Now if your countryman becomes destitute and cannot support himself among you, then you are to help him as you would a foreigner or stranger, so that he can continue to live among you. Do not take any interest or profit from him, but fear your God, that your countryman may live among you. You must not lend him your silver at interest or sell him your food for profit. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God. If a countryman among you becomes destitute and sells himself to you, then you must not force him into slave labor. Let him stay with you as a hired worker or temporary resident; he is to work for you until the Year of Jubilee. Then he and his children are to be released, and he may return to his clan and to the property of his fathers. Because the Israelites are My servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt, they are not to be sold as slaves. You are not to rule over them harshly, but you shall fear your God.
If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free without paying anything. If he arrived alone, he is to leave alone; if he arrived with a wife, she is to leave with him. If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the woman and her children shall belong to her master, and only the man shall go free. But if the servant declares, 'I love my master and my wife and children; I do not want to go free,' then his master is to bring him before the judges. And he shall take him to the door or doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he shall serve his master for life.
Significance
Exodus 21:2-6 regulates Hebrew servitude with a seven-year release cycle, including provisions for the slave who chooses permanent service. Leviticus 25:35-43 reimagines this legislation within the Jubilee framework, prohibiting fellow Israelites from being treated as slaves (עֲבָדִים, avadim) at all—they must be treated as hired laborers released at the Jubilee. Both texts address the same social reality (Israelite debt servitude), but Leviticus grounds its more protective approach in the theological principle that Israelites are already God's servants (עֲבָדַי, avadai), bought at the exodus: "For they are My servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt" (Lev 25:42). This exodus-based logic elevates the humanitarian standard beyond Exodus 21's provisions.
Found via
Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type
Allusion
Connection Method(s)
Longitudinal Theme
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