* The Amyrlan t«nn wag lallatu (VSe>) and kiiittu (kiiidtu, loot 1173). The foniinr tcnn, characteristically enough, is In- cluilvo o( gpoll (temnilly ( I iKlath-pilcscr I. I'rism In»c. col. il. 80, hi. 06, 85 (B.O. 11001), But the meaning Ih only too clear In AJurna^irabal's Annals, I. 108 (c. 880 B.C.), where we read that ho itormcd the fortress o( IJulai, and III 11 iallamtnu ina iiati atrup, ' I consumed with flre HOOO of their captives and left not one soul alive,'— ti'*((u, on the other hand, means dcnnitclv war-captives. These were employed by Eaarhoddon in buildini; temples (Prism Inscc. A and 0, col. iv. 44-46). BespectiiiK •laverj- In Bobylonio, see Tiele, Bab.-Auyr. Qeteh. (1888) IL
on their captive Israelites to the Edomites (Am !•). We may conjecture that the last-named sold them again to traders who shipped them from Elath for foreign shores and markets. It is nearly certain that these traders would be I'hcenicians, for ' trader' and ' I'lucnician ' (Cantianite) were almost synonym- ous terms in those days (Uos 12', Is 23') and later (Zeph 1", Ezk 17^ Pr 31="). Hence the same pro-
Ehet brings a similar charge against the Phcenicians ecause they forgot the covenant of 'brethren' which subsisted between Phoenicia and Israel from the days of Solomon (Am I'-'").* In post-exilian times .) oel (3 [ Heb. 4] ') denounced both these nations for selling the captives of Jerusalem beyond seas to the sons of Javan, i.e. to the Greek poijulations which covered the western shores of Asia Minor.
In contrast with the forlorn, though far from hopeless, lot of a foreign slave in a Hebrew house- hold, the condition of a home-born and Israelite slave would be far more tolerable. The Hel)rew slave frequently came into his unfortunate position through the exigencies of tlie harsh laws of debt (see Debt) which prevailed then and prevail still in Oriental countries. This is clearly shown in Lv 2525. aa^ which exhibits the case of a man volun- tarily entering the state of servitude in order to dis- charge the debts which his poverty and embarrass- ments had contracted. During the regal period Canaanite civilization had spread and had become absorbed by the Hebrew inliabitants, the population of towns h.ad increased, and the power of the rich landowning class was seriouslj' felt. The creditor became sometimes so harsh and exacting, that, if the father died, the sons might be sold into slavery to pay his debt (2 K 4').+ These social evils must have been aggravated in the 9th cent. B.C., when the Syrian wars desolated the borders of both Kphraiin and Judah, and the small farmers lost their crops and cattle through the ravages of the invader (cf. Is 1', Jer O'-'), and were driven to borrow at; the oppressive rate of even 20 per cent. It is not surprising, therefore, that the miserable lot of the ojipressed peasantry awakened both the pity and indignation of the prophets of the 8th cent., who rebuked the overbearing avarice of the wealthy landowner. Amos upbraids the harsh creditor who sells his helpless victim into slavery for a paltry debt equivalent in value to a pair of sandals (Am 2" 8"). A generation later Isaiah de- nounces the aggravated evils of his own time, the accumulation of the smaller properties consequent on tlie dispossession of the smaller owner (Is 5*). Meanwhile wealth increased with rapid strides in spite of the Assyrian invasions. In the days of Amos the nobles lived in luxuiy in their summer and winter houses (Am 3'^ cf. ch. G). In the Northern kingdom houses were erected of hewn stone instead of the common brick, and of cedai in place of the coniiiion sycamore (Is 9'"). ' T'he land was full of silver and gold, and there was no end to the treasures' (2'). Young foreign slaves were sold into Israel in considerable nuinbers.:^ 5. Leqi.slation ke.spkctinq Slaves. —This is
• For a different interpretation of the 'covenant of brothers,' see Driver, J ml and A mus. p. 137.
t ' A young family is sometimes an insupportatilo burden to poor parent*. Ucnce it is not a very rare occurrence in Kjrvjtt for children to be publicly carried aliout for sale by tlieir mothers or by women employed by the fathers ; but tiiis very seldom happens except in ca^es of great distress ' (Lane, ilamicri and Cuntomji qf the Modern t^'jtiptiant, p. 206).
] So we should prol)ably iindcrstana the doubtful passage Is 281', which runs in the Hebrew ip'Biy D'lDJ -lY [3)1 ' and they abound in young foreign (slaves).' It is probably rendered witii fair correctness by the LXX xai riKtti wtXXm «AA*;it.x« iyt*r,tht»CTt7t. That the Ilipb'il of psi? probably meant * abound is confirmed by the Aram. «0-^XD ej/'unit est, talitfuitt and
T
(loI In 1 K 201I>. Moreover, this meaning harmonizes with mju and M?:;?) in the context
t64 serva:nt, slave, slaveey
SERVANT, SLAVE, SLAVERY
to be found in all three codes of the Torah, viz. (a) tlie Book of the Covenant in Ex 21'-"; (6) its subsequent development in the Deuteronomic legislation in Dt 15'-"'* ; (c) lastly, in the post- exilian Book of Leviticus (P) in Lv 25*'-». All these, except I.v 25"'", deal with the conditions of a Hebrew slave in the possession of a master of the same nationality, and not with the case of a foreign slave. This must be considered separately.