Jul 16, 2026 · 14 min · 8 segments
This episode is part 12 in a study of the book of Exodus. In this 4-chapter section on new laws, this chapter talks about laws around servants and about personal injuries…
If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years, but in the seventh year, he is to go free without paying anything.
If he comes alone, he is to go free alone, but if he has a wife when he comes, she is to go 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 and do not want to go free,' then his master must take him before the judges.
He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl.
If a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as male servants do.
If she does not please the master who has selected her for himself, he must let her be redeemed.
He has no right to sell her to foreigners because he has broken faith with her.
If he marries another woman, he must not deprive the first one of her food, clothing, and marital rights.
If he does not provide her with these things, she is to go free without any payment or money." So these are part of a series of rules in the Levitical law, which we're getting to, and this instruction here at Mount Sinai that's documented in Exodus that really go back to you were slaves in Egypt, and you're going to be my people.
I don't want you to be in debt, as we'll get to, and I don't want you to be slaves forever.
That's what we would call it if you were a slave for six years, right? If you're a slave, basically you're saying, "I'm going to give you my service probably because I got into debt, but I'm not gonna stay a slave forever." And that's really what this is all about, but you might have this situation where the guy realizes, "Hey, I'm better off being a slave for the rest of my life, being a servant for the rest of my life." In which case there's a provision here that you can say, "I'd rather do that." And then you notice you have to go before the judges.
You have to s- have somebody else say, "Yes, we believe this person is really saying this," rather than you're just telling us they made this decision, and then you mark them.
You, you pierce the ear to make sure that everybody knows that this is a permanent servant.
And then these whole things with selling your daughter as a servant, all of these rights here are that you're not gonna be sold off to a foreigner, that if you're selected for your s- son, you have to be treated like a daughter.
If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years, but in the seventh year, he is to go free without paying anything.
If he comes alone, he is to go free alone, but if he has a wife when he comes, she is to go 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 and do not want to go free,' then his master must take him before the judges.
He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl.
If a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as male servants do.
If she does not please the master who has selected her for himself, he must let her be redeemed.
He has no right to sell her to foreigners because he has broken faith with her.
If he marries another woman, he must not deprive the first one of her food, clothing, and marital rights.
If he does not provide her with these things, she is to go free without any payment or money." So these are part of a series of rules in the Levitical law, which we're getting to, and this instruction here at Mount Sinai that's documented in Exodus that really go back to you were slaves in Egypt, and you're going to be my people.
I don't want you to be in debt, as we'll get to, and I don't want you to be slaves forever.
That's what we would call it if you were a slave for six years, right? If you're a slave, basically you're saying, "I'm going to give you my service probably because I got into debt, but I'm not gonna stay a slave forever." And that's really what this is all about, but you might have this situation where the guy realizes, "Hey, I'm better off being a slave for the rest of my life, being a servant for the rest of my life." In which case there's a provision here that you can say, "I'd rather do that." And then you notice you have to go before the judges.
You have to s- have somebody else say, "Yes, we believe this person is really saying this," rather than you're just telling us they made this decision, and then you mark them.
You, you pierce the ear to make sure that everybody knows that this is a permanent servant.
And then these whole things with selling your daughter as a servant, all of these rights here are that you're not gonna be sold off to a foreigner, that if you're selected for your s- son, you have to be treated like a daughter.
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