Lev 25:39 And if thy brother that dwelleth by thee be waxen poor, and be sold unto thee; thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bondservant: 40 But as an hired servant, and as a sojourner, he shall be with thee, and shall serve thee unto the year of jubile: 41 And then shall he depart from thee, both he and his children with him, and shall return unto his own family, and unto the possession of his fathers shall he return. 42 For they are my servants, which I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: they shall not be sold as bondmen. 43 Thou shalt not rule over him with rigour; but shalt fear thy God. 44 Both thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, which thou shalt have, shall be of the heathen that are round about you; of them shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids. 45 Moreover of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy, and of their families that are with you, which they begat in your land: and they shall be your possession. 46 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: but over your brethren the children of Israel, ye shall not rule one over another with rigour. 47 And if a sojourner or stranger wax rich by thee, and thy brother that dwelleth by him wax poor, and sell himself unto the stranger or sojourner by thee, or to the stock of the stranger’s family: 48 After that he is sold he may be redeemed again; one of his brethren may redeem him: 49 Either his uncle, or his uncle’s son, may redeem him, or any that is nigh of kin unto him of his family may redeem him; or if he be able, he may redeem himself. 50 And he shall reckon with him that bought him from the year that he was sold to him unto the year of jubile: and the price of his sale shall be according unto the number of years, according to the time of an hired servant shall it be with him. 51 If there be yet many years behind, according unto them he shall give again the price of his redemption out of the money that he was bought for. 52 And if there remain but few years unto the year of jubile, then he shall count with him, and according unto his years shall he give him again the price of his redemption. 53 And as a yearly hired servant shall he be with him: and the other shall not rule with rigour over him in thy sight. 54 And if he be not redeemed in these years, then he shall go out in the year of jubile, both he, and his children with him. 55 For unto me the children of Israel are servants; they are my servants whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God. So this section is about slavery - it says if your brother (so another Israelite) that dwells by you grows poor & sells himself to you as a slave, dont treat him as a slave but an employee & he will work for you until the year of jubile; then he shall go out & be free to go back to his family & inheritance both him & any children he has gained during his service. Because the people are servants of God who brought them out of Egypt they are not to be sold as slaves. Dont rule over them in a cruel fashion or with rigour: 6531 פֶּרֶךְ [perek /peh·rek/] n m. From an unused root meaning to break apart; TWOT 1817a; GK 7266; Six occurrences; AV translates as “rigour” five times, and “cruelty” once. 1 harshness, severity, cruelty. - but fear your Elohim (So i am guessing that treating your slaves or employees with cruelty is a way to display that you do not fear God). Verse 44 starts in with the bit about how if you do have slaves they are to be of the heathen :1471 גֹּוי, גֹּויִם [gowy, rarely, goy /go·ee/] n pr m. Apparently from the same root as 1465; TWOT 326e; GK 1580 and 1582; 558 occurrences; AV translates as “nation” 374 times, “heathen” 143 times, “Gentiles” 30 times, and “people” 11 times. 1 nation, people. 1a nation, people. 1a1 usually of non-Hebrew people. 1a2 of descendants of Abraham. 1a3 of Israel. 1b of swarm of locusts, other animals (fig.). 1c Goyim? = “nations”. - (which although sometimes can mean the people of Israel as it means people is here most likely talking about Gentiles & therefore the connotation is that these people who are not Israel are worshiping false gods) and children of strangers: 8453 תֹּושָׁב [towshab, toshab /to·shawb/] n m. From 3427; TWOT 922d; GK 9369; 14 occurrences; AV translates as “sojourner” nine times, “stranger” three times, and “foreigner”. 1 sojourner, stranger. - So these people would be most likely the tourists who have not converted to faith in YHVH, thereby have not gotten any adopted into the family status. God says that these (most likely unbelieving) slaves can be passed on down to your children as an inheritance. So the hard part i am having trouble wrapping my brain around is the bit about how they will be their property & their laborers forever. Well in the NT, Jesus said Jn 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. & Paul said Gal 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. - Well they were talking about bondage to sin compared to bondage to other people; but Jesus did say Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. - that our physical reality should be shaped by our spiritual one. In any case the thought of how an Israelite is not to rule over another one in a cruel way is repeated at the end if the 46th verse. After that it says if the tourist gets rich & the Israelite is poor & sells themselves to the tourist, he is redeemable & may be bought back by a relative or himself & that the price will vary depending on how close the jubile is - if it is farther away it will be higher than if it is nearby. He is not to be treated in a cruel fashion by the tourist; if such a thing is witnessed it must be brought to the attention of the authorities. If he is not redeemed by the time of the jubile, that is when he will go free along with any children born to him during his service. Then the 55th verse repeats the thought in the 42nd about how the children of Israel are servants of God & He brought them out of Egypt. So says YHVH your Elohim. K so for NT age Gentile believers the only reason we should have to keep track of when the jubile is, is if we are farmers or slave owners (as we are to be forgiving people their debts as they incour them - Mt 6:12). As farms are to take the jubile off from planting & harvesting as if it was a sabbath year & if we have a slave who believes in Christ we are to set them free during that year as NT Gentile Christians are adopted into the family of Abraham & so should be treated as a Hebrew. Jesus said preach the gospel to every creature - so if you have a slave & refuse to give him the truth so as to not have to set him free; that is just evil. And if you think that living in this age of grace, we are not supposed pay attention to this law & set the captives free - well we are supposed to follow in Jesus steps and that was one of His jobs - Isa 61:1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; And there is also the bit in Rev 18 talking about how Babylon the great is fallen (v.2) & Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins (v.4) & no man buyeth their merchandise any more (v.11) & that one of those products they were selling was slaves, and souls of men (v.13). K so next time in chapter 26 we will start off the 1st paragraph with some of the blessings to be expected from obedience.
Posted on: Fri, 31 Jan 2014 00:28:38 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015