The Principles of Slavery
February 13, 2022
Commentary
Moses teaches Israel the principles of the Hebrew bond-slave and the conditions for setting him free (vv. 12-18). The Lord had previously made it clear that six full years of a person’s life were enough to have to work as a slave for defaulting on a loan (Exodus 21:2). At the end of that time the employer must let the slave go free, but he must also furnish him liberally (v.v. 12-14). After six years the servant would have little or nothing, so to send him away empty-handed would jeopardize his freedom all over again. This humanitarian act recognized that God created each person with dignity and worth. It also reminded the Israelites that they had once been slaves in Egypt and their present state was a gift from God.
Moses also made provision for a servant who became attached to his master and did not want to leave him (vv. 15-18). The master was to pierce the servant’s earlobe with an awl to indicate he was a willing servant for life. A spiritual message for us is that we should want to serve the Lord willingly and gladly all our life. We are to love Him and never want to go free. What we need is an open ear to hear God’s will (Ps. 40:6-8); and a pierced ear that tells the world we are ready to obey His every command. In the final section of this chapter Moses reminds Israel that the first-born of the flock was to be sacrificed to the Lord in remembrance of their deliverance out of Egypt (vv. 19-23). Israel was to offer the first-born every year, thus their obedience became the basis for the future blessing of God.
Application
Through this release of slaves, Israel was reminded that they too had once been slaves in Egypt and were now free. I was once a slave to sin but now I am free because of Christ’s death on the cross.
Deuteronomy 15:12– 23 (NET)
12 If your fellow Hebrew —whether male or female —is sold to you and serves you for six years, then in the seventh year you must let that servant go free. 13 If you set them free, you must not send them away empty-handed. 14 You must supply them generously from your flock, your threshing floor, and your winepress—as the Lord your God has blessed you, you must give to them. 15 Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore, I am commanding you to do this thing today. 16 However, if the servant says to you, “I do not want to leave you,” because he loves you and your household, since he is well off with you, 17 you shall take an awl and pierce a hole through his ear to the door. Then he will become your servant permanently (this applies to your female servant as well). 18 You should not consider it difficult to let him go free, for he will have served you for six years, twice the time of a hired worker; the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.
19 You must set apart for the Lord your God every firstborn male born to your herds and flocks. You must not work the firstborn of your bulls or shear the firstborn of your flocks. 20 You and your household must eat them annually before the Lord your God in the place he chooses. 21 If one of them has any kind of blemish—lameness, blindness, or anything else —you may not offer it as a sacrifice to the Lord your God. 22 You may eat it in your villages, whether you are ritually impure or clean, just as you would eat a gazelle or an ibex. 23 However, you must not eat its blood; you must pour it out on the ground like water.
Illustration: The Life of Abraham Lincoln
The sixteenth president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) was born in a log cabin in Kentucky. When Abe was twenty-one the Lincoln family moved to Illinois. Admitted to the state bar in 1837, he was a member of the House of Representatives from 1846 to 1849. He won much fame by debating slavery with Stephen A. Douglas, and was elected president in 1860. The Civil War followed his inauguration. Reelected in 1864, the Civil War ended with General Lee’s surrender on April 9, 1865. Five days later, Lincoln was fatally shot by John Wilkes Booth in Ford’s Theater, Washington. (Encyclopedia of Illustrations #11722).