(2) Egyptian Bondage. The Israelites were frequently reminded, after their exode from Egypt, of the oppressions they endured in that 'house of bondage.' from which they had been delivered by the direct interposition of God. The design of these admonitions was to teach them justice and kindness towards their servants when they should become settled in Canaan (Deut. v:15; viii:14; x:19; xv :15; xxiii:7, etc.), as well as to impress them with gratitude towards their great deliverer. The Egyptians had domestic servants, who may have been slaves (Exod. ix:14, 2o, 21: xi :5). But the Israelites were not dispersed among the families of Egypt; they formed a spe cial community (Gen. xlvi:34; Exod. viii:22, 24; ix :26 ; x :23 ; xi :7 ; iv :29; ii :9 ; xvi :22 ; xvii :5 ; v1:14). They had exclusive possession of the land of Goshen, 'the best part of the land of Egypt.' They lived in permanent dwellings, their own houses, and not in tents (Exod. xii:22). Each family sceems to have had its own house (Exod. xii:4; comp. Acts vii :20) ; and judging from the regulations about eating the Passover, they could scarcely have been small ones (Exod. xii, etc.). They appear to have been well clothed (Exod. xii:11). They owned 'flocks and herds, and very much cattle' (Exod. xii :4, 6, 32, 37, 38). They had their own form of government; and although occupying a province of Egypt, and trib utary to it, they preserved their tribes and family divisions, and their internal organization through out (Exod. ; xii :19, 21 ; Vi :14, 25; V :ig ; :16, 18). They had to a considerable degree the dis posal of their own time (Exod. iii:i6, 18; xii:6; it:9; iv:27, 29, 31). They were not unacquainted with the fine arts (Exod. xxxii :4; xxxv 35)• They were all armed (Exod. xxxii :27). The women seem to have known something of do mestic refinement. They were familiar with in struments of music, and skilled in the working of fine fabrics (Exod. xv :2o; xxxv :25, 26) ; and both males and females were able to read and write (Dent. xi :18, 20 ; xvii :19; xxvii :3). Their food was abundant and of great variety (Exod. xvi :3; Num. xi:4, 5; xx :5). The service re quired from the Israelites by their task-masters seems to have been exacted from males only, and probably a portion only of the people were compelled to labor at any one time. As tribu taries, they probably supplied levies of men, from which the wealthy appear to have been exempted (Exod. iii:16; iv:29; v:20). The poor were the oppressed; 'and all the service wherewith they made them serve was with rigor' (Exod. i :11-I4)• But Jehovah saw their 'afflictions and heard their groanings,' and delivered them after having in flicted the most terrible plagues on their oppress ors.
(3) Jewish Servitude. Whatever difficulties may he found in indicating the precise nature of patriarchal servitude, none exists in reference to that which was sanctioned and regulated by the Mosaic institutes.
The moral law is a revelation of great prin ciples. It requires supreme love to God and uni versal love among men, and whatever is incom patible with the exercise of that love is strictly forbidden and condemned. Hence immediately after the giving of the law at Sinai, as if to guard against all slavery and slave-trading on the part of the Israelites, God promulgated this ordinance: 'He that stealeth a man and selleth him, or if he be found in his hands, lie shall surely be put to death' (Exod. xxi :16; Dent :xxiv:7). The crime is stated in its threefold form, man-stealing, sell ing, and holding; the penalty for either of which was DEAT1I. The law punished the stealing of mere property by enforcing restitution, in some cases twofold, in others fivefold (Exod. xxii :14). When property was stolen, the legal penalty was compensation to the person injured; but when a man was stolen. no property compensation was allowed; death was inflicted, and the guilty of fender paid the forfeit of his life for his trans g s.s.on. Such was the operation of this law, and the obedience paid to it, that we have not the remotest hint that the sale and purchase of slaves ever occurred among the Israelites. The cities of were not, like the cities of Greece and Rome, slave-markets, nor were there found throughout all its coasts either helots or slaves. With the Israelites service was either voluntary, or judicially imposed by the law of God (Lev. xxv :39, 47; Exod. xxi :7 ; xxii :3, 4; Deut. xx :14). Strangers only, or the descendants of strangers, became their possession by purchase (Lev. xxv : 44-46), but, however acquired, the law gave the Jewish servants many rights and privileges: they were admitted into covenant with God (Dent. xxix 13) ; they were guests at all the national and family festivals (Exod. xii :43, 44; Deut. 18; xvi:lo-16) ; they were statedly instructed in morals and religion (Dent. xxxi :lo-t3 ; Josh. viii: 2 Chron. XVII :8, 9; xxxv :3 ; xxxiv :3o ; Neh.
viii :7, 8) : they were released from their regular labor nearly one-half of their term of servitude, viz., every seventh year (Lev. xxv :3-6) ; every seventh day (Exod. xx) ; at the three annual festivals (Exod. xxiii :17; xxxiv :23), viz., the Passover and Feast of Weeks, which lasted each seven days, and the Feast of Tabernacles, which lasted eight. Also on the new moons, the Feast of Trumpets, and the Day of Atonement. Besides these were the local festivals ( Judg. xxi :19 ; Sam. ix:12, 22, etc.), and the various family feasts, as the weaning of children, marriages, sheep shearing, and circumcisions; the making of cove nants, etc. (I Sam. xx :6, 28, 29). Tb these must be added the Feast of Purim, which lasted three days, and the Dedication, which lasted eight. The servants of the Israelites were protected by the law equally with their masters (Dent. i :16, 17; xxvii :19; Lev. xix :15; XXIV :22 ; Num. xv :29) ; and their civil and religious rights were the same (Num. xv 16, 29; ix :14 ; Deut. i :16, t7 ; Lev. xxiv :22). To these might be added numerous passages which represent the Deity as regarding alike the natural rights of all, and making for all an equal provision (2 Chron. xix :7 ; Prov. xxiv 23; xxviii :2t ; Job xxxiv :19; 2 Sam. xiv :14 ; Ephes. vi :9). Finally, these servants had the power of changing their masters, and of seeking protection %Acre they pleased (Deut. xxiii :15, 16) ; and should their masters by any act of vio lence injure their persons, they were released from their engagements (Exod. xxi :26, 27). The term of Hebrew servitude was six years. beyond which they could not be held unless they entered into new engagements (Exod. xxi :r-ii ; Deut. xv :12) ; while that of strangers, over whom the rights of the master were comparatively absolute (Lev. xxv:44-46), terminated in every case on the re turn of the jubilee, when liberty was proclaimed to all (Lev. xxv :8, to, 54). On one occasion the state of the sexennial slavery was violated, and the result was fearful (Jer. xxxiv :8-22). See also Exod. xxi :20 ; Lev. xix :20-22 ; Tobit x to (crthAara); Ecclus. vii :20, 21; X:25; (4) Gibeonitish Servitude. The condition of the inhabitants of Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kirjath-jearim. under the Hebrew common wealth, was not that of slavery. It was volun tary (Josh. ix :8-1i). They were not employed in the families of the Israelites, but resided in their own cities, tended their own flocks and herds, and exercised the functions of a distinct though not independent community ( Josh. x: 6-18). The injuries inflicted on them by Saul were avenged by the Almighty on his descendants (2 Sam. xxi :1-9). They appear to have been de voted exclusively to the service of the 'house of God' or the Tabernacles, and only a few of them comparatively could have been engaged at any one time. The rest dwelt in their cities, one of which was a great city, as one of the royal cities. The service they rendered may be regarded as a natural tribute for the privilege of protection. No service seems to have been required of their wives and daughters. On the return from the Baby lonish captivity they dwelt at Ophel (Nell. iii:26). See also 1 Chron. ix :2 ; Ezra ii :43 ; Neh. vii :24 ; viii :17 • x:28; X1:21. (See NETIIININ1.) (5) Roman Slavery. Our limits will not al low us to enter into detail on the only kind of slavery referred to in the New Testament, for there is no indication that the Jews possessed any slaves in the time of Christ. Suffice it therefore to say that, in addition to the fact that Roman slavery was perpetual and hereditary, the slave had no protection whatever against the avarice, rage, or lust of his master. The bondsman was viewed less as a human being, subject to arbitrary dominion, than as an inferior animal, dependent wholly on the will of his owner. The master possessed the uncontrolled power of life and death over his slave,—a power which continued at least to the time of the Emperor Hadrian. He might, and frequently did, kill, mutilate, and torture his slaves, for any or for no offense, so that slaves were sometimes crucified from mere caprice. He might force them to become prostitutes or gladi ators: and, instead of the perpetual obligation of the marriage tie, their temporary unions (con tubmtia) were formed and dissolved at his com mand, families and friends were separated, and no obligation existed to provide for their wants in sickness or in health. But, notwithstanding all the barbarous cruelties of Roman slavery, it had one decided advantage over that which was in troduced in modern times into European colonies, both law and custom being decidedly favorable to the freedom of the slave (Inquiry into the State of Slavery among the Romans, by W. Blair, Esq., 1833). The Mahommedan law also, in this re spect, contrasts favorably with those of the Eu ropean settlements.