Exodus 21:6

THE Jewish people had lived in Egypt and had been themselves slaves. They had, doubtless, learned much of art and science in Egypt, but they also learned many sinful manners and customs—and among the rest they learned the habit of slavery. When God found them and led them out into the wilderness to make a nation of them, He did not give them a code of laws such as He would give to us in the light of this dispensation, but He gave them laws as Jesus Christ, Himself, says, "according to the hardness of their heart." He gave them a law suitable to the state in which they were. Their ceremonial laws, their political and economic laws, were very far from being perfect and were never intended to be regarded as perfect. They were not meant for a nation of men as much as for a nation of children. The nation was then in its infancy and statutes and ordinances were very much in accordance with the infancy of the people. Slavery, for instance, was not forbidden. It was not even forbidden for a Hebrew to hold his brother Hebrew in bondage! But, though it was not forbidden, yet it was so hedged about and limited with many regulations and conditions that it must have become very difficult, if not almost impossible. In the first place, every Hebrew who held his brother in bondage was compelled to treat him as he treated himself. There was a law that his food and his raiment should be precisely similar to that of his master. Then, again, at the end of six full years, the man must go free, whatever might be the price at which he was purchased for six years. And when he went free, he was not to go out empty, but his master was required to give him something out of his barn, out of the winepress and out of the flock.

THE slavery which existed among the ancient Jews was a very different thing from that which has disgraced humanity in modern times. And it ought also to be remembered that Moses did not institute slavery in any shape or fashion. The laws concerning it were made on purpose to repress it, to confine it within very narrow bounds and, ultimately, to put an end to it. It was like the law of divorce—Moses authored that law but he knew that the people were so deeply rooted in it that it could not be forbidden. And therefore, as Jesus tells us, Moses, because of the hardness of their hearts, suffered them to put away their wives. And so, I may say, because of the hardness of their hearts he suffered them, still, to retain persons in servitude. But he made the laws very stringent, so as almost to prevent it. Among other repressive regulations, this was one, that when a slave ran away from his master it was contrary to law for anyone to assist in sending him back again. And with such a law as that, you can clearly see that nobody need remain a slave, since he could run away if he liked. It was nobody's business—no, it was a sin for anybody—to force him back again. Now, if a man can go when he likes, his slavery is a very different thing from that which still curses many parts of the earth. But the case stood thus and, sometimes persons who were insolvent, who could not pay, were compelled by the law to give their services to their creditors for a certain number of years, always limited, as you see in this case, to six. A man who had committed theft, instead of putting the country to the expense of a prison, was sometimes fined for his theft sevenfold. And if he had no money he was placed in servitude till he had bought himself free again—an institution not altogether indefensible, I think—and having a good deal of rough justice about it.

Forever - That is, most probably, until the next Jubilee, when every Hebrew was set free. See Lev 25:40, Lev 25:50. The custom of boring the ear as a mark of slavery appears to have been a common one in ancient times, observed in many nations. Unto the judges - Literally, “before the gods אלהים 'ĕlohı̂ym.” The word does not denote “judges” in a direct way, but it is to be understood as the name of God, in its ordinary plural form, God being the source of all justice. The name in this connection always has the definite article prefixed. See the marginal references. Compare Psa 82:1, Psa 82:6; Joh 10:34.