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Exodus 21:1
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The Law Concerning Servants

1 “Now these are the1 judgments which you shall aset before them:  
2 aIf you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years; and in the seventh he shall go out free and pay nothing.  
3 If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him.
4 If his master has given him a wife, and she has borne him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out by himself.
5 aBut if the servant plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’  
6 then his master shall bring him to the ajudges. He shall also bring him to the door, or to the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him forever.  
7 “And if a man asells his daughter to be a female slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do.  
8 If she does not please her master, who has betrothed her to himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has dealt deceitfully with her.
9 And if he has betrothed her to his son, he shall deal with her according to the custom of daughters.
10 If he takes another wife, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, aand her marriage rights.  
11 And if he does not do these three for her, then she shall go out free, without paying money.

The Law Concerning Violence

12 a“He who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death.  
13 However, aif he did not lie in wait, but God bdelivered him into his hand, then cI will appoint for you a place where he may flee.  
Commentaries:
John Wesley's Notes
<< Exodus 20:26   Exodus 21:2 >>


Exodus 21:1

The first verse is the general title of the laws contained in this and the two following chapters. Their government being purely a theocracy; that which in other states is to be settled by human prudence, was directed among them by a divine appointment. These laws are called judgments; because their magistrates were to give judgment according to them. In the doubtful cases that had hitherto occurred, Moses had particularly enquired of God, but now God gave him statutes in general, by which to determine particular cases. He begins with the laws concerning servants, commanding mercy and moderation towards them. The Israelites had lately been servants themselves, and now they were become not only their own matters, but masters of servants too; lest they should abuse their servants as they themselves had been abused, provision was made for the mild and gentle usage of servants.


 
<< Exodus 20:26   Exodus 21:2 >>

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