Exodus 21:1–11
Laws for Slaves
Chapter 21 begins the Rules of God that Moses was to set before the people. In fact, the next three Chapters 21-23 of Exodus take up and explain these rules. This section of Exodus has become known as the Book of the Covenant.
21 “Now these are the rules that you shall set before them.
As much as we wish things were different, we must all live by certain rules. Children have rules their parents set in place. Children can’t wait till the day they are adults and can set out on their own. Then they quickly discover that there are also rules out in the adult world and probably even more rules. Every well-ordered organization whether it be the family unit or society at large must have rules to maintain social order and structure.
Here in these three Chapters, we will see how God’s Law connects with everyday life. While these three Chapters do not cover every situation, they act as a guide for God’s people to understand how to treat others and how to interact with others in society. Here, it is within a godly society.
Exodus 24:3 (ESV)
3 Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do.”
Exodus 24:7 (ESV)
7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.”
These rules came from God just as the Ten Commandments did. They are binding upon God’s people. There are some who say that the Ten Commandments are more binding because they were written with the finger of God upon stone tablets and that this section, for example is less authoritative because it was written by Moses onto parchment. Those people do not realize that God wrote both and that He used Moses and directed Moses what to write. Both are God’s Word and both are divinely inspired and authoritative. Because we are His creation, God has the right to make certain demands from us and we are obligated to keep them.
1. Servitude Not Slavery (21:1-4)
It’s more appropriate to use the term servitude because our understanding of slavery comes from the Civil War era in America and the abuses of slaves. People often ask why didn’t God forbid slavery? We cannot cover every aspect and every verse but the verses we are looking at today are much different than the slavery we think of in America.
Exodus 20:2 (ESV)
2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
God rescued the Israelites from slavery in Egypt it’s strange for us to think He would allow that same type of abuse among His own people. The reality is He did not.
The first thing we must understand it the type of slavery or servitude God is speaking about is voluntary servitude. Involuntary servitude or slavery as we think of it was forbidden in Israel.
Exodus 21:16 (ESV)
16 “Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be put to death.
Slavery in Israel was voluntary. Slavery was very often a good thing for all involved.
People would hire themselves into the service of others. These slaves were closer to hired hands, apprentices, or indentured servants. They lived in their master’s home where they worked hard. They had room and board and a fair wage. This was a very good thing for the poor in Israel.
Another aspect of this type of servitude was that it was temporary servitude…
2 When you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free, for nothing.
We see the Sabbath principle working. After the sixth year the slave was set free. God’s people are to rest one day in seven and freed after six years of servitude. After six years they could get a fresh start an begin anew. Even here, God required their master to not send them away empty handed.
Deuteronomy 15:12–15 (ESV)
12 “If your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you, he shall serve you six years, and in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. 13 And when you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty-handed. 14 You shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, out of your threshing floor, and out of your winepress. As the Lord your God has blessed you, you shall give to him. 15 You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this today.
This is much like when God set His people free from Egypt how the Egyptians handed over their gold and silver to them as they left.
So, its important to see that slavery in Israel benefitted both the master and the slave. The slave would learn a skill and would be paid while also cared for then after 6 years, set free. They were not condemned to poverty forever but could improve their situation.
Another difference was in the realm of marriage.
3 If he comes in single, he shall go out single; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him.
Slavery here in America had a very negative effect on families. Slave owners bought and sold slaves as they pleased. They broke families apart and some may never see one another again. This is not how God said slavery among His people will work.
Whatever state the slave is when hired, he will remain that state when released. Families stay together.
Things get more involved when a slave marries another slave…
4 If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out alone.
Sometimes a person was poor because they were greatly in debt when they hired themselves out as a slave. By the time the six years was over and if the slave took care of his money while having room and board paid for and once freed, he could purchase his wife and children and even pay for a modest home for his family. Leviticus 25 tells us how that worked. Based on the number of years remaining multiplied by the avg wage of a hired hand.
So, he entered into slavery in great debt or in great poverty, learned a skill, worked hard and saved his money and released with additional wealth and able to be productive. What a great way for God to care for His people. In this system there should not be any poor or homeless. This is a much better system than what we have even right now in America. This is infinitely better than our welfare system.
2. The Bondservant Law (21:5-6)
5 But if the slave 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 God, and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his slave forever.
the Mosaic Law allowed an indentured servant to become a bondservant voluntarily: “If the servant declares, ‘I love my master and my wife and children and do not want to go free,’ then his master must take him before the judges. He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life” (Exodus 21:5-6).
In verse 5, we have a backdrop to the bond-slave law. Here the man, if he is loyal to his master and to his family, can pledge himself into public service of the master. The vow has to be made in public, and it has to be made at the sanctuary before God, and he then becomes the master’s servant for life. His ear was bored with an awl against the door or lintel of that house. This was symbolic sign that this slave is now permanently fasted or fixed to this house for as long as he lived.
Deuteronomy 15:16–17 (ESV)
16 But if he says to you, ‘I will not go out from you,’ because he loves you and your household, since he is well-off with you, 17 then you shall take an awl, and put it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your slave forever. And to your female slave you shall do the same.
This is the open-ear language King David uses in Psalm 40
Psalm 40:6–8 (ESV)
6 In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted,
but you have given me an open ear.
Burnt offering and sin offering
you have not required.
7 Then I said, “Behold, I have come;
in the scroll of the book it is written of me:
8 I delight to do your will, O my God;
your law is within my heart.”
This is the background for the New Testament language of bondservant. Remember how often Paul calls himself a bondservant, a permanent servant of Jesus Christ. This is where it comes from, right here. Here is the bondservant law. And what does Jesus continue to stress in His teaching to us about His role? What is He? He’s God’s bondservant for our sakes.
Matthew 20:25–28 (ESV)
25 But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 26 It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, 28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Jesus emphasizes that He is God’s bond-slave for our sakes.
Throughout the New Testament, the word bondservant, slave, or servant is applied metaphorically to someone absolutely devoted to Jesus. Paul, Timothy, James, Peter, and Jude all describe themselves as “bondservants of Christ” (Romans 1:1; Philippians 1:1; James 1:1; 2 Peter 1:1; Jude 1:1, NKJV).
Believers today should still consider themselves bondservants or slaves of Christ (1 Corinthians 7:22; Ephesians 6:6; 2 Timothy 2:24). He is our Lord, and our allegiance is due to Him alone. As bondservants, we renounce other masters (Matthew 6:24) and give ourselves totally to Him (Matthew 16:24).
Being a bondservant of Christ is not drudgery. His “burden is light” (Matthew 11:30). Also, we have this promise: “Now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life” (Romans 6:22).
3. A Daughter as a Maidservant (21:7-11)
7 “When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do. 8 If she does not please her master, who has designated her for himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has broken faith with her. 9 If he designates her for his son, he shall deal with her as with a daughter. 10 If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, or her marital rights. 11 And if he does not do these three things for her, she shall go out for nothing, without payment of money.
Parents who were very poor might sell their children into slavery. Parents who were in debt or through some terrible event could not support their family may sell them into slavery. It was a common custom in the ancient world.
If a Hebrew sold his daughter to another Hebrew, she was not to be viewed as a typical slave but would be protected by her master. This slavery was conditional. She is not a slave girl in the usual sense, she is better protected. In many cases she would be safer and better cared for.
Another condition that often was included in these arrangements was that it was presupposed that she would marry the master’s son. So, she held the status of a married woman, treated very kindly and with utmost respect.
V8- if for some reason things don’t work out then her master shall redeem her, literally free her with provisions and take responsibility for her care in the time of transition.
V9- Here she is designated as the wife to be for his son. She enters into what Hebrew law calls the tradition of daughters. Literally, she is to be viewed as a free woman engaged to the son of the master. Full household rights are granted to her.
V10- if the master gets married or remarried which would bring another female into the house potentially even with other daughters, this in no way suspends the previous formal arrangement with the original girl.
V11- if he fails in any way then she is free to go.
God’s character that shines through this section known as the Book of the Covenant. Exodus 21 begins with rules regarding Hebrew servants (Exodus 21:2-6). Here, God shows His concern for social ethics and the fair treatment of others. It’s an image of the God who desires justice for all, including the vulnerable and the weak.
Secondly, we see God’s compassion. Though slavery in the Bible is a contentious issue, we must understand that biblical servitude differed vastly from the modern forms of slavery we rightly abhor. In verses 26-27, God sets down laws about how servants should be treated, demonstrating His compassionate heart towards all of His creation.
Lastly, God’s righteousness is apparent throughout the chapter. Each law speaks of the God who values righteousness and fairness, revealing an image of the God who is perfect in all His ways.
Here we are also called to treat others well. We too, as God’s people, must show compassion and kindness to others.
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