Exodus 21:2 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Exodus 21:1-11

The Exod. 21:1 is the general title of the laws contained in this and the two following chapters, some of them relating to the religious worship of God, but most of them relating to matters between man and man. Their government being purely a Theocracy, that which in other states is to be settled by human prudence was directed among them by a divine appointment, so that the constitution of their government was peculiarly adapted to make them happy. These laws are called judgments, because they... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 21:2

If thou buy an Hebrew servant ,.... Who sells himself either through poverty, or rather is sold because of his theft, see Exodus 22:3 and so the Targum of Jonathan paraphrases it,"when ye shall buy for his theft, a servant, a son of an Israelite;'agreeably to which Aben Ezra observes, this servant is a servant that is sold for his theft; and he says, it is a tradition with them, that a male is sold for his theft, but not a female; and the persons who had the selling of such were the civil... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Exodus 21:2

If thou buy a Hebrew servant - Calmet enumerates six different ways in which a Hebrew might lose his liberty: In extreme poverty they might sell their liberty. Leviticus 25:39 ; : If thy brother be waxen poor, and be sold unto thee, etc. A father might sell his children. If a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant; see Exodus 21:7 . Insolvent debtors became the slaves of their creditors. My husband is dead - and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen, ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 21:1-11

Regulations for the treatment of slaves. I. THE CONDITIONAL ELEMENT RUNNING THROUGH THESE REGULATIONS . What a difference there is here from the strong, uncompromising imperatives of Exodus 20:1-26 ! There we feel that we have to do with man, not only as he is at the time, a Hebrew in the wilderness, but with every man, in every age, and in all sorts of social circumstances. The ten commandments simply assume humanity and society. But the regulations now to be considered... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 21:2

If thou buy an Hebrew servant . Slavery, it is clear, was an existing institution. The law of Moses did not make it, but found it, and by not forbidding, allowed it. The Divine legislator was content under the circumstances to introduce mitigations and alleviations into the slave condition. Hebrews commonly became slaves through poverty (Le 25:35, 39), but sometimes through crime ( Exodus 22:3 ). In the seventh he shall go out. Not in the Sabbatical year, but at the commencement of... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 21:2-11

Slavery . read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 21:2-12

Hebrew bond-service. The laws relating to this subject are to be found, in addition to those in the present chapter, in Exodus 12:43-45 ; Exodus 22:3 ; Le Exodus 25:39 -55; Exodus 26:13 ; Deuteronomy 12:12 , Deuteronomy 12:18 ; Deuteronomy 15:15-19 ; Deuteronomy 16:11 , Deuteronomy 16:14 ; Deuteronomy 21:10-15 ; Deuteronomy 23:15 ; Deuteronomy 24:7 . An impartial examination of these laws will show how fallacious must be every argument attempted to be deduced from... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 21:2-35

The slave laws. Slave laws belong to all communities, and not to some only, slavery being really a universal and not a partial institution. In the most civilised communities of modern Europe, there are two large classes of slaves—lunatics and criminals. The law openly condemns these last to penal servitude, which may be for life; and this "servitude," as Lord Chief Justice Coleridge has repeatedly pointed out, is simply a form of slavery. Ancient communities differed from modern— 1 .... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Exodus 21:2

A Hebrew might be sold as a bondman in consequence either of debt Leviticus 25:39 or of the commission of theft Exodus 22:3. But his servitude could not be enforced for more than six full years. Compare the marginal references. read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Exodus 21:2

Exodus 21:2. If thou buy a Hebrew servant Either sold by himself or his parents through poverty, or by the judges for his crimes, yet even such a one was to continue in slavery but seven years at the most. See the texts referred to in the margin. read more

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Exodus 21:1-11

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 21:2

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Exodus 21:2

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 21:1-11

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 21:2

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 21:2-11

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 21:2-12

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 21:2-35

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Exodus 21:2

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Exodus 21:2

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