Leviticus 25

My Notes Authors Matthew Henry - Commentary on the Whole Bible We have here the laws concerning servitude, designed to preserve the honour of the Jewish nation as a free people, and rescued by a divine power out of the house of bondage, into the glorious liberty of God’s sons, his first-born. Now the law is, I. That a native Israelite should never be made a bondman for perpetuity. If he was sold for debt, or for a crime, by the house of judgment, he was to serve but six years, and to go out the seventh; this was appointed, Exod. xxi. 2. But if he sold himself through extreme poverty, having nothing at all left him to preserve his life, and if it was to one of his own nation that he sold himself, in such a case it is here provided, 1. That he should not serve as a bond-servant (v. 39), nor be sold with the sale of a bondman (v. 42); that is, “it must not be looked upon that his master that bought him had as absolute a property in him as in a captive taken in war, that might be used, sold, and bequeathed, at pleasure, as much as a man’s cattle; no, he shall serve thee as a hired servant, whom the master has the use of only, but not a despotic power over.” And the reason is, _They are my servants, _v. 42. God does not make his servants slaves, and therefore their brethren must not. God had redeemed them out of Egypt, and therefore they must never be exposed to sale as bondmen. The apostle applies this spiritually (1 Cor. vii. 23), You are bought with a price, be not the servants of men, that is, “of the lusts of men, no, nor of your own lusts;” for, having become the servants of God, we must not _let sin reign in our mortal bodies, _Rom. vi. 12, 22. 2. That while he did serve he should not be ruled with rigour, as the Israelites were in Egypt, v. 43. Both his work and his usage must be such as were fitting for a son of Abraham. Masters are still required to _give to their servants that which is just and equal, _Col. iv. 1. They may be used, but must not be abused. Those masters that are always hectoring and domineering over their servants, taunting them and trampling upon them, that are unreasonable in exacting work and giving rebukes, and that rule them with a high hand, forget that their Master is in heaven; and what will they do when he rises up? as holy Job reasons with himself, Job xxxi. 13, 14. 3. That at the year of jubilee he should go out free, he and his children, and should _return to his own family, _v. 41. This typified our redemption from the service of sin and Satan by the grace of God in Christ, whose _truth makes us free, _John vii. 32. The Jewish writers say that, for ten days before the jubilee-trumpet sounded, the servants that were to be discharged by it did express their great joy by feasting, and wearing garlands on their heads: it is therefore called the _joyful sound, _Ps. lxxxix. 15. And we are thus to rejoice in the liberty we have by Christ.