The Law Concerning Servants
January 5, 2020
Commentary
The law of Moses had three major divisions:
- The moral found in the ten commandments
- The civil found in Exodus chapters 21-23
- The ceremonial found in Leviticus
We find in today’s passage a series of civil statutes which God gave unto Israel for the purpose of regulating their social and civil life (v. 1). Specifically it pertained to the servant or slave. Slaves were not forbidden to the Israelites. Within the economic structure of that day a slave of a good master was often better off than if he was free. A person could sell himself and his wife into slavery if he was in poverty or deep debt (Deut. 15:12). However, this servitude was to be limited to 6 years (v. 2). A husband and wife would be set free but if they have children only the husband is set free and the wife and children remain the property of the owner (vv. 3-4). If the man wants to stay with his family he must go to the place of worship and allow the owner to punch a hole through one of his ears which will make him a slave for life (vv. 5-6). Under rare circumstances of poverty a man might be forced to sell his daughter into a work or marriage relationship. Her rights were strictly spelled out here (vv 7-11). She could not be sold to foreigners (v. 8); she had to be treated like a daughter (v. 9), and she had to be freed if any of the conditions were not kept (v. 11).
Application
In Philippians I read of how Christ “made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant.” May I also experience this same sense of servitude in my life.
Exodus 21:1– 11 (NET)
1 “These are the ordinances that you will set before them:
2 “If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years, but in the seventh year he will go out free without paying anything. 3 If he came in by himself he will go out by himself; if he had a wife when he came in, then his wife will go out with him. 4 If his master gave him a wife, and she bore sons or daughters, the wife and the children will belong to her master, and he will go out by himself. 5 But if the servant should declare, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ 6 then his master must bring him to the judges, and he will bring him to the door or the doorpost, and his master will pierce his ear with an awl, and he shall serve him forever.
7 “If a man sells his daughter as a female servant, she will not go out as the male servants do. 8 If she does not please her master, who has designated her for himself, then he must let her be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to a foreign nation, because he has dealt deceitfully with her. 9 If he designated her for his son, then he will deal with her according to the customary rights of daughters. 10 If he takes another wife, he must not diminish the first one’s food, her clothing, or her marital rights. 11 If he does not provide her with these three things, then she will go out free, without paying money.