We must remember that among the Hebrews, debts didn’t really exist at this point in time, but He knew that when one became so indebted to another that he would have to give himself to the service of another until his debt was paid. God’s main concern here is the conduct of His own people; the problem of foreign slaves was dealt with later, Leviticus 25:44-46.
Constable, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Why did God permit slavery at all? Slavery as a social institution becomes evil when others disregard the human rights of slaves. God protected the rights of slaves in Israel. Likewise, the apostle Paul did not urge Philemon to set his slave Onesimus free but to treat him as a brother, Philemon 1:15-17.’
How did a person become a slave?
1. He could sell himself to get out of debt, 2 Kings 4:1.
2. He could be sold by his parents in need of money, Nehemiah 5:2.
If a man was struck with poverty, he could sell himself as a slave to a fellow Hebrew, Exodus 21:1. However, after serving his master for six years, in the seventh year, he would be free of his obligation and didn’t have to pay anything, Exodus 21:2.
This meant he could leave in the seventh, or sabbatical year of his servitude, but on every 50th year, when the year of Jubilee came, if it happened to come before the full six years was concluded, he went free then, Leviticus 25:10.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Also, Deuteronomy 15:13-15 enjoined the master to bestow handsome presents upon his slaves when they departed. It was in keeping with this that Abraham had given great gifts to his concubines before sending them away, Genesis 25:6.’
If the man was married when he became a slave, he could take her and then be set free, Exodus 21:3. However, if the man married a fellow slave and had children with her, he couldn’t take either her or his children if he chose to be set free, Exodus 21:4.
There would be occasions, when the slave decides he wants to stay under his master’s care, Exodus 21:5, if this is the case, the master would take the slave to the doorpost of his house, he would take an awl and pierce the slave’s ears, Exodus 21:6.
They would usually put something in the pierced ear, usually something which signified that the slave wanted to remain under his master’s care for the rest of his life.
When we think of slaves today, we don’t think that they have any rights, and in times past, this was very much the case. But here God has blessed slaves with many wonderful rights.
1. He was guaranteed the right of just and honourable treatment.
2. He could occupy positions of great trust and responsibility, as did Eliezer of Damascus for Abraham, Genesis 15:2.
3. He couldn’t be bound for more than six years without his consent.
4. He could hold property, with the possibility that he might, in time, redeem himself.
5. He was protected from the sadistic violence of a brutal master, Exodus 21:20.
6. He could claim compensation for bodily injury, Exodus 21:26-27.
7. He had full rights of rest on the sabbath, Exodus 20:10.
By the time the Romans came along, slavery was ripe, with an estimated two million slaves within the Roman Empire. How did you become a slave in Roman times? Well, you could become a slave in one of three ways.
1. Your father was a slave, and if his dad was a slave and he was born into that family, he was the owner’s property. The owner could sell him and do whatever he wants with him.
2. Maybe he was a thief who stole money, and under Jewish or even Roman law, if you stole and could not pay back, then they could take you as a slave.
3. Maybe he was a murderer, but instead of killing him, they would decide to give him to the victim’s family and the family could take him, sell him or do whatever they liked.
For whatever reason, a slave has no rights whatsoever; he was a piece of property, and his master owned him. And at the slave market, they would auction them off; someone would buy them for so many shekels, and now the slave belongs to him.
Not unlike some cultures today, a man would sell his daughter as a servant, Exodus 21:7, simply because the life of the father would be bettered because his daughter married into a family for financial reasons.
These regulations prevented a wealthier family from taking advantage of a poorer family. In those days, female slaves were socially protected more than the male slaves, Exodus 21:7. As with the male slaves, she had rights too; at the end of the sixth year, she had the choice to go free, Exodus 21:8 / Deuteronomy 15:12-17.
If a father sold his daughter to become a wife to his master or his master’s son, and the husband wasn’t pleased with her, she could be redeemed, that is, bought back by the father, Exodus 21:8.
Clement, in his commentary, says the following.
‘A slave wife could be unfairly treated if they fell into disfavour, and the price of such unfair treatment was that which gave her freedom.’
Her husband, however, couldn’t sell her to a foreigner, Exodus 21:8, and if she was given to his son as a wife, then she was to be counted as one of his daughters, Exodus 21:9 / Ephesians 5:22-24 / Colossians 3:18.
If she became a second wife, all her rights as a wife were to be continued, Exodus 21:10. If the husband failed to provide any of his duties toward her, she was free without charge, Exodus 21:11 / Leviticus 25:39-55.
Many people ask, why did God allow slavery in the first place? We could also ask, why did God allow divorce in the first place? Matthew 19:3-9. Why did God allow earthly kings in the first place? 1 Samuel 8:7-9. Why did God allow a representative priesthood instead of the priesthood of all Israel? Exodus 19:6. Why did God allow the building of the temple? 2 Samuel 7:5-17.
Maybe we’ll never be able to fully answer those questions, but it appears that people were going to do those things anyway. Maybe God knew that slave trafficking was going to happen, and so, these laws were established to give some kind of protection to the enslaved.
Here we find laws concerning murder, Exodus 21:12 / Genesis 9:6 / Exodus 20:13 / Deuteronomy 5:17, which were punishable by death. Remember, there were no prisons in those days, so those who gave up their right to life by willingly taking the life of another were to be taken out of society.
Notice that God makes a distinction between the accidental killing and intentional murder of another person. If someone accidentally kills someone, they are to go to a place which God has designated, Exodus 21:13.
These would be the cities of refuge, and there were six of them throughout Canaan, Numbers 35:22-28 / Joshua 20:1-9. These cities weren’t prisons as such, but the person who fled there would stay there until the time of his trial.
If the person was convicted of the killing, they were to be taken to the altar and put to death, Exodus 21:14. Although some thought they could simply go to an altar for refuge, if they were found guilty, they were to be taken from the altar and put to death, Exodus 21:14.
Honeycutt, in his commentary, says the following.
‘This is the Biblical way of saying that the death was not planned. Since the Bible does not deal with secondary causes, ‘chance happenings,’ anything which man did not specially plan must have been caused by God’s action.’
It’s clear that parents had great responsibilities for their children, and they were given authority by God to rule over their children. If a child was at the age of accountability, then they were accountable for their own actions, and so if the child attacked their parents, then that child was to be put to death, Exodus 21:15.
Anyone who was found guilty of kidnapping was also to be put to death, Exodus 21:16. In the eyes of God, criminally enslaving someone wasn’t far from murdering them.
A child cursing their parents, Exodus 21:17, basically means invoking God to act against His representative on earth, the parent. It carries with it the idea that an adult child threatens their parents in some way.
Constable, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Kidnapping was also a capital offence, Exodus 21:16 / Exodus 20:15 / Genesis 37:28, as was cursing (dishonouring) one’s parents, Exodus 21:17 / Exodus 20:12. Exodus 21:15 deals with a criminal offence, but Exodus 21:17 describes a civil offence, Leviticus 20:9 / Deuteronomy 27:16 / Proverbs 20:20 / Proverbs 30:11.’
There are also rights for the child involved in this. In Deuteronomy 21:18-21, we read that the parents didn’t have the right to carry out this punishment, but they had to bring the accused child before the elders and judges of the city.
If there is a dispute between two people which ended in one person striking another with either a stone or a fist, with no intent to kill, and the victim doesn’t die but could rise and walk, then the penalty was the one who made the striking blow had to pay for loss of time for the victim and medically care for him until he was completely recovered.
In other words, a person has the right to be free of the charge of murder unless the man died, the person who was injured had the right to claim compensation, that is, for time lost or any medical care they need.
If a slave master struck a slave, and after a day or two the slave recovered, then the master would suffer no penalty. However, if the slave died, the master was to suffer all economic loss. The master was held free of the penalty of punishment because the loss of his slave was accounted a sufficient penalty.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The loss of the slave, under the circumstances, was accounted as a punishment.’
If a pregnant wife intervened in a fight between her husband and another person, and the wife lost the unborn child, then the one who hurt the wife was to pay a fine that was determined by the judges, Exodus 21:22. If the death of the child was accidental, then the offender wouldn’t suffer the death penalty.
However, if it was intentional, then they were subject to the death penalty, Exodus 21:23. The deliberate death of a unborn child, which would also include abortion is taken seriously by God, because even in the womb that unborn child is a human, Job 10:8-12 / Job 15:14 / Psalms 51:5 / Psalms 58:3 / Psalms 139:13-16 / Ecclesiastes 11:5 / Jeremiah 1:5 / Galatians 1:15.
In the days of Jesus, the Jews twisted the teaching of the Old Testament law on this matter; they basically took these principles and applied them to their everyday relationships.
The ‘eye for an eye, ‘ etc., was a civil law of the Old Testament where the people had the authority to punish offenders, but the punishment must fit the crime, Exodus 21:24-27.
The retaliation law that was given to Israel was more compassionate than the law that existed previously to the giving of the law to Israel. In reference to this law, Jesus stated that love should succeed over the will to retaliate against our neighbour, Leviticus 24:19-20.
The principle of the law would be that the death penalty would be given to those who voluntarily murdered another person. If someone voluntarily took the life of another, he had his right to life taken from him, Deuteronomy 19:21.
This law made accusers think twice before slanderously accusing someone of a deed for which they had no evidence. We have to remember that the law of the land before God gave His instructions was really bad.
If you kill my child, I will kill all your children, your wife, your brothers, your whole generation! If you knock out my tooth or eye, I will knock out all of yours and kill you also.
In Matthew 5:38-42, Jesus is teaching against the concept of retaliation. What Jesus was condemning was the Pharisees’ misapplication of the principle of this law.
They were using the principle as a justification for personal revenge. They misunderstood the principle of the law. That principle is that there is a punishment for the violation of the law, and the punishment must match the crime. In other words, the death penalty wouldn’t be given to one who told a lie.
If a bull gores a man or woman to death, the bull is to be stoned to death, and its meat must not be eaten, Exodus 21:28. However, the owner of the bull is not held responsible, Exodus 21:28.
If the bull was in the habit of goring and the owner has been warned but didn’t keep it penned up and it kills a man or woman, the bull is to be stoned and its owner also is to be put to death, Exodus 21:29.
If a man owned a bull which he knew was dangerous but didn’t do anything to protect others from the animal, this was classed as criminal negligence on his part.
If someone was killed by a dangerous bull, the victim’s family were to be compensated, Exodus 21:30. The owner would have to pay the compensation in order to escape the death penalty. This law also applies if the bull gores a son or daughter, Exodus 21:31.
If the bull gores a male or female slave, the owner must pay thirty shekels of silver, Matthew 26:15, that is, around twelve ounces, to the master of the slave, and the bull is to be stoned to death, Exodus 21:32.
Jamieson, in his commentary, says the following.
‘This is the only case where money compensation, instead of capital punishment, was expressly allowed in the Mosaic Law.’
Open pits and wells had to be protected, but if they weren’t, and a neighbour’s animal fell in the pit, then the one who opened the pit was held responsible, Exodus 21:33. They must pay the owner for the loss and take the dead animal in exchange, Exodus 21:34.
If anyone’s bull injures someone else’s bull and it dies, then the two parties involved are to sell the live one and divide both the money and the dead animal equally, Exodus 21:35.
However, if it was known that the bull was in the habit of goring, and the owner didn’t keep it penned up, the owner must pay, animal for animal, and take the dead animal in exchange, Exodus 21:36.