Exodus 21:20 And if a man smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand; he shall be surely punished. 21 Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two, he shall not be punished: for he is his money.
Oh, how opposition to YHWH love this verse. However, they completely misinterpret it. They pull a verse all willy-nilly out of The Word without correction interpretation of the scripture, the Hebrew translation, the culture of the time, or any other context in The Holy Bible. Let’s break it down.
First off, the slave was there on his own free will. It was strictly forbidden to capture free men and make them slaves. It was also forbidden to sell men to other men.
Exodus 21:16 And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.
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Slave in Hebrew is “ebed” and is a contractual servant. There is a big difference between stealing men, trading men, forcing men to do hard labor while beating them and even killing them. The heathen nations that did this sort of thing, most had no law or protection for slaves who were considered property. Those heathen nations did as they pleased with their slaves with no repercussions.
The laws laid in The Word may be the earliest record of protecting a servant. I use “servant” because that is what an “ebed” was and most Biblical translations don’t use the word “slave”. The KJV (King James Version of The Bible) uses “servant”. Those opposing The Most High God, YHWH, are pulling the verse out of Biblical Translations using the term “slave” to further enhance their agenda, which is convincing themselves they are right, trying to justify their position, and entangling others in their web of deceit.
There are many reasons why a man would voluntarily become a servant. A man may have entered into poverty and his only way to survive was to offer his labor as services to exchange for money and/or housing. This may be for himself or for his entire family. A man may have wanted to learn a new trade, similar to internships, journeyman, or indentured servitude. He may have owed a debt and didn’t have the money to repay the debt. He may be a thief that has been caught and he needs to work off the debt, if he doesn’t have the money to repay the value of what he stole. This may just be a man’s occupation if he has no cattle or stead of his own, similar to working for your job today. If you are not an entrepreneur (owner of a business), in business for yourself, then you are a servant to the company you work for. You do labor in exchange for money – whether a corporate business or a hired farm hand at a ranch.
Servants were not mistreated. It was commanded by God to treat servants extremely well. Before Abraham’s children were born, Eliazer, his servant, was beneficiary of his entire estate.
They had days off.
Exodus 23:12 Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest: that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed.
Servants were to be treated with great kindness and not to be mistreated.
Leviticus 25:38 I am the Lord your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan, and to be your God.
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.
They were commanded to take in the poor as servants and treat them well with all that they need and release them in the Year of Jubilee.
Deuteronomy 15:7 If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother:
8 But thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth.
9 Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou givest him nought; and he cry unto the Lord against thee, and it be sin unto thee.
10 Thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him: because that for this thing the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto.
11 For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.
After a servant’s contract was ended you had to give him a big “pension” for his labors.
Deuteronomy 15:12 And if thy brother, an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years; then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee.
13 And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away empty:
14 Thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy floor, and out of thy winepress: of that wherewith the Lord thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him.
15 And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the Lord thy God redeemed thee: therefore I command thee this thing to day.
Leviticus 19:34 But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.
Colossians 4:14 Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven.
Most servants were treated so well, they didn’t want to ever leave. There were laws for this as well which are outlined in Deuteronomy and Exodus.
Punishment was also outlined for mistreating servants.
Exodus 21:23 And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life,
24 Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
25 Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
26 And if a man smite the eye of his servant, or the eye of his maid, that it perish; he shall let him go free for his eye’s sake.
27 And if he smite out his manservant’s tooth, or his maidservant’s tooth; he shall let him go free for his tooth’s sake.
If you hurt a servant, it was eye for eye, life for life, tooth for tooth punishment upon the person who caused the injury and the servant must be set free. The Lord does not require any repayment of debt by the servant or any servanthood under the hand of a man who mistreats his servants.
If the servant ran away because of mistreatment, no one could return that man or woman to the man who mistreated them. It was forbidden by God.
Deuteronomy 23:15 Thou shalt not deliver unto his master the servant which is escaped from his master unto thee:
16 He shall dwell with thee, even among you, in that place which he shall choose in one of thy gates, where it liketh him best: thou shalt not oppress him.
And, if a servant became rich on his own while under contract to pay off a debt or any member of his family became rich, that servant could pay his debt off, thus buying his way out of his contract.
Leviticus 25:47 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.
Now, let’s circle back to Exodus 21:20 And if a man smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand; he shall be surely punished. 21 Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two, he shall not be punished: for he is his money.
First, we know murdering servants is punishable by death. Life for Life. If he continue a day or two, meaning death was accidental, the employers’ punishment is financial loss from losing the repayment of debt and the medical treatment he paid in trying to save his servant. This is similar to having different degrees of murder and manslaughter in today’s legal system.
We know servants could not be mistreated, but anyone can be punished. We don’t know what the servant did to receive the beating. It could be a bad apple employer who needs to be punished by law. It could be that this servant stole items, killed his livestock, raped a woman of the household, peeped at his wife, beat the employer’s child – who knows. Since most servants were treated exceedingly well by God’s law, it’s most likely the servant did something extremely severe. But, we can only speculate as to what that wrongdoing was. The Bible doesn’t condone beatings and the employer can be called to the judges to be punished for this instance. The laws laid out were designed for both servant and employer to be treated fairly and ultimately to protect the slaves. Herein, we have an employer who kills a slave and will be punished, life for life most likely, according to The Word of God in Exodus 21:23.
In other nations, there was no protection for a bondman or punishment for any slave owner who killed a slave. Those heathen nations did whatever they wanted with whoever they wanted. The heathen nations bought and sold men and women, forced hard labor, whipped and killed men, women, and children. Hebrews did not have slaves as we think of slaves. It was strictly forbidden to take a free man or to sell men. Therefore, they were not in the slave trade business, either. It was forbidden by God.
The Hebrews treated their servants who voluntarily served with respect and love by order of God and even sent them on their way after their contract ended with provisions. And, servants could runaway any time and not have to return if they thought they were mistreated. Servants had protection under God’s law. Again, most were treated so well, they stayed for life.