(S.) The condition of a Hebrew servant was by no means intolerable. His master was admonished to treat him, not "as a bond-servant, but as a hired servant and as a sojourner;" and again, "not to rule over him with rigor" (Lev. xxv, 39, 40, 43). The Rabbinists specified a variety of duties as coming under these general pre- cepts: for instance, compensation for personal injury, exemption from menial duties, such as unbinding the master's sandals or carrying him in a litter; the use of gentle language on the part of the master; and the maintenance of the servant's wife and children, though the master was not allowed to exact work from them
SLAVERY
796
SLAVERY
(Mielziner, Sklaven bei den Hehr. p. 31). At the termi- nation of his servitude the master was enjoined not to "let him go away empty," but to remunerate him lib- erally out of his tlock, his floor, and his wine-press (Ueut. XV, 13, 14). Such a custom would stimulate the servant to faithful service, inasmuch as the amount of the gift was left to the master's discretion; and it would also provide him with means wherewith to start in the world afresh.
In the event of a Hebrew becoming the servant of a "stranger," meaning a non-Hebrew, the servitude could be terminated oidy in two ways, viz. by the arrival of the year of Jubilee, or by the repayment to the master of the purchase-money paid for the servant, after de- ducting a sum for the value of his services proportioned to the length of his servitude (Lev. xxv, 47-55). The servant might be redeemed either by himself or by one of his relations, and the object of this regulation ap- pears to have been to impose upon relations the obliga- tion of effecting the redemption, and thus putting an end to a state which must have been peculiarly galling to the Hebrew.
A Hebrew woman might enter into voluntary servi- tude on the score of poverty, and in tliis case she was entitled to her freedom after six years' service, together with the usual gratuity at leaving, just as in the case of a man (Deut. xv, VI, 13). According to Rabbinical tradition, a woman could not be condemned to servitude for theft; neither could she bind herself to perpetual servitude by having her ear bored (Mielziner, p. 43).
Thus far we have seen little that is objectionable in the condition of Hebrew servants. In respect to mar- riage, there were some peculiarities which, to our ideas, would be regarded as hardships. A master might, for instance, give a wife to a Hebrew servant for the time of his servitude, the wife being in this ease, it must be remarked, not only a slave, but a non-Hebrew. Should he leave when his term had expired, his wife and chil- dren would remain the absolute property of the master (Kxod. xxi, 4, 5). The reason for this regulation is, evidently, that the children of a female heathen slave were slaves; they inherited the mother's disqualifica- tion. Such a condition of marrying a slave would be re- garded as an axiom by a Hebrew, and the case is only in- cidentally noticed. Again, a father might sell his young daughter to a Hebrew, with a view either of the latter's marrying her himself or of his giving her to his son (ver. 7-9). It diminishes the apparent harshness of this proceeding if we Irxik on the purchase-money as in the light of a dowry given, as was not unusual, to the par- ents of the bride; still more, if we accept the Rabbini- cal view (which, however, we consider very doubtful) that the consent of the maid was required before the marriage could take place. But even if this consent were not obtained, the paternal authority would not ap- pear to be violently strained ; for among ancient nations that authority was generally held to extend even to the life of a child, much more to the giving of a daughter in marriage. The female slave was in this case termed iT!2X, as distinct from iinSTji, applied to the ordinary household slave. The distinction is marked in regard to Hagar, who is^Iescribed by the latter term before the birth of Ishmael, and by the former after that event (comp. Gen. xvi, 1; xxi, 10). The relative value of the terms is expressed in Abigail's address. "Let thine handmaid ((tinu/i) be a servant {xkiphkdh) to wash," etc. (1 Sam. xxv, 41). The position of a maiden thus sold by her father was subject to the following regida- tions: [1] She could not "go out as the men-servants do;" i. e. she could not leave at the termination of six years, or in the year of Jubilee, if (as the regulation as- sumes) her master was willing to fiihil the object for which he had purchased iier. [2] Should he not wish t<i marry her, he should call u|)on her friends to procure her release by the repayment of the purchase-monej' (perhaps, as in other cases, with a deduction for the
value of her services). [3] If he betrothed her to his son, he was bound to make such provision for her as he would for one of his own daughters. [4] If either he or his son, having married her, took a second wife, it should not be to the prejudice of the first. [5] If nei- ther of the three above-specilied alternatives took place, the maid was entitled to immediate and gratuitous lib- erty (Exod. xxi, 7-11).