Board index ‹ Specific Bible verses, texts, and passages ‹ Exodus

[Salam]

If a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as male servants do. 8 If she does not please the master who has selected her for himself,[a] he must let her be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to foreigners, because he has broken faith with her

So if he HAD NOT broken faith with her, he could sell her to foreigners???

Weren't the pagans brutal? And Could an ancient Hebrew sell a Gentile slave to pagans?

[jimwalton]

Glad to talk. Anytime!

The first thing I need to say is that this is CASE LAW, not inviolable rules. It’s hypothetical situations to guide a judge to know how to make a wise decision. It’s not telling him (as the way our laws work now) how he has to rule. Ancient biblical law doesn’t work with precedents and law books and codified legislation like ours does. The judges were expected to use their heads, be wise, and make a good judgment considering all the evidence and peripherals like motives, situation, etc. They didn’t follow books and lists of rules; they were expected to use their heads.

All of these laws give various situations, whether real or unreal, to guide him. They may be anticipating situations that have never happened just as much as describing ones that have. It’s hard to tell, but it really doesn’t matter. Anything you read is just supposed to give ideas, not rules.

The second thing to say is that slavery in the ancient world was not like we have in our minds. We think about the horrible and immoral chattel slavery of the Roman Empire and the Colonial West, including Europe and America, and think that’s what “slave” means in the Old Testament. It doesn’t. Almost every case of “slavery” in Israel was where someone had a debt that had to be paid off and they would work to pay it off. They called it slavery; we call it employment.

So let’s go through the section. Exodus 21.1-11.

In v. 2 we see that a debtor has “sold” himself into “slavery.” (It means he has put himself in the employ of a neighbor or creditor.) It tells us that the longest anyone can be in that situation is 7 years. Even if their debt isn’t paid, it’s all written off every 7 years. The object was that there be no permanent poverty class in Israel. Debts are understandable, and they happen, but God was saying, “No slavery on my watch.”

Such debt slavery created some sticky situations, and that’s what the rest of the section is about—to guide a judge how to be wise in these matters.

v. 3: The person is to be freed the way he came in. If he comes with nothing on his back and single, that’s how he leaves. If he comes with a wife (and presumably family), he gets to leave with her (them). The creditor can’t play the game of, “Oh he gets to go free, but the wife keeps working for me.” No, none of that sneaky business.

v. 4: If the master gives him a wife while in debt, and then they have kids, he can make the family keep working if there is still more debt. See, this is a different situation that the judge needs to get some advice about. In other words, he marries another debt servant during his time of employ—so when he is done, that doesn’t mean she is done.

v. 5. So the guy has choices. He can go work on his own farm and wait for their term or debt to be done. Two: He can keep working to pay off her debt, too. Three: He can come into the permanent employ of the other guy (v. 6).

Now we’re to the verses you were asking about.

v. 7. It’s another example of case law, not legislation. We don’t even know if this ever happened or not. The Ex. 21.7-11 section is about marriage. In the days of arranged marriages, daughters would be given in return for a dowry (money). Marriage was as much an economic arrangement as a social one. You'll notice here that the sale of a daughter into slavery is a marriage arrangement as a way of paying off a debt. As a way to protect those in poverty, and to protect the rights of the woman given to a man with this understanding, the debt would be liquidated, the daughter would have a husband, and he must treat her properly. You see in Ex. 21.8 that if the man is not pleased with her, he can't just dump her or abuse her, but must let her be redeemed by someone else in proper, legal form. If he passes her on to his son (v. 9), she becomes a daughter, not a slave. Verse 10 speaks of provision of food, clothing, and marital rights. If he falters on any of these points, she is free to go (11). There is nothing about this that is brutal. God is taking many steps very unlike anything in the surrounding cultures to protect these women.

> So if he HAD NOT broken faith with her, he could sell her to foreigners???

Absolutely not. She was his wife.

> Weren’t the pagans brutal?

It’s unfair to generalize. Some were, some weren’t.

> Could an ancient Hebrew sell a Gentile slave to pagans?

Mostly the ancient Hebrews didn’t own slaves. First, they had been slaves themselves, and the idea was abhorrent to them. Secondly, they were mostly poor farmers and couldn’t afford slaves. Third, almost all slaves were debt slaves. Fourth, the text is talking about Hebrew slaves (Ex. 21.2), not Gentile slaves.

Maybe this raises as many questions as it answers. Feel free to ask for more clarification.