh. If he sold himself, through poverty, both his work and his usage must be such as were fitting for a son of Abraham. Masters are required to give to their servants that which is just and equal, Colossians 4:1. At the year of jubilee the servant should go out free, he and his children, and should return to his own family. This typified redemption from the service of sin and Satan, by the grace of God in Christ, whose truth makes us free, John 8:32. We cannot ransom our fellow-sinners, but we may point out Christ to them; while by his grace our lives may adorn his gospel, express our love, show our gratitude, and glorify his holy name....

Property in foreign slaves is here distinctly permitted. It was a patriarchal custom Genesis 17:12. Such slaves might be captives taken in war (Numbers 31:6 following; Deuteronomy 20:14), or those consigned to slavery for their crimes, or those purchased of foreign slave-dealers. The price of a slave is supposed to have varied from thirty to fifty shekels. See Leviticus 27:3, note; Exodus 21:32, note; Zechariah 11:12, note;...

EXPOSITION The subject of the sacred seasons is taken up again in this chapter, after the parenthetical insertion of Leviticus 24:1. There remain the septennial festive season and that of the half-century—the sabbatical year and the jubilee. The sabbatical year was instituted not for any supposed physical benefit accruing from it to the land, but, first, as serving for a link between the sabbath and the jubilee by means of the sacred number seven—the sabbatical year being the seventh year, and the jubilee being the year following the seven-times-seventh year; and secondly, and chiefly, as enforcing the lesson of the weekly sabbath in a manner that could not be overlooked, and symbolically, teaching the universal application of the sabbatical law, even where physical needs were not concerned, and in that way suggesting the expectation of a rest to be hereafter attain

BOTH THY BONDMEN, AND THY BONDMAIDS, WHICH THOU SHALT HAVE,.... Such it seems were allowed them, if they had need of them; but if they had them, they were to be not of the nation of Israel, but of other nations; this is an anticipation of an objection, as Jarchi observes; if so, who shall I have to minister to me? The answer follows, they [SHALL BE] OF THE HEATHEN THAT ARE ROUND ABOUT THEE, OF THEM SHALL YE BUY BONDMEN AND BONDMAIDS; that is, of the Ammonites, Moabites, Edomites, and Syrians, as Aben Ezra, that were their neighbours, that lived round about them, of any but the seven nations, which they were ordered utterly to destroy; wherefore Jarchi observes it is said, "that are round about thee"; not in the midst of the border of your land, for them they were not to save alive, Deuteronomy 20:16....

4. THE SABBATIC YEAR AND THE YEAR OF JUBILEE CHAPTER 25 _ 1. The Sabbatic year (Leviticus 25:1)_ 2. The jubilee (Leviticus 25:8) 3. The jubilee and the land (Leviticus 25:13) 4. The jubilee and the dwelling houses (Leviticus 25:29) 5. The jubilee, the poor and the bondmen (Leviticus 25:35) This is the great restoration chapter in Leviticus. All is connected preeminently with Israel's land. The application, which has been made, that this chapter foreshadows a universal res

An extension of Exodus 21:2 *, Deuteronomy 15:12 *, from the master's point of view, substituting for slavery proper a mild kind of serfdom, but for the seventh year the fiftieth. To foreign slaves, however, the law is not to apply (_cf._ Deuteronomy 15:3; Deuteronomy 23:20). _Cf._ Johns, C. H. W., _Relations between Laws of Babylonia and Laws of Hebrews_, pp. 41ff. On slavery in Israel see p. 110....

_Prohibition of permanent servitude of one Israelite to another_(H and P mixed, the former probably preponderating) This case was to be subject to the operation of the law of Jubile, Moreover, the Israelite so bought shall not be compelled to work as a slave, but only under such conditions as befit a sojourner or hired servant. Leviticus 25:42 adds the reason (cp. Leviticus 25:13_; Leviticus 25:55_). On the other hand slaves bought from persons of other nations, or from foreigners sojourning in the land, were to be bondservants in the strictest sense of the word. For the differences between the law on these subjects and that in...

TREATMENT OF THE POOR 25:35-55 TEXT 25:35-55 35 And if thy brother be waxed poor, and his hand fail with thee; then thou shalt uphold him: _as_ a stranger and a sojourner shall he live with thee. 36 Take thou no interest of him or increase, but fear thy God; that thy brother may live with thee. 37 Thou shalt not give him thy money upon interest, nor give him thy victuals for increase. 38 I am Jehovah your God, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan, _and_ to be your God. 39 And if thy brother be waxed poor with thee, and sell himself unto thee; thou shalt not make him to serve as a bondservant. 40 As a hired servant, and as a sojourner, he shall be with thee; he shall serve with thee unto the year of jubilee: 41 then shall he go out from thee, he and his children with him, and shall return unto his own family, and unto the possession o...