Betrothed forever (Exod 21:7-11)

As noted in the previous post (see it here), these initial laws on slaves seem to be as much a commentary on Israel’s experience with God as they are instructions on how the people should conduct themselves. Other ancient law collections finish, rather than start, with guidelines regarding slaves (e.g. Hammurabi’s law), but in Israel they are given special attention at the beginning of the list. These people are at the bottom of the social hierarchy, yet they matter to God and should therefore matter to Israel, all the more so as they had previously been slaves themselves. At first glance, it seems unfair that while male Hebrew slaves go free after six years, females do not. However, elsewhere the law states that under normal circumstances women slaves are released as well (Deut 15:12),[1] so that the situation described here is a special case.

Arranging a marriage for a daughter was essential in order to take care of her future, and if a family was extremely poor and struggled to make ends meet, selling a girl with the view of her marrying the owner or his son was a way to provide for her and even potentially put her in a better social position. While such a sale sounds appalling to us, we need to remember again that the marriage even of a free girl involved an exchange of money and females of marriageable age did not necessarily have a say in the choice of a husband.

It is much debated what the exact place of the ’amah (the Hebrew for the female slave in Exod 21:7) was, whether she became elevated to free status on marriage or was a concubine or still primarily a slave. The Jewish scholar, Sarna, mentions a number of archaeological discoveries in Israel that suggest a varied picture, such as ‘the discovery of a preexilic epitaph of a royal steward from the village of Siloam outside Jerusalem. The inscription mentions his ’amah, and it is clear that he arranged to be buried next to her. Another discovery is the seal of “Alyah the ’amah of Hananel,” who obviously enjoyed superior social rank.’[2] Whatever the ’amah‘s position, the law meant to shield her from exploitation. The fact that she was not released (v.7) was for her protection; otherwise, she would have been no more than a sex-slave for six years.

The term that the girl was ‘designated’ suggests that there was a period before the marriage when she lived and served in the master’s household (presumably before puberty). The owner could decide at this stage that he didn’t like the girl after all (the Hebrew literally reads ‘she is bad [i.e. displeasing] in his eyes’ – Exod 21:8). This is not about sexual displeasure because he has only designated, not married her yet.[3] In this case, the deal was off and her family was allowed to redeem her; she could not be sold on to non-relatives (the sense of ‘foreign people’ here).[4] If she was meant for the master’s son, then the master was to treat her as a daughter (Exod 21:9). It is unclear whether this indicated elevation to free status, or more likely, that under the laws of incest, he was forbidden to take advantage of her sexually (Lev 18:15).

Finally, if the man took another wife, he could not diminish the slave girl’s basic marital rights (Exod 21:10). While there is some uncertainty about the meaning of the three things involved here, especially the last one (‘conjugal rights’), the point is clear. The woman’s marital status should be honoured, and she should not be made to suffer disadvantage. If she is, then she should be released from an intolerable situation of neglect without anyone having to pay for her freedom. Propp notes that the last verse (Exod 21:11) contains a tautology (the same idea repeated twice) and speculates that, since Hebrew kesef ‘money’ sounds the same as ‘shame’, someone hearing this could understand the clause as ‘she should go out gratis, without shame’.[5] In other words, such release (in effect, divorce) is not the woman’s failure and there is no shame attached to her leaving.

There is a lot of detail here, but the main point is the protection of those in a vulnerable position. Then, too, the imagery of a slave girl designated for the master in marriage echoes again Israel’s story: the Lord designated slave Israel as his wife.[6] He will not abuse her, sell her on to the highest bidder or neglect her, but love and cherish her. People may take advantage of our weakness or our needs and treat us unfairly, but God will never do so. When we entrust ourselves to Him, we can know that His actions will be guided by His love and by what is right.

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[1] The masculine personal pronoun ‘he’ is used in the Hebrew generically to include both genders, evident from the mention of ‘man or woman’ earlier in the sentence.

[2] Nahum M. Sarna, Exodus, The JPS Torah Commentary (Philadelphia: JPS, 1991), 120. A seal was used for authentication on contracts and other important documents, thus its existence pointed to the woman’s influence and power.

[3] William H.C. Propp, Exodus 19-40, AB 2A (New York: Doubleday, 2006), 197.

[4] Compare the phrase at the burial of Abraham and others ‘he was gathered to his people’ (i.e. kin) in Gen 25:8, 17; 35:29, etc. Sarna, Exodus, 121.

[5] Propp, Exodus 19-40, 204.

[6] T. Desmond Alexander, Exodus, AOTC (London: Apollos; Downers Grove, IL: IVP), 502.

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