Exodus 21:2

An Hebrew servant. There was to be no such thing as permanent involuntary servitude for a Hebrew slave to a Hebrew master (Lev. 25:25-55). However, because slavery was a universal, established institution, God permitted its practice, yet at the same time sought to mitigate the evils that accompanied it. In heathen countries slaves were usually regarded more as chattels than as men. This was the more reprehensible since slavery did not necessarily imply any mental or moral fault in the slave. Slaves often proved to be more intelligent and capable than their masters. The great majority of those suffering involuntary servitude were either born in it or made so by the fortunes of war. Thus, slavery was not commonly a deserved punishment but more often an undeserved misfortune. These unfortunates had no political rights and only a few social privileges, yet often they were bound to a master who was in all points their inferior. Their families might at any time be broken up and divided among other owners. They were subject to unmerciful beatings, without redress, unless perhaps in cases of serious injury. The most severe labor might be required of them, in workshops little better than prisons, in unhealthful mines, or chained to the oars of galleys for backbreaking service through endless years.

In contrast, the Lord carefully protected the rights of Hebrew slaves, and even made the lot of foreign slaves far more pleasant than was the case elsewhere. Harsh treatment was definitely prohibited (Lev. 25:43). To the master the slave was still “thy brother” (Deut. 15:12; Philemon 16). Furthermore, upon payment of the unexpired portion of the sale price the master was required to release a slave (Lev. 25:48-52). The spirit of these laws relative to slaves is the same as that stated by Paul in Col. 4:1, and expressed by him upon sending the Christian slave Onesimus back to his Christian master Philemon (Philemon 8-16).

In spirit the law of Moses is opposed to slavery. Its emphasis on the dignity of man as made in the image of God, its recognition of the descent of all mankind from one pair, contained in principle the affirmation of every human right (see Lev. 25:39-42; Lev. 26:11-13). The Israelites commonly became “slaves” to their own race through poverty (Lev. 25:35, 39), and sometimes through crime (Ex. 22:3). Children were at times sold in settlement of a debt (2 Kings 4:1-7). Later, through the fortunes of war, they were carried away as slaves to foreign lands (2 Kings 5:2, 3).

In the seventh. This does not refer to the sabbatical year (Ex. 23:11; Lev. 25:4), but to the beginning of the seventh year after the man became a slave (Deut. 15:12). When the year of jubilee arrived, a Hebrew slave was to be released, irrespective of how many years he had served (Lev. 25:40). Otherwise, his servitude ended at the close of the sixth year. Not only was his master to grant him his freedom but he was obligated to furnish him with provisions from the flock, the threshing floor, and the wine press (Deut. 15:12-15) in order that he might be able to begin life anew. Thus, in the first of the civil laws we find beneficent provisions whose humanitarian spirit characterizes all Mosaic legislation. No other nation of antiquity treated its slaves in this kindly fashion.