The Treatment of Servants
21
📚“Now these are the laws which you are to set before them.21:1 Here are various laws for Israel as a nation, as a community of people living together.⚜
2 📚“If you buy a Hebrew slave, he is to serve you for six years, and in the seventh he is to go out free, paying nothing.
21:2 Lev 25:39-43; Deut 15:12-18; Jer 34:14. Slavery was an accepted custom in the ancient world. Under the law God permitted it for His people. It is possible He did so to signify certain spiritual truths – that man is in bondage to sin and that the law cannot free him; and that God’s people belong to Him. He is their owner and master, and they are His servants or slaves. God may have permitted slavery also to teach that all men, because they are sinners and rebels against God, have no rights before God. Because of their nature and actions they deserve punishment, grief, death, and eternal separation from God. If any people enjoy life, liberty, happiness and prosperity, this is God’s grace and mercy to them and not their inalienable right.
In Israel slaves were to be treated far better than in any other country on earth. Their owners were to show them fairness and kindness. As a rule they were to be considered practically as members of the family where they were. They rested on the Sabbath and ate the meat of the sacrifices (Deut 5:14; 12:12; 16:11), even the consecrated food of the priests (Lev 22:11). They took circumcision if they wanted to and then had all the privileges of the covenant (Ex 12:44). When set free they were given provisions (Deut 15:14). A higher code for slaves did not exist among any people. One other fact – the seed of the eventual overthrow of slavery is found in Old Testament teachings like Lev 19:18. See also Matt 7:12 and note on slavery at Eph 6:5.⚜
3 📚If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself; if he was married, then his wife shall go out with him. 4 If his master has given him a wife, and she has borne him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall belong to her master, and he shall go out by himself.
5 📚“But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free’, 6 📚then his master shall bring him to the judges 📖, then he shall also bring him to the door, or to the door post, and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him permanently.
21:6 Some slaves were treated so well by their masters that they wanted to serve permanently. This is the true believer’s attitude toward God who is his Lord and Master and he rejoices in this relationship. Christ is the believer’s perfect example in this as in everything (Heb 10:7; Ps 40:6-8; John 8:29; Rom 15:8). In the New Testament believers are called slaves or servants of God (Rom 6:17-22).⚜
7 📚“And if a man sells his daughter as a female slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do. 8 📚If she does not please her master, who has assigned her to himself, then he is to let her be redeemed. He shall have no authority to sell her to a foreign people, since he has dealt unfairly with her. 9 And if he has assigned her to his son, he shall deal with her according to the custom with daughters. 10 📚If he takes another woman, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, and her conjugal rights. 11 And if he does not do these three things for her, then she shall go out free without payment.
12 📚“Whoever strikes a man, so that he dies, shall surely be put to death. 13 📚However if a man did not lie in wait, but God delivered him into his hands, then I will appoint you a place where he is to flee. 14 📚But if a man deals arrogantly with his neighbour so as to murder him treacherously, you shall take him from my altar to be put to death.
15 📚“And whoever strikes his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death.
16 📚“And whoever kidnaps a man and sells him, or if he is found in his hands, he shall surely be put to death.
17 📚“And whoever curses his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death.
18 📚“And if men fight together, and one strikes the other with a stone or with his fist, and he does not die, but is confined to his bed, 19 📚if he gets up again and walks around with his staff, then the one who struck him will be in the clear. But he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall see that he is completely healed.
20 📚“And if a man strikes his male or female slave with a rod, and the slave dies at his hand, he shall surely be punished. 21 However, if the slave survives a day or two, he shall not be punished, for he is his property.
21:21 Lev 25:44-46. God’s people are God’s property – Deut 4:20; 7:6; 14:2; Ps 135:4; Rom 14:8; 1 Cor 6:19-20; Titus 2:14.⚜
22 📚“If men fight, and one of them harms a pregnant woman so that she has a miscarriage, yet there is no further injury, he shall surely be fined, just as the woman’s husband may demand, and he must pay as the judges determine. 23 📚And if there is any further injury, then you shall give life for life, 24 📚eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
26 📚“And if a man strikes the eye of his male slave, or the eye of his female slave so that it is lost, he shall let him go free for his eye’s sake. 27 And if he knocks out his male slave’s tooth, or his female slave’s tooth, he shall let him go free for his tooth’s sake.
28 📚“If an ox gores a man or a woman and they die, then the ox shall surely be stoned, and its meat shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall be in the clear. 29 📚But if the ox was previously in the habit of goring, and its owner has been warned, and he has not confined it, and it has killed a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned, and its owner also shall be put to death.
21:29 Under the law, as we see in this chapter, death was the penalty for murder, striking or cursing a parent, kidnaping, and causing death through negligence. Other sins for which the death penalty was ordered in God’s law were these: breaking the Sabbath (Ex 31:14; 35:2), offering a child to a false god (Lev 20:2), adultery and other sexual sins (Lev 20:10-16), consulting mediums and other such people (Lev 20:6), blasphemy (Lev 24:15), promoting or practicing idolatry and false worship (Deut 13:1-8), prophesying falsely (Deut 18:20), disobedience and rebellion (Deut 21:18-21), sorcery (Ex 22:18), and worship of other gods (Ex 22:20). In the eyes of the one true God all these were (and are) sins worthy of death.⚜
30 📚If payment is demanded of him, then he shall give whatever is demanded for the ransom of his life. 31 Whether it has gored a son, or has gored a daughter, it is to be done to him according to this law. 32 📚If the ox gores a male slave or a female slave, he shall give to their master thirty shekels 📖 of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.
33 📚“And if a man uncovers a pit, or if a man digs a pit, and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls in it, 34 📚the owner of the pit shall make it good, and give money to their owner; and the dead animal shall be his.
35 “And if one man’s ox hurts another’s, and it dies, then they shall sell the live ox, and divide the money from it, and also divide the dead ox.
21:23-35 This is the essence of the law – exact retribution for offenses (Lev 24:19-20; Deut 19:21). This was to govern the relationship of the people of Israel in society. Their judges were to decide what retribution was required. In Matt 5:38-41 Jesus gave a higher law for individual relationships. See also Rom 12:19-21. Even if justice is not obtained in the courts, believers are not to take vengeance, but are to commit their case to God. Note at Num 31:2.⚜
36 Or if it is known that the ox was previously in the habit of goring, and his owner has not confined it, he shall surely pay ox for ox, and the dead one will be his.