Deuteronomy 15:12

"If thy brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years; then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee. And when thou lettest him go free from thee, thou shalt not let him go empty: thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy threshing-floor, and out of thy winepress; as Jehovah thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him. And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and Jehovah thy God redeemed thee: therefore I command thee this thing today. And it shall be, if he say unto thee, I will not go out from thee; because he loveth thee and thy house, because he is well with thee; then thou shalt take an awl, and thrust it through his ear unto the door, and he shall be thy servant for ever. And also unto thy maid-servant thou shalt do likewise.

"It shall not seem hard unto thee, when thou lettest him go free from thee; for to the double of the hire of a hireling hath he served thee six years: and Jehovah thy God will bless thee in all that thou doest."

Despite the fact of the Old Testament's not condemning slavery as an institution, nevertheless there are many provisions that were designed to benefit and protect those who were slaves. This paragraph is such a provision. One tires of the ceaseless carping of self-appointed critics of the Sacred Text who find some kind of a "contradiction" on every page of it. Here it is alleged that in the parallel account of this manumission of servants in the seventh year, with special reference to the ceremony of boring the ear for one who desired to remain a servant, "The Exodus account (Exodus 21:5) indicates that the ceremony shall take place `before God,' 1e., in the tabernacle, but here, the place of the ceremony is not mentioned!" So, this is a CONTRADICTION? How ridiculous! Yet Dummelow insisted that, "In Exodus 21:6 the ceremony is performed in public before the magistrates; here it seems to be private."[14] A careful reading of the two accounts reveals that neither the public nor the magistrates are mentioned in Exodus, and there is not a word here about a private ceremony! The reason for the omission of the instructions that the ceremony was to be "before God," as Alexander noted, "was that the usage (of going to the tabernacle) was so regular and well known that it was needless formally to announce it here."[15]

Here is an appropriate place to deal with another alleged "contradiction" claimed by Biblical enemies. In Exodus 21:7-11, it is specifically stated that if a Hebrew man sold a daughter into slavery that she should not go out in the seventh year; whereas, here it is specifically declared that Hebrew servants, whether men-servants or maid-servants shall indeed "go out free" in the seventh year! Glory be! The critics think they sure enough have a "contradiction" here! Well, they have NOT! The passage in Exodus is restricted to a daughter sold into slavery, inevitably involving her as a concubine or a subordinate wife either of the new master or of his son, and the law against such a wife-slave being sent out was a protection to her. The justice of the law that required the master to keep the woman, provide her with the necessities of life, and not deny her the rights of marriage is very evident in the Exodus account. As McGarvey said, "It would have been a hardship for her, whether with children or without, to go out free and struggle for her own support."[16] The case here is utterly different! No wife-relationship whatever is being considered in the regulations here. Thus, all the talk about the "new status of women" in Deuteronomy is absolutely erroneous. There does seem to be, however, an explanation of such general terms as "brother" in the first verse of this paragraph, where "brother" is specifically defined as "a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman."

Haley likewise perceived the true explanation of the apparent conflict in these two accounts. He pointed out that no daughter would be sold into slavery without the expectation "that she should become a wife, although of the second rank."[17] Thus, the two accounts do not deal with the same situation at all. Exodus deals with the rights of a slave-wife, whereas the passage here deals with maid-servants without wife status.

The ceremony of boring the ear and fastening it to the door-post was symbolical. The ear is the organ through which a master's commands are communicated, and such a ceremony indicated that the servant was perpetually bound to heed his master's commands and obey them. "It also signified that the servant was permanently attached to his master's house."[18]

"Thou shalt furnish him liberally ..." (Deuteronomy 15:14). Cook tells us that, "This literally means, `thou shalt lay on his neck.'"[19] We might paraphrase this as "load him down with gifts." As Cook also suggested, the prospect of such rich gifts would greatly encourage faithfulness and diligence during the later years of one's servitude.

Concerning the laws here given by the Lord for the purpose of regulating slavery and of alleviating to some extent its odious nature, Wright has this:

"These laws show the first concern in human history for the condition of slaves and the first awareness of the wrong involved in one person's complete control over the fortunes of another. It is true that the privilege of freedom was extended only to fellow-Israelites, but even that was a step no other people hitherto had taken."[20]

Wright went ahead and credited this great advance in the knowledge of what was right or wrong to "The Israelite knowledge of the nature and purpose of God."[21] However, this was an advance that did not flow out of Israel's knowledge of God at all, but it came in the form of a direct revelation from Almighty God Himself. No priests of Israel (especially in the 7th century B.C.) could ever have either invented or discovered the kind of wisdom that abounds in the Bible! On the other hand, Israel would not even receive the knowledge after God gave it! Note:

"I made a covenant with your fathers ... At the end of seven years ye shall let go every man his brother that is a Hebrew, that hath been sold unto thee ... but your fathers hearkened not unto me, neither inclined their ear ... but ye turned and profaned my name, and caused every man his servant, and every man his hand-maid, whom ye had let go free at their pleasure to return; and ye brought them into subjection, to be unto you for servants and for handmaids ..." Jeremiah 34:12-16.

Jeremiah's account, which should be read in full, shows how foreign the truth revealed here was from the spirit of Israel. They promptly made the law of God null and void by their tradition.