Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Deuteronomy 15:12 - 15:18

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Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Deuteronomy 15:12 - 15:18


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The Release of Hebrew Servants

v. 12. And if thy brother, an Hebrew man or an Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee and serve thee six years, then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee. Exo_21:2-6. This was a form of serfdom, rather than slaver?, brought about by such a condition of poverty as to oblige a person to sell his services to his neighbor in order to live.

v. 13. And when thou sendest him out free from thee,
having given him his liberty in the seventh year as God commanded, thou shalt not let him go away empty;

v. 14. thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock and out of thy floor,
of the grain of the threshing-floor, and out of thy winepress; of that wherewith the Lord, thy God, hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him, lay it upon him in rich measure, as the opening words say.

v. 15. And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the Lord, thy God, redeemed thee; therefore I command thee this thing today.
The continual remembrance of the redemption out of the house of bondage was to produce in every Israelite disposition to practice kindness and liberality.

v. 16. And it shall be, if he say unto thee, I will not go away from thee, because he loveth thee and thine house,
the entire household, including, perhaps, his own family, because he is well with thee, being fully satisfied to stay with his master,

v. 17. then thou shalt take an awl and thrust it through his ear unto the door, and he shall be thy servant forever. And also unto thy maid-servant thou shalt do likewise.
Cf Exo_21:5-6. This covered all the cases in which freedom might have been a hardship to the servant concerned, because the latter might have been unable to find employment elsewhere and would therefore once more have been reduced to extreme poverty.

v. 18. It shall not seem hard unto thee, when thou sendest him away free from thee,
in case the servant desires his freedom; for he hath been worth a double hired servant to thee, for that was the result of his position in the household, where he was available for work at any time, day or night, in serving thee six years; and the Lord, thy God, shall bless thee in all that thou doest, as a reward for the kindness shown.