Exodus 21:5 “But if the servant declares, ‘I love my master and my wife and children and do not want to go free,’
Commentary has just said of the previous verses that if a slave comes in by himself and gets married and has children while in servitude (meaning the master provided the wife), he cannot take his wife and children with him. They belong to the master. Then, of verse 5, commentary says that such a declaration as “I love my master” would be made “in light of the master’s goodness and his blessings for the servant.”
Exodus 21:6 then his master must take him before the judges. He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life.
How does that even make sense? Verse 5 goes on to say “I love my master and my wife and children…” (emphasis mine). That doesn’t sound like he’s caught up in the goodness and blessings of the master. It sounds like he doesn’t want to lose his wife and children and his only option, since they are considered the master’s property, is for him to stay.
Exodus 21:7 “If a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as male servants do.
Precious Savior, These verses infuriate me. The commentary infuriates me. That women, for so long, were only seen as property, infuriates me. That even to this day, women and people of color and immigrants are not seen as people in the same way that white men are infuriates me. And the anger feels so impotent. Help me to know what to do with that anger so that I can love like You love. Help me, Jesus. Amen.
Exodus 21:8 If she does not please the master who has selected her for himself, he must let her be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to foreigners, because he has broken faith with her.
Have a blessed day.