time's among the Greeks (Becker, Charik. ii, 32). Par- ents were permitted to sell daughters (Exod. xxi, 7), but the law sliowed much favor to such servants (ver. 8 sq.), for. though there is difficulty in the statements, it is plain that they were protected against violence (see Hengstenberg, I'entat. ii, 438 sq., whom Kurtz, Mos. Opfer, p. 216, contradicts without reason). It is plain that servants coidd not have been dispensed with among a people where almost every man was an agriculturist, and where there were few of a lower class to work for hire (yet comp. Lev. xix, 13; Deut. xxiv, 14; Job vii, 2; also Josephus, Ant. iv, 8, 38); and, indeed, the ances- tors of the Israelites, the nomadic patriarchs, had num- bered slaves among their valuable possessions (Gen. xii, 16; xxiv, 35; xxx, 43; xxxii, 5). These were very numerous (xiv, 14), and. in case of need, served as an army for defence (ver. 14 sq.). When a daughter of the family married a stranger, a female servant accom- panied her to her new home (xxix, 24, 29). The Mosaic law sought to establish on just principles a permanent relation between master and servant, and conferred many favors on the servants. Tiiey not onl}' enjoyed rest from all work every seventh day (Exod. xx, 10); not only was it forbidden to punish a slave so severely that he should die on the spot (xxi, 20), or to mutilate him (ver. 26 sq.), on penalty, in the former case, of suffering pun- ishment (not death, perhaps, as the rabbins say; comp. Koran, ii, 179) ; in the latter, of the freedom of the slave (less protection than this was given to the Greek and Koman slaves; see Becker, Charik. ii, 48; Rum. Alter. II, i, 58 sq.) ; not only were thej' to be admitted to cer- tain festivals (Deut. xii, 12, 18; xvi, 11,14, comp. Athen. xiv, 039; Buttmann, Myth, ii, 52 sq.), but every slave of Hebrew descent obtained his freedom after six years' servitude (Exod. xxi, 2 sq.; Deut. xv, 12; comp. Jose- phus, Ant. xvi, 1, 1; including females, Deut. xv, 12); yet without wife or child, if tliese had come to him in the house of his master (Exod. xxi, 3 sq.) ; and the year of jubilee emancipated all slaves of Hebrew descent (Lev. xxv, 41 ; Jer. xxxiv, 8 sq.; comp. Josephus, Ant. iii, 12, 3). If a slave would not make use of the legal freedom granted him in the seventh year, but wished to remain in his master's house, then he was led to the judge, and his ear was bored (Exod. xxi, C; Deut, xv, 17. So the bored ears among ot her nations were a proof of servitude— as the Arabians [Pctron, Satir. 102], the Lydians, Indians, and Persians [Xenoph. Anah. iii, 1, 31 ; Plutarch, Sympos. ii, 1,4]; yet comp. Ilosenmnller, Moryenl. li, 70 sq., and on the sj-mbolic customs at manu- mission by the Homans, see Becker, Rom. A Iter. II, i, 66 sq. Plautus \^Pan. v, 2, 21] shows that the wearing of ear-rings was a mark of a slave). There is no other kind of manumission mentioned in the Old Test, (see IVIishna, ^faas. Sheni, v, 14). It was at least allowed to slaves of Israelitish descent to acquire some ]iroperty (Lev. xxv, 49; comp. Arvieux, iv, 3 sq.) ; and though, on the whole, the servants were required to labor dili- gently (Job vii, 2; Sir. xxxiii, 26, 28), and the masters required attention and ot)e(lience in service (Psa.cxxiii, 2), infiicting corporal punishment when necessary (Prov. xxix, 19, 21 ; Sir. xxiii, 10; xxxiii, 10), yet the lot of Israelitish servants seems to have been more tolerable than that of tliose in Home (Becker, Callus, i, 128 sq.) and of the modern slaves in the East; yet the latter, even among the Turks, are not treated so inhumanely as is often thought (comp. Arvieux, iii, 385; Burck- hardt, Rei^e durch A rubien v. Niibien, p. 232 sq. ; M'ell- sted, i, 273, Kussegger, II, ii, 524. On the mild treat- ment of slaves in ancient India, see Von liohlen, hidim, ii, 157 sq.), Hebrew slaves sometimes married their masters' daughters (1 Chron. ii, 35; see Hosenmiiller, Moryenl. iii, 253 sq.). It was more usual for the masters to give Israelitish slaves as wives to their sons, by which they acquired the rights of daughters (Exod. xxi, 9; comp. Gen, xxx, 3; Chardin, Voyage, ii, 220). The re- lation of chief servant, or head of tlie house, in whom the master reposed full conlidrnce, may have continued
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in the more important families from patriarchal times (Gen. xxiv, 2; comp. xv, 2; xxxix, 2; and for a modern parallel, Arvieux, iv, 30) ; and slaves seem even to have been employed to educate the sons of the house (jraiSa- ywyof, Gal. iii, 24 sq. ; see ^yachsmuth, Ilelkn. Alter/li. ii, 368). The common slaves were required to do field and house work (Luke xvii, 7 sq.), and, especially the females, to turn the handmill, and to take off or carry the master's sandals, etc. None but the Essenes, among the Jews, rejected all slavery, as contradicting the natu- ral freedom of men (Philo, 0pp. ii, 458, etc.; so the The- rapeutre, ibid, ii, 482).
It is well known that in war with foreign nations manj^ Jews were sold abroad as slaves (Joel iii, 11; Amos i, 6, 9; 1 Slacc. iii, 41; 2 Mace, viii, 11, comp. Deut. xxviii, 68). This happened especially in the wars with Egypt (.Tosephus, Anf. xii, 2, 3) and Syria, then with Rome; and after the destruction of Jerusalem ninety-seven thousand Jews fell into the power of the victorious enemy (id. War, vi, 9, 2). The Jewish com- munit}'- at Rome consisted, in great measure, of freed slaves. See, in general, Pignoria, Be Sen-is ef ear. ap. Vef. Minister. (Patav. 1694, and often); Mos. jNIaimon. De Servis et Ancillis (tract, c. vers, et not. Kail, Hafii. 1744); Abicht, Be Servor. Hehr. Acquis, atq. Serv. (Lips. 1704); Alting, 0pp. v, 222 sq.; Mieg, Comtitut. iServi Ilehr. ex Script, et Rahhin. Collect. (Herborn, 1785); Michaelis, ^fos. Rlt. ii, 358 sq. ; A m. Bib. Repos. 2d Ser. xi, 302 sq. — Winer. See Nethinim ; Slavk.