Slave in Smiths Bible Dictionary
The institution of slavery was recognized, though not
established, by the Mosaic law with a view to mitigate its
hardship and to secure to every man his ordinary rights. I.
Hebrew slaves. --
1. The circumstances under which a Hebrew might be
reduced to servitude were-- (1) poverty; (2) the commission
of theft; and (3) the exercise of paternal authority. In the
first case, a man who had mortgaged his property, and was
unable to support his family, might sell himself to another
Hebrew, with a view both to obtain maintenance and perchance
a surplus sufficient to redeem his property. Le 25:25,39 (2)
The commission of theft rendered a person liable to
servitude whenever restitution could not be made on the
scale prescribed by the law. Ex 22:1,3 The thief was bound
to work out the value of his restitution money in the
service of him on whom the theft had been committed. (3) The
exercise of paternal authority was limited to the sale of a
daughter of tender age to be a maidservant, with the
ulterior view of her becoming the concubine of the
purchaser. Ex 21:7
2. The servitude of a Hebrew might be terminated in
three ways: (1) by the satisfaction or the remission of all
claims against him; (2) by the recurrence of the year of
jubilee, Le 25:40 and (3) the expiration of six years from
the time that his servitude commenced. Ex 21:2; De 15:12 (4)
To the above modes of obtaining liberty the rabbinists
added, as a fourth, the death of the master without leaving
a son, there being no power of claiming the salve on the
part of any heir except a son. If a servant did not desire
to avail himself of the opportunity of leaving his service,
he was to signify his intention in a formal manner before
the judges (or more exactly at the place of judgment), and
then the master was to take him to the door-post, and to
bore his ear through with an awl, Ex 21:6 driving the awl
into or "unto the door," as stated in De 15:17 and thus
fixing the servant to it. A servant who had submitted to
this operation remained, according to the words of the law,
a servant "forever." Ex 21:6 These words are however,
interpreted by Josephus and by the rabbinsts as meaning
until the year of jubilee.
3. The condition of a Hebrew servant was by no means
intolerable. His master was admonished to treat him, not "as
a bond-servant, but as an hired servant and as a sojourner,"
and, again, "not to rule over him with rigor." Le
25:39,40,43 At the termination of his servitude the master
was enjoined not to "let him go away empty," but to
remunerate him liberally out of his flock, his floor and his
wine-press. De 15:13,14 In the event of a Hebrew becoming
the servant of a "stranger," meaning a non-Hebrew, the
servitude could be terminated only in two ways, viz. by the
arrival of the year of jubilee, or by the repayment to the
master of the purchase money paid for the servant, after
deducting a sum for the value of his services proportioned
to the length of his servitude. Le 25:47-55 A Hebrew woman
might enter into voluntary servitude on the score of
poverty, and in this case she was entitled to her freedom
after six years service, together with her usual gratuity at
leaving, just as in the case of a man. De 15:12,13 Thus far
we have seen little that is objectionable in the condition
of Hebrew servants. In respect to marriage there were some
peculiarities which, to our ideas, would be regarded as
hardships. A master might, for instance, give a wife to a
Hebrew servant for the time of his servitude, the wife being
in this case, it must be remarked, not only a slave but a
non-Hebrew. Should he leave when his term had expired, his
wife and children would remain the absolute property of the
master. Ex 21:4,5 Again, a father might sell his young
daughter to a Hebrew, with a view either of marrying her
himself or of giving her to his son. Ex 21:7-9 It diminishes
the apparent harshness of this proceeding if we look on the
purchase money as in the light of a dowry given, as was not
unusual, to the parents of the bride; still more, if we
accept the rabbinical view that the consent of the maid was
required before the marriage could take place. The position
of a maiden thus sold by her father was subject to the
following regulations: (1) She could not "go out as the men-
servants do," i.e. she could not leave at the termination of
six years, or in the year of jubilee, if her..
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