2 “If you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve for six years; but on the seventh he shall go out as a free man without payment. 3 If he comes alone, he shall go out alone; if he is the husband of a wife, then his wife shall go out with him. 4 If his master gives him a wife, and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall belong to her master, and he shall go out alone. 5 But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife and my children; I will not go out as a free man,’ 6 then his master shall bring him to God, then he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him permanently.
7 “If a man sells his daughter as a female slave, she is not to go free as the male slaves do. 8 If she is displeasing in the eyes of her master who designated her for himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He does not have authority to sell her to a foreign people because of his unfairness to her. 9 If he designates her for his son, he shall deal with her according to the custom of daughters. 10 If he takes to himself another woman, he may not reduce her food, her clothing, or her conjugal rights. 11 If he will not do these three things for her, then she shall go out for nothing, without payment of money.
TODAY'S THOUGHTS AND MEDITATION:
Without prisons and law enforcement, it makes sense to have someone work off their debt. God wanted to make sure that the male slaves would be set free after six years of working so someone would not take advantage of them. Now, if a man found himself in such a big debt, he probably was bad at earning and/or managing money to begin with. So it really was in his and his family's best interest if they remained working for a good master.
Without prisons and law enforcement, it makes sense to have someone work off their debt. God wanted to make sure that the male slaves would be set free after six years of working so someone would not take advantage of them. Now, if a man found himself in such a big debt, he probably was bad at earning and/or managing money to begin with. So it really was in his and his family's best interest if they remained working for a good master.
As for females sold into slavery (or marriage), this was not God's idea; but given what mankind does and is capable of doing, God is all about protecting the rights and welfare of women! God never endorses slavery and it is against His will that anyone has more than two spouses. So here, God was giving Israel guidelines of how to protect the rights of men and women given the various circumstances people might find themselves in.
Not that we would have to apply these laws now, but we can and should look out for the welfare of others. We are to stand up for justice and be just in our actions. And while there's always a big focus on protecting "our rights" - let us make sure that in doing so - we are not infringing on the rights of others!
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