Text: Leviticus 25:35-43
OT Text Referred to: Exodus 21:2-6
Subject: Hebrew servitude and Jubilee release
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Allusion
Connection Method(s): Longitudinal Theme
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.