Protections for Slaves

Slavery is the first subject dealt with in the Book of the Covenant, which is found in Exodus 21–23. Exodus 21:1–11 addresses Hebrews who sold themselves into the hands of other Hebrews, an arrangement that occurred when a person could not pay a debt. In these situations, the slave was more of a hired hand or servant, and the indentured servitude could not last forever (see Lev. 25:39–43). This provision was one way that the Bible sought to make slavery a more humane institution, even though it did not call for slavery’s immediate abolition. Remember that ancient economies were far different from ours, with the free movement of labor and capital that we enjoy today almost nonexistent. In this biblical scenario, it seems to be the case that there was no other way for some people to feed themselves than through slavery. In the law, God met His people in their context, ameliorating the worst parts of slavery and planting seeds for its eventual replacement by other economic systems.

As noted, an Israelite could normally serve another Israelite as a slave or servant for no more than six years. But as today’s passage notes, if the slave grew to love his master and wanted to continue in service, he could volunteer to become a permanent slave (Ex. 21:5–6). In instances such as this one, it is likely the case that the slave felt that he would be better provided for as a slave than as a free person. Moreover, often this choice to remain a servant occurred when a Hebrew master gave a foreign slave that he owned to a Hebrew slave for a wife, for in that case the slave could not automatically take her and her children with him at the end of his service (v. 4). Rules for foreign slaves were different from rules for Israelite slaves. The Hebrew wife who was enslaved alongside her Hebrew husband would be freed from her servitude when he was.

None of this means that God condoned the breakup of families when the husband was a Hebrew and the wife was not. We are not to envision the husband as free to abandon his family when he was manumitted. Presumably, he would still live with his family, though his wife would be a slave and he would not. Moreover, the freed slave would be able to work and eventually purchase the freedom of the rest of his family, since the Mosaic law allowed for such things (e.g., Lev. 25:47–55).