Exodus 21:2

Hebrew Servants

21:2 ¹ “If you buy ²  a Hebrew servant, ³  he is to serve you for six years, but in the seventh year he will go out free ⁴  without paying anything. ⁵ 

Exodus 22:3

22:3 If the sun has risen on him, then there is blood guilt for him. A thief ⁶  must surely make full restitution; if he has nothing, then he will be sold for his theft.

Deuteronomy 15:12

Release of Debt Slaves

15:12 If your fellow Hebrew ⁷  – whether male or female ⁸  – is sold to you and serves you for six years, then in the seventh year you must let that servant ⁹  go free. ¹⁰ 

Deuteronomy 15:1

Release for Debt Slaves

15:1 At the end of every seven years you must declare a cancellation ¹¹  of debts.

Deuteronomy 9:22

9:22 Moreover, you continued to provoke the Lord at Taberah, ¹²  Massah, ¹³  and Kibroth-Hattaavah. ¹⁴ 

Deuteronomy 9:2

9:2 They include the Anakites, ¹⁵  a numerous ¹⁶  and tall people whom you know about and of whom it is said, “Who is able to resist the Anakites?”

Deuteronomy 4:1

The Privileges of the Covenant

4:1 Now, Israel, pay attention to the statutes and ordinances ¹⁷  I am about to teach you, so that you might live and go on to enter and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, ¹⁸  is giving you.

Nehemiah 5:5

5:5 And now, though we share the same flesh and blood as our fellow countrymen, ¹⁹  and our children are just like their children, ²⁰  still we have found it necessary to subject our sons and daughters to slavery. ²¹  Some of our daughters have been subjected to slavery, while we are powerless to help, ²²  since our fields and vineyards now belong to other people.” ²³ 

Jeremiah 34:14

34:14 “Every seven years each of you must free any fellow Hebrews who have sold themselves to you. After they have served you for six years, you shall set them free.” ²⁴  But your ancestors did not obey me or pay any attention to me.

[21:2]  ¹ sn See H. L. Elleson, “The Hebrew Slave: A Study in Early Israelite Society,” EvQ 45 (1973): 30-35; N. P. Lemche, “The Manumission of Slaves – The Fallow Year – The Sabbatical Year – The Jobel Year,” VT 26 (1976): 38-59, and “The ‘Hebrew Slave,’ Comments on the Slave Law – Ex. 21:2-11,” VT 25 (1975): 129-44.

[21:2]  ² tn The verbs in both the conditional clause and the following ruling are imperfect tense: “If you buy…then he will serve.” The second imperfect tense (the ruling) could be taken either as a specific future or an obligatory imperfect. Gesenius explains how the verb works in the conditional clauses here (see GKC 497 §159.bb).

[21:2]  ³ sn The interpretation of “Hebrew” in this verse is uncertain: (l) a gentilic ending, (2) a fellow Israelite, (3) or a class of mercenaries of the population (see W. C. Kaiser, Jr., “Exodus,” EBC 2:431). It seems likely that the term describes someone born a Hebrew, as opposed to a foreigner (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 210). The literature on this includes: M. P. Gray, “The Habiru-Hebrew Problem,” HUCA 29 (1958): 135-202.

[21:2]  ⁴ sn The word חָפְשִׁי (khofshi) means “free.” It is possible that there is some connection between this word and a technical term used in other cultures for a social class of emancipated slaves who were freemen again (see I. Mendelsohn, “New Light on the Hupsu,” BASOR 139 [1955]: 9-11).

[21:2]  ⁵ tn The adverb חִנָּם (hinnam) means “gratis, free”; it is related to the verb “to be gracious, show favor” and the noun “grace.”

[22:3]  ⁶ tn The words “a thief” have been added for clarification. S. R. Driver (Exodus, 224) thinks that these lines are out of order, since some of them deal with killing the thief and then others with the thief making restitution, but rearranging the clauses is not a necessary way to bring clarity to the paragraph. The idea here would be that any thief caught alive would pay restitution.

[15:12]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ tn Heb “your brother, a Hebrew (male) or Hebrew (female).”

[15:12]  ⁹ tn Heb “him.” The singular pronoun occurs throughout the passage.

[15:12]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew text includes “from you.”

[15:1]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew term שְׁמִטָּת (shÿmittat), a derivative of the verb שָׁמַט (shamat, “to release; to relinquish”), refers to the cancellation of the debt and even pledges for the debt of a borrower by his creditor. This could be a full and final remission or, more likely, one for the seventh year only. See R. Wakely, NIDOTTE 4:155-60. Here the words “of debts” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied. Cf. NAB “a relaxation of debts”; NASB, NRSV “a remission of debts.”

[9:22]  ¹² sn Taberah. By popular etymology this derives from the Hebrew verb בָעַר (ba’ar, “to burn”), thus, here, “burning.” The reference is to the Lord’s fiery wrath against Israel because of their constant complaints against him (Num 11:1-3).

[9:22]  ¹³ sn Massah. See note on this term in Deut 6:16.

[9:22]  ¹⁴ sn Kibroth-Hattaavah. This place name means in Hebrew “burial places of appetite,” that is, graves that resulted from overindulgence. The reference is to the Israelites stuffing themselves with the quail God had provided and doing so with thanklessness (Num 11:31-35).

[9:2]  ¹⁵ sn Anakites. See note on this term in Deut 1:28.

[9:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “great and tall.” Many English versions understand this to refer to physical size or strength rather than numbers (cf. “strong,” NIV, NCV, NRSV, NLT).

[4:1]  ¹⁷ tn These technical Hebrew terms (חֻקִּים [khuqqim] and מִשְׁפָּטִים [mishpatim]) occur repeatedly throughout the Book of Deuteronomy to describe the covenant stipulations to which Israel had been called to subscribe (see, in this chapter alone, vv. 1, 5, 6, 8). The word חֻקִּים derives from the verb חֹק (khoq, “to inscribe; to carve”) and מִשְׁפָּטִים (mishpatim) from שָׁפַט (shafat, “to judge”). They are virtually synonymous and are used interchangeably in Deuteronomy.

[4:1]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 31, 37).

[5:5]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “according to the flesh of our brothers is our flesh.”

[5:5]  ²⁰ tn Heb “like their children, our children.”

[5:5]  ²¹ tn Heb “to become slaves” (also later in this verse).

[5:5]  ²² tn Heb “there is not power for our hand.” The Hebrew expression used here is rather difficult.

[5:5]  ²³ sn The poor among the returned exiles were being exploited by their rich countrymen. Moneylenders were loaning large amounts of money, and not only collecting interest on loans which was illegal (Lev 25:36-37; Deut 23:19-20), but also seizing pledges as collateral (Neh 5:3) which was allowed (Deut 24:10). When the debtors missed a payment, the moneylenders would seize their collateral: their fields, vineyards and homes. With no other means of income, the debtors were forced to sell their children into slavery, a common practice at this time (Neh 5:5). Nehemiah himself was one of the moneylenders (Neh 5:10), but he insisted that seizure of collateral from fellow Jewish countrymen was ethically wrong (Neh 5:9).

[34:14]  ²⁴ sn Compare Deut 15:12-18 for the complete statement of this law. Here only the first part of it is cited.