Servant, slaye, slavery

1. The hired servant. U. The slave. 1. Kame and meaning. 2. Orijjin of slavery. 8. Slavery and ancient civilization. 4. Slavery in ancient pre-exilian Israel. 6. Legislation respecting slaves : (A) pre-exilian, (B) post -exilian, (C) compensation for injury to slaves, (D) runaway slaves. 6. Status of female slaves. 7. Price of slaves. 8. History of slavery from Jeremis>b onwirds. 9. Christian attitude to slavery. 10. Religious use of the term slave ' 0 servant ). Literature. i. Hired Servant. — The word employed in Hebrew for a servant wlio worked for hire, a hired servant, is v;v', a term also employed in Jer 46^' for a mercenaiy soldier. Sucli a hired servant was, however, free to render such service or not aa ho pleased. There was no constraint over his activity except for the stipulated time and mode of it, for whicli payment or wages ("i;;") was received. It is verj' ditUcult to determine what place the hired servant or worknuin tilled in the earlier period of Israel's pre-exilian history. There are no regula- liona about him in the primitive compend of laws called the Book of the Covenant (Kx 21-23). The wild followers whom Abimeluch hired (Jg 9) scarcely come under this category, and the same remark applies to the priest hired by Micah (.Ig 18^). I!ut it is otherwise when we come to the more developed code of the Book of Deuteronomy, w liich reflects a more advanced state of civilization. There we lind distinct provision made that the hired xervant is to be paid regularly everj' evening (Dt 24") l)efore sunset, and this rule is made to ajiply to both Hebrew and foreign lal)ourer alike. In tlie post -exilian legi.shition contained in the Book of Leviticus (19") this instruction is main- tained in full force. In fact, in post-exilian times an ell'ort becomes clearly apparent in legislation to make the lot of the slave approximate to that of the hired servant (Lv 25'"). In the post-exilian literature the references to the hired servant are not infrequent. See the Lexicons, s. t:;". The (Jrcek equivalent is /ilaSios, luaduirbi. The former is the term employed in Lk lo"-'". The diflcicnce be- tween the relation of the -\'y^ or hired servant to the Hebrew household and that of the slave (i?i;), or of the stranger or resident alien (ij), was that the relation of the hired servant was looser ; see Family. ii. SlaTB.— L Name and Meaning.— The ordi- nary Hcb. equivalent of ' servant ' was the word which properly desijjnates slave, iji', ebcd, a word common to all Semitic languages, includin-; Sabcean. It is, however, seldom found in Assyro-lijibylonian, in which the equivalent more frequently used is ardu. The Gr. equivalent is SovXos (also eipdwuv, jrafs, otKir-rjs). The word ^5l; is as common in Phoenician as in Hebrew, and enters into Phccn. proper names (compounded with the name of deity precisely as in Heb.). See Bloch, Phonicisches Glossar, pp. 47, 48, both pages being entirely lilled with examples. The Tel el-Amarua tablets give us further evidence of Canaanite names of the 15th cent. (circ. ), viz. 'Abd-Addi,'Abd-Uras,'Abd-'Asirta, "Abd-Milki, etc. For similar names compounded with 'Abd (fem. Amat) in Arabic, see Wellhausen, lieste', pp. 2-4. The verbal root of the substantive i3y connotes fundamentally the idea of working. In primitive life this meant chielly the tilling of the soil (Gn 2' 3=^ 4^, 2 S Q"). Then it came to be specially associated with the conception of working for (Heb. ^) another. Accordingly, the subst. nj;; is based on this special meaning, and therefore signifies one who labours for another and remains permanently subject to this relationship. This is, in fact, the cardinal distinction between a free man whoso activity is not restricted by any compulsion to serve the interests of another, and the slave whose activity is so restricted. 2. Origin of Slavery.— Slavery was probably a necessary element in all ancient industrial life. Slavery arises from two main causes, viz. Want and War. Privation and famine compel a man, a family, or a clan to accept terms of service and maintenance from others to which under normal conditions they would never submit. War, a yet more potent cause, brings in its train foreign captives who are forced to enter a lot of subjection to the will of their conquerors. War, moreover, carries in its track desolation of house and home and of all means of subsistence. Whole populations are rendered des- titute, and Jlee for protection and maintenance to some friendly but alien race, and thus voluntarily enter into the position of bond-slaves as a refuge from famine and death. 'The greatest of all divi- sions,' says Tylor, 'that between freeman and slave, appears aa soon as the barbaric warrior spares the life of his enemy when he has him down, and brings him home to drudge for him and till the soil. How low in civilization this begins ai)pear8 by a slave-caste forbidden to bear arms forming part of several of the lower American tribes.' We shall presently see how this condition of slavery belonged to the old, world life of ancient Heb. society, where the male and female slave rank next above the ox and the ass. The terms used for both were sometimes closely similar, and indicated that they were regarded a.3 pronrrtt/ that had been acquired. The oxen were called by the Hebrew his nji;5, his acquired proiierty or possessions (Lat. pcculium, Gr. rr^i-os). I'he slave, on the other hand, was his purchased possession or hd^ njp'; (Gn 1712. 13. a Kx 12" 2P">). Tylor (i6.) thinks that the hired labourer arose out of the more ancient slave, the hired servant out of the ancient servus. 'The master at first let out his slaves to work for his prollt, and then free men found it to their advantage to work for their own profit, so that there grew np the great wage-earning doss.' Tho • A nthropotogy, p. 434 ft. 462 SERVANT, SLAVE, SLAVERY SERVANT, SLAVE, SLAVERY reader will not fail to note that this theory is confirmed by the results of critical imiuiry in the OT, for at the commencement of this article we showed good grounds for believing that the t:^ or hired servant hardly appears in the earlier stages of pre-exilian Hebrew history. 3. Slavery and ancient Civilization.— It can hardly admit of doubt that the advance of early human society in the arts of life was largely aided by the in.stitution of slavery. Through slave labour, agriculture and industrial life progressed, wealth accumulated, and leisure was given to priests, .scribes, philosoi;hers, and literati to reflect and raise the level of human intelligence. What modern machinery accomplishes for man now, slave-labour accomplished then. In a word, early civilization rested upon slavery as a basis. With- out servile toil such vast structures as the pyra- mids and the siiliinx of Gizeh would never have been reared. Tliis is confirmed by the tradition of Heb. bondmen employed by the Egyp. Pharaoh in the erection of his granaries (Ex !"■ "). And when we turn to the Assyr. monuments the same features of slave-labour powerfully impress us. The Assyrian empire, unlike the Babylonian, was essentiallj' military, and the captives obtained by foreign conquest were employed in executing the laborious task of dragging colossal monuments into position. The vivid reliefs discovered at Kouyunjik, portrayed in Layard's Nineveh and Babylon (pp. 25, 27), clearly exemplify the character of those heavy tasks executed in an almost tropical climate. We see the Assyrian king superintend- ing the removal of an enormoiis bull. Several hundreds of slaves, provided with a rope which passes over their shoulders, are struggling in a long succession that ascends in single file up a steep declivity, dragging into position an immense bull which has been landed from the river. By that river it has evidently been conveyed from the stone quarries where it has been hewn and probably shaped. Other slaves are portraj'ed carrying saws, picks, and shovels. A pair of them are dragging along by a rope, passing over the shoulder of each, a cart laden with planks or levers. At inter\'als a task-master can be seen ^Welding a stick. But slaves were employed not only in the more laborious forms of manual exertion, but al.so in the arts requiring manual dexterity and artistic skill. According to Wilkinson (i. p. 457), the monuments testify that the Egyptian male and female musi- cians and dancers were slaves, just as we know to have been the case in ancient Greece and Rome. The maidens who formed the chorus of the Helene of Eiiripides were slaves brought to the Egyptian market by Pliojnician traders. In Egyptian banquets the men were attended by slaves, while the women were waited upon by handmaids who were female slaves. ' An upper maidservant or a ■white slave had the office of handing the wine or whatever refreshment was offered to the ladies wlio were present at a banquet, and a black woman followed her in an inferior cap.ioity to receive an empty cup.' Female slaves are easily recognized in Egyptian portrayals. For they were not per- mitted to wear the same dress as the ladies, and their hair was adjusted in a difterent fashion. We find it tied at the back of the head into a kind of loop or arranged in long plaits at tlie back, wliile eignt or nine others hang down on either side of the neck and face. Also they wore a long tight gown tied at the neck, with short close sleeves reachin'; nearly to the elbow, or they wore a long loose robe thrown over it. On the other hand the lowest meni.ils, i.e. the men-slaves who toiled in the country, wore ' rough skirts of matting which they were wont to seat with a piece of leatlier' (Lepsius, Wilkinson), while those who were com- pelled to adopt a more active mode of life wore nothing but a simple fringed girdle, like that which is stiU worn by many African tribes, 'a narrow strip of stufl' with a few ribbons or the end of the strip itself hanging down in front.' Under the New Empire we even find that the young slaves who served wealthy nobles at feasts wore, as their only article of clothing, a strip of leather which passed between the legs, and wsig held up by an embroidered belt (Erman). 4. Slavery in ancient pre-e.>cilian Israel. — In the primitive social conditions of ancient Israel the ditt'erent ranks of the community moved easily and freely amongst each other and came into hourly contact. The courtesies and etiquette of life, especially in salutations and meals, were certainly not neglected ; yet the gulfs created between class and class by our higldy developed modern ci\'ilization were, fortunately for human happiness, then unknown. In the life presented to us in the Books of Judges and Samuel we find high and low equally engaged in pastoral or agri- cultural employment. We are reminded of the genial state of society in Ithaca as depicted in the Odyssey. When the deputies of Jabeshgilead came in quest of Saul, they found the Benjamite chief and Israel's future King returning with a yoke of oxen from his field (1 S IP). We associate Saul witli the figure of the Roman Cincinnatus summoned straight from the plough to a;ssume the office of dictator. Thus, in that early and simple Hebrew civiliza- tion, slavery was free from half the terrors with which the later Roman civilization and the con- ditions of our modern life have invested it. It cannot be said that in the earlier pre-exilian days the lot of a Hebrew bond-slave among his countrymen was oppressive or even irksome. The description given by Donyhty of slaverj' in the remoter parts of Arabia corresponds in many par- ticulars with the conditions of the early Hebrew bond-servant (Arabia Deserta, i. p. 554) — 'The condition of the slave is always tolerable and is often happy in Arabia ; bred up as poor broLliers of the sons of the household, they are a manner of God's wards of the pioua Mohammedan householder who is ammij [properly ' my uncle "] of their sen'itude and a^I/(" my father"). ... It is not many years ' if their houselord fears Allah " before he will ^ve them their libert\' ; and then he sends them not away empty ; but in upland Arabia (where only substantial persons are slave-holders) the jjood man will marry out his free servants, male and female, endowing them with somewhat of his own substance, whether camels or palm-stems.' We shall note the close par.illel between the latter part of this extract and the details of Hebrew usage prescribed in the Book of Deuteronomy. A slave could attain to a high position in his master's household. He might even become his heir in default of off'sjiring (Gn 15, '). The im- portant place filled by the slave Eliezer, though a foreigner (Damascene), in the household of Abra- ham, is not without parallels in the narratives of antiquity. The Hebrew captive Joseph becomes the prime-minister of Pharaoh. In 1 Ch 2* we read the interesting fact that Sheshan in default of male issue married one of his daughters to the Egyptian (?) slave Jarha'. In case of an emergency, the master of a household might seek counsel from his slave as from a trusted friend. Abigail has recourse to one of Nabal's slaves for advice in order to appea.se Darid's anger (1 S 25''-). A homely episode of this character occurs in the life of Saul (1 S 9'"'°, belonging to the older stratum of the narrative called by Budde G ; cf. Richttr u. Samuel, p. 169 ff.). Saul, in his baffled search for his father's lost asses, turns at length for counsel to his slave. The slave gives the right advice, and directs his master's steps to the seer Samuel. A SERYAXT. SLAVE, SLAVERY SERVANT, SLAVE, SLAVERY 463 fee is requisite for the consultation, and tlie slave lends his master a quarter of a shekel (about SJd.). Saul, in resjionse to his slave's advice, says, ' Your advice is good : come, let us go.' This vivid narra- tive reminds us of Gn 24 (J; according to Ball J^, but Kuenen regards it as J'), in which Abraham sends Eliezer on an important mission to secure a ■wife for his son, and exhibits in the clearest manner the conlidontiai relations which subsisted between the liead of a household or the sheikh of a clan and liis slave. Krom tlie above narrative respecting Saul, in which he borrows a siii.iU sum from his slave, we gather the significant hint that slaves mi::ht even be the owners of property. The position of a slave in a household would largely depend on his origin, viz. whetlicr of He- brew or of foreign nation.-ility. In the latter case his .situation would certainly not be so favourable, unless indeed, as in the case of Eliezer, he had been born and bred in tlie household, and thus came to be incorporated in the clan to which he was locally attached, sharing in its hospitality and protection, and taking his due part in its sacra. The position of a recently purchased slave taken captive in war would be far diltcrent. In a Roman or Greek household he would be set to do the most menial tasksof drudgery; and liis jd.ace in a Hebrew family ■would be similar, though not so forlorn. The Canaanites, as we learn from Jg 1^- •• • , were employed in hard task-work {cz). These lower employments are described in Dt 29" as gathering firewood and drawing water. The laws respecting warfare in Dt 20'"'''- prescribe th.at the inli.abitants of those cities which surrendered voluntarily to Israel should be taken as slaves, while in case of resistance the male inhabitants were to be slain with the sword, and the women and children with the cattle were to be taken as a prey (cf. Nu31"'-''"). In the time of David, through his numerous foreign wars, there came to be a large number of these foreign helots engaged in laborious task-work (ot). From 2 S 20'^ we gather that it became necessary to appoint an ollicer to superintend this special department of national life, viz. the ^3y op (On 49") or forced service exacted from the slave-labourer. This was probably true of the reign of David's successor Solomon (1 K 9-'), who did not find it necessary to exact any bund-service from Hebrews (save for the special work mentioned in S^i'^i"-), since tlie foreign slaves abundantly sufficed for all needs. Inileed, slaves of foreign origin were very numerous in the East, and this became especially true in the 9tli and following centuries. A.ssj-rian inscriptions and portrayals abundantly testify to the barb.irous practices that prevailed in ancient Asiatic warfare when cities were stormed and sacked. We know from numerous inscriptions tliat a large number of the i)risoners were carried away cajitive. Many of these, of whom female cajitives constituted a considerable proportion, would inevitably find their way to foreign markets. The great mercantile Canannite or Phojnician peoples, who had their cele- brated emporia of commerce at Tyre and Sidon, shared with the I'liilistines the unenviable notoriety of being the chief slave-dealing race of antiquity. Thus in the middle of the 8th cent. Amos brings this accusation against the Philistines, who passed The Amyrlan t«nn wag lallatu (VSe>) and kiiittu (kiiidtu, loot 1173). The foniinr tcnn, characteristically enough, is In- cluilvo o( gpoll (temnilly ( I iKlath-pilcscr I. I'rism In»c. col. il. 80, hi. 06, 85 (B.O. 11001), But the meaning Ih only too clear In AJurna^irabal's Annals, I. 108 (c. 880 B.C.), where we read that ho itormcd the fortress o( IJulai, and III 11 iallamtnu ina iiati atrup, ' I consumed with flre HOOO of their captives and left not one soul alive,'— ti'((u, on the other hand, means dcnnitclv war-captives. These were employed by Eaarhoddon in buildini; temples (Prism Inscc. A and 0, col. iv. 44-46). BespectiiiK •laverj- In Bobylonio, see Tiele, Bab.-Auyr. Qeteh. (1888) IL on their captive Israelites to the Edomites (Am !•). We may conjecture that the last-named sold them again to traders who shipped them from Elath for foreign shores and markets. It is nearly certain that these traders would be I'hcenicians, for ' trader' and ' I'lucnician ' (Cantianite) were almost synonym- ous terms in those days (Uos 12', Is 23') and later (Zeph 1", Ezk 17^ Pr 31="). Hence the same pro- Ehet brings a similar charge against the Phcenicians ecause they forgot the covenant of 'brethren' which subsisted between Phoenicia and Israel from the days of Solomon (Am I'-'"). In post-exilian times .) oel (3 [ Heb. 4] ') denounced both these nations for selling the captives of Jerusalem beyond seas to the sons of Javan, i.e. to the Greek poijulations which covered the western shores of Asia Minor. In contrast with the forlorn, though far from hopeless, lot of a foreign slave in a Hebrew house- hold, the condition of a home-born and Israelite slave would be far more tolerable. The Hel)rew slave frequently came into his unfortunate position through the exigencies of tlie harsh laws of debt (see Debt) which prevailed then and prevail still in Oriental countries. This is clearly shown in Lv 2525. aa^ which exhibits the case of a man volun- tarily entering the state of servitude in order to dis- charge the debts which his poverty and embarrass- ments had contracted. During the regal period Canaanite civilization had spread and had become absorbed by the Hebrew inliabitants, the population of towns h.ad increased, and the power of the rich landowning class was seriouslj' felt. The creditor became sometimes so harsh and exacting, that, if the father died, the sons might be sold into slavery to pay his debt (2 K 4').+ These social evils must have been aggravated in the 9th cent. B.C., when the Syrian wars desolated the borders of both Kphraiin and Judah, and the small farmers lost their crops and cattle through the ravages of the invader (cf. Is 1', Jer O'-'), and were driven to borrow at; the oppressive rate of even 20 per cent. It is not surprising, therefore, that the miserable lot of the ojipressed peasantry awakened both the pity and indignation of the prophets of the 8th cent., who rebuked the overbearing avarice of the wealthy landowner. Amos upbraids the harsh creditor who sells his helpless victim into slavery for a paltry debt equivalent in value to a pair of sandals (Am 2" 8"). A generation later Isaiah de- nounces the aggravated evils of his own time, the accumulation of the smaller properties consequent on tlie dispossession of the smaller owner (Is 5). Meanwhile wealth increased with rapid strides in spite of the Assyrian invasions. In the days of Amos the nobles lived in luxuiy in their summer and winter houses (Am 3'^ cf. ch. G). In the Northern kingdom houses were erected of hewn stone instead of the common brick, and of cedai in place of the coniiiion sycamore (Is 9'"). ' T'he land was full of silver and gold, and there was no end to the treasures' (2'). Young foreign slaves were sold into Israel in considerable nuinbers.:^ 5. Leqi.slation ke.spkctinq Slaves. —This is • For a different interpretation of the 'covenant of brothers,' see Driver, J ml and A mus. p. 137. t ' A young family is sometimes an insupportatilo burden to poor parent. Ucnce it is not a very rare occurrence in Kjrvjtt for children to be publicly carried aliout for sale by tlieir mothers or by women employed by the fathers ; but tiiis very seldom happens except in ca^es of great distress ' (Lane, ilamicri and Cuntomji qf the Modern t^'jtiptiant, p. 206). ] So we should prol)ably iindcrstana the doubtful passage Is 281', which runs in the Hebrew ip'Biy D'lDJ -lY [3)1 ' and they abound in young foreign (slaves).' It is probably rendered witii fair correctness by the LXX xai riKtti wtXXm «AA;it.x« iytr,tht»CTt7t. That the Ilipb'il of psi? probably meant abound is confirmed by the Aram. «0-^XD ej/'unit est, talitfuitt and T (loI In 1 K 201I>. Moreover, this meaning harmonizes with mju and M?:;?) in the context t64 serva:nt, slave, slaveey SERVANT, SLAVE, SLAVERY to be found in all three codes of the Torah, viz. (a) tlie Book of the Covenant in Ex 21'-"; (6) its subsequent development in the Deuteronomic legislation in Dt 15'-"' ; (c) lastly, in the post- exilian Book of Leviticus (P) in Lv 25'-». All these, except I.v 25"'", deal with the conditions of a Hebrew slave in the possession of a master of the same nationality, and not with the case of a foreign slave. This must be considered separately. A. We shall deal, first, with the pre-exUian legis- lation contained in the two sections {a) and (6). The period of service is fixed as six years ; in the seventh there is tlie year of release. The question has been asked whetlier the six years may not be regarded as a maximum period. It is certainly quite possible that when, as in the case of debt, the sum to be earned by service could be worked out in a shorter term, the six-years' period might be abridged, but we have insufficient data in the OT to guide us on this point. The legislation appears to contemplate six years as the least period for which service could be entered. So Rabbis in their interpretations have inferred. Jacob's seven years' bondage to Laban (Gn 29'") seems to point to a somewhat divergent tradition. It is evident that the six-years' period corresponds to the six days of work followed by the day of Sabbath rest. So with agricultural land, which in the seventh year is to lie fallow. Jer 34-^^ is interesting and sig- nificant, since it shows that these laws respecting slaves were constantly ^nolated by the owners. In the pre-exilian legislation the special cases are duly provided for. But this is more particularly true of the earlier conipend of laws (Book of the Covenant). In £x 2P-^ the case of a man who enters bond-service unmarried is distinguished from that of a married man. Under the latter case there are two varieties. If the marriage took place prior to the term of service, husband and wife become free together. But if the slave marries one of the slave-girls in his master's household, the wife and the children born to him by her do not accompany the husband in his year of release. This last stipu- lation is not mentioned in the Deuteronomic legis- lation. Are we to understand that the express provisions of the earlier legislation are tacitly assumed in the later? This is scarcely probable, since (1) the Deuteronomic legislation consistently repeats the earlier provisions of the Book of the Covenant, when adopted into its own code. Their omission, when tacitly understood, would have greatly abbreviated tne later legislation in its written form. (2) We note a striking contrast between the express provision in Dt 15'" (viz. that the ceremony described in Ex 21", Dt 15"' should apply to women as well) and the hard injunction of Ex 21' tliat the daughter who is sold as a bond- woman shall not go free as the bondman does. It is true that the case here contemplated is that of concubinage ; but, as Driver in his commentary pertinently observes, the terms in l>t 15'^ " are quite general, and we are not therefore justified in intro- ducing exceptions out of the earlier legislation. Tlie code of Deuteronomy is evidently separated from the Book of the Covenant by several centuries during which the Hebrew race advanced both socially and politically. The humanitarian ten- dency which was already conspicuous in the more primitive legislation had advanced still furtlier. It may even be true, as Driver suggests, that Deuteronomy belongs to an age so far advanced on tliat of the earlier code that the case no longer practically occurred of a woman being sold into slavery for concubinage, or at all events this was not contemplated or recognized. This could hardly have been true at a date earlier than B.C. 622. It sometimes, perhaps not infrequently, liappened that a slave loved his master, or was impelled by the strong motives which the sustenance and pro- tection of liis master's home ailorded, not to avail liiniself of the opportunity of the seventh year of release. Under the terms of the earlier legislation, a wife, married when lier liusband was living in bond- age in his master's household, and the family reared under these conditions could not pass into freedom with the man when the seventh year of release had come. This would furnish an even stronger in- ducement not to avail himself of the freedom wliich the seventh year permitted. The master would tlien take the slave and bring him to God (i.e. to the local priest in the nearest sanctuarj' ), and bore tlirough his ear in token of the fact that the slave was now the property of his master in perpetuity (Ex 21''). This should not be understood to mean merely until the year of jubilee, as Josephus (Ant. IV. viii. 28) and Rashi assume, since this would introduce an arbitrary qualification. The year of jubilee, as we shall have subsequent occasion to see, belongs to a later stage of national life. ■The growing humanitarian tendency which is characteristic of the Deuteronomic legislation shows itself in the addition of an express stipu- lation (Dt 15"-") that the master on releasing his slave was to provide him liberally from his flocks, his com, and his winet (cf. the modem Arabian usage cited from Doughty, above, p. 462''). The special case must now be considered of a father selling his daughter into slavery to another. To this the Book of the Covenant refers (Ex 21'""). This was done under the stipulation that the maiden should become the master's concubine or that of liis son. If she fail to please her master (or his son) who has destined her for himself (read iS with Kere in place of ti^), she sliall be redeemed [by her father or some near relative]. Under no circumstances is she to be sold into the hands of a foreigner. If she be the concubine of the master's son, she is to be treated as a daughter of the master's household. But if another woman is married, she is in no way to be defrauded of her food, dress, or conjugal rights. If any of these three rights of food, dress, etc., be not preserved intact, she may claim her freedom and depart without any redemption money being paid as compensa- tion. As aJready stated, the case of a concubine- slave does not arise in the Deuteronomic code. Budde In ZATW, 1891, p. 100 f., discusses the difflCTiltie« ol Ex 21". After remarking that Dt 16i- 17 indicates an artvanc in civilization, he compares Lv 1920, which, however, contem- plates a different set of conditions. Budde suggests an ingeni- ous emendation of the doubtful my' k'7 ib-k into nv;; «> is-H 'provided that he has not known her (carnally).' The LXX ;; xWi! jMtfl^^Xffyrtf-flE", has promised or pledged herself to him,' appears to sustain the reading of the A^. We might, on the other hand, also render the Heb. text (^irf) ' to whom (one) has destined her.' W. R. Smith, however, in ZATW, 1S92, p. 162, supports Budde's reading of ^Sjl), and makes the further suggestion that k'? did not originally stand in the text, which was simply njT IPK. This involved a primitive usag • This is the view taken by most commentators ; Q'n7Nrr7(< does not mean 'to the judges,' as Dillm. seems disposed to understand it. For Jg 6, 1 S 225 (see Ixihr, ad loc.), and Ex 227- a 28 are passages where D'n'?K should be rendered by 'God' not 'Judges,' God being regarded as the fountain of true justice, who spoke through the priest and witnessed the transaction. Hence LXX ••/^« ri ?mpic, nZ 6ui. Nowack would under- stand by D'nSft here the ' family ancestors' (cf. 1 S 28", Is S"). The slave was taken to the family sanctuary and adopted pe^ manently into the possessions of the family. But this is a far- fetched theory, and the employment of CT17K in a code a< legislation in a sense so exceptional is certainly improbable. The boring ol the ear (probably the right ear, Lv S^"- U'- ") was also practised bv other Oriental peoples, t.g. the llesopo- tamians (Juven. 1. 104), Arabs (Petronius, Sat. 102), LydiaM (Xenoph. Anab. m. L 31), and Carthaginians (Plautus, PxnuL V. ii. 21). For other parallels consult Dillm. on Ex 21^. t This humane Deuteronomic law was fully maintained in thi later Jewish usage. According to ^iddtuliin 17, the worth of these parting pifts to the released slave must amount to M tdaim or 78 shillings (Hamburger). SERVA^'^T, SLAVE, SI^VVERY SERVAXT, SLAVE, SLAVERY 465 whereby the heir (or son) Inherited marital right3(ff»nAip and Mnrrio'jf, p. 89 (.). The Btorj' of Absalom shows that this might occur even in the lifetime of the lather without shock- ing puhlic feeling. But to the later Jewish ideas this was ftbborrent. Hence the insertion of kV into the text. Subse- quently another textual tradition arose through the nj^^'V of v.P, which caused .lyr to be corrected to .11;", which found Its way into our Massoretic text. K? of the K^thib thus re- mained unintelUyible, and it was extremely easy for the Jewish scholars to assume that here as in so muny passages it stands in place of iV. The reading .1^1 i^'N is confirmed by (1) the phrase .13 ni33, which obviously presupposes sexual intercourse, (2) best explains '3'V3 n>i.— If we accept W. R. Smith's emendation, it would seem to show that the Book of the Coven.int arose considerably earlier than the Sth cent. For in Am :;' the prophet denounces the profanation of the 'holy name by the inlcrcourse of father and son with the same paramour (cf. Gn oj-* (P), 49). Here the nii^J may probably refer to the -iv ~J7 of some local high place. The sentiment which underlies the verse is unmistakable, B. The post-exilinn legislation of the Book of Leviticus (So"'") was disitinct, and was desi<rned to meet the special conditions of the post-exilian times. The institution of the year q/ jubilee now takes the place of the old pre-e.\ilian law respect- ing the seventh year of release. An express dis- tinction is made between Hebrew slaves and foreigners. The latter are to be slaves for life, and do not come under tlie operation of the law of jubilee, whereby the Hebrew slave with his family in the fiftieth jear passed out of bondage and returned to his own kindred and to his own inherited property, where he was enabled to main- tain himself and liis family in freedom. The older biblical scholars attempted to reconcile the Levilical legislation with the older codes. Thus Saalschiitz held the view that the le^-islatioo of Exodus and Deut re- ferred to the tribes related to the Hebrews, while the law of jubilee applied to Israelites only. But this distinction is an artificial Nothbehelf,' and the same remark applies to Dill- niann'H attempt to harmonize Levit. with the earlier legislation h\ assuming that the former was designed to secure to those who had not made use of their right of release in the seventh year through utter impoverishment, that they should not be slaves for ever, but obtam their release in the fiftieth.— But both these theories are baaed on a failure to recognize that the Levitical regulations were a completely new constructive effort to settle the conditions of Hebrew bond-service. It is not by any means clear how far the slave benclited by the new conditions. Indeed the old Deuteronoiiiic law seems more favourable, if the year of jubilee was over six years distant. The object of tlie new law seems to have been to fix a universally valid date of release, and thus to unite the lot of tlie individual to the collective life of the nation. Moreover, an ex|)res3 injunction was made (v.'"-), that Hebrew slaves should be re- deemed from bondage to a foreign owner by the nearest kin (first brotliers, then uncle or cousin), 80 that a foreign master had not tlie unconditional right of possession towards the Hebrew slave until the year of jubilee. The slave was, if possible, to be redeemed before that time, the price of re- demption being regulated by (1) the original sum of purchase ; (2) the distance of the year of jubilee. We thus find that the fumlaniental pnnci|ile was recognized that the Hebrew slave was rather to be regarded as a hired workman, and the price of his purchase or redemption was to be considered as a kind of hire paid for in advance. The Hebrew master was, moreover, exhorted to treat him rather OS a brother, or a ' hired servant ' and soiouruer ' (w.' "). The ciiiidition of foreirjn {i.e. non-Hebrew) slaves has been already referred to, and will now be con- sidered in further detail. The captive taken in war naturally bore a somewhat heavier lot than the Hebrew slave who had pa.ssed into tliat con- dition by iin]ioverisliinent or debt. But there were mitigations even in tlic lot of a foreign slave. A foreign captive woiimn taken in war and made a VOL. IV. — 30 concubine was to be treated with a certain defer- ence by her captor (Dt 21 '""•). The fact that the slaves of the household were circiuucised meant much. They were thereby received into a re- ligious community, and, by taking part in its sacra, shared in its protection. Thus from Dt jQia. IS 16"- 1» we learn that they partook of the passovcr and other sacrificial meals, and, as we can easily infer from Ex 20'", tliey enjoyed their Pabhatli rest from toil in common with their Hebrew masters. According to Rabbinic tradi- tion a slave could not be compulsorily circumcised, anil, if he was circumcised, he was not to lie sold to a foreigner, i.e. he was treated as though he were a Hebrew and not a foreign slave. Uut if he refused circumcision, he was to be sold after the expiration of a year. On the other hand, if before entering service he made the express stipu- lation that he was not to be circumcised, he might remain in bondage for an indefinite period ; see Jlielziner, Die Verhdltnisse der ISklaven, bei den alten Uebraem, p. 68. C. Compensation for vnjury to slaves. — The earliest code of legislation sought to protect the Hebrew slave from maltreatment, and the rules we find on this subject (Ex 21»-2'-2«-") are very explicit on the whole. Smiting a slave so as to entail loss of eye or tooth entitled the slave to complete enfranchisement, and, in case death im- mediately ensued, a sure vengeance for such an act would be taken. If, however, tlie slave sur- vived for a day or two before his di!.ath, the punish- ment of his loss by death was considered penalty enough, for the money-value of the slave was the measure of the master's loss. We note here some vagueness as to what the ' sure vengeance ' (v.-), to be wreaked on the slave-owner who murdered his slave, was to be. We cannot fail to remark that the expression falls considerably short of tlie explicit language of v.", where the murder of a free Hebrew citizen is to receive the death penalty as its award. When we turn to tlie post-exilian legislation we observe the contrast. In Lv 24" -'■' all distinctions and special provisos are swept aside. Even the national barriers were discarded in this case by the post- exilian Jew. Bond and free came under the same law as well as the foreigner and Jew. Every murdered man's death was avenged by death. D. Law respect ill rf runaway slaves. — The benefi- cent legislation in Deuteronomy on this subject is based on the sacred rights of hospitality which we find not only amon" primitive Semitic nations, but also in ancient Orreece. It runs : ' Thou shalt not deliver up a slave to his master, who escapes to thee from his master. With thee shall he abide in thy midst in the place that he chooses, in any one of thy cities that he likes.' It may therefore be readily inferrc<l that the recovery of a runaway slave in ancient Israel was far from easy. This we know to have been the case (cf. 1 K 2™). This was another circumstance that tended to mitigate the slaves' lot, by making it incumbent on the owner of slaves to make the conditions of their life tolerable. 6. Status of Female Slaves.— This varied considerably. As in the case of male slaves, the lot of the foreigner was not so favourable a« that of a Hebrew or home -born slave. Vet, on the whole, even the foreign captive might enjoy a position of comparative comfort. The humane legislation of Dt ai'""- ordained that a foreign captive woman taken in war and made a concubine Ues|iecting this law of the OBr see JiS p. 76, ' From the eorlicst times of .Semitic life the lawlessness of the desert, in which every stranger is an enenij,', has been tempered with the principle that the guest is inviolable. A man is safe in tbs ini<lst of enemies as soon as he enters a tent or even touches the tent-rope ' ; c(. also p. 270. 466 SERVANT, SLAVE, SLAVERY SERVANT, SLAVE, SLAVERY «-n.s to be treated with a certain chivalrous de- ?erenoe the recite of a month hein- a lowed her ,v her 'captor. Note the position of the eai.t.ve ifraete maiden in the Syrian gfe-ls house- slaves in pre-exilian times evidently pre^allea amonc other Semitic races besides the HeWews. ■""a Heb ew female slave isdescribed by various ternis according to the position she held. If she became the concubine of'^her master or of his son^ she w^ designated by the more dignified term HDMAssyr. amtu, Syr. 1ASd|, Arab. <U^ Phcen. nD« ■ in fact the word is common to all Semitic UnKua°es, rendered in LXX by 5o^X^ or eepi^a^va.) Under Uie adverse circumstances brought about bv poverty, to which reference has akeady been mar it not infrequently happened that tl>e SauA\ter couJd not L disposed of as freebom in ordhiary marriage, because the utter poverty o the parents constituted a social barrier But if t le daughter was dowered with good looks, she could easily be sold as a slave, and the pnce she vouW obtain might not fall far shor of the ordinary mohar or purchase, money of a. tree "Cian,^ which in the 7th cent, amounted to 50 rekels or nearly £7 (Dt 22"-»). Under any nr- cuni'tawes the transaction in primitive Israe would not have differed essentially from that wh"ch took place when a marriage was contracted •til a free ^voman for whom purchase-n.oney called »oAar was paid as though she were a chattel She would thus take her place as a concubine, and, if she bore children, her position sensblv improved. But if, as in the case of Ha^ar.^he was simply the property of her mis- tresf knd was introduced into this relation, the ri'htsof the mistress might impose somewhat 'allin^ restraints. AccorSinglv, she ni'ght ^^ called mx. as the concubine who bore c^nldren to her liiaster. and entitled to the rights of a married woman (see above), or, by the inferior e^l'nationof annrp or ' bond-slave,' called upon trifo menia^l tasks (Gnl6^cf. on the other hand "11" where Sarah herself calls Hag.ar njijt), since ;ie still remained under the control of the freeborn and superior wife (16»). n^. is .tl^^ «M;>e;^'o° which i woman does not hesitate, in the ordinary et^uette of social intercourse, to employ respect- ?n' herself when she is addressing a superior This corresponds to the expression J?V. emp o^ed l,v fl man under similar circumstances. 1 ms Qis ti^ncti^r he rank and dignity of the two terms made clear in the speech of AbigaU to DW „ I S "5" With true womanly dignity and courtesy combined she calls herself ntij, and yet consents to beS.me a nn.,. and do the menial task of washmg theTet of Pavid's slaves. It was to the no?' that the laborious dutv was assigned of g^'"f '°g ^t the mill This is the word used to designate the sUve-gi 1 behind the millstones in Ex 11= where t e t«rm is employed to describe the lower end of the ,ocTal scale!^ The LXX render-So^X,, 9epd.a..a, "'"x^ilrel; another interesting word employed mere in nuuuuci .••~- o . in Hebrew to express slave-concubine, (SjVs). No satisfactory Semitic etymology can •See art. MiRRUOK. vol. iii. P- ^'O"- ""4^ 'Dowry.' .nd -h. 21 E preJen the UOe .niJN tor Hagar. be found for the word, and its form strongly suggests a tJreek origin .aXXa.Is (-f,^^««- «; I^\'|>", neflex) The Greek race was called ]V. by tl e ^nc ent Semites. It is found in the Race-table Gn W- (P) and in the Assyr. inscriptions of Sar-on and in the Tel cl-Amama tablets. See art J "van. The tern, therefore originally meant ^foretgn slave-concubine (cf. Is 2- and tootnote above p 463). The references Gn So'', JR !»• " S 15'« ''O" seem to suggest that the piUegesh was of a lower class and lax in morals. 7 Price of Slaves.— According to the Book ot the Covenant (Ex 2P») this was 30 shekels, or about £45", which was evident^ly the average price in the p^e-exilian period. The money-value woJd of course vary with the slave's age and ;Crcal condition. Jo^«P'^'\^«t'iren were con^ tent with 20 shekels when he ^vas soW to the Midianite (Ishmael.te) traders (Gn 37 ). Ihis was due to his youth According to the vost exilian Jexvish legislation (Lv 2, >• Z^ «^[^' shekels (nearly £3) w^ ^^'^'T/oO tears old redemption of slaves between 5 and .20 years ow. We find the same price (J nmneh) paid for a slave from Suri mentioned in a very early .contr.act- tablet of Babylonia. The ordinary price how- ever for an kdult slave prevading in \\ e.stem AsTa d^ng several centuries was that stated in Ex 21»^vil 30 shekels. This, accordmg to the most probable computation of the money -value of a/,<.m.rand a lethech, .v^ ^'^J^'se^e Nowack n^^^^St'^^diSnerv^z.-'^fdrSr in EOT},f ^i'^„l^Vac8»'^» we read that Nicanor Lttenipfed to detay the Roman tribute of 2000 ta ents bv the sale of Jews at the rate of 90 per i"or^%reLrot'fd ^as sold by His traitor- Ionia we find like sums and even lower paid for a slave The values also range in special cases much h "her. Thus in the time of Nebuchadnezzar we hear" f a woman. Sakinna, and her daughter r littte girl of 3 years of age, being sold for 3o shekels fOT nearly £5]. In another case a husband and his wife fetch 55 shekels [or about £7 10s ] fsavcef Mr. Pinches has transcribed a contract- tabLt in which a slave is sold for 2§ manehs of sth4r ormore than £22;! while, accordmg to T elP a slave might even cost as much as i05.§ 7nbothtleIelTst instances the slave must have leen particutarly valuable, probably owing to hiB possession of skilled qualihcations 8 Si'BSFouENT History of Slavery from the n»Y^ OF JFREMIAH.-In .Ter 34«- we read of the unsuccessful attempt which was made in the re.gn nf 7p,lekiah to carry out the provisions of the ^DU^r^mmiic'^code feting the seventh ^ear of release the ph lanthropic efforts ol tne Kin„ bein- thwarted ly the avarice of the owners. On the other hand. Nehemiahs strenuous endeavours n the "'ears that followed the return from ex le "ere crowned with better success. Acting m U.e fe^-^irn:^H^fr:^"^^| to pay the royal tribute upon our fields and our • Schrader. Klli iv. p. 44 (iU.^ ( Jos. Ant. xu. ii. 3. J nrtiraica, vui. p. 13";„ I Bab.-AwyT. Qach. p. 607. SERVANT, SLAVE, SLAVERY SERVANT, SLAVE, SLAVERY 46i vineyards . . . and, lo ! we reduce onr sons and our daugliters to slavery, and it is not in our power to help it ; for otlier men have onr lieUls and our vineyards' (Neh 5'""). Nelieniiah's request, that the fields, vineyards, oliveyards, and houses sliould be restored, was complied with. Doubtless in later times there was full scope for the operation o. this injunction to redeem the Israelite slave from bondage to a foreign master, for we read that in the wars of the Ptolemies and the Seleuoidre large numhers of Jewish captives were taken (1 Mac 3', 2 .Mac 8"). It would be an interesting object of investigation to endeavour to determine how far the philan- thropic tendencies of Nehemiah and of the post- exilian legislation were influenced by the humane civilization of Babylonia. That that civilization was humane is clearly attested in the OT. Jere- miah's advice to the Jewish captives in Babylonia, 'Build ye houses, and dwell in them ; plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them ; take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters' . . . (Jer 29'- ), would have been impracticable under any other than an enlightened and humane polity. And the fact that large numbers of Jewish residents preferred to remain in the land of exile instead of availing themselves of the edict of Cyrus to return to their own land, is a significant hint in the same direc- tion. Babylonia, as Sayce has pointed out, was a land where agricultural pursuits were carried on, as in Egypt, by industrious, peace-loving freedmen (not by slaves, as in Assyria, where the pursuits preferred by the conquering race were trade and war). In manj- instances we learn from the clay documents of purchase or sale that mother and child were sold together. Indeed, rights were accorded to women in possessing projiertj' superior to those of their Hebrew sisters m pre-exilian Canaan. ' The ancient Accadian law ordered, that if children had been bom to slaves whom the former owner bad sold while still keeping a claim upon them, he should, in buying them back, take the children a.s well at the rate of IJ shekels each ' (Sayce, Horial Life among the Assyrians and Babylonians, p. 79). The number of slaves In Palestine at any time down to the lat cent. a.d. was probably small in coinpririson uilh that which was to be found in ancient Greece or in Konie in the later days of the Itepublic. From the report of a census made in B.C. a(i», the male citizens of Athens numbered 45,0(X», and the slaves V.o.fXjo. It must be confessed, however, that the accuracy of this computation mi|,'ht be questioned. That the number was very oofuiderable cannot be denied. For even the poorest citizen had a slave for his household, and a (rrcat number were employed in the occupations of bakintf. cookinj;, tailoring, etc. The father of Demosthenes possessed 60 slaves. Others owned many more (cf. Xenoph. Vect. t. 88 14, 15). They were em- ployed in workshops or mines.— In ancient Rome large portions of the a^rr publiciu began to be held by patricians as the Roman .State extended its confines. These land-possessions were cultivated to a large e.\tent by slaves (cf. Liv. vi. 12). Thus slaves increased in number, displaced the poorer class of freemen and peasant proprietors, and in the Licinian Rogations (B.C. 3C7) a provision became neccssarj' that a certain nu[nl)er of freemen should Ije employed on every estate. In the later days of the Republic, and under the first emperors, the number of household slaves increased greatly (cf. Juv. Sat. iii. 141). Horace seeuis to regard ten slaves as a moderate number for t, person in comfortable circumstatices to keep iSat. l. iii. 12, ri. 7X These would l>e largely sui>plied from the vast number of captives token in war. From Cms. BO iii. IB we gather that slave-dealers followed in the track of an anny, and after a victory, when a sale nf slaves took place {ntb corona veiididit), purehued at a cheap rale. The treatment of slaves ttecame more inhuman both in Greece and Ilome as their nuntber increased. In some respects their position in Athens was worse than it was in Rome. For in Athens the_ manumission of slaves did not take place so fre- quentlyas in Rome. .Mnn-over, their position as manumitted •laves (iriXn>'i(>«,) was inferior to that which they enjoyed in Rome I for instead of becoming citizens thev paiied into the condition of mere ;^i>><u., and were otiligcd to honour tlieir tomier master as their patron (r^rTciTt), and, if thev neglecteil ctrtain iluties which they owed towards him, might even forfeit their moiilied condition of freedom. Even Aristotle regurfls a •lave a> a mere possession or iluitlel (Knu.t), or an i^i%ti,x". •»«•». an Instrument endowed with lite (i'tA. iVio. vliL 13, Pol. i. 4). The bad treatment of Greek slaves (■ evidenced by the fact that they often mutinied (Plato, Leqij. vi. 777 C). Tile insurrections under the Republic in Ital^ and Sicily attained formidable proportions. The two ser\ile revolts in Sicily in B.C. 13.^ and 102 taxed all the resources of Itome, and were with ditftculty suppressed, while the rebellion under Sjjartacus carried devastation throui;h the Italian peninsula (B.C. 7;i-71). Nor are we in any degret- sur}>rised when we take account of the harsh penalties intlicted on slaves by their Roman masters, e.g. working in chains and fetters (Plautus, Stout. I. i. 18 ; Terence, J'horm, il i. 10), suspension by the hands while heavy weights were tied to the feet (Plautus, Asin, u. ii. 31). We read also of hard labour in the ergas- ttUum, and of such harsh penalties as the /urea, crux, and notatio (or branding inflicted on runaway slaves). Even ladies treated their slave attendants harshly in the days of the Empire, as .Martial and Juvenal testify (Juven. Sat. vi. 219£r., 492 ; Mart. Epiij. ii. 66 ; cf. Ovid, Am. i. 14, 15). Varro, in his de lie Ku.itica (i. 71), expressly classes slaves with beasts of burden : and even the gentle and refined Cicero feels constrained to apologize to his friend Atticus for feeling 'more than a )>ecoiiiiiig grief for the death of hia slave iSosithcus (i:.'p. ad Attic. I 12). But as we enter Jewish society we pass into a new and happier world. In the first place, the number of slaves was far smaller in relative pro- portion. At the return of the exiles there were 42,360 Hebrew freemen, and only 7337 slaves, or one slave to 5"72 freemen. The teachers of the Talmtid looked with disfavour on the ownership of many slaves. The more slaves, so much the more thieving ; the more female slaves, so much the more uncliastity (cf. Babd meztd 606>. The Essenes and Therapeutie did not tolerate slavery, OS being contrary to man's dignity (Philo, ii. 4.58, 482). The later literature of the OT reveals the humane attitude of Judaism towards the slave, and the religious ba-sis on which it rested, The latter is vividly expressed in Job 31'^"". Humane and gentle treatment of a slave from liis early youth will engender a lilial feeling in him towards his master (Fr 29'", '). On the other hand, it wae clearly realized that there were dangers from undue laxity. ' Set thy servant to work, and thou shalt And rest ; Leave his hands idle, and he will seek liberty . . . Send him to labour, that he be not idle ; For idleness teachetb much mischief ' (Sir 33- 7). And the same writer advises even severe disciplin- ary measures — Yoke and thong will bow the weak : And for an evil servant there are rocks and tortureB(v.a6). It is necessary to bear the last passage in mind if we are to gain a true and complete picture of this a.spect of Jewish social life (cf. Mt 25^", Lk 12^«, the latter passage showing that very severe corporal chastisement, falling short of loss of limb or life, might be meted out to an ' evil servant ').t Accord- ing to the Mislina(ya(/a»(i iv. 7), it was a subject of discussion among Pharisees and Sadducees as to whether a slave who had committed an injury on another was himself responsible or his master. According to the contention of the Pharisees, the master was not responsible, though he was resiion- siblo if the injury were committed by his ox. Thus the Pharisees (in contrast with the Koman Varro above cited) emphasized the distinction between an unreasoning brute and a slave. They argued, moreover, that a slave might otherwise easily wreak his spite on his master by committing an injury on another which the master had to pay. According to Babd kammd (viii. 4), the slave, if he committed an injurj' on another, was liable to make compensation when he obtained his release. liespecting the conditions of release of Gentile slaves owned by a Jewish master we have not many data to guide us ; see al)Ove, under 5 B, ad Jin. Every facility was all'orded for the manumission of • ' Me plus quam sen'i mors drhere videbatur conimoveniU' t We are led to suspect that tiirse sterner traits o( Jewish treatment reflect Gnoco-Koman intlueDC& 468 SERVANT, SLAVE, SLAVERY SERVANT, SLAVE, SLAVERY Gentile slaves. According to the prescriptions of the Talmud, the Gentile slave received release through (1) redemption purchase (Maimonides, Abadin^ v. 2), (2) letters of manumission (ib. 3), (3) testamentary disposition, (4) siluut reco<,^nition of his freedom {Peahj iii. 8), (5) by becoming a Jew {i.e. a proselyte), (6) by marriage with a free woman, etc. (Uamburger). In Schurer, GJV^ (iii. p. 53), interesting details are furnished respecting the influence of Greek legal procedure on Jewish practice in the release of slaves. The act of release took place iT( T»jf Tfiofuix^f ■«- in the synagogrue before the assembled congregation (probably with some reference to Ex 21>; see above). Full freedom was granted to the slave, xo'P'f f t^^^l T>,» Tflcrtux:^ BaiTiioci n xa.'t irooffKtt^Tipr.Jia^ [cf. ■rpoiixaipiipi'iM in Ac 2-i« 114 6. Ro 1212, Col 42], i.e. with the exception of regu- lar worship in the synagogue to which the slave was bound. Accordingly, this mode of release in a sacred place involved a definite pledge on the part of the released slave to honour its religious usages. We have a parallel in Hellenic custom, whereby the procedure took place in a temple, and consisted in a fictitious sale of the slave by the master to the deity, the slave himself bringing the purchase -money. This did not in reality make the emancipated slave mto a temple servant. He became .actually free, and only morally appropriated by the deity. These facts are certified by documents discovered at Panti- capajuni and Qorgippia (cf. Schurer, ib. p. 18). The same tradi- tion p;i^sed into the Christian Church m the eastern provinces of the Roman empire, and was called manumissio in ecclesia ; see Schiirer, p. 53, footn. 63. The treatment of slaves in the Jewish household was not only humane, but under a good and pious master it would be even brotherly. Of the most distinguished personages it is related that they readily feasted their slaves with the same food of which they themselves partook, addressed old slaves as 'father' or 'mother,' and regarded their death as that of a beloved relative {Bcra/c/uJth 166 ; Kcthitboth 61; Jems. Babd kammd 6). Ace. to Bcrakhvth, passim^ slaves are placed with women and children in exemption from shenid and wearing phj'lacteries, though bound in other matters of ritual. 9. The Chri^^tian Attitude to Slavery.— This may best be described as the religious attitude of Judaism expanded to the dimensions of Christ's gospel of universal redemptive love to man. With its advent new powers had entered into the world — new conceptions of human duties and relationships. All these lie implicit in Christ's Gospel of the Kingdom. To the poor the gospel is preached ' (Mt IF). St. Paul expressed the new consciousness in the words : All are sons by faith in Christ Jesus . . . As many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. . . . There is neither Jew nor GreeK, there is neither slave nor free . , . for ye are all one in Chri.st Jesus' (Gal 3-'^, cf. Col .3'°' '). And so the doors were thrown open wide to a world that yearned for salvation. 'The kingdom of God with its sublime universalism offers its invitation to all men as children of a heavenly Father, and liinda those who follow His call into a society. ... In the Christian Church the poor man found the civic rights of the Divine king- dom accorded to him without resene as God's own child. . . . To the slaves, that lowest and most unhappy class of Gncco- Roumn society, the rights of man were restored. In the Church they heard the magic tones of the words ; " Ye are men for whom also Christ has died; redeemed, to whom the same position belongs in the kingdom of God as to your masters." Masiers also heard in the Church the solemn admonition that they were the brethren of their slaves, since both had taken upon themselves bv voluntary choice the voke of obedience to Christ (I Co 721^-, Eph Vfi«-). When Paul uttered thoughts like these in his letter to Philemon, in which he interceded for the runaway slave of the latter, he was writing the charter of emancipation for the many millions of slaves who were held down by a minority In a degrading bondage.' t On the humane treatment of slaves by Moslems see Lane's Araf/ian Nights, vol. i. p. 64 fl. (ch. i. note 13). Nevertheless, we are told that 'a master may even kill his own slave with impunity tor any offence, and he incurs but a slight punishment (as im|irisorunent for a period at the discretion of the judge) il he kills hini wantonly' (p. 63). t Mangold, UumaniUit und ChrUtfnihum, Rede beim An- trit.t des Kectorats der Rheinischen Fricderich Wilhelms Uni- rersitat, tm 18 October 1S76. Bonn, Adolph MarcuA. Nevertheless, the Church issued no authoritative mandate that masters were to liberate their slaves. On the contrary, obedience to masters was incul cated (Eph 6^ cf. parallels), as well as forbearance U- slaves (v.^). The leaven was to work slowly and surely, witliout external compulsion by ecclesias- tical authority, through eighteen centuries, until in tlie 19th cent, slavery was abolished in all the ten'itories of Christian European peoples. In the 20th the leaven will work its course in society to yet larger issues ! 10. Religious Use of theTerm'Slave'CSer- VANt'). — The word ' servant ' or ' slave ' is constantly employed in the etiquette of daily intercourse in ancient Semitic society and among Arab popula- tions at the present day. ' Thy servant' (or if a woman, thy handmaid ) is the language of ordi- nary courtesy employed by an individual, w.hen he speaks of himself, in addressing a superior or even an equal. In relation to God, this term is universally used by the worshipper. The root inp expresses the dependent relation of subordination and obedience on the part of the individual to his Divine patron and Lord. And it has been sho^vn, under ii. 1, how constantly this expression enters into proper names compounded with the name of deity, whether Canaanite or Hebrew. That collective and idealized Israel was so desig- nated is especially apparent in Deutero-Isaiah. Tlie term had been already employed in Ezk 28^ 37^, and also in Jer SO^'^- 46-'7ff-.1- The passages in which the expression occurs in its most charac- teristic form within the collection designated by the term Deutero-Isaiah (chs. 40-56) are specially called the servant' passages, and are regarded by most critics as distinct in authorship.^ via. 42^" 491-6 504-9 52i3-53»^. The portrayal of the servant in these four sections is distinct from that which prevails in the rest of Deutero-Isaiih. In the former the servant is idealized, personal and sinless. He is Jehovah's disciple, chosen to minister to the heathen as well as to his own people (49t»), going about his own mission with quietness (42'^ J 53^, suffering like Jeremiah and Job through the scorn of the unfaithful, and so offering a propitiation for the guilt of his race (53^^). On the other hand, in the rest of Deutero-Isaiah, the 'serv'ant Jacob' is blind, deaf, a prisoner plundered, despised, full of sin, though chosen by God, pro- tected and destined for a glorious future. Yet these two por- trayals have their essential features in common. Accordingly, ser\'ant (or slave) of Jehovah,' as a religious tenn applied to Israel, is a name of honour. Israel is chosen as God's messenger as well as servant. In fact the difference between Jacob as God's ^i<^? and as His own personal slave, called to a high and honourable mission, is very slight. The two expressions st-and in parallelism in 421^. The servant is the chosen one in whom God takes pleasure. We are reminded of the relationship of Abraham to God as the friend of God ' (2 Ch 207, ja 223, cf. Konin, sur. 4124). See, further, art. Isaiah, and Smend, A Tliche Reli'jiongesch.^ p. 352 ff. In fact the expression is con- stantlv employed in the OT as a name for God's messengers, especially the prophets (Am 3"^. Jer 7^^ 25 26^ etc.). cf. Rev 107 1118. It is used of Moses (Dt 34^, J03 V), of Isaiah ^Is 2o3). Furthermore, it is used of the Messiah in Zee 3, and of the angels in Job4i8(on the other hand, in Ps 10321 1044 the terra employed is D'^lvP, which properly expresses honourable, voluntary, and, moreover, priestly service to God). It should not be forgotten that the distinction between bond and free is cancelled, according to St. Paul's conception, only in Chrut^ i.e. within the conhnes of the redeemed society— the Church. Outside the Church the <listinction might st ill prevail, and even be re^rded as valid. St. Paul hardly contemplate any reorganization of society that does not rest on redemption and sanctifi cation of individual life as a basis. In that outsid world St. Paul might conceivably still regard Roman law ac ft quasi n-ajii«y5-cf, and hold that slavery, as a human instituti'-n, under certain guarantees, might be under temporarv Di\ino sanction. Modern missionaries of the Cross in heathendom, with its more primitive social conditions, have been compelled to adopt this view. t It can scarcely be held that either of these latter passage is genuine. In Comill's text (SBOT) they ore relegated to the foot of the page. t But see Budde, Die sogeTtannten Ebed-Jahwe-Lieder, 1900L Marti also argues against separating the coiii-eptions in the Servant-passages from the rest of Deutero-Isni;ih ; .'iee hiscora mentary, p^ 289 L ; wa also CoruiU in Theolog liundadiau, Nov IVUO. The transition from this OT use to the NT apiilication of the corresponding term SodXot is very slight. It is applied to himself by Symeon (Lk 2'-'') in his prayer to God {Nunc DimittU), Who 13 consistently addressed as Scawinrt^ (a master of slaves, cf. Ac 4-", Rev 6'°), and similarly the Virgin Mary speaks of herself as God's SovKri (.■i:n), Lk 1». This term St. Paul, in the introduction to his Epistles, not infrequently uses with reference to himself (Ro 1', Ph 1') ; and that it is employed as an honourable designation, like the n?i; of Lzekiel and Deutero- Isaiali, is evident from the corre- eix)nding use of d^riaroXos in 1 Cor., 2 Cor., GaJ., Epb., and Col. (equivalent to %><)-, see above). The relation of service to God is one of freedom and sonship (vlodeala), as we learn from Ro 8^'. We have been emancipated from the older relationship to the law, which was one of fear and constraint, summed up in Ro 8", in the phrase ircf D/ia SovXelat . . . tts 06/301-. These two contrasted states of relationship, belonging respectively to the new covenant of freedom and to the old covenant of bondage to the law, are compared by way of allegory to I.sa;ic, son of the freewoman Sarali, and Ishmael, son of the bond-.slave (Traiolir/c?)) Ha";ar. The one is represented W the heavenly Jerusalem and the other by Mount Sinai (Gal 4'^-5'). By His death Christ has freed us from subjection to bond- age throughout our life through fear of death (He 2"). Obviously, such a relationship of free, loving service to Christ is not adequately expressed by SouXfla. The slave has no proper cognizance of his master's thoughts, but Christ has conlided all His Father's purposes of love to His disciples. ' Henceforth I do not call you servants (slaves), but I have called you friends ' (Jn 15"). LiTKRATTRB. — Nowack, TTfb. Arch, and the correeponding work ot BenzinRer; Kwnld, AlterihilmT^, pp. 280-2bS (Eng. tr. p. 210 ff.); the articles on Slaves in PRE, in Kiehm's im B, and in HambufKer'd RE; Mielziner, Die VerhaUmase der Sklanen bfi di'n alien Uebrdem; Mandl, Da Sklavenrfcht de» AT. All these have been duly utilized in the preuent article. Suptjestive for the OT is ch. vi. on 'Society, Morals,' eta, In McCurdy, BFil ii. 168fl. On Or»co-Koman Society cf. Smith's Diet, oj Or. and Rom. Ant.'\ and the Coticiee Diet, by Warre Comish (from which materials have been drawn). Other works have been referred to in the course of the article. On Arab slavery see I.ane's Arabian NighU, ch. i. note 13 ; on slavery- in the light of Christian ethics •ee JuL Kostlin, ChruUiche FAhik, pp. 318, 400 IT.: Lightfcot, Philmvm(\D\,rad.). OWEN C. WuiTEHOUSK. SESIS (B Sfcreis, A Zeaatit). 1 Es 9" = Shashai, Ezr 10". 8ESTHEL (SwffTiX), 1 Es 9" = Bezalel of the sons of Pahath-moab, Ezr 10>.