If a married man became a bondman, his rights in regard to his wife were respected: but if a single bondman accepted at the hand of his master a bondwoman as his wife, the master did not lose his claim to the woman or her children, at the expiration of the husband’s term of service. Such wives, it may be presumed, were always foreign slaves. read more
Exodus 21:3. If he came in by himself That is, single, he shall so depart: if married, his wife was to depart with him. read more
Exodus 21:4. Her children shall be her master’s Having become his in consequence of the right which he had to the parents. He shall go out by himself But was not this separation of man and wife inconsistent with the first institution of marriage, by which that bond is made indissoluble? Answer, 1st, That bond was not necessarily dissolved by this law, both because the separation was at the man’s choice, who might have stayed if he pleased, and because the distinction of their habitations... read more
Laws concerning slavery (21:1-11)Among the Hebrews a slave had rights. Any person, man or woman, who became the slave of another Hebrew, could not be held as a slave for more than six years (21:1-2; Deuteronomy 15:12). If a man took his wife with him into slavery, he also took her with him when he was released. If he was unmarried when he became a slave, then later was given a wife by his master, he did not take his wife and children with him when released. They remained with the master.... read more
by himself . Hebrew "with his body". Figure of speech Synecdoche (of Part). App-6 . read more
RIGHTS OF MALE SLAVES"Now these are the ordinances which thou shalt set before them. If thou buy a Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing. If he come in by himself, he shall go out by himself. if he be married, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master give him a wife, and she bear him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself. But if the servant shall plainly say, I love my... read more
Exodus 21:3-4. If he came in by himself, &c.— That is, single, he shall so depart; if married, his wife also was to depart in freedom with him. Leviticus 25:41. The case was to be different if he married while in servitude; when, if his master gave him a wife, a slave like himself, and not of the Hebrew race,—the wife, and such children as he might have by her, were to continue the master's property, and the man alone was to be free. See Leviticus 25:44-45. But if, as was very likely to... read more
The fundamental rights of the Israelites 21:1-23:12It is very important to note that various law codes already existed in the ancient Near East before the giving of the Mosaic Covenant. These included laws in the Akkadian civilization located in Mesopotamia in the twentieth century B.C. (e.g., the Laws of Esnunna). [Note: Pritchard, pp. 161-63.] There were also the laws in the Sumerian civilization in the nineteenth century (e.g., the Code of Lipit-Istar). [Note: Ibid., pp. 159-61.] Moreover... read more
The ancients practiced slavery widely in the Near East. These laws protected slaves in Israel better than the laws of other nations protected slaves in those countries. [Note: See Robert Gnuse, "Jubilee Legislation in Leviticus: Israel’s Vision of Social Reform," Biblical Theology Bulletin 15:2 (April 1985):44.] We should read Exodus 21:4 with the following condition added at the end of the verse: unless he pays a ransom for them. This was possible as is clear from the instructions regarding... read more
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The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 21:4
If his master have given him a wife . If the slave was unmarried when he went into servitude, or if his wife died, and his master then gave him a wife from among his female slaves, the master was not to lose his property in his female slave by reason of having permitted the marriage. When the man claimed his freedom at the end of the sixth year, he was to "go out" alone. Should children have been born, they were also to be the property of the master and to remain members of his household. No... read more