What is the context?
After the Ten Commandments, God gives Moses laws for particular situations in Israel’s life together. These begin with people living under another person’s authority as servants. The rules concern release, marriage, children and the obligations of a master.
A Hebrew man bought as a servant is to serve six years and go free in the seventh without paying for his release. A wife who came with him leaves with him. But if his master supplied the wife, she and her children remain with the master. The man may choose to stay, and the pierced ear marks that continuing service. His love for his family is part of that decision; leaving would mean leaving them behind.
The daughter sold by her father is dealt with differently because the following instructions concern her place in a marriage. If the master who intended her for himself rejects her, he must permit her redemption and cannot sell her to foreigners. If she is intended for his son, she must be treated as a daughter. Taking another wife does not remove the first wife’s rights to food, clothing and marital relations; withholding them means she goes free without payment.
These are laws regulating human ownership, with limits placed on the owner. They should not be softened into a description of an ordinary job. Elsewhere, Exodus 22:3 allows a thief who cannot repay to be sold, and Leviticus 25:39–46 distinguishes impoverished Israelites from foreign slaves who could become inherited property. Not every case was entered freely, and not every servant had the same right of release.
How is this passage commonly understood?
Readers generally recognize the six-year limit as a protection for the Hebrew man and verses 7–11 as safeguards for the woman’s treatment within the household. Wesley understands the marriage provisions as requiring the master to fulfill the obligations he undertook, rather than discarding the woman when she no longer pleases him.
One difference concerns how long the pierced servant remains. The BSB says “for life.” The Hebrew word עוֹלָם, olam (oh-LAHM), can refer to a continuing duration, including a lifetime; its meaning depends on its setting (Brown–Driver–Briggs). Rashi’s Jewish commentary reads this service as lasting until the Jubilee, when Leviticus 25:10 proclaims release. Wesley allows either the servant’s death or the Jubilee as the endpoint. The BSB wording is retained above, while these readings explain why some interpreters do not understand it as excluding Jubilee release.
Where does this fit in God's plan?
The larger biblical story uses the difference between slavery and family membership to explain what God gives through His Son. In Galatians 4:1–7, Paul says that God sent Jesus to redeem those under the law so that they might receive adoption. Those who belong to Christ receive His Spirit and can approach God as their Father; they are heirs, not merely people kept in service.
That is a broader biblical connection, rather than Paul giving a verse-by-verse explanation of this household law. It also does not make every form of human ownership an example to imitate. In 1 Corinthians 7:20–24, Paul tells an enslaved believer to take the opportunity for freedom if it becomes available. Belonging to Christ gives a person a standing before God that a human master cannot determine.
What is our position?
We don't have a position on this passage yet. When our study reaches a conclusion the text supports, it will appear here.