EXODUS 21 (Sermon Notes)
"Is Slavery Always Wrong?" (Exodus 21:1-6)
Read Exodus 21:1-6 :: Well that’s a text to start a sermon off with huh? Lol… You know I was thinking about this particular month that America now calls “Pride Month.” They’ve designated the month of June to lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender, queer and questioning pride. It’s celebrated, and all these ways are considered an acceptable choice of life and behavior.
What makes all of these acceptable in the eyes of some? Who is deciding what is right and what is wrong? Are we allowed to just think about things, and if we get enough people to stand behind something (and it becomes popular) does that somehow make a behavior okay all of a sudden? Who is calling the shots here? Who decides what’s okay?
I’ve pondered on this (this week) because of the text we are about to delve into; a text about slavery laws. We just read a minute ago, “When you buy a Hebrew slave” and we have verses 2-6 explaining the process of obtaining and working a male slave, regulating the practice of slavery. This law makes a lot of people uncomfortable, including the promoters of the LBGTQ+ Pride Month. They would actually use a text like this in Exodus as a launching pad to tell us: “The Bible is outdated and perverse.”
So who is right? They get to pick what they deem to be acceptable practice, and then there are certain other practices they condemn. They condemn all slavery and yet promote practicing homosexuality (among other things). I condemn practicing homosexuality, but yet I promote the laws of Yahweh, one of which is found here regulating slavery.
A key difference between them and me is that I am reading this holy book, given to the great, old patriarchs, prophets, and servants of Yahweh (by Yahweh), and I am trusting that the Creator of mankind knows what is best for us. I’m not sitting at my desk each day trying to think up what is good or bad behavior. I let the Almighty decide that… they on the other hand will often tell you, “There is no Almighty. You are your own god. If it feels right, do it.” I reject that thinking, and I rebuke that thinking today.
Yahweh is Still Speaking
What we have here, beginning in Exodus 21:1 is a continuation of Yahweh speaking His commandments. Now, He’s been speaking to Moshe alone since Exodus 20:22. Remember, the people trembled when they witnessed the thunder, lightning, trumpet blast, and smoke surrounding the mountain. They requested that Moshe speak to them, because they thought if Yahweh spoke to them they would all die. So 20:21 says that “the people remained standing at a distance as Moshe approached the thick darkness where Elohim was. Then Yahweh told Moshe…” and then we have the commands against making mighty ones out of silver and gold, and the command to make an altar of earth or un-hewn stone, to offer burnt offerings and peace offerings, and to make sure to cover our nakedness.
We’ve went over all of that, but today we move into the next chapter, which is really not a new chapter, it’s just that Bible translators add chapters and verses for location and memorization purposes - but the thought continues here where we read in Exodus 21:1 “These are the ordinances that you must set before them.” It’s quite possible that had the people not requested for Moshe to speak to them rather than Yahweh, Yahweh would have just continued speaking directly to everyone, just like he did in Exodus 20:1-17.
So these commandments we are reading now into chapter 21 are just as holy and binding as the “Big Ten” in chapter 20. Yahweh continues to speak these commandments to Moshe all the way to Exodus 23:33, and we will cover them all (Yahweh’s will). They are all valid. They are all eternal. And they actually all fall under the category of at least one of the Ten Commandments. In other words, these ordinances teach us how to keep the Ten Commandments completely.
Mishpatim
The word ordinances here in verse 1 is the Hebrew word mishpatim, and often translated as judgments, and sometimes translated as “manner” or “fashion.” It’s not so much judgments as though a judge is passing a final sentence on a person (it can be that), but here it’s in the sense of, “I judge this to be the proper manner or way of doing something.”
So we’re learning some Hebrew here! (I know brother Sandy will appreciate that.) We all know the word Torah (meaning teaching or instruction), and now we’ve learned the word mishpatim (everyone say mishpatim)… and a good definition for this word is “the proper manner of living.”
This section of the Torah actually begins one of the traditional Torah Portions in the Hebrew faith, and the name of the portion is “Mishpatim” after the word used in verse 1. *This Torah portion goes from Exodus 21:1 to Exodus 24:18, and there are over 50 commandments found therein (in the traditional counting of the 613).
Studying Yahweh
Don’t let that overwhelm you, anything worth doing takes time. You can do something cheap in a hurry, so it’s okay to take your time, and it’s fine if you only grasp one small nugget during each Torah Study we do here. That’s one more gold nugget to add to your collection of wisdom and understanding. We are studying the character of Yahweh here. Each commandment, no matter how small, teaches us something about our Creator. The study of the commandments is the study of Elohim, and that’s whether or not a particular commandment even applies to you. It’s still holy, and it still comes from the mouth of Yahweh.
We don’t want to edit Yahweh, even when we read a section of law that violates what our current culture thinks or promotes. When we edit Yahweh we are trying to mold Him into our own image rather than us being molded into His image.
Slavery in the Bible
Let’s move into Exodus 21:2 here, it says: “When you buy a Hebrew slave, he is to serve for six years; then in the seventh he is to leave as a free man without paying anything.” What we begin to see here is that Yahweh regulates the practice of slavery; He does not condemn the practice wholesale, but puts guidelines on it, showing how to properly practice it.
Regulating vs. Condemning
When Yahweh regulates something in His law it is not a sin to practice it so long as you abide by the regulations. Some people read these laws, and just do not want to accept that slavery isn’t outright condemned, so they come up with excuses for Yahweh or accommodations. They’ll say something like, “The people already practiced slavery, and God didn’t like it, but He formed to their current culture and tried to wean them off it a little at a time.”
No. That’s not right. Yahweh does not bow to the whims or wants of people. When the Creator wants to condemn something He has no problem doing that. “Thou shalt not murder. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness.” It’s easy for Him to tell His people what sin is. He’s not accommodating anyone. If He doesn’t like something, He tells you. If He allows something, even with regulations, it shows you that He is okay with a practice, and that practice is not a sin.
An example is drinking wine or beer. The practice is regulated not condemned. Deuteronomy 14 says you can enjoy oxen and sheep (for food) and wine and beer (for drink) at the feast, whatever your soul desires. Yet Deuteronomy 21 condemns a drunkard (there in the law concerning a rebellious son). So there’s regulations in drinking, don’t over-do it. Practice moderation.
Harsh Slavery Condemned
That’s going on here in Exodus 21, regulating slavery. We know the story of the exodus. We know that the children of Israel were under harsh slavery in Egypt. It didn’t start out that way. In the days of Joseph’s adulthood the Israelites and Egyptians became friends. After Joseph, things started to change, and eventually the Egyptians had enslaved the Israelites to the point of beating them, and even throwing their baby boys in the river Nile. One translation of Exodus 1 says the Egyptians ruthlessly made the Israelites serve. That word ruthlessly is perek in Hebrew meaning “to break apart, fracture, be cruel.” So Yahweh sent a deliverer, Moshe, and the children of Israel were delivered from harsh slavery.
Slavery and the Sabbath
So there is a wrong type of slavery in the Bible. That can be proven easily, but I want you to look at something you’ve read before (maybe numerous times) from Deuteronomy 5’s rendering of the Ten Commandments. Before we read, remember that at the first giving of the law, the 4th commandment about the Sabbath mentioned Yahweh making heaven and earth in 6 days and resting on the 7th day. But in Deuteronomy 5 that is not mentioned. Look at it:
Deuteronomy 5:12-15 (HCSB) “Be careful to dedicate the Sabbath day, as Yahweh your Mighty One has commanded you. (13) You are to labor six days and do all your work, (14) but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahweh your Mighty One. You must not do any work - you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, your ox or donkey, any of your livestock, or the foreigner who lives within your gates, so that your male and female slaves may rest as you do. (15) Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and Yahweh your Mighty One brought you out of there with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. That is why Yahweh your Mighty One has commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.”
You see that? He stresses the point that the Israelites were once slaves in Egypt, and they were allotted no Sabbath. In Exodus 4-5, when Moses and Aaron begin to speak to the Israelites, Pharaoh gets upset because they are causing the Israelites to rest from their labor. So Pharaoh yells, “Get back to work!” Deuteronomy 5 pulls that back, not by abolishing slavery, but by regulating it. “Your manservant and maidservant shall rest on the Sabbath.” It’s a commandment to let your servants rest on Shabbat.
Released on Shabbat
Take note of the relationship between the Sabbath day and the removal from Egypt in Deuteronomy 5. He tells them, “You were a slave in Egypt, and Yahweh brought you out. That’s why He commanded you to keep the Sabbath.” On what day did Yahweh deliver the Israelites from Egypt?
Remember it was Passover time, so it’s the 14th day of the moon, moving into the 15th. Numbers 33:3 says they departed from Rameses in the first month on the 15th day of the month, which is a Sabbath: a high Sabbath for us (weekly Sabbath + first day of Unleavened Bread) but still an annual no work-day for traditional Saturday Sabbatarians. Yahweh delivered Israel on a Sabbath.
I think lunar Sabbatarianism works better here because of the association of the deliverance with the 7th day Sabbath in Deuteronomy 5, but either way it’s a Sabbath. What better day to receive deliverance from bondage? It reminds me of when Yeshua healed the woman who had been bound by Satan for 18 years (Luke 13). He says she was loosed from her bond on the Sabbath day.
Slavery in Exodus and Genesis
Getting back to the servants… Exodus 20:10 says the same as Deuteronomy (HCSB): “But the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahweh your Mighty One. You must not do any work - you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the foreigner who is within your gates.” The law assumes that the Israelites had slaves or servants, and doesn’t condemn them, but regulates the practice, making sure the servants get a Sabbath.
We’ve read Genesis before too, but it doesn’t always register (in our minds) that the righteous people of Yahweh had slaves and were never condemned for it. For example, in Genesis 24 Abraham sends his oldest servant (probably Eliezer) to fetch a wife for his son Isaac. *In Genesis 24:35 Eliezer says this, “Yahweh has greatly blessed my master, and he has become rich. He has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, male and female slaves, and camels and donkeys.”
Genesis 30:43, in speaking of the blessings of Jacob, says “And the man became very rich. He had many flocks, male and female slaves, and camels, and donkeys.” No insinuation there that any of these things were wrong.
So we have approved examples of righteous men having servants under them, in their household, and we have one of the Ten Commandments that assumes that at least some Israelites had servants. Then of course we have the text we’re studying now in Exodus 21:2-6 regulating the practice of slavery or servanthood. So all slavery is not a sin. Practicing it wrongly is a sin. We’ll get more into this when we cover kidnapping in Exodus 21:16… but it can be practiced justly. That will make people in the world mad, including many Christians, but I’m more worried about what makes Yahweh mad. I teach to please Him.
Stick with Yahweh’s Law
When I study and teach something, I do not look to what anyone in the world thinks or believes. I do always consider what other students of Scripture in the past and present have concluded, and I do my best to stick with what I honestly believer Yahweh teaches through His Torah. I don’t want to lean on my own understanding or anyone else’s understanding. I want to gain understanding from the inspired instruction manual.
So sometimes my teaching upsets the more fundamental, conservative Christians. I did a little of that in my last series when I said pants are a neutral garment, and it’s not a sin for a woman to wear pants. But in the next few sermons I’m sure I will upset the more progressive, liberal Christians by saying that not all slavery is bad, and that it can actually even be a good, healthy practice. I’m not trying to make anyone upset particularly, but by just sticking with the law of Yahweh, you eventually upset everyone, except for those people who have also decided they are sticking to the law of Yahweh.
The Beautiful Torah
Brothers and sisters, the law of Yahweh is perfect, converting the soul (Psalm 19:7), and the judgments - the mishpatim of Yahweh - are true and righteous altogether (Psalm 19:9). More to be desired are they than gold, yea than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy servant warned, and in keeping of them there is great reward (Psalm 19:10-11). Exodus 21:2’s “When you buy a Hebrew slave, he is to serve for six years” may not sit well with our culture or society, but that doesn’t matter. All of Yahweh’s commandments are sure, they stand fast forever and ever (Psalm 111:7-8).
One of the great Hebrew Torah scholars of the past, Rabbi Moshe Ben Maimon (sometimes called by the acronym Rambam), said this concerning having servants:
The early sages would give their servants from every dish on their table. They would feed their animals and their servants before sitting to their own meals. Does it not say (Psalm 123:2), "As the eyes of the servant to the hand of his master; as the eyes of the maid to her mistress [so our eyes are towards the L-rd our G‑d...]"? So, too, you should not denigrate a servant, neither physically nor verbally. The Torah made him your servant to do work, not to be disgraced. Do not treat him with constant screaming and anger, rather speak with him pleasantly and listen to his complaints. Such were the good ways in which Job took pride when he said, "Did I ever despise the judgment of my servant and my maid when they argued with me? Did not my Maker make him, too, in the belly; did not the same One form us both in the womb? (Job 31:13-15)" For anger and cruelty are only found among other nations. The children of Abraham, our father—and they are Israel, to whom the Holy One, blessed be He, has provided the goodness of Torah and commanded us righteous judgments and statutes—they are compassionate to all. This is one of the attributes of the Holy One, blessed be He, that we are commanded to emulate (Psalm 145:9): "And He has compassion for all He has made." (Mishneh Torah, Laws of Indentured Servants, 9:8)
Closing
Now get this in your mind (as I close today)… you are a servant of Yahweh. That same word - servant or slave - that is used of Eliezer (Abraham’s servant), is also used of Abraham, in his relationship to Yahweh. In Genesis 26:24 Yahweh appears to Isaac and says, “I am the Mighty One of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bless and multiply your offspring because of my servant Abraham.” That’s the Hebrew word ebed, the same word used of Eliezer, and the same word used in the Ten Commandments for the manservants (male slaves). Abraham was an ebed of Yahweh, and if you want to be in a right relationship with Yahweh, you too will be an ebed or slave of Yahweh. || Abraham treated Eliezer properly. Abraham was even ready to give Eliezer his inheritance upon death according to Genesis 15:3. Abraham realized that just as he had a servant, he WAS a servant. Yahweh had Abraham for a manservant, and if Yahweh treated Abraham with kindness, so ought Abraham to treat his servant Eliezer with kindness.
We’ll pick this up next time I teach, and we’ll go over Exodus 21:2-6 verse-by-verse. I hope that today helped lay some Biblical groundwork for the subject, and I hope we can train our minds to think like the Creator.
What makes all of these acceptable in the eyes of some? Who is deciding what is right and what is wrong? Are we allowed to just think about things, and if we get enough people to stand behind something (and it becomes popular) does that somehow make a behavior okay all of a sudden? Who is calling the shots here? Who decides what’s okay?
I’ve pondered on this (this week) because of the text we are about to delve into; a text about slavery laws. We just read a minute ago, “When you buy a Hebrew slave” and we have verses 2-6 explaining the process of obtaining and working a male slave, regulating the practice of slavery. This law makes a lot of people uncomfortable, including the promoters of the LBGTQ+ Pride Month. They would actually use a text like this in Exodus as a launching pad to tell us: “The Bible is outdated and perverse.”
So who is right? They get to pick what they deem to be acceptable practice, and then there are certain other practices they condemn. They condemn all slavery and yet promote practicing homosexuality (among other things). I condemn practicing homosexuality, but yet I promote the laws of Yahweh, one of which is found here regulating slavery.
A key difference between them and me is that I am reading this holy book, given to the great, old patriarchs, prophets, and servants of Yahweh (by Yahweh), and I am trusting that the Creator of mankind knows what is best for us. I’m not sitting at my desk each day trying to think up what is good or bad behavior. I let the Almighty decide that… they on the other hand will often tell you, “There is no Almighty. You are your own god. If it feels right, do it.” I reject that thinking, and I rebuke that thinking today.
Yahweh is Still Speaking
What we have here, beginning in Exodus 21:1 is a continuation of Yahweh speaking His commandments. Now, He’s been speaking to Moshe alone since Exodus 20:22. Remember, the people trembled when they witnessed the thunder, lightning, trumpet blast, and smoke surrounding the mountain. They requested that Moshe speak to them, because they thought if Yahweh spoke to them they would all die. So 20:21 says that “the people remained standing at a distance as Moshe approached the thick darkness where Elohim was. Then Yahweh told Moshe…” and then we have the commands against making mighty ones out of silver and gold, and the command to make an altar of earth or un-hewn stone, to offer burnt offerings and peace offerings, and to make sure to cover our nakedness.
We’ve went over all of that, but today we move into the next chapter, which is really not a new chapter, it’s just that Bible translators add chapters and verses for location and memorization purposes - but the thought continues here where we read in Exodus 21:1 “These are the ordinances that you must set before them.” It’s quite possible that had the people not requested for Moshe to speak to them rather than Yahweh, Yahweh would have just continued speaking directly to everyone, just like he did in Exodus 20:1-17.
So these commandments we are reading now into chapter 21 are just as holy and binding as the “Big Ten” in chapter 20. Yahweh continues to speak these commandments to Moshe all the way to Exodus 23:33, and we will cover them all (Yahweh’s will). They are all valid. They are all eternal. And they actually all fall under the category of at least one of the Ten Commandments. In other words, these ordinances teach us how to keep the Ten Commandments completely.
Mishpatim
The word ordinances here in verse 1 is the Hebrew word mishpatim, and often translated as judgments, and sometimes translated as “manner” or “fashion.” It’s not so much judgments as though a judge is passing a final sentence on a person (it can be that), but here it’s in the sense of, “I judge this to be the proper manner or way of doing something.”
So we’re learning some Hebrew here! (I know brother Sandy will appreciate that.) We all know the word Torah (meaning teaching or instruction), and now we’ve learned the word mishpatim (everyone say mishpatim)… and a good definition for this word is “the proper manner of living.”
This section of the Torah actually begins one of the traditional Torah Portions in the Hebrew faith, and the name of the portion is “Mishpatim” after the word used in verse 1. *This Torah portion goes from Exodus 21:1 to Exodus 24:18, and there are over 50 commandments found therein (in the traditional counting of the 613).
Studying Yahweh
Don’t let that overwhelm you, anything worth doing takes time. You can do something cheap in a hurry, so it’s okay to take your time, and it’s fine if you only grasp one small nugget during each Torah Study we do here. That’s one more gold nugget to add to your collection of wisdom and understanding. We are studying the character of Yahweh here. Each commandment, no matter how small, teaches us something about our Creator. The study of the commandments is the study of Elohim, and that’s whether or not a particular commandment even applies to you. It’s still holy, and it still comes from the mouth of Yahweh.
We don’t want to edit Yahweh, even when we read a section of law that violates what our current culture thinks or promotes. When we edit Yahweh we are trying to mold Him into our own image rather than us being molded into His image.
Slavery in the Bible
Let’s move into Exodus 21:2 here, it says: “When you buy a Hebrew slave, he is to serve for six years; then in the seventh he is to leave as a free man without paying anything.” What we begin to see here is that Yahweh regulates the practice of slavery; He does not condemn the practice wholesale, but puts guidelines on it, showing how to properly practice it.
Regulating vs. Condemning
When Yahweh regulates something in His law it is not a sin to practice it so long as you abide by the regulations. Some people read these laws, and just do not want to accept that slavery isn’t outright condemned, so they come up with excuses for Yahweh or accommodations. They’ll say something like, “The people already practiced slavery, and God didn’t like it, but He formed to their current culture and tried to wean them off it a little at a time.”
No. That’s not right. Yahweh does not bow to the whims or wants of people. When the Creator wants to condemn something He has no problem doing that. “Thou shalt not murder. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness.” It’s easy for Him to tell His people what sin is. He’s not accommodating anyone. If He doesn’t like something, He tells you. If He allows something, even with regulations, it shows you that He is okay with a practice, and that practice is not a sin.
An example is drinking wine or beer. The practice is regulated not condemned. Deuteronomy 14 says you can enjoy oxen and sheep (for food) and wine and beer (for drink) at the feast, whatever your soul desires. Yet Deuteronomy 21 condemns a drunkard (there in the law concerning a rebellious son). So there’s regulations in drinking, don’t over-do it. Practice moderation.
Harsh Slavery Condemned
That’s going on here in Exodus 21, regulating slavery. We know the story of the exodus. We know that the children of Israel were under harsh slavery in Egypt. It didn’t start out that way. In the days of Joseph’s adulthood the Israelites and Egyptians became friends. After Joseph, things started to change, and eventually the Egyptians had enslaved the Israelites to the point of beating them, and even throwing their baby boys in the river Nile. One translation of Exodus 1 says the Egyptians ruthlessly made the Israelites serve. That word ruthlessly is perek in Hebrew meaning “to break apart, fracture, be cruel.” So Yahweh sent a deliverer, Moshe, and the children of Israel were delivered from harsh slavery.
Slavery and the Sabbath
So there is a wrong type of slavery in the Bible. That can be proven easily, but I want you to look at something you’ve read before (maybe numerous times) from Deuteronomy 5’s rendering of the Ten Commandments. Before we read, remember that at the first giving of the law, the 4th commandment about the Sabbath mentioned Yahweh making heaven and earth in 6 days and resting on the 7th day. But in Deuteronomy 5 that is not mentioned. Look at it:
Deuteronomy 5:12-15 (HCSB) “Be careful to dedicate the Sabbath day, as Yahweh your Mighty One has commanded you. (13) You are to labor six days and do all your work, (14) but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahweh your Mighty One. You must not do any work - you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, your ox or donkey, any of your livestock, or the foreigner who lives within your gates, so that your male and female slaves may rest as you do. (15) Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and Yahweh your Mighty One brought you out of there with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. That is why Yahweh your Mighty One has commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.”
You see that? He stresses the point that the Israelites were once slaves in Egypt, and they were allotted no Sabbath. In Exodus 4-5, when Moses and Aaron begin to speak to the Israelites, Pharaoh gets upset because they are causing the Israelites to rest from their labor. So Pharaoh yells, “Get back to work!” Deuteronomy 5 pulls that back, not by abolishing slavery, but by regulating it. “Your manservant and maidservant shall rest on the Sabbath.” It’s a commandment to let your servants rest on Shabbat.
Released on Shabbat
Take note of the relationship between the Sabbath day and the removal from Egypt in Deuteronomy 5. He tells them, “You were a slave in Egypt, and Yahweh brought you out. That’s why He commanded you to keep the Sabbath.” On what day did Yahweh deliver the Israelites from Egypt?
Remember it was Passover time, so it’s the 14th day of the moon, moving into the 15th. Numbers 33:3 says they departed from Rameses in the first month on the 15th day of the month, which is a Sabbath: a high Sabbath for us (weekly Sabbath + first day of Unleavened Bread) but still an annual no work-day for traditional Saturday Sabbatarians. Yahweh delivered Israel on a Sabbath.
I think lunar Sabbatarianism works better here because of the association of the deliverance with the 7th day Sabbath in Deuteronomy 5, but either way it’s a Sabbath. What better day to receive deliverance from bondage? It reminds me of when Yeshua healed the woman who had been bound by Satan for 18 years (Luke 13). He says she was loosed from her bond on the Sabbath day.
Slavery in Exodus and Genesis
Getting back to the servants… Exodus 20:10 says the same as Deuteronomy (HCSB): “But the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahweh your Mighty One. You must not do any work - you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the foreigner who is within your gates.” The law assumes that the Israelites had slaves or servants, and doesn’t condemn them, but regulates the practice, making sure the servants get a Sabbath.
We’ve read Genesis before too, but it doesn’t always register (in our minds) that the righteous people of Yahweh had slaves and were never condemned for it. For example, in Genesis 24 Abraham sends his oldest servant (probably Eliezer) to fetch a wife for his son Isaac. *In Genesis 24:35 Eliezer says this, “Yahweh has greatly blessed my master, and he has become rich. He has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, male and female slaves, and camels and donkeys.”
Genesis 30:43, in speaking of the blessings of Jacob, says “And the man became very rich. He had many flocks, male and female slaves, and camels, and donkeys.” No insinuation there that any of these things were wrong.
So we have approved examples of righteous men having servants under them, in their household, and we have one of the Ten Commandments that assumes that at least some Israelites had servants. Then of course we have the text we’re studying now in Exodus 21:2-6 regulating the practice of slavery or servanthood. So all slavery is not a sin. Practicing it wrongly is a sin. We’ll get more into this when we cover kidnapping in Exodus 21:16… but it can be practiced justly. That will make people in the world mad, including many Christians, but I’m more worried about what makes Yahweh mad. I teach to please Him.
Stick with Yahweh’s Law
When I study and teach something, I do not look to what anyone in the world thinks or believes. I do always consider what other students of Scripture in the past and present have concluded, and I do my best to stick with what I honestly believer Yahweh teaches through His Torah. I don’t want to lean on my own understanding or anyone else’s understanding. I want to gain understanding from the inspired instruction manual.
So sometimes my teaching upsets the more fundamental, conservative Christians. I did a little of that in my last series when I said pants are a neutral garment, and it’s not a sin for a woman to wear pants. But in the next few sermons I’m sure I will upset the more progressive, liberal Christians by saying that not all slavery is bad, and that it can actually even be a good, healthy practice. I’m not trying to make anyone upset particularly, but by just sticking with the law of Yahweh, you eventually upset everyone, except for those people who have also decided they are sticking to the law of Yahweh.
The Beautiful Torah
Brothers and sisters, the law of Yahweh is perfect, converting the soul (Psalm 19:7), and the judgments - the mishpatim of Yahweh - are true and righteous altogether (Psalm 19:9). More to be desired are they than gold, yea than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy servant warned, and in keeping of them there is great reward (Psalm 19:10-11). Exodus 21:2’s “When you buy a Hebrew slave, he is to serve for six years” may not sit well with our culture or society, but that doesn’t matter. All of Yahweh’s commandments are sure, they stand fast forever and ever (Psalm 111:7-8).
One of the great Hebrew Torah scholars of the past, Rabbi Moshe Ben Maimon (sometimes called by the acronym Rambam), said this concerning having servants:
The early sages would give their servants from every dish on their table. They would feed their animals and their servants before sitting to their own meals. Does it not say (Psalm 123:2), "As the eyes of the servant to the hand of his master; as the eyes of the maid to her mistress [so our eyes are towards the L-rd our G‑d...]"? So, too, you should not denigrate a servant, neither physically nor verbally. The Torah made him your servant to do work, not to be disgraced. Do not treat him with constant screaming and anger, rather speak with him pleasantly and listen to his complaints. Such were the good ways in which Job took pride when he said, "Did I ever despise the judgment of my servant and my maid when they argued with me? Did not my Maker make him, too, in the belly; did not the same One form us both in the womb? (Job 31:13-15)" For anger and cruelty are only found among other nations. The children of Abraham, our father—and they are Israel, to whom the Holy One, blessed be He, has provided the goodness of Torah and commanded us righteous judgments and statutes—they are compassionate to all. This is one of the attributes of the Holy One, blessed be He, that we are commanded to emulate (Psalm 145:9): "And He has compassion for all He has made." (Mishneh Torah, Laws of Indentured Servants, 9:8)
Closing
Now get this in your mind (as I close today)… you are a servant of Yahweh. That same word - servant or slave - that is used of Eliezer (Abraham’s servant), is also used of Abraham, in his relationship to Yahweh. In Genesis 26:24 Yahweh appears to Isaac and says, “I am the Mighty One of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bless and multiply your offspring because of my servant Abraham.” That’s the Hebrew word ebed, the same word used of Eliezer, and the same word used in the Ten Commandments for the manservants (male slaves). Abraham was an ebed of Yahweh, and if you want to be in a right relationship with Yahweh, you too will be an ebed or slave of Yahweh. || Abraham treated Eliezer properly. Abraham was even ready to give Eliezer his inheritance upon death according to Genesis 15:3. Abraham realized that just as he had a servant, he WAS a servant. Yahweh had Abraham for a manservant, and if Yahweh treated Abraham with kindness, so ought Abraham to treat his servant Eliezer with kindness.
We’ll pick this up next time I teach, and we’ll go over Exodus 21:2-6 verse-by-verse. I hope that today helped lay some Biblical groundwork for the subject, and I hope we can train our minds to think like the Creator.
"The Hebrew Manservant" (Exodus 21:2-6)
Read Exodus 21:1-6 :: When a marriage turns sour, we do not speak against marriage, we speak against that particular abuse of marriage. We teach husbands and wives how to properly walk out their roles. A bad marriage doesn’t mean marriage itself is bad.
According to Yahweh a bad master-to-slave relationship doesn’t mean slavery itself is bad. Yahweh never speaks against the practice. He does condemn its abuse, but in doing so He explains how to properly go about it, showing that it’s a lawful practice. It is difficult to get modern people to see this, even Bible believers. I knew when I got to this section in the Law I would get some kickback, and I have… but the kickback does not stem from Scriptural exegesis. The kickback stems from humans thinking we can be stricter than the Almighty; that we have to apologize for something He allowed in His law.
We should trust in Yahweh with all your heart, and lean not to our own understanding. He doesn’t make mistakes, and He doesn’t accommodate sin. If He allows something it’s allowed. It must be practiced properly, yes, but we cannot condemn something Yahweh does not condemn, else we will be guilty of taking away from His instructions, a violation of Deuteronomy 4:2.
The Word “Slave”
I’ve had some people say that in Exodus 21 it’s better to say “indentured servant” or “bondservant” instead of “slave.” I think either of those are fine, but at the same time I don’t think the word slave is a bad word in and of itself, nor a bad translation. Several major scholarly translations use it here (NASB, NRSV, HCSB, LEB, ESV). I think that we’ve read of the abuse of slavery practiced in American and European history, and it’s hard to detach that abuse from the word itself. So please realize when I use the word slave or slavery, I am not okaying the stealing of a person and the selling of that person to someone who will abuse them. The law of Yahweh condemns that practice (we’ll see that as we go along in this chapter). When I use the word slave or slavery, I am trying my best to train your mind to think Biblically. You have to stop letting the world control how you think, and instead take your cue from Holy Scripture.
So Exodus 21:2 reads, “When you buy a Hebrew slave, he is to serve for six years; then in the seventh he is to leave as a free man without paying anything.”
This section is specifically about a Hebrew manservant. The Hebrew part is specified here in the verse (showing the Hebrews had servants among themselves). We know a male is in view here, because of the immediate context (vss. 2-6; this servant can acquire a wife), plus this section has a contrast with the maidservant laws in verses 7-11 (which we will get to in future studies).
The word slave is the Hebrew word ebed, and is used about 800x in Hebrew Scripture. All Hebrew lexicons give the words servant and slave as the primary definition. The meaning is that you have one person in authority and another person subject to that authority, who serves.
The person in authority is referred to as the master in verses 4-6 about six times, and each time the word master is used it’s the Hebrew word adon, which is the base word for adonai, a word used of Yahweh, the Supreme Master all throughout Hebrew Scripture.
Modern examples of a servant may range from a waiter at a restaurant to a hired hand on a farm. At the restaurant you are paying for food and service. You sit down and someone takes your order, makes your food, brings you your food, and cleans up after you are done. A bit stronger example would be a hired hand on a farm. One man - the owner or master of the farm - may provide room, food, pay, etc. and the worker (who serves the owner) provides know how and work. We now call this an employer to employee relationship, but it is still similar to the master-to-servant relationship in this text.
To Buy a Servant
Let’s look at the concept of buying a servant. Why would a person buy a Hebrew slave? One reason, and I think the primary reason, was as a means of helping someone poor or debt-ridden. It was a welfare system that helped a man in need rise from poverty to financial stability. The poor Hebrew would sell himself, entering into as much as a 6 year contract with his Hebrew master. Leviticus 25:39a speaks to this by saying, “If your brother among you becomes destitute and sells himself to you.”
So a fellow Hebrew is in poverty and needing a way out. The system of slavery regulated by Yahweh was a system whereby a poor person could rise up from poverty. This is important, the slavery system of Yahweh brought more of an equality among the Hebrews than an inequality. There was still a master and a slave, but the poor person who became a slave did not remain poor as his master provided for him all of the basic necessities of life in return for his labor.
A man may also be bought as a slave if he had stolen something, had no wealth, and needed to work to make restitution. We see this in Exodus 22:3b, “A thief must make full restitution. If he is unable, he is to be sold because of his theft.” Theft or stealing was not a capital crime in Israel, meaning death was not its punishment. Paying back at least double (sometimes more) was the punishment. We aren’t talking here about armed robbery, where a thief also has a desire to harm someone’s life, but rather what we might call petty theft or burglary.
So poverty, debt, and theft are the three reasons why a Hebrew might be bought by another Hebrew to be a manservant.
The Slave’s Release
At the end of verse 2 we see that the servant can choose to be released after 6 years of service, and at such time the slave has served the master lawfully and owes the master nothing at his release. Deuteronomy 15 actually tells us that if a slave chose to be released on the seventh year, the master was to give to him a financial gift.
12 “If your fellow Hebrew, a man or woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, you must set him free in the seventh year. 13 When you set him free, do not send him away empty-handed. 14 Give generously to him from your flock, your threshing floor, and your winepress. You are to give him whatever Yahweh your Mighty One has blessed you with. 15 Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and Yahweh your Mighty One redeemed you; that is why I am giving you this command today… 18 Do not regard it as a hardship when you set him free, because he worked for you six years — worth twice the wages of a hired worker. Then Yahweh your Mighty One will bless you in everything you do. (Deuteronomy 15:12-15, 18, HCSB)
This again shows the beautiful relationship or friendship between a good master and an obedient servant.
Arriving Married or Alone
Let’s move now to verses 3-4 in Exodus 21, “(3) If he arrives alone, he is to leave alone. If he arrives with a wife, his wife is to leave with him. (4) If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children belong to her master, and the man must leave alone.”
So the leaving here is done on the seventh year, and the first part of this we understand pretty easily. If he’s bought by the master while he’s alone, he leaves alone. If he’s bought while married (his wife comes along with him during his service), then he leaves with his wife. It’s verse 4 that we might balk at, because if his master gave him a wife while he was there serving (either a daughter or a maidservant in the household) the wife - and the children she bore to the Hebrew manservant - are to stay with the master. What’s up with that?
First thing… don’t lean to your own understanding. Remember that this is the perfect law of Yahweh. It’s not submitting to Yahweh’s Word when we only submit when we like one law but buck when we dislike another law. So whether or not we understand the why behind Yahweh’s instructions, we must trust our Father in heaven that He knows best and has a good reason for commanding what He commands.
Second thing… we forget that in Hebrew culture it was required for a man to prove he could provide for his wife-to-be, oftentimes done with a dowry given to girl’s father. The husband was to be the provider. He acquired the food while the wife prepared the food. He acquired the fabric or material while the wife made clothing out of that material. The husband provided the home while the wife was the keeper or caretaker of that home. And this is how it has been throughout most of history, and definitely in Hebrew culture. Families were overseen by a good, holy man of Yahweh who would love and take care of his family.
So when this Hebrew man became a servant he had just about nothing. When he was given a wife by his master during his time of service he did not have to prove to a father that he could provide for a woman, because he himself was being provided for by his master.
A Little on Parental Honor
I know in our culture we are getting away from this idea of a girl being under her father’s authority until she is married, but it’s a bad getting away from not a good getting away from. Thankfully some young men still have a proper upbringing where they go to a young woman’s father and ask for her hand in marriage. We still see this at some weddings where it is asked, “Who gives this woman to be married to this man?” and the father of the bride says I do, or “her mother and I.” Some people still recognize parental authority, that the fifth commandment is to be obeyed which says, “Honor thy father and thy mother.” Modern culture wants to say “No, I’m my own person, it doesn’t matter what my parents say.” Hebrew culture says, “Your parents love you so much. They’ve been through all of this in their own lives. Yes, you are your own person, but listen to a good father and mother if they don’t think a person is fit to be married to.”
Wife and Children Need Care
So because this Hebrew manservant came in with nothing, and was given a wife while he himself was being provided for, Yahweh saw it better for the woman and children she bore to stay with the master, so that their care would be guaranteed. In this case I must point out that the children stay with the mother here, not the father. In most cases - not all but most - a mother is the better caretaker of children than the father. Now I’m a father, and I love my children, but I fully admit that Yahweh placed some attributes in Tisha than just aren’t in me. Men and women are different, they are not identical. One time Paul wrote to the Thessalonians about a gentle mother who nurtures her children. He used a mother for a reason.
The Option to Stay
But… and here’s my favorite part… Yahweh gave the Hebrew manservant another option. Look at verses 5-6, “(5) But if the slave declares: ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I do not want to leave as a free man,’ (6) his master is to bring him to the judges and then bring him to the door or doorpost. His master must pierce his ear with an awl and he will serve his master for life.”
In verse 5 we see just how good a master to slave relationship could be, and I tend to think that this would have happened in most cases, especially where the manservant was given a wife during his time of service. The slave here loves not just his wife and children, but he loves his master, his adon. “I enjoy working for you. I appreciate all you’ve done for me. I love you my master.” I can picture them hugging each other. The master has done well. He’s provided for and taken care of his servant. The servant has done well. He’s worked hard and done his master a good job. He doesn’t want to leave on the seventh year even though he’s free to go.
Judges or Elohim?
So… the master brings him to the judges. The word judges here is the word elohim, and some people think that means it should read “the master brings him to God.” Well, God - or Yahweh - is up in heaven folks. The master is not riding a cloud with his servant, up to heaven. What’s taking place here is that the judges of Israel act in the place of Elohim upon the earth. They are Elohim’s representatives who dictate and carry out Yahweh’s Torah in the civil body politic of Israel. So they are called elohim, mighty ones, in the sense that they work uniquely for THE Mighty One.
Piercing the Ear
The judges then bring the Hebrew manservant to the door of the master’s house (some say the door of the Tabernacle or Temple), and the master pierces the slave’s ear with an awl (which is a piercing tool), and the purpose here was for an earring. A lot of the women here know that if you get your ears pierced, but stop wearing a ring in the hole, what happens? The hole closes up. Before long you can’t even tell it was pierced. So this was not just a hole made in the Hebrew manservant’s ear that would disappear later. It was to be a forever sign. A ring would be placed in the ear as a marker for lifelong service to his master.
Some might say a man wearing an earring is queer, gay, feminine, etc. Not according to this text. Some say men or women shouldn’t wear earrings because it’s a mark of slavery. Well… this particular earring is a mark of slavery, but I want to ask you… is it a bad mark or good mark? According to the text it’s a good mark. If you saw this man walking around back in ancient Israel you would think, “Now there goes a good man who works hard and loves his master, his wife, and his children. Yahweh bless him!”
Psalm 40’s Opened Ear
Now, let me show you something from Psalm 40:6, 8, and I’ll read here from the KJV, “Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required… (8) I delight to do they will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.”
The context here is about keeping the Torah from the heart and not just relying on sacrifices and offerings. But, I want to focus on the word picture given here, “mine ears hast thou opened.” I don’t know about you, but my ears are already opened. I’ve got a hole in each of them, lol. So most people think it’s speaking spiritually, opening your spiritual ears to hear, and that’s a good point, but there’s more.
The more literal reading here is found in the Douay-Reims Bible and Aramaic Bible in Plain English, “But thou hast pierced the ears for me.” The NRSV reads, “But you have given me an open ear.” E.W. Bullinger comments on Exodus 21:6 by saying, “Bore his ear, hence a symbol of obedience and perpetual servitude, compare Psalm 40:6; Isaiah 48:8; Isaiah 50:5.” I don’t have the time to go over all of them, but listen to Isaiah 50:5 which says, “Adonai Yahweh has opened my ear; and I was not rebellious; I did not turn back.”
The opening of the ear is equivalent to being submissive to Yahweh which hearkens back to Exodus 21:6 where the slave’s ear was opened or bored through with an awl. It’s a sign of submissiveness and obedience. It’s a sign of someone who wants to serve their master because through the ear is where we Shema - where we listen with the intent to obey. So Psalm 40:6 (I think) is best seen as meaning “You have given me an open ear by literally opening it with an awl as a sign of my perpetual service to you to listen and be obedient to my good master.”
Matthew Henry, the old, Puritan commentator writes in part that this law explains “the obligation which the great Redeemer laid upon himself to prosecute the work of our salvation, for he says (Psa 40:6), My ears hast thou opened, which seems to allude to this law. He loved his Father, and his captive spouse, and the children that were given him, and would not go out free from his undertaking, but engaged to serve in it for ever, Isa 42:1, Isa 42:4.” Yeshua was the greatest Hebrew manservant of all. He perfectly obeyed His Master, Almighty Yahweh. If we downplay the slavery laws in Torah we are downplaying the person and work of Yeshua.
Conclusion
This is the Torah of Yahweh. This is part of the book of the law that should not depart from your mouth. This is what we are to be studying, and learning to practice.
Why teach on this text? Well first off it’s here in the Bible as part of Yahweh’s law. That should be good enough. But realize that the law here teaches us about proper relationships. How we should be kind to even the least of us. How we should give to the poor. How we should respect authority. How we should serve someone who treats us well. How that family is important. And how Yeshua himself models perfect servanthood and through being a servant saves us from our sins. All of this is found in these slavery laws Yahweh gives in His inspired Word that no one wants to talk about. It’s amazing isn’t it? His Word is alive!
According to Yahweh a bad master-to-slave relationship doesn’t mean slavery itself is bad. Yahweh never speaks against the practice. He does condemn its abuse, but in doing so He explains how to properly go about it, showing that it’s a lawful practice. It is difficult to get modern people to see this, even Bible believers. I knew when I got to this section in the Law I would get some kickback, and I have… but the kickback does not stem from Scriptural exegesis. The kickback stems from humans thinking we can be stricter than the Almighty; that we have to apologize for something He allowed in His law.
We should trust in Yahweh with all your heart, and lean not to our own understanding. He doesn’t make mistakes, and He doesn’t accommodate sin. If He allows something it’s allowed. It must be practiced properly, yes, but we cannot condemn something Yahweh does not condemn, else we will be guilty of taking away from His instructions, a violation of Deuteronomy 4:2.
The Word “Slave”
I’ve had some people say that in Exodus 21 it’s better to say “indentured servant” or “bondservant” instead of “slave.” I think either of those are fine, but at the same time I don’t think the word slave is a bad word in and of itself, nor a bad translation. Several major scholarly translations use it here (NASB, NRSV, HCSB, LEB, ESV). I think that we’ve read of the abuse of slavery practiced in American and European history, and it’s hard to detach that abuse from the word itself. So please realize when I use the word slave or slavery, I am not okaying the stealing of a person and the selling of that person to someone who will abuse them. The law of Yahweh condemns that practice (we’ll see that as we go along in this chapter). When I use the word slave or slavery, I am trying my best to train your mind to think Biblically. You have to stop letting the world control how you think, and instead take your cue from Holy Scripture.
So Exodus 21:2 reads, “When you buy a Hebrew slave, he is to serve for six years; then in the seventh he is to leave as a free man without paying anything.”
This section is specifically about a Hebrew manservant. The Hebrew part is specified here in the verse (showing the Hebrews had servants among themselves). We know a male is in view here, because of the immediate context (vss. 2-6; this servant can acquire a wife), plus this section has a contrast with the maidservant laws in verses 7-11 (which we will get to in future studies).
The word slave is the Hebrew word ebed, and is used about 800x in Hebrew Scripture. All Hebrew lexicons give the words servant and slave as the primary definition. The meaning is that you have one person in authority and another person subject to that authority, who serves.
The person in authority is referred to as the master in verses 4-6 about six times, and each time the word master is used it’s the Hebrew word adon, which is the base word for adonai, a word used of Yahweh, the Supreme Master all throughout Hebrew Scripture.
Modern examples of a servant may range from a waiter at a restaurant to a hired hand on a farm. At the restaurant you are paying for food and service. You sit down and someone takes your order, makes your food, brings you your food, and cleans up after you are done. A bit stronger example would be a hired hand on a farm. One man - the owner or master of the farm - may provide room, food, pay, etc. and the worker (who serves the owner) provides know how and work. We now call this an employer to employee relationship, but it is still similar to the master-to-servant relationship in this text.
To Buy a Servant
Let’s look at the concept of buying a servant. Why would a person buy a Hebrew slave? One reason, and I think the primary reason, was as a means of helping someone poor or debt-ridden. It was a welfare system that helped a man in need rise from poverty to financial stability. The poor Hebrew would sell himself, entering into as much as a 6 year contract with his Hebrew master. Leviticus 25:39a speaks to this by saying, “If your brother among you becomes destitute and sells himself to you.”
So a fellow Hebrew is in poverty and needing a way out. The system of slavery regulated by Yahweh was a system whereby a poor person could rise up from poverty. This is important, the slavery system of Yahweh brought more of an equality among the Hebrews than an inequality. There was still a master and a slave, but the poor person who became a slave did not remain poor as his master provided for him all of the basic necessities of life in return for his labor.
A man may also be bought as a slave if he had stolen something, had no wealth, and needed to work to make restitution. We see this in Exodus 22:3b, “A thief must make full restitution. If he is unable, he is to be sold because of his theft.” Theft or stealing was not a capital crime in Israel, meaning death was not its punishment. Paying back at least double (sometimes more) was the punishment. We aren’t talking here about armed robbery, where a thief also has a desire to harm someone’s life, but rather what we might call petty theft or burglary.
So poverty, debt, and theft are the three reasons why a Hebrew might be bought by another Hebrew to be a manservant.
The Slave’s Release
At the end of verse 2 we see that the servant can choose to be released after 6 years of service, and at such time the slave has served the master lawfully and owes the master nothing at his release. Deuteronomy 15 actually tells us that if a slave chose to be released on the seventh year, the master was to give to him a financial gift.
12 “If your fellow Hebrew, a man or woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, you must set him free in the seventh year. 13 When you set him free, do not send him away empty-handed. 14 Give generously to him from your flock, your threshing floor, and your winepress. You are to give him whatever Yahweh your Mighty One has blessed you with. 15 Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and Yahweh your Mighty One redeemed you; that is why I am giving you this command today… 18 Do not regard it as a hardship when you set him free, because he worked for you six years — worth twice the wages of a hired worker. Then Yahweh your Mighty One will bless you in everything you do. (Deuteronomy 15:12-15, 18, HCSB)
This again shows the beautiful relationship or friendship between a good master and an obedient servant.
Arriving Married or Alone
Let’s move now to verses 3-4 in Exodus 21, “(3) If he arrives alone, he is to leave alone. If he arrives with a wife, his wife is to leave with him. (4) If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children belong to her master, and the man must leave alone.”
So the leaving here is done on the seventh year, and the first part of this we understand pretty easily. If he’s bought by the master while he’s alone, he leaves alone. If he’s bought while married (his wife comes along with him during his service), then he leaves with his wife. It’s verse 4 that we might balk at, because if his master gave him a wife while he was there serving (either a daughter or a maidservant in the household) the wife - and the children she bore to the Hebrew manservant - are to stay with the master. What’s up with that?
First thing… don’t lean to your own understanding. Remember that this is the perfect law of Yahweh. It’s not submitting to Yahweh’s Word when we only submit when we like one law but buck when we dislike another law. So whether or not we understand the why behind Yahweh’s instructions, we must trust our Father in heaven that He knows best and has a good reason for commanding what He commands.
Second thing… we forget that in Hebrew culture it was required for a man to prove he could provide for his wife-to-be, oftentimes done with a dowry given to girl’s father. The husband was to be the provider. He acquired the food while the wife prepared the food. He acquired the fabric or material while the wife made clothing out of that material. The husband provided the home while the wife was the keeper or caretaker of that home. And this is how it has been throughout most of history, and definitely in Hebrew culture. Families were overseen by a good, holy man of Yahweh who would love and take care of his family.
So when this Hebrew man became a servant he had just about nothing. When he was given a wife by his master during his time of service he did not have to prove to a father that he could provide for a woman, because he himself was being provided for by his master.
A Little on Parental Honor
I know in our culture we are getting away from this idea of a girl being under her father’s authority until she is married, but it’s a bad getting away from not a good getting away from. Thankfully some young men still have a proper upbringing where they go to a young woman’s father and ask for her hand in marriage. We still see this at some weddings where it is asked, “Who gives this woman to be married to this man?” and the father of the bride says I do, or “her mother and I.” Some people still recognize parental authority, that the fifth commandment is to be obeyed which says, “Honor thy father and thy mother.” Modern culture wants to say “No, I’m my own person, it doesn’t matter what my parents say.” Hebrew culture says, “Your parents love you so much. They’ve been through all of this in their own lives. Yes, you are your own person, but listen to a good father and mother if they don’t think a person is fit to be married to.”
Wife and Children Need Care
So because this Hebrew manservant came in with nothing, and was given a wife while he himself was being provided for, Yahweh saw it better for the woman and children she bore to stay with the master, so that their care would be guaranteed. In this case I must point out that the children stay with the mother here, not the father. In most cases - not all but most - a mother is the better caretaker of children than the father. Now I’m a father, and I love my children, but I fully admit that Yahweh placed some attributes in Tisha than just aren’t in me. Men and women are different, they are not identical. One time Paul wrote to the Thessalonians about a gentle mother who nurtures her children. He used a mother for a reason.
The Option to Stay
But… and here’s my favorite part… Yahweh gave the Hebrew manservant another option. Look at verses 5-6, “(5) But if the slave declares: ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I do not want to leave as a free man,’ (6) his master is to bring him to the judges and then bring him to the door or doorpost. His master must pierce his ear with an awl and he will serve his master for life.”
In verse 5 we see just how good a master to slave relationship could be, and I tend to think that this would have happened in most cases, especially where the manservant was given a wife during his time of service. The slave here loves not just his wife and children, but he loves his master, his adon. “I enjoy working for you. I appreciate all you’ve done for me. I love you my master.” I can picture them hugging each other. The master has done well. He’s provided for and taken care of his servant. The servant has done well. He’s worked hard and done his master a good job. He doesn’t want to leave on the seventh year even though he’s free to go.
Judges or Elohim?
So… the master brings him to the judges. The word judges here is the word elohim, and some people think that means it should read “the master brings him to God.” Well, God - or Yahweh - is up in heaven folks. The master is not riding a cloud with his servant, up to heaven. What’s taking place here is that the judges of Israel act in the place of Elohim upon the earth. They are Elohim’s representatives who dictate and carry out Yahweh’s Torah in the civil body politic of Israel. So they are called elohim, mighty ones, in the sense that they work uniquely for THE Mighty One.
Piercing the Ear
The judges then bring the Hebrew manservant to the door of the master’s house (some say the door of the Tabernacle or Temple), and the master pierces the slave’s ear with an awl (which is a piercing tool), and the purpose here was for an earring. A lot of the women here know that if you get your ears pierced, but stop wearing a ring in the hole, what happens? The hole closes up. Before long you can’t even tell it was pierced. So this was not just a hole made in the Hebrew manservant’s ear that would disappear later. It was to be a forever sign. A ring would be placed in the ear as a marker for lifelong service to his master.
Some might say a man wearing an earring is queer, gay, feminine, etc. Not according to this text. Some say men or women shouldn’t wear earrings because it’s a mark of slavery. Well… this particular earring is a mark of slavery, but I want to ask you… is it a bad mark or good mark? According to the text it’s a good mark. If you saw this man walking around back in ancient Israel you would think, “Now there goes a good man who works hard and loves his master, his wife, and his children. Yahweh bless him!”
Psalm 40’s Opened Ear
Now, let me show you something from Psalm 40:6, 8, and I’ll read here from the KJV, “Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required… (8) I delight to do they will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.”
The context here is about keeping the Torah from the heart and not just relying on sacrifices and offerings. But, I want to focus on the word picture given here, “mine ears hast thou opened.” I don’t know about you, but my ears are already opened. I’ve got a hole in each of them, lol. So most people think it’s speaking spiritually, opening your spiritual ears to hear, and that’s a good point, but there’s more.
The more literal reading here is found in the Douay-Reims Bible and Aramaic Bible in Plain English, “But thou hast pierced the ears for me.” The NRSV reads, “But you have given me an open ear.” E.W. Bullinger comments on Exodus 21:6 by saying, “Bore his ear, hence a symbol of obedience and perpetual servitude, compare Psalm 40:6; Isaiah 48:8; Isaiah 50:5.” I don’t have the time to go over all of them, but listen to Isaiah 50:5 which says, “Adonai Yahweh has opened my ear; and I was not rebellious; I did not turn back.”
The opening of the ear is equivalent to being submissive to Yahweh which hearkens back to Exodus 21:6 where the slave’s ear was opened or bored through with an awl. It’s a sign of submissiveness and obedience. It’s a sign of someone who wants to serve their master because through the ear is where we Shema - where we listen with the intent to obey. So Psalm 40:6 (I think) is best seen as meaning “You have given me an open ear by literally opening it with an awl as a sign of my perpetual service to you to listen and be obedient to my good master.”
Matthew Henry, the old, Puritan commentator writes in part that this law explains “the obligation which the great Redeemer laid upon himself to prosecute the work of our salvation, for he says (Psa 40:6), My ears hast thou opened, which seems to allude to this law. He loved his Father, and his captive spouse, and the children that were given him, and would not go out free from his undertaking, but engaged to serve in it for ever, Isa 42:1, Isa 42:4.” Yeshua was the greatest Hebrew manservant of all. He perfectly obeyed His Master, Almighty Yahweh. If we downplay the slavery laws in Torah we are downplaying the person and work of Yeshua.
Conclusion
This is the Torah of Yahweh. This is part of the book of the law that should not depart from your mouth. This is what we are to be studying, and learning to practice.
Why teach on this text? Well first off it’s here in the Bible as part of Yahweh’s law. That should be good enough. But realize that the law here teaches us about proper relationships. How we should be kind to even the least of us. How we should give to the poor. How we should respect authority. How we should serve someone who treats us well. How that family is important. And how Yeshua himself models perfect servanthood and through being a servant saves us from our sins. All of this is found in these slavery laws Yahweh gives in His inspired Word that no one wants to talk about. It’s amazing isn’t it? His Word is alive!
"Selling One's Daughter as a Servant" (Exodus 21:7-8)
Read Exodus 21:2-6 & 7-11 :: If last week’s text made the hair on the back of modern culture’s neck stand up, the text for this week makes the hair on their toes stand up. Just that first line, “When a man sells his daughter as a slave,” will make a lot of people stop listening or reading right from the start. “How is that even ethical? What kind of book are you reading?” These are some of the responses we get from objectors.
What we’re looking at today is one of those texts that people who have never read the Bible (much less studied it) like to bring up because they heard someone say “the Bible teaches a father can sell his daughter into slavery,” (with zero Scriptural or Hebrew culture context). They once heard this said, got triggered, and now they repeat it every time someone tries to convince them the Bible is a good or holy book.
Our job as servants of Yahweh is not only to (1) believe the law, and (2) practice the law (to whatever capacity we are able), but also to (3) give these people a proper understanding of the law. We need to realize that whenever we meet someone who hates the Almighty, it is an opportunity to show that person His love, and part of that is explaining about just how loving Yahweh’s law is. You need to always resist the urge to argue with an unbeliever or objector. By argue I mean blurting out things back-and-forth which gets nowhere. Instead, be humble, listen to what they say, give them the opportunity to “let it all out,” and then gently offer them the correct perspective, especially on a text like this.
Contrasting Sections
So, right at the beginning here I want you to recall that last week’s text (in verses 2-6) is speaking only of a Hebrew manservant. We know that from the part about him entering into servitude with a wife, or having a wife given to him by his master. But I think even more importantly we also get that from a straight reading of verses 2-11 as a whole, because when verse 7 starts it comes right off the heels of verse 6 by saying (KJV) “And if a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant she shall not go out as the menservants do.” There’s a contrast here between the ebed (manservant) of verses 2-6 and the amah (maidservant) of verses 7-11.
Amah is the Hebrew word for maidservant here. Other Bibles translate the word as handmaid, bondwoman, or just “female servant.” As we see here the HCSB continues to use the word slave, as does the NASB and NRSV, two top-notch word-for-word English translations of the Bible. So female slave is not incorrect, but let me unpack the context a bit.
Scholarly Divide
The word amah is used about 56 times in the Hebrew Bible, and there is a divide in the scholarly world as to whether this word applies to a servant or a wife. T. Desmond Alexander writes in his commentary on Exodus (p. 475), “While it is possible to argue that the term amah is merely the female equivalent of ebed, a survey of how amah is used in the OT reveals that it is frequently closely associated with marriage… Schultz draws this out by contrasting the use of amah with that of sipha, the other Hebrew term for a female slave… Uncertainty regarding the exact status of an amah is highlighted by Avigad in discussing an ancient Hebrew tomb inscription, which records that the tomb contains the bones of the man and ‘the bones of his amah with him… Legally, the amah was a bondwoman, but in practice her rank in the household depended entirely upon the position her master wished to give her.’”
This Section Deals with a Wife
If you look at Exodus 21:7-11, the purpose of this transaction was so that the man’s daughter would become either the wife of the master’s son (vs. 9) or the master’s wife (vs. 10). Remember that words by their-self mean nothing (Example = bat [animal, baseball, bat her eyes; noun or verb). Words receive their meaning by the context in which they are used. In this case I believe the amah is meant to become a wife.
In verse 7b it teaches “she is not to leave as the manservant (ebed) does.” The manservant in verses 2-6 serves for 6 years and then has the liberty to leave in the 7th year. Exodus 21:7 tells us this is not what happens with this amah. Why? Because the purpose of her being sold is to become a permanent wife in the home.
The Reason for this is Crucial
Why would a father sell his daughter to be an amah? Think back to my last lesson on the primary reason one Hebrew man would buy another Hebrew man for a servant - in order to lift that man out of poverty. What this dad is doing here is looking out for his daughter and seeing a better life for his daughter. He is not selling her to be trafficked by lawless humans. He is not selling her to be beaten or have no will of her own. He is selling her in order to lift her up from the poor status she is in to a high status in the community of Israel.
For a modern illustration or concept of this, think of when someone places their child up for adoption, because they live at the poverty level and want something better for their child. They want a stable and successful family to come along and buy this child in order to adopt him or her into the family to be provided for well.
Normally poor people marry other poor people and rich people marry other rich people. So the poor stay poor and the rich stay rich. One of Yahweh’s solutions to this social dilemma is to place within His law the availability of selling one’s daughter away to a wealthy family so that she becomes financially stable, and there is nothing wrong with that desire. In general even today, when a woman looks for a husband, is not one thing she should look for is a man who is willing to work to provide for her and their future family?
Marrying a Man Who Won’t Work
I’ve done jobs for dads before who complain to me (because people like to vent) that their daughter married a man who won’t work. The man just sits around the house watching TV all day, drinking beer, and eating the food that the wife brings home because she’s the only one who works. They live in dad’s rental house for basically nothing, and the dad doesn’t want to kick them out because it’s his daughter who is trying her best to stay afloat. But he can’t do anything about the lazy son-in-law (because once a rat moves in it’s hard to get him out). I’ve actually witnessed a heated argument (in the front yard) between a dad and son-in-law like this first-hand. It’s an ugly thing.
Financial Security
My point here is that it is okay for a woman to seek financial security. That doesn’t mean filet mignon every night… but it does mean a good house, car, food, clothing, and even nice things to pretty up her life. Torah prescribes that a man be the primary provider in the home. Remember the man brings home the meat and vegetables, the woman cooks the meat and vegetables. The man provides the fabric, the woman sews the fabric. That’s how it worked in Hebrew society.
So this dad sees a good, righteous family, better off than he is, and he sells his daughter into this family, not to primarily better himself, but to make sure his daughter is set for the rest of her life.
Ruth and Boaz
This is similar to what took place between Boaz and Ruth. Now Ruth didn’t have a good dad close by, but she did have a righteous mother-in-law, Naomi. Ruth clung to Naomi saying, “Your people will be my people, and your Elohim will be my Elohim.” They were poor, so much so that they went behind Boaz’s hired reapers in order to glean the leftovers of the harvest. Boaz took a liking to Ruth, and told his workers to leave extra for her. Now Boaz was kin to Naomi on her deceased husband’s side, and don’t you think for once second that Naomi didn’t know what she was doing in setting up Ruth to be around Boaz. Boaz was a prominent man of noble character, and Naomi knew that young, poor Ruth would be safe and stable with a man like Boaz.
Naomi even tells her (Ruth 3:1-3, CEV): “One day, Naomi said to Ruth: It's time I found you a husband, who will give you a home and take care of you. You have been picking up grain alongside the women who work for Boaz, and you know he is relative of ours. Tonight he will be threshing the grain. Now take a bath and put on some perfume, then dress in your best clothes. Go where he is working, but don’t let him see you until he has finished eating and drinking.” That’s a smart Mama.
So Ruth secretly approaches Boaz while he’s asleep, uncovers his feet and lays over them and says, “I am Ruth your handmaid (amah): spread your skirt over your handmaid; for you are a near kinsman.” She’s basically asking him to marry her here.
Exodus 21:7’s Main Point
The main point here in Exodus 21:7-11 is protection for the man’s daughter. That first line in verse 7 - “when a man sells his daughter as a slave” - sounds rough by itself without any context, but when we slow down and understand Hebrew culture it begins to unfold into something beautiful and loving for this female. Legally the girl became an amah (maidservant, handmaid), but the status of an amah could be as high as a wife for the master of the house.
More Proof She’s a Wife
Look now at verse 8: “If she (the amah) is displeasing to her master, who chose her for himself, then he must let her be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to foreigners because he has acted treacherously toward her.”
It’s considered an act of treachery if the master who purchased the female decides he doesn’t want to keep her. He has to let her be bought back into her family. He can’t sell her to any outsiders. That same phrase “act(ed) treacherously” is used in Malachi 2:10-16 a total of 5x in reference to Israelite men putting away their wives without a bill of divorce while going after heathen women. The point I’m making is that I think both places, Exodus and Malachi, are marriage contexts, therefore getting rid of the woman in both Exodus and Malachi is considered a treacherous act, which is defined as being deceitful or unfaithful. The huge point here is that Yahweh is protecting the female in His law.
What about Deuteronomy’s Amah?
A question arises concerning where this law is repeated in Deuteronomy 15:12-18. Last week we read this, but only centered in on the part about how the master was required to give his Hebrew manservant a bonus check at the end of his service on the 7th year. But in the Deuteronomy text, it is not only the manservant in view but also the maidservant, and the 6 years of work and 7th year of release also applies to her.
If your fellow Hebrew, a man or a woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, you must set him free in the seventh year. (13) When you set him free, do not send him away empty-handed. (14) Give generously to him from your flock, your threshing floor, and your wine press. You are to give him whatever Yahweh your Mighty One has blessed you with. (15) Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and Yahweh your Mighty One redeemed you; that is why I am giving you this command today. (16) But if your slave says to you, “I don’t want to leave you,” because he loves you and your family, and is well off with you, (17) take an awl and pierce through his ear into the door, and he will become your slave for life. Also treat your female slave the same way. (18) Do not regard it as a hardship when you set him free, because he worked for you six years - worth twice the wages of a hired hand. Then Yahweh your Mighty One will bless you in everything you do. (Deuteronomy 15:12-18, HCSB)
So we see a Hebrew woman mentioned in verse 12 and then she’s called a “female slave” in verse 17, she goes through the same procedure as the male slave (6 years of service, 7th year release). The phrase “female slave” here is… amah. But the difference between here and Exodus 21:7-11 is the purpose for which the master bought the amah. Remember, legally an amah was a maidservant, but the master of the house could purchase an amah for a servant around the house, or to be joined to him as a wife. Either way she was taken care of. The commentary I quoted earlier mentioned an ancient Hebrew tomb inscription where a man and his amah were buried right beside each other. In that case, the amah was most likely his beloved bride.
I want to point out here that if the amah wasn’t purchased to be a wife for the master or his son, she might still be given as a wife to a Hebrew manservant; remember Exodus 21:4 where the master gives the ebed a wife and she bears children and starts a family.
Conclusion
Isn’t Yahweh’s law amazing when we take the time to actually understand it properly? When you spend a lot of time dissecting the Torah’s original intent it makes you say like King David, “Oh how love I thy law! It is my meditation all the day!”
A wise sage named Rabbi Elazar once said, “Be diligent in the study of the Torah so that you know how to give an answer to an unbeliever.” The Apostle Peter says basically the same thing in 1 Peter 3:15-16 when he wrote, “Always be ready to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you, however, do this with gentleness and respect.” How will we always be ready if we haven’t diligently studied?
My lessons through Exodus are sermons, but I try to make my sermons somewhat like a Bible class where you learn something each time. It’s okay to preach a sermon to encourage people and excite people in our faith, but we should always be learning the Bible better, and then obtaining a good understanding. Good understanding brings better obedience.
In this lesson we’ve learned that Yahweh loves his daughters. He cares for and looks out for women, to the point of writing laws that specifically detail how a woman is to be treated. We’ve seen that as fathers and mothers here on the earth we should imitate Yahweh and look out for our daughters. We’ve also continued to see the beautiful servanthood laws of Yahweh are designed to lift up the poor from poverty and give them the opportunity to succeed financially in life. All of this is right here in this book, if people would only slow down and read - and study - what it says. We’ll continue in verses 9-11 next time.
What we’re looking at today is one of those texts that people who have never read the Bible (much less studied it) like to bring up because they heard someone say “the Bible teaches a father can sell his daughter into slavery,” (with zero Scriptural or Hebrew culture context). They once heard this said, got triggered, and now they repeat it every time someone tries to convince them the Bible is a good or holy book.
Our job as servants of Yahweh is not only to (1) believe the law, and (2) practice the law (to whatever capacity we are able), but also to (3) give these people a proper understanding of the law. We need to realize that whenever we meet someone who hates the Almighty, it is an opportunity to show that person His love, and part of that is explaining about just how loving Yahweh’s law is. You need to always resist the urge to argue with an unbeliever or objector. By argue I mean blurting out things back-and-forth which gets nowhere. Instead, be humble, listen to what they say, give them the opportunity to “let it all out,” and then gently offer them the correct perspective, especially on a text like this.
Contrasting Sections
So, right at the beginning here I want you to recall that last week’s text (in verses 2-6) is speaking only of a Hebrew manservant. We know that from the part about him entering into servitude with a wife, or having a wife given to him by his master. But I think even more importantly we also get that from a straight reading of verses 2-11 as a whole, because when verse 7 starts it comes right off the heels of verse 6 by saying (KJV) “And if a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant she shall not go out as the menservants do.” There’s a contrast here between the ebed (manservant) of verses 2-6 and the amah (maidservant) of verses 7-11.
Amah is the Hebrew word for maidservant here. Other Bibles translate the word as handmaid, bondwoman, or just “female servant.” As we see here the HCSB continues to use the word slave, as does the NASB and NRSV, two top-notch word-for-word English translations of the Bible. So female slave is not incorrect, but let me unpack the context a bit.
Scholarly Divide
The word amah is used about 56 times in the Hebrew Bible, and there is a divide in the scholarly world as to whether this word applies to a servant or a wife. T. Desmond Alexander writes in his commentary on Exodus (p. 475), “While it is possible to argue that the term amah is merely the female equivalent of ebed, a survey of how amah is used in the OT reveals that it is frequently closely associated with marriage… Schultz draws this out by contrasting the use of amah with that of sipha, the other Hebrew term for a female slave… Uncertainty regarding the exact status of an amah is highlighted by Avigad in discussing an ancient Hebrew tomb inscription, which records that the tomb contains the bones of the man and ‘the bones of his amah with him… Legally, the amah was a bondwoman, but in practice her rank in the household depended entirely upon the position her master wished to give her.’”
This Section Deals with a Wife
If you look at Exodus 21:7-11, the purpose of this transaction was so that the man’s daughter would become either the wife of the master’s son (vs. 9) or the master’s wife (vs. 10). Remember that words by their-self mean nothing (Example = bat [animal, baseball, bat her eyes; noun or verb). Words receive their meaning by the context in which they are used. In this case I believe the amah is meant to become a wife.
In verse 7b it teaches “she is not to leave as the manservant (ebed) does.” The manservant in verses 2-6 serves for 6 years and then has the liberty to leave in the 7th year. Exodus 21:7 tells us this is not what happens with this amah. Why? Because the purpose of her being sold is to become a permanent wife in the home.
The Reason for this is Crucial
Why would a father sell his daughter to be an amah? Think back to my last lesson on the primary reason one Hebrew man would buy another Hebrew man for a servant - in order to lift that man out of poverty. What this dad is doing here is looking out for his daughter and seeing a better life for his daughter. He is not selling her to be trafficked by lawless humans. He is not selling her to be beaten or have no will of her own. He is selling her in order to lift her up from the poor status she is in to a high status in the community of Israel.
For a modern illustration or concept of this, think of when someone places their child up for adoption, because they live at the poverty level and want something better for their child. They want a stable and successful family to come along and buy this child in order to adopt him or her into the family to be provided for well.
Normally poor people marry other poor people and rich people marry other rich people. So the poor stay poor and the rich stay rich. One of Yahweh’s solutions to this social dilemma is to place within His law the availability of selling one’s daughter away to a wealthy family so that she becomes financially stable, and there is nothing wrong with that desire. In general even today, when a woman looks for a husband, is not one thing she should look for is a man who is willing to work to provide for her and their future family?
Marrying a Man Who Won’t Work
I’ve done jobs for dads before who complain to me (because people like to vent) that their daughter married a man who won’t work. The man just sits around the house watching TV all day, drinking beer, and eating the food that the wife brings home because she’s the only one who works. They live in dad’s rental house for basically nothing, and the dad doesn’t want to kick them out because it’s his daughter who is trying her best to stay afloat. But he can’t do anything about the lazy son-in-law (because once a rat moves in it’s hard to get him out). I’ve actually witnessed a heated argument (in the front yard) between a dad and son-in-law like this first-hand. It’s an ugly thing.
Financial Security
My point here is that it is okay for a woman to seek financial security. That doesn’t mean filet mignon every night… but it does mean a good house, car, food, clothing, and even nice things to pretty up her life. Torah prescribes that a man be the primary provider in the home. Remember the man brings home the meat and vegetables, the woman cooks the meat and vegetables. The man provides the fabric, the woman sews the fabric. That’s how it worked in Hebrew society.
So this dad sees a good, righteous family, better off than he is, and he sells his daughter into this family, not to primarily better himself, but to make sure his daughter is set for the rest of her life.
Ruth and Boaz
This is similar to what took place between Boaz and Ruth. Now Ruth didn’t have a good dad close by, but she did have a righteous mother-in-law, Naomi. Ruth clung to Naomi saying, “Your people will be my people, and your Elohim will be my Elohim.” They were poor, so much so that they went behind Boaz’s hired reapers in order to glean the leftovers of the harvest. Boaz took a liking to Ruth, and told his workers to leave extra for her. Now Boaz was kin to Naomi on her deceased husband’s side, and don’t you think for once second that Naomi didn’t know what she was doing in setting up Ruth to be around Boaz. Boaz was a prominent man of noble character, and Naomi knew that young, poor Ruth would be safe and stable with a man like Boaz.
Naomi even tells her (Ruth 3:1-3, CEV): “One day, Naomi said to Ruth: It's time I found you a husband, who will give you a home and take care of you. You have been picking up grain alongside the women who work for Boaz, and you know he is relative of ours. Tonight he will be threshing the grain. Now take a bath and put on some perfume, then dress in your best clothes. Go where he is working, but don’t let him see you until he has finished eating and drinking.” That’s a smart Mama.
So Ruth secretly approaches Boaz while he’s asleep, uncovers his feet and lays over them and says, “I am Ruth your handmaid (amah): spread your skirt over your handmaid; for you are a near kinsman.” She’s basically asking him to marry her here.
Exodus 21:7’s Main Point
The main point here in Exodus 21:7-11 is protection for the man’s daughter. That first line in verse 7 - “when a man sells his daughter as a slave” - sounds rough by itself without any context, but when we slow down and understand Hebrew culture it begins to unfold into something beautiful and loving for this female. Legally the girl became an amah (maidservant, handmaid), but the status of an amah could be as high as a wife for the master of the house.
More Proof She’s a Wife
Look now at verse 8: “If she (the amah) is displeasing to her master, who chose her for himself, then he must let her be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to foreigners because he has acted treacherously toward her.”
It’s considered an act of treachery if the master who purchased the female decides he doesn’t want to keep her. He has to let her be bought back into her family. He can’t sell her to any outsiders. That same phrase “act(ed) treacherously” is used in Malachi 2:10-16 a total of 5x in reference to Israelite men putting away their wives without a bill of divorce while going after heathen women. The point I’m making is that I think both places, Exodus and Malachi, are marriage contexts, therefore getting rid of the woman in both Exodus and Malachi is considered a treacherous act, which is defined as being deceitful or unfaithful. The huge point here is that Yahweh is protecting the female in His law.
What about Deuteronomy’s Amah?
A question arises concerning where this law is repeated in Deuteronomy 15:12-18. Last week we read this, but only centered in on the part about how the master was required to give his Hebrew manservant a bonus check at the end of his service on the 7th year. But in the Deuteronomy text, it is not only the manservant in view but also the maidservant, and the 6 years of work and 7th year of release also applies to her.
If your fellow Hebrew, a man or a woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, you must set him free in the seventh year. (13) When you set him free, do not send him away empty-handed. (14) Give generously to him from your flock, your threshing floor, and your wine press. You are to give him whatever Yahweh your Mighty One has blessed you with. (15) Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and Yahweh your Mighty One redeemed you; that is why I am giving you this command today. (16) But if your slave says to you, “I don’t want to leave you,” because he loves you and your family, and is well off with you, (17) take an awl and pierce through his ear into the door, and he will become your slave for life. Also treat your female slave the same way. (18) Do not regard it as a hardship when you set him free, because he worked for you six years - worth twice the wages of a hired hand. Then Yahweh your Mighty One will bless you in everything you do. (Deuteronomy 15:12-18, HCSB)
So we see a Hebrew woman mentioned in verse 12 and then she’s called a “female slave” in verse 17, she goes through the same procedure as the male slave (6 years of service, 7th year release). The phrase “female slave” here is… amah. But the difference between here and Exodus 21:7-11 is the purpose for which the master bought the amah. Remember, legally an amah was a maidservant, but the master of the house could purchase an amah for a servant around the house, or to be joined to him as a wife. Either way she was taken care of. The commentary I quoted earlier mentioned an ancient Hebrew tomb inscription where a man and his amah were buried right beside each other. In that case, the amah was most likely his beloved bride.
I want to point out here that if the amah wasn’t purchased to be a wife for the master or his son, she might still be given as a wife to a Hebrew manservant; remember Exodus 21:4 where the master gives the ebed a wife and she bears children and starts a family.
Conclusion
Isn’t Yahweh’s law amazing when we take the time to actually understand it properly? When you spend a lot of time dissecting the Torah’s original intent it makes you say like King David, “Oh how love I thy law! It is my meditation all the day!”
A wise sage named Rabbi Elazar once said, “Be diligent in the study of the Torah so that you know how to give an answer to an unbeliever.” The Apostle Peter says basically the same thing in 1 Peter 3:15-16 when he wrote, “Always be ready to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you, however, do this with gentleness and respect.” How will we always be ready if we haven’t diligently studied?
My lessons through Exodus are sermons, but I try to make my sermons somewhat like a Bible class where you learn something each time. It’s okay to preach a sermon to encourage people and excite people in our faith, but we should always be learning the Bible better, and then obtaining a good understanding. Good understanding brings better obedience.
In this lesson we’ve learned that Yahweh loves his daughters. He cares for and looks out for women, to the point of writing laws that specifically detail how a woman is to be treated. We’ve seen that as fathers and mothers here on the earth we should imitate Yahweh and look out for our daughters. We’ve also continued to see the beautiful servanthood laws of Yahweh are designed to lift up the poor from poverty and give them the opportunity to succeed financially in life. All of this is right here in this book, if people would only slow down and read - and study - what it says. We’ll continue in verses 9-11 next time.
“The Proper Treatment of a Wife” (Exodus 21:9-11)
Read Exodus 21:7-11 :: Since I taught the last message I’ve had several people comment or reach out to me saying that they appreciated the exegesis and understand much better what is going on here. That makes me happy - I enjoy seeing people gain a better understanding of what so many call a difficult text in Scripture.
I actually don’t think it’s that difficult, It’s just that we often come to the Bible with our own biases and presuppositions, and sometimes we aren’t ready to trust in Yahweh. I want to encourage you to let go of what you think or feel. We each carry with us a certain mindset due to how we were raised, where we lived growing up, who we hung around. It’s not that all of that is bad, but… some of it is bad, lol.
Example of Biased Mindsets
I was raised eating pork, not so much from my parents but from my grandparents. Bacon or country ham was a staple breakfast food. The first time someone ever told me that it was a sin to eat pork I thought it was silly. It seemed so normal to me because I’d always done it. But what about the first time I found out that eating squirrel dumplings or fried frog legs was normal to some people? Even as a pork-eater that sounded gross. But for a lot of people in the south, squirrel and frog are eaten right along with pig, and they think nothing of it because… they were raised that way.
You see my point? We all have thoughts, feelings, emotional attachments to different ways of living, and I’m encouraging you to let all of that go, try your best to begin with a blank slate, and let Yahweh lead and guide you by His word, specifically His law.
Is Your Heart the Law Now?
Some people say, “Well, God wrote His law on my heart under the New Covenant, and my heart does not sit well with Exodus 21:7-11.” I suggest to you that if your heart doesn’t sit right with this law, the Almighty has not written His law on your heart. Too often people twist the New Covenant promise - Yahweh’s law on our hearts - into our heart now being the law. Do you see the subtle twist there? Christians think in their minds that they can just follow their own heart and it will lead them in the right direction, but that’s not the New Covenant promise. The New Covenant promise - that actually hasn’t been completely fulfilled yet - is that Yahweh writes His law (including Exodus 21:7-11) upon your heart and mind, so that you fully obey it and don’t need anyone to teach you anymore. That fully happens at the resurrection, but for now on the earth we get a down-payment, and it’s an on-going process.
So we can’t go by what we think or feel, else one person’s heart will say “Let’s have squirrel dumplings for supper,” and another person’s heart might say, “We don’t have to keep the Sabbath, Jesus is our rest.” Yet another person’s heart might say, “Well I’m good with the Sabbath, but I just can’t go along with a man selling his daughter to be an amah.” All of that is trying to be wise in your own eyes. You’ve got to learn to love Yahweh’s law. You’ve got to train your mind to think like the Creator.
Verse 9 (Treatment of Daughters)
So I’ll pick it up with verse 9 today, and hopefully we’ll make it through verse 11. Look at verse 9: “Or if he chooses her for his son, he must deal with her according to the customary treatment of daughters.”
Remember that the reason the father sold his daughter into another family to be an amah, and the reason she would not leave as the ebed (manservant) does on the 7th year, is because she was intended to become a wife in a new family. We saw that from verse 8 where if the master of the house was displeased with her it was an act of treachery, and he had to let her be redeemed back into her original family. Yahweh is protecting the female.
But verse 9 shows that the master of the house may have bought her in order to give her to his son in marriage. So verse 8 and 9 give us two options. The master could choose her for himself (as a wife) or the master could choose her for his son (in which case she becomes the daughter-in-law of the master, an honorary daughter).
When my sons, Benjamin and Elijah, got married, I gained two daughters, Angel and Cassandra. Technically they are my daughters-in-law (by marriage), but I now treat them as my honorary daughters, even though I didn’t father them. So if they call me and need something, I help them in whatever way I can. I give them a hug, I tell them I love them… all that is the customary treatment of daughters, because they are married to my sons. That’s what’s going on here in verse 9. The master chooses the amah for his son to marry, and she becomes a new daughter to the master, so he treats her thus.
Verse 10 (Additional Wife)
But what about verse 10? Look at it: “If he (the master; follow the “he” from verses 8 and 9) takes an additional wife, he must not reduce the food, clothing, or marital rights of the first wife.” So this sounds like the master is allowed to have more than one wife, and that is a big red flag for people in the world, because “How dare we believe a book that says it’s okay for a man to have two wives.
The World’s “Standard”
You know what’s weird to me, our society as a whole - out in the world - believes it’s okay for a (1) man to be married to another man or a (2) woman to be married to another woman. They also think it’s okay for a (3) man or woman to just sleep around outside of marriage with the consent of anyone and everyone that wants to do that.
They also think it’s okay for (4) men to dress up like a drag queen and sit in front of a group of children and read story books. They also think it’s okay for a (5) man to “change his identity” and become a woman, and then they nominate that person to be woman of the year (Bruce “Caitlyn” Jenner) even though he is a biological male. They also think a (6) woman can turn herself into a man, and then be involved with whoever she/he wants to be involved with, and they shout “love is love” through all of this…
But… don’t you dare say that it’s okay for a man to have two wives. No, that’s not allowed, and many in the world will tell you it’s sick and misogynistic to believe such.
The only reason I can come up with - why people in the world will allow and celebrate all that other stuff but not allow and celebrate polygyny (a man having more than one wife) - is because it is allowed and regulated in Holy Scripture. Their heart is hard and calloused, and their mind is warped to the point that they will celebrate all those other relationships (which are all sinful according to Yahweh’s law) but condemn a man with two wives (which although not commanded in Scripture, is allowed).
And by the way, the worldly phrase “love is love” is wrong. The proper phrase is “love is keeping the commandments of Yahweh.”
Only When People Ask Me
Now… I normally never bring this subject up with anyone, because people have a hard time letting go of their emotions here, so I only comment on this when a person asks me what I think, and at that point I cannot speak against what Yahweh teaches in His Word. I do realize that this subject makes women of today, even holy women, uncomfortable, and I don’t believe a man should throw this teaching in his wife’s face. At the same time if a man and woman get married, and they both understand this teaching, and the first wife knows from the start that the man may acquire another wife in the future, there is nothing sinful with that.
It is also fine for a man and woman to vow to each other in a monogamous marriage, and stay true to that vow. It is also fine for a man or woman to be single, and remain single for their entire life. All of these are allowances within the standard of Yahweh’s law.
Before we exegete Exodus 21:10, I want to take a few minutes to talk about some of the approved examples of polygyny in Scripture. We often read about it in the Older Testament, but it never dawns on us that, “Hey, this was okay in Yahweh’s eyes.”
Abram, Sarai, and Hagar
Turn to Genesis 16… here, Abram and Sarai were married but had no children, she was barren. Sarai had an Egyptian servant named Hagar, and Sarai said to Abram (Gen. 16:2) “Since Yahweh has prevented me from bearing children, go to my servant; perhaps I can have children by her. And Abram agreed to what Sarai said. (3) So Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar, her Egyptian servant, and gave her to her husband Abram as a wife for him.” At that point Abram had two wives, Sarai and Hagar.
Now it is true that after Hagar became pregnant - Sarai resented her, but the resentment stemmed from the very thing Sarai wanted to happen in the first place! Hagar did walk around though looking down on Sarai after she became pregnant, so there was a feud between the two wives.
Some people say that a man having multiple wives is wrong because whenever it was done in Scripture it always caused problems. Well… I don’t know of any marriage that hasn’t had any problems in it. I have people contact me for marriage counseling all the time, and all of them are monogamous marriages. We are all flesh so we are all gonna’ have spats and problems from time-to-time.
I could teach an entire sermon on Genesis 16, but the main point here is that this is what happened, and it happened without any inkling of Yahweh looking down on the practice, or saying it was sinful. It is true that we can’t just look at what people did in Scripture and automatically think it’s okay (many times Yahweh’s people did wrong). But when one of Yahweh’s people, like father Abraham, does something - and it is not condemned but spoken of as normal, customary practice - then we can know for certain it’s an approved example.
Jacob’s Wives
Let’s move from here and turn to Genesis 29 and 30 (beginning around 29:13) with Abraham’s grandson Jacob, many of you know the account. Jacob meets up with Laban, and Laban has two daughters, Leah and Rachel. Jacob fell in love with Rachel and agreed to work for Laban for seven years for her (that’s true love right there y’all, seven years?!). The text says that the seven years only seemed like a few days because he loved her so much.
So they hold a wedding feast, and there is drinking and dancing, but Laban held back Rachel and instead gave Leah to Jacob after the feast. Jacob and Leah slept together that night, but Jacob didn’t notice in was Leah until the morning. Some have explained this by the sisters being twins, or that Jacob had drunk a lot of wine at the feast, or maybe Leah had a veil covering her face during the feast. What we do know for sure is that Laban tricked Jacob, but when Jacob approached him Laban answered (Gen. 29:26-27), “It is not the custom in this place to give the younger [daughter in marriage] before the firstborn (they could have still been twins). (27) Complete this week [of wedding celebration], and we will also give you this [younger] one in return for working yet another seven years for me.” Laban is getting a lot of labor out of this young man let me tell you!
Jacob was given Rachel after that week, but he had to work another seven years still, and Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah. This does not mean that Jacob didn’t love Leah, he just had the initial preference for Rachel. And all this takes place without the slightest hint of Jacob having two wives being sinful, or weird, or wrong, or anything negative. But there’s more…
The Handmaids (KJV)
When Laban gave his daughters away in marriage, he also gave each daughter a servant-girl (or KJV = handmaid) to help them around the house. Leah was given Zilpah and Rachel was given Bilhah. So at that point, Jacob had two wives and each wife had a handmaid. This is known as a shiphchah in Hebrew.
Beginning in Genesis 29:31, Yahweh looks down from heaven and sees that Leah is not loved as much as Rachel, so He opens Leah’s womb and Leah starts having babies like there’s no tomorrow, and she loves it! Leah bares Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah.
As you move into Genesis 30 Rachel is getting upset because she wants to have a baby (having babies is a wonderful, beautiful thing for a wife), so she goes to Jacob and says, “Give me sons or I will die!” Hahaha… I can picture Jacob looking at her like, “I’m doing everything I know to do honey,” lol. He does tell her (Gen. 30:2) “Am I in Elohim’s place who has withheld children from you?”
So what does Rachel do? She does the same thing Sarai did towards Abram. Rachel gives her handmaid over to Jacob as an additional wife, he sleeps with Bilhah, and Bilhah conceives. Rachel says, (Gen. 30:3, 6) “She’ll bear children for me so that through her I can build a family… Elohim has vindicated me; yes, He has heard me and given me a son,” and she named him Dan.” So it appears here that even though Bilhah is now a wife to Jacob, there was a hierarchy still in the marriage with Rachel over Bilhah. Bilhah then conceives again later on and bears another son whose name is Naphtali.
Now Leah has stopped bearing children, but she wants to keep up with Rachel so she takes her servant-girl Zilpah and gives her to Jacob as a wife (in Gen. 30:9), and Jacob goes into Zilpah, she becomes pregnant, and bares Gad and later Asher. Leah names those two sons just like Rachel named the sons Bilhah had.
The point in all of this is that this is where we get the 12 sons of Jacob later known as the 12 tribes of Israel, from 1 man who had 4 wives, and there is nothing negative said about any of this anywhere in Genesis or the rest of the entire Bible.
Reuben’s Sin
One thing I like to point out to people here is that sometime during all of this a sin does take place - Reuben (Jacob’s firstborn son through Leah) - sleeps with his father’s handmaid wife Bilhah (Gen. 35:22) and Jacob-Israel heard about it. The Septuagint text there reads “Israel heard about it, and it was seen as evil in his sight.” In Genesis 49 as Jacob is dying he gives a few words to each of his children, and in verses 3-4 he says this: “Reuben, you are my firstborn, my strength and the first-fruits of my virility, excelling in prominence, excelling in power. Turbulent as water, you will no longer excel, because you got into your father’s bed and you defiled it - he got into my bed.”
This is mentioned again in 1 Chronicles 5:1, “These were the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel. He was the firstborn, but his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph son of Israel, because Reuben defiled his father’s bed. He is not listed in the genealogy according to birthright.”
The point here is that all of this is going on between Jacob and his four wives and nothing negative is said, but when Reuben lays with his father’s handmaid-wife it is condemned. This shows that Jacob having multiple wives was permissible, but what Reuben did was not, else something negative would have been said with what was taking place with Jacob and Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Bilhah.
The Point of Exodus 21:10
This is just a small backdrop to the law in Exodus 21:10 (let’s turn back there) about the master of the house taking an additional wife. The law here is still addressing the proper treatment of the amah, and she is the “first wife” mentioned in that verse that is not to be diminished if the master takes an additional wife, but the law allows for him to take a second wife, just like Abram and Jacob did. It’s not a sin.
The point here is that if the master (later on) takes an additional wife, the amah (the first wife) is to continue to receive the necessities and benefits of her marriage, named here as food, clothing, and marital rights. Those things are not to be reduced if a second wife comes into the picture. Again, Yahweh is protecting the female here.
The Three Things
When it comes to these three things (food, clothing, and marital rights), the scholars and commentators don’t argue much at all on food and clothing (although food literally means “flesh” or “meat”), although the Septuagint here (Brenton) does read, “he shall not deprive her of necessaries and her apparel, and her companionship with him.”
I take this altogether as food, clothing, housing, time, and intimacy. I think that’s what’s being spoken of here as a whole. When a man takes a wife she becomes one flesh with him and he can’t set her to the side and treat her as someone less than. He’s required to provide for her to the best of his ability.
Now that last thing on the list, “marital rights” in the HCSB or “conjugal rights” in the KJV is debated among scholars, because the Hebrew word is onah, and it’s only used 1x (right here) in the Hebrew Bible. Some scholars say it refers to oil or ointment based on comparing Sumerian and Akkadian texts that list food, clothing, and oil as necessities of life. Other scholars point to the Septuagint, which uses the Greek word apostereo, which has to do with defrauding something, and then take that over to 1 Corinthians 7:5 where Paul tells the husband and wife not to defraud (apostereo) one another except with agreement for a time of prayer and fasting. Paul is speaking of intimacy there, and I think the same thing is going on in Exodus 21:10. “Marital Rights” is not limited to intimacy but it does include intimacy.
You can read this played out some in the case of Rachel and Leah in Genesis 29:14-16 where Leah barters some mandrakes with Rachel in exchange for her night with Jacob. It appears that the women had designated times to be with Jacob.
The main point is that the amah that becomes the master’s wife cannot be placed on the back-burner when it comes to food, clothing, housing, time, intimacy, and companionship. Her necessities in life must still be there if the master decides to take on an additional wife.
Conclusion in Vs. 11
The concluding verse in this section, Exodus 21:11 says “And if he does not do these three things for her (the amah) she may leave free of charge without any exchange for money.” The amah was not allowed to be trapped into a bad situation. Again, Yahweh is protecting the female here, she is free to leave if the master of the house decides he isn’t going to provide for her any longer.
This is also a verse showing that divorce is permissible under Yahweh’s law. Divorce can be ugly, but it can also be a good thing when a woman is no longer being loved and cherished by her husband. I realize the same thing can happen to a husband, his wife can get to a point where she is no longer taking care of her husband, but the law of Yahweh doesn’t focus as much on the husband being mistreated… and the reason is because he is allowed to take on an additional wife.
We’ve went over a lot in this lesson, and it’s probably best if you go back over it slowly later on, I’ll have these notes for reading on my website soon where you can study through them. The main ending point here is that this entire law in Exodus 21:7-11 is for the betterment of the young lady in a successful family, and then when she is in that position there are parameters for that family to follow, else she gets to leave freely. No one is to have complete control over her as though she isn’t her own person made in the image of the Creator. A woman is a special treasure, and a virtuous woman is worth more than the finest rubies in the world. Husbands, a wife is to be provided for and taken care of with all the necessities of life. That’s a big point we are taught here in the perfect law of Yahweh.
I actually don’t think it’s that difficult, It’s just that we often come to the Bible with our own biases and presuppositions, and sometimes we aren’t ready to trust in Yahweh. I want to encourage you to let go of what you think or feel. We each carry with us a certain mindset due to how we were raised, where we lived growing up, who we hung around. It’s not that all of that is bad, but… some of it is bad, lol.
Example of Biased Mindsets
I was raised eating pork, not so much from my parents but from my grandparents. Bacon or country ham was a staple breakfast food. The first time someone ever told me that it was a sin to eat pork I thought it was silly. It seemed so normal to me because I’d always done it. But what about the first time I found out that eating squirrel dumplings or fried frog legs was normal to some people? Even as a pork-eater that sounded gross. But for a lot of people in the south, squirrel and frog are eaten right along with pig, and they think nothing of it because… they were raised that way.
You see my point? We all have thoughts, feelings, emotional attachments to different ways of living, and I’m encouraging you to let all of that go, try your best to begin with a blank slate, and let Yahweh lead and guide you by His word, specifically His law.
Is Your Heart the Law Now?
Some people say, “Well, God wrote His law on my heart under the New Covenant, and my heart does not sit well with Exodus 21:7-11.” I suggest to you that if your heart doesn’t sit right with this law, the Almighty has not written His law on your heart. Too often people twist the New Covenant promise - Yahweh’s law on our hearts - into our heart now being the law. Do you see the subtle twist there? Christians think in their minds that they can just follow their own heart and it will lead them in the right direction, but that’s not the New Covenant promise. The New Covenant promise - that actually hasn’t been completely fulfilled yet - is that Yahweh writes His law (including Exodus 21:7-11) upon your heart and mind, so that you fully obey it and don’t need anyone to teach you anymore. That fully happens at the resurrection, but for now on the earth we get a down-payment, and it’s an on-going process.
So we can’t go by what we think or feel, else one person’s heart will say “Let’s have squirrel dumplings for supper,” and another person’s heart might say, “We don’t have to keep the Sabbath, Jesus is our rest.” Yet another person’s heart might say, “Well I’m good with the Sabbath, but I just can’t go along with a man selling his daughter to be an amah.” All of that is trying to be wise in your own eyes. You’ve got to learn to love Yahweh’s law. You’ve got to train your mind to think like the Creator.
Verse 9 (Treatment of Daughters)
So I’ll pick it up with verse 9 today, and hopefully we’ll make it through verse 11. Look at verse 9: “Or if he chooses her for his son, he must deal with her according to the customary treatment of daughters.”
Remember that the reason the father sold his daughter into another family to be an amah, and the reason she would not leave as the ebed (manservant) does on the 7th year, is because she was intended to become a wife in a new family. We saw that from verse 8 where if the master of the house was displeased with her it was an act of treachery, and he had to let her be redeemed back into her original family. Yahweh is protecting the female.
But verse 9 shows that the master of the house may have bought her in order to give her to his son in marriage. So verse 8 and 9 give us two options. The master could choose her for himself (as a wife) or the master could choose her for his son (in which case she becomes the daughter-in-law of the master, an honorary daughter).
When my sons, Benjamin and Elijah, got married, I gained two daughters, Angel and Cassandra. Technically they are my daughters-in-law (by marriage), but I now treat them as my honorary daughters, even though I didn’t father them. So if they call me and need something, I help them in whatever way I can. I give them a hug, I tell them I love them… all that is the customary treatment of daughters, because they are married to my sons. That’s what’s going on here in verse 9. The master chooses the amah for his son to marry, and she becomes a new daughter to the master, so he treats her thus.
Verse 10 (Additional Wife)
But what about verse 10? Look at it: “If he (the master; follow the “he” from verses 8 and 9) takes an additional wife, he must not reduce the food, clothing, or marital rights of the first wife.” So this sounds like the master is allowed to have more than one wife, and that is a big red flag for people in the world, because “How dare we believe a book that says it’s okay for a man to have two wives.
The World’s “Standard”
You know what’s weird to me, our society as a whole - out in the world - believes it’s okay for a (1) man to be married to another man or a (2) woman to be married to another woman. They also think it’s okay for a (3) man or woman to just sleep around outside of marriage with the consent of anyone and everyone that wants to do that.
They also think it’s okay for (4) men to dress up like a drag queen and sit in front of a group of children and read story books. They also think it’s okay for a (5) man to “change his identity” and become a woman, and then they nominate that person to be woman of the year (Bruce “Caitlyn” Jenner) even though he is a biological male. They also think a (6) woman can turn herself into a man, and then be involved with whoever she/he wants to be involved with, and they shout “love is love” through all of this…
But… don’t you dare say that it’s okay for a man to have two wives. No, that’s not allowed, and many in the world will tell you it’s sick and misogynistic to believe such.
The only reason I can come up with - why people in the world will allow and celebrate all that other stuff but not allow and celebrate polygyny (a man having more than one wife) - is because it is allowed and regulated in Holy Scripture. Their heart is hard and calloused, and their mind is warped to the point that they will celebrate all those other relationships (which are all sinful according to Yahweh’s law) but condemn a man with two wives (which although not commanded in Scripture, is allowed).
And by the way, the worldly phrase “love is love” is wrong. The proper phrase is “love is keeping the commandments of Yahweh.”
Only When People Ask Me
Now… I normally never bring this subject up with anyone, because people have a hard time letting go of their emotions here, so I only comment on this when a person asks me what I think, and at that point I cannot speak against what Yahweh teaches in His Word. I do realize that this subject makes women of today, even holy women, uncomfortable, and I don’t believe a man should throw this teaching in his wife’s face. At the same time if a man and woman get married, and they both understand this teaching, and the first wife knows from the start that the man may acquire another wife in the future, there is nothing sinful with that.
It is also fine for a man and woman to vow to each other in a monogamous marriage, and stay true to that vow. It is also fine for a man or woman to be single, and remain single for their entire life. All of these are allowances within the standard of Yahweh’s law.
Before we exegete Exodus 21:10, I want to take a few minutes to talk about some of the approved examples of polygyny in Scripture. We often read about it in the Older Testament, but it never dawns on us that, “Hey, this was okay in Yahweh’s eyes.”
Abram, Sarai, and Hagar
Turn to Genesis 16… here, Abram and Sarai were married but had no children, she was barren. Sarai had an Egyptian servant named Hagar, and Sarai said to Abram (Gen. 16:2) “Since Yahweh has prevented me from bearing children, go to my servant; perhaps I can have children by her. And Abram agreed to what Sarai said. (3) So Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar, her Egyptian servant, and gave her to her husband Abram as a wife for him.” At that point Abram had two wives, Sarai and Hagar.
Now it is true that after Hagar became pregnant - Sarai resented her, but the resentment stemmed from the very thing Sarai wanted to happen in the first place! Hagar did walk around though looking down on Sarai after she became pregnant, so there was a feud between the two wives.
Some people say that a man having multiple wives is wrong because whenever it was done in Scripture it always caused problems. Well… I don’t know of any marriage that hasn’t had any problems in it. I have people contact me for marriage counseling all the time, and all of them are monogamous marriages. We are all flesh so we are all gonna’ have spats and problems from time-to-time.
I could teach an entire sermon on Genesis 16, but the main point here is that this is what happened, and it happened without any inkling of Yahweh looking down on the practice, or saying it was sinful. It is true that we can’t just look at what people did in Scripture and automatically think it’s okay (many times Yahweh’s people did wrong). But when one of Yahweh’s people, like father Abraham, does something - and it is not condemned but spoken of as normal, customary practice - then we can know for certain it’s an approved example.
Jacob’s Wives
Let’s move from here and turn to Genesis 29 and 30 (beginning around 29:13) with Abraham’s grandson Jacob, many of you know the account. Jacob meets up with Laban, and Laban has two daughters, Leah and Rachel. Jacob fell in love with Rachel and agreed to work for Laban for seven years for her (that’s true love right there y’all, seven years?!). The text says that the seven years only seemed like a few days because he loved her so much.
So they hold a wedding feast, and there is drinking and dancing, but Laban held back Rachel and instead gave Leah to Jacob after the feast. Jacob and Leah slept together that night, but Jacob didn’t notice in was Leah until the morning. Some have explained this by the sisters being twins, or that Jacob had drunk a lot of wine at the feast, or maybe Leah had a veil covering her face during the feast. What we do know for sure is that Laban tricked Jacob, but when Jacob approached him Laban answered (Gen. 29:26-27), “It is not the custom in this place to give the younger [daughter in marriage] before the firstborn (they could have still been twins). (27) Complete this week [of wedding celebration], and we will also give you this [younger] one in return for working yet another seven years for me.” Laban is getting a lot of labor out of this young man let me tell you!
Jacob was given Rachel after that week, but he had to work another seven years still, and Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah. This does not mean that Jacob didn’t love Leah, he just had the initial preference for Rachel. And all this takes place without the slightest hint of Jacob having two wives being sinful, or weird, or wrong, or anything negative. But there’s more…
The Handmaids (KJV)
When Laban gave his daughters away in marriage, he also gave each daughter a servant-girl (or KJV = handmaid) to help them around the house. Leah was given Zilpah and Rachel was given Bilhah. So at that point, Jacob had two wives and each wife had a handmaid. This is known as a shiphchah in Hebrew.
Beginning in Genesis 29:31, Yahweh looks down from heaven and sees that Leah is not loved as much as Rachel, so He opens Leah’s womb and Leah starts having babies like there’s no tomorrow, and she loves it! Leah bares Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah.
As you move into Genesis 30 Rachel is getting upset because she wants to have a baby (having babies is a wonderful, beautiful thing for a wife), so she goes to Jacob and says, “Give me sons or I will die!” Hahaha… I can picture Jacob looking at her like, “I’m doing everything I know to do honey,” lol. He does tell her (Gen. 30:2) “Am I in Elohim’s place who has withheld children from you?”
So what does Rachel do? She does the same thing Sarai did towards Abram. Rachel gives her handmaid over to Jacob as an additional wife, he sleeps with Bilhah, and Bilhah conceives. Rachel says, (Gen. 30:3, 6) “She’ll bear children for me so that through her I can build a family… Elohim has vindicated me; yes, He has heard me and given me a son,” and she named him Dan.” So it appears here that even though Bilhah is now a wife to Jacob, there was a hierarchy still in the marriage with Rachel over Bilhah. Bilhah then conceives again later on and bears another son whose name is Naphtali.
Now Leah has stopped bearing children, but she wants to keep up with Rachel so she takes her servant-girl Zilpah and gives her to Jacob as a wife (in Gen. 30:9), and Jacob goes into Zilpah, she becomes pregnant, and bares Gad and later Asher. Leah names those two sons just like Rachel named the sons Bilhah had.
The point in all of this is that this is where we get the 12 sons of Jacob later known as the 12 tribes of Israel, from 1 man who had 4 wives, and there is nothing negative said about any of this anywhere in Genesis or the rest of the entire Bible.
Reuben’s Sin
One thing I like to point out to people here is that sometime during all of this a sin does take place - Reuben (Jacob’s firstborn son through Leah) - sleeps with his father’s handmaid wife Bilhah (Gen. 35:22) and Jacob-Israel heard about it. The Septuagint text there reads “Israel heard about it, and it was seen as evil in his sight.” In Genesis 49 as Jacob is dying he gives a few words to each of his children, and in verses 3-4 he says this: “Reuben, you are my firstborn, my strength and the first-fruits of my virility, excelling in prominence, excelling in power. Turbulent as water, you will no longer excel, because you got into your father’s bed and you defiled it - he got into my bed.”
This is mentioned again in 1 Chronicles 5:1, “These were the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel. He was the firstborn, but his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph son of Israel, because Reuben defiled his father’s bed. He is not listed in the genealogy according to birthright.”
The point here is that all of this is going on between Jacob and his four wives and nothing negative is said, but when Reuben lays with his father’s handmaid-wife it is condemned. This shows that Jacob having multiple wives was permissible, but what Reuben did was not, else something negative would have been said with what was taking place with Jacob and Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Bilhah.
The Point of Exodus 21:10
This is just a small backdrop to the law in Exodus 21:10 (let’s turn back there) about the master of the house taking an additional wife. The law here is still addressing the proper treatment of the amah, and she is the “first wife” mentioned in that verse that is not to be diminished if the master takes an additional wife, but the law allows for him to take a second wife, just like Abram and Jacob did. It’s not a sin.
The point here is that if the master (later on) takes an additional wife, the amah (the first wife) is to continue to receive the necessities and benefits of her marriage, named here as food, clothing, and marital rights. Those things are not to be reduced if a second wife comes into the picture. Again, Yahweh is protecting the female here.
The Three Things
When it comes to these three things (food, clothing, and marital rights), the scholars and commentators don’t argue much at all on food and clothing (although food literally means “flesh” or “meat”), although the Septuagint here (Brenton) does read, “he shall not deprive her of necessaries and her apparel, and her companionship with him.”
I take this altogether as food, clothing, housing, time, and intimacy. I think that’s what’s being spoken of here as a whole. When a man takes a wife she becomes one flesh with him and he can’t set her to the side and treat her as someone less than. He’s required to provide for her to the best of his ability.
Now that last thing on the list, “marital rights” in the HCSB or “conjugal rights” in the KJV is debated among scholars, because the Hebrew word is onah, and it’s only used 1x (right here) in the Hebrew Bible. Some scholars say it refers to oil or ointment based on comparing Sumerian and Akkadian texts that list food, clothing, and oil as necessities of life. Other scholars point to the Septuagint, which uses the Greek word apostereo, which has to do with defrauding something, and then take that over to 1 Corinthians 7:5 where Paul tells the husband and wife not to defraud (apostereo) one another except with agreement for a time of prayer and fasting. Paul is speaking of intimacy there, and I think the same thing is going on in Exodus 21:10. “Marital Rights” is not limited to intimacy but it does include intimacy.
You can read this played out some in the case of Rachel and Leah in Genesis 29:14-16 where Leah barters some mandrakes with Rachel in exchange for her night with Jacob. It appears that the women had designated times to be with Jacob.
The main point is that the amah that becomes the master’s wife cannot be placed on the back-burner when it comes to food, clothing, housing, time, intimacy, and companionship. Her necessities in life must still be there if the master decides to take on an additional wife.
Conclusion in Vs. 11
The concluding verse in this section, Exodus 21:11 says “And if he does not do these three things for her (the amah) she may leave free of charge without any exchange for money.” The amah was not allowed to be trapped into a bad situation. Again, Yahweh is protecting the female here, she is free to leave if the master of the house decides he isn’t going to provide for her any longer.
This is also a verse showing that divorce is permissible under Yahweh’s law. Divorce can be ugly, but it can also be a good thing when a woman is no longer being loved and cherished by her husband. I realize the same thing can happen to a husband, his wife can get to a point where she is no longer taking care of her husband, but the law of Yahweh doesn’t focus as much on the husband being mistreated… and the reason is because he is allowed to take on an additional wife.
We’ve went over a lot in this lesson, and it’s probably best if you go back over it slowly later on, I’ll have these notes for reading on my website soon where you can study through them. The main ending point here is that this entire law in Exodus 21:7-11 is for the betterment of the young lady in a successful family, and then when she is in that position there are parameters for that family to follow, else she gets to leave freely. No one is to have complete control over her as though she isn’t her own person made in the image of the Creator. A woman is a special treasure, and a virtuous woman is worth more than the finest rubies in the world. Husbands, a wife is to be provided for and taken care of with all the necessities of life. That’s a big point we are taught here in the perfect law of Yahweh.