Imamat 25:39-43

25:39 “‘If your brother becomes impoverished with regard to you so that he sells himself to you, you must not subject him to slave service. ¹  25:40 He must be with you as a hired worker, as a resident foreigner; ²  he must serve with you until the year of jubilee, 25:41 but then ³  he may go free, ⁴  he and his children with him, and may return to his family and to the property of his ancestors. ⁵  25:42 Since they are my servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt, they must not be sold in a slave sale. ⁶  25:43 You must not rule over him harshly, ⁷  but you must fear your God.

Imamat 25:47

25:47 “‘If a resident foreigner who is with you prospers ⁸  and your brother becomes impoverished with regard to him so that ⁹  he sells himself to a resident foreigner who is with you or to a member ¹⁰  of a foreigner’s family,

Imamat 25:2

25:2 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When you enter the land that I am giving you, the land must observe a Sabbath ¹¹  to the Lord.

1 Raja-raja 4:1

Solomon’s Royal Court and Administrators

4:1 King Solomon ruled over all Israel.

Yesaya 50:1

50:1 This is what the Lord says:

“Where is your mother’s divorce certificate

by which I divorced her?

Or to which of my creditors did I sell you? ¹² 

Look, you were sold because of your sins; ¹³ 

because of your rebellious acts I divorced your mother. ¹⁴ 

[25:39]  ¹ tn Heb “you shall not serve against him service of a slave.” A distinction is being made here between the status of slave and indentured servant.

[25:40]  ² tn See the note on Lev 25:6 above.

[25:41]  ³ tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have adversative force here.

[25:41]  ⁴ tn Heb “may go out from you.”

[25:41]  ⁵ tn Heb “fathers.”

[25:42]  ⁶ tn Or perhaps reflexive Niphal rather than passive, “they shall not sell themselves [as in] a slave sale.”

[25:43]  ⁷ tn Heb “You shall not rule in him in violence”; cf. NASB “with severity”; NIV “ruthlessly.”

[25:47]  ⁸ tn Heb “And if the hand of a foreigner and resident with you reaches” (cf. v. 26 for this idiom).

[25:47]  ⁹ tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here.

[25:47]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “offshoot, descendant.”

[25:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the land shall rest a Sabbath.”

[50:1]  ¹² sn The Lord challenges the exiles (Zion’s children) to bring incriminating evidence against him. The rhetorical questions imply that Israel accused the Lord of divorcing his wife (Zion) and selling his children (the Israelites) into slavery to pay off a debt.

[50:1]  ¹³ sn The Lord admits that he did sell the Israelites, but it was because of their sins, not because of some debt he owed. If he had sold them to a creditor, they ought to be able to point him out, but the preceding rhetorical question implies they would not be able to do so.

[50:1]  ¹⁴ sn The Lord admits he did divorce Zion, but that too was the result of the nation’s sins. The force of the earlier rhetorical question comes into clearer focus now. The question does not imply that a certificate does not exist and that no divorce occurred. Rather, the question asks for the certificate to be produced so the accuser can see the reason for the divorce in black and white. The Lord did not put Zion away arbitrarily.