We come next to the sanction and authority of chattel slavery claimed to
exist in the laws and economy of these people just escaped from bondage,
and framed by him who had shown his displeasure against slavery by
nearly destroying a nation of slaveholders for holding and catching
slaves. The arguments for this claim are--1. That the term "servant" or
"bondman" used in the Mosaic law means chattel slavery; 2. That in
certain cases the Hebrews might hold their brethren as slaves for ever;
3. They might buy slaves from the heathen around, and hold them for
ever. These positions, we admit, have some plausibility, and have
doubtless had great weight in producing the opinion that chattelism is
sanctioned by the Bible. We propose to consider the condition of the
classes of servants referred to in their order.
1. _Hebrew servants._ These were of four kinds--servants under contract
or indenture for six years, probably from one sabbatic year to another:
servants held till the year of jubilee, or "for ever:" children born in
the house, or hired out by their parents: convicted thieves; and
afterward, though sanctioned by no law, debtors.
In respect to the first of these classes, the law is found in Ex.
21:2-6; Deut. 15:12-18. "If thou buy a Hebrew servant, six years shall
he serve, and in the seventh he shall go out _free_, for nothing." Here
the term "buy" can only be applied to the _service_, sold by the servant
for six years, (or perhaps to the sabbatic seventh year, as daily or
weekly service ended with the Sabbath,) for it is applied to a state
which no ingenuity whatever can construe as chattelism.
The second class of Hebrew servants is mentioned Ex. 21:5, 6. "If the
servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I
will not go out free; then his master shall bring him to the judges: he
shall also bring him to the door or to the door-post, and he shall bore
his ear through with an awl, and he shall serve him for ever." Deut.
15:17, the same law adds, "And also to thy maid-servant shalt thou do
likewise." But in Lev. 25:39, 40, 53, it is expressly enacted that one
who served longer than six years was not to be treated or considered as
an #EVEDH#, _evedh_, one contracting for a term of years, but as a
#SAUKIR#, _saukir_, a hired servant, to be well treated and compensated
for his services. "Thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bond-servant,
but as a hired servant and as a sojourner he shall be with thee." The
servant must plainly say, "_I will not_ go out;" it must be _voluntary_
service; but chattelism is involuntary, forced, and directly contrary to
the case before us. "He shall serve _him_ for ever," not his sons after
him, not giving the right of transfer or sale of service to a third
person, "_He_ shall serve," not his wife or children, but himself, till
death, or his master's death, or the jubilee. This, then, was not
chattelism, for it was _voluntary_, _without purchase_ or sale, _ending
with the life of the servant, the master, or the year of release--the
jubilee_.
The third class of servants--children--appear during minority to have
been, as now in all Eastern countries, entirely at the service or
control of their parents, and might by them be hired out, Neh. 5:2-6,
but, when of age, were of course independent of parental acts and
control. John 9:21. That the offspring of servants in patriarchal times
were free we have already proved; that they were so among the Israelites
is shown by the case of Abimelech, the son of a maid-servant, Judg.
9:18, yet free as his brethren, and afterward king of Israel; also of
Sheshan. 1 Chr. 2:34, 35. No service, indeed, could be recognized or
demanded, in Jewish law, of grown persons, except as the result of
contract or crime.
In respect to the fourth class, it is plain from the language used that
only sufficient service could be required of them to cancel the
obligation of restitution. Ex. 22:3. "He should make full restitution;
if he have nothing, then he shall be _sold_ for his theft;" in case of
debt, Matt. 18:34, "till he should pay all that was due to him."
2. _Servants obtained from the heathen._ These were, first, captives.
From the account of the first taking of captives by the Israelites, Num.
31:7-47, we learn, verse 7, that they marched into Midian, slew all the
males, and seized the women, children, flocks, and herds. On their
return Moses reprimanded them for disobeying God's command by preserving
the grown women; and thereupon they killed all but the virgins and
children, reserving them for adoption into the families of the nation.
In Deut. 20:14 and 21:10-14, we have these commands and regulations
given, with an express prohibition of the enslavement of these captives,
in case of repudiation by the captors. "It shall be, if thou have no
delight in her, then thou shalt let her go whither she will; but thou
shalt not sell her at all for money; thou shalt not make merchandise of
her, because thou hast humbled her." Now, all slaveholding tribes and
nations, when they seize captives for slaves, aim to obtain as many
strong and vigorous men as possible; must it not, therefore, fairly be
inferred from this regulation that God, by prohibiting instead of
sanctioning the most productive mode of slave-making,--the enslavement
of prisoners of war,--did not intend, but positively prohibited, the
Israelites from becoming a slaveholding nation?
Secondly, "bought with money." The law referring to these is Lev. 25:44,
46. "Both thy bondmen and thy bondmaids which thou shalt have shall be
of the heathen round about you; of them shall ye buy bondmen and
bondmaids.... And ye shall take them as an inheritance for your children
after you, to inherit them for a possession; they shall be your bondmen
for ever." As we have already stated, the Hebrews had but two terms for
"servant"--the generic term _evedh_, one under contract for a term of
years, and _saukir_, one hired by the day, week, or year. Now, the term
here translated "bondman" is the generic #EVEDH#, _evedh_, elsewhere
translated "servant," and therefore should have been thus translated
here, unless a different rendering is required by the context. The more
literal reading of the Hebrew is, "And thy men-servants and thy
maid-servants which shall be to thee from the nations around you, of
them shall ye procure the man-servant and maid-servant." What, then, was
the difference between the Hebrew and heathen _evedh_?
This. The Hebrew could only be an _evedh_, a servant by contract, for
six years, Ex. 21:2--"Six years shall he serve, but in the seventh _he
shall go out free_;" (longer service could not be contracted for, but
_must be_ voluntary, Ex. 21:5;) or as a hired servant or sojourner till
the jubilee, but _never_ beyond. Lev. 25:10, 39-41. But a heathen could
bind himself as an _evedh_ for longer than six years; and thus his
service, unlike the Hebrew, could be "bought" as "an inheritance for
your children after you," but, like the Hebrew voluntary "for ever"
servants, they were bondmen for the longest time known by the law--till
death or the jubilee.
Is it objected that the terms "buy," "possession," "for ever," are used,
and indicate chattelism? We answer, All admit the Hebrew was not a
chattel; for his service expired at the seventh year, the death of
himself or his master. "_He_ shall serve _him_ for ever;" but, if both
lived on, this service, though voluntary, as has been shown, expired
with all such claims at the jubilee. Since the same terms, and, as we
shall show directly, the jubilee, applied equally to both, if it does
not prove the one a chattel, it does not the other; therefore both are
equally voluntary contractors. The service, and not the bodies, were
bought; and both were equally free at the jubilee.
Two objects were accomplished by this law. 1st. To permit the Hebrews to
obtain that assistance in tilling the land, which otherwise they would
not have been allowed to do. 2d. To increase the numbers of the
commonwealth, since the Hebrews, in obedience to the Abrahamic covenant,
Gen. 17:10-14; Ex. 12:44-49, were bound to circumcise these indented
servants "bought with money," thus making them part of the household
during their period of service, and also naturalized citizens of the
state, members of the congregation, partakers of all the rites and
privileges common to the mass of the people. Ex. 12:44-9. Num. 15:15-30,
"One ordinance shall be both for you of the congregation, and also for
the stranger that sojourneth with you, an ordinance for ever in your
generations; _as ye are, so shall the stranger be_ before the Lord."
Lev. 19:34, "The stranger that dwelleth among you shall be as one born
among you, and _thou shalt love him as thyself_." In accordance with the
frequently-repeated injunction of this law of equality, they were
invariably recognized as citizens, and alike with Hebrew servants, were
amenable to, and received protection from, the laws of the state.
In further proof of this, and in direct opposition to chattelism, is the
fact, that the laws regulating the relation of master and servant are
each and all enacted for the benefit and protection of the servant, and
not one for that of the master. Again, when property is spoken of, oxen,
sheep, &c., the term _owner_ is always used, _master_ never; when
servants and masters are spoken of, _master_ is always used, _owner_
never. Ex. 21:29, "The ox shall be stoned, and his _owner_ also shall be
put to death," Ex. 21:34, If an ox or ass fall into a pit left
uncovered, "the _owner_ of the pit shall make it good, and give money to
the _owner_ of them." But, Deut. 25:15, "Thou shall not deliver to his
_master_ the servant which is escaped from his _master_ unto thee."
The inference from all this is plain. No such thing as property in man
is recognized in the Mosaic law; but God, finding polygamy and the law
of serfdom existing among the Israelites, did not see fit to abolish
them at once, but so hampered and hedged them about by restrictive
statutes as gradually and finally to abolish them altogether.