Hebrew Servant

Biblical Text

According to Exodus 21:2-6, a person who bought a Hebrew servant could have him work for six years but had to let him go free in the seventh year without payment. If the servant loved his master and his wife and children and chose to remain, the master was to bring him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl, and the servant would then serve his master for life. Exodus 21:7-11 is a separate provision concerning a father who sold his daughter as a maidservant.

Deuteronomy 15:12-18 applies the same law to both male and female servants. It adds that a released servant must not be sent away empty-handed but must be supplied liberally from the flock, the threshing floor, and the winepress. The passage grounds this command in the call to remember that Israel had been a bondman in the land of Egypt. Leviticus 25:39-55 directs that a brother who has become poor and sold himself is not to be compelled to serve as a bondservant but is to be treated as a hired servant, and is to be sent back with his family in the Year of Jubilee. If he had been sold to a foreigner, his kinsmen were permitted to redeem him.

Background

"Hebrew servant" translates the Hebrew eved ivri. The word eved derives from a verb meaning "to work" or "to serve" and can refer broadly to a servant, a slave, or a royal official. In the ancient Near East it was common for a person who could not repay a debt, or that person's children, to become servants of the creditor. This law is understood as placing a time limit on such bondage so that fellow Israelites would not become slaves permanently. The account of the widow in 2 Kings 4:1 and the people in Nehemiah 5:1-13 who had sold their children into servitude because of debt illustrate this reality. Hebrew servants were distinguished from foreign slaves, who could be held as a permanent possession passed down through generations (Leviticus 25:44-46).

Significance in the Whole of Scripture

The law grounds this institution in the Exodus. Leviticus 25:42 and 25:55 state that because the Israelites are God's servants, whom he brought out of Egypt, they may not be sold as slaves to other people. According to Jeremiah 34:8-22, in the days of Zedekiah the people of Judah made a covenant and released their Hebrew servants but then took them back, and Jeremiah rebuked this as a breach of the covenant.

The New Testament does not address this institution directly. It does, however, describe the salvation brought by Christ in the language of "redemption," that is, setting free by paying a price (Galatians 4:4-5; 1 Corinthians 7:23). Paul called himself "a servant of Jesus Christ" (Romans 1:1) and urged Christians to "be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage" (Galatians 5:1).

Interpretation and Issues

• Relationship among the three laws: Exodus and Deuteronomy speak of release after six years, whereas Leviticus speaks of release in the Jubilee. Rabbinic tradition harmonized the two by reading the term of service for a servant whose ear had been pierced, "for ever," as lasting until the Jubilee. Conservative interpreters generally hold that the two laws address different situations, while historical-critical scholars regard them as reflecting law codes from different periods.
• The reckoning of the seventh year: In Deuteronomy this provision immediately follows the law of the seventh year of debt release (Deuteronomy 15:1-11; see Sabbath Year (Old Testament)). The text, however, says "and serve thee six years," making the number of years each individual has served the basis of reckoning. Interpreters are divided over whether this release should be identified with the fixed year of release.
• "Judges" or "God"?: In Exodus 21:6, translations in the Korean Revised Version tradition render the party before whom the servant is brought prior to the piercing of his ear as "the judges." Because the original word elohim ordinarily means "God," some interpreters view the scene as a ceremony performed before God.
• Later interpretive additions: A homiletical tradition links the servant with the pierced ear to Psalm 40:6, which mentions the ear, and reads it as a picture foreshadowing the obedience of Christ. The biblical text itself, however, does not directly connect the two.
• The slavery debate: In the nineteenth-century American debate over slavery, both proponents and opponents cited these texts. Many interpreters today explain that this law regulated time-limited debt servitude and therefore differed from modern slavery. Others, however, also point out that it was nonetheless an ancient institution in which human beings were bought and sold.

In the Korean Church

In preaching, the servant with the pierced ear in Exodus 21:5-6 is often cited as an example of devotion: one who of his own free will chooses to serve his master for life.