Discovery BoxDeuteronomy 11:12
Context11:12 a land the Lord your God looks after. 1 He is constantly attentive to it 2 from the beginning to the end of the year. 3
Deuteronomy 15:12
Context15:12 If your fellow Hebrew 4 – whether male or female 5 – is sold to you and serves you for six years, then in the seventh year you must let that servant 6 go free. 7
[11:12] 1 tn Heb “seeks.” The statement reflects the ancient belief that God (Baal in Canaanite thinking) directly controlled storms and rainfall.
[11:12] 2 tn Heb “the eyes of the
[11:12] 3 sn From the beginning to the end of the year. This refers to the agricultural year that was marked by the onset of the heavy rains, thus the autumn. See note on the phrase “the former and the latter rains” in v. 14.
[15:12] 4 sn Elsewhere in the OT, the Israelites are called “Hebrews” (עִבְרִי, ’ivriy) by outsiders, rarely by themselves (cf. Gen 14:13; 39:14, 17; 41:12; Exod 1:15, 16, 19; 2:6, 7, 11, 13; 1 Sam 4:6; Jonah 1:9). Thus, here and in the parallel passage in Exod 21:2-6 the term עִבְרִי may designate non-Israelites, specifically a people well-known throughout the ancient Near East as ’apiru or habiru. They lived a rather vagabond lifestyle, frequently hiring themselves out as laborers or mercenary soldiers. While accounting nicely for the surprising use of the term here in an Israelite law code, the suggestion has against it the unlikelihood that a set of laws would address such a marginal people so specifically (as opposed to simply calling them aliens or the like). More likely עִבְרִי is chosen as a term to remind Israel that when they were “Hebrews,” that is, when they were in Egypt, they were slaves. Now that they are free they must not keep their fellow Israelites in economic bondage. See v. 15.
[15:12] 5 tn Heb “your brother, a Hebrew (male) or Hebrew (female).”
[15:12] 6 tn Heb “him.” The singular pronoun occurs throughout the passage.
