Deuteronomy 15:12-18 to Exodus 21:1-11

Deuteronomy 15:12-18 → Exodus 21:1-11

Allusion

Later text

If a fellow Hebrew, a man or a woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you must set him free. And when you release him, do not send him away empty-handed. You are to furnish him liberally from your flock, your threshing floor, and your winepress. You shall give to him as the LORD your God has blessed you. Remember that you were slaves in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you; that is why I am giving you this command today. But if your servant says to you, 'I do not want to leave you,' because he loves you and your household and is well off with you, then take an awl and pierce it through his ear into the door, and he will become your servant for life. And treat your maidservant the same way. Do not regard it as a hardship to set your servant free, because his six years of service were worth twice the wages of a hired hand. And the LORD your God will bless you in all you do.

Earlier text

Exodus 21:1-11BSB

"These are the ordinances that you are to set before them: 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. And if a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as the menservants do. If she is displeasing in the eyes of her master who had designated her for himself, he must allow her to be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to foreigners, since he has broken faith with her. And if he chooses her for his son, he must deal with her as with a daughter. If he takes another wife, he must not reduce the food, clothing, or marital rights of his first wife. If, however, he does not provide her with these three things, she is free to go without monetary payment.

Significance

Exodus 21:1-11 and Deuteronomy 15:12-18 are parallel treatments of Hebrew slave legislation. Both establish the six-year service limit with release in the seventh year, marked in both by the same rare word חָפְשִׁי (chofshi, "free"; Exodus 21:2, Deuteronomy 15:12), and both address the scenario of a slave who voluntarily chooses permanent service. Key differences reflect Deuteronomy's humanitarian emphasis: Deuteronomy requires generous provision at release, explicitly includes women, and grounds the entire law in exodus memory rather than mere legal procedure. Both texts carry the ear-piercing ceremony for the willing slave, sharing verbatim the awl-noun (מַרְצֵעַ, martsea, H4836 — cognate to the root ר-צ-ע) inside a citation-grade collocation (awl, door, ear, "for life" — found in only these two verses in the whole canon), though the piercing verb itself differs (רָצַע, ratsa, H7527 in Exodus 21:6; נָתַן, natan, H5414 in Deuteronomy 15:17). Deuteronomy adds that his six years of service "were worth twice the wages of a hired hand" (Deut 15:18), honoring the slave's economic contribution.

Found via

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Reference Type

Allusion

Connection Method(s)

Redemptive-Historical Progression — the parallel slave codes mark legal progression from Sinai to Moab: the six-year limit retained, but women expressly included, liberal provision commanded, and the whole grounded in the LORD's redemption of Israel — the earlier statute carried forward and humanized by exodus memory.