The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1858-02-27

t. Q longest contract, that he shall serve
his master forever. ss5."A u s~tf1 t*
"Whereas it is now admitted on all
hands, without single denial, that the
Hebrew could be slave, and if he had
made the .toreuer contract, that is. to
the jubilee, then in the jubilee he was
free as ever. The cases are parallel, the
form of language used is the same in the
Hebrew original, both in Exodus 81: 6,
Of the acknowledged freeman, and in
Lev. %; Sc, Of the pretended slave; but
| who was, just as truly as the Hebrew, a
free man, having made his own contract
voluntarily with his master, till the jubi.
lee, aud no longer. Then in the jubilee,
BY the great standing appointment in the
Hebrew constitution, all the ishab;sorts
Of the land, whether Hebrew or heather
! origin, that had been bound for any term
of service whatever, long or short, were
FREE. Let us read the two passages to-
gethcr. The first is reference to the He
brew servant with his wife and children
apprenticed to serve his master for six
years. At the end of that time he is as
| free as his master But he had the priv
ilege by law, if his situation pleased him,
if he loved his master, and liked his SER
vice, to enter into the longest engagement
with the same master, even until jubilee;
and his master was compelled to agree to
it, and could not compel him to leave
him. The law reads as follows: "If the
servant shall plainly say, l love my mas
ter, my wife and my children, then his
master shall bring him to the judges; he
shall also bring him unto the door, or un-
to the door-post and his master shall
bore his ear with an awl, and he shall
serve him forever" Now there are sew
eral things here to be considered
1st. 1t is admitted, and cannot be de-
MED, that this means simply till the jubi-
lee, when, by law, he and every servant
in the land was free; and no master,
whatever might have been the terms of
the contract, could keep any servant lon
ger than that period.
ID. The terms here used are the same
as in Lev. %: 46, when it is said of the
heather, in reference to contract of the
same period, they shall be your bondmen
forever but in this latter place the word
'bondmen' i, not in the original, but is
put Ill by tue transiators and 50 tle
place should read as in the first passage,
they shall serve you forever, or, ye shall
serve yourselves with them forever,
meaning just as in the first passage con-
cerning the Hebrews, till the jubilee.
The first passage might just as properly
have been translated 'he shall be your
Jondme" .forerer,' as the last
Sd. They shall be your possession, 'and
We shall take them as an Inheritance,
for your children after you, to inherit
them for possession That is, should
the master die, his children should come
into possession of the uncxpircd service
Of his servant. 1t rightfully belongs to
your children, for the remaining term of
service, as it was in most cases paid for
in advance, or portion at least Dir
Cbeeper on ,Saccry'
Some may feel difficulty about the
word "buy," in the 44th verse. "Nore-
over, of the children (dcscendants) of
the strangers that sojouru among you, of
them shall We buy. The English "buy'
conveys, of a necessity, to an English
reader, the idea of traffic and Of proper.
ty. But such was not the idea attached
to the word in the original, which was the
same word used for marrying a wife; as
when the prophet Hosea bought his wife;
aud Jacob bought Rachel, and Lot his
wives; so Boaz bought Ruth; and just as
God is said to have bought his people.
WIFI hiils W. hdNt tA-
preston in Jeremiah 3t:l4, every man
his brother, Hebrew, which hath been
sold unto thee;" in the original, (which
hath sold himself that is, engaged as a
servant for six years In Lev. Is: 50,
"if thy brother be sold unto thee" in the
original, "soll himself" There was one
manner of lac as well for the stranger as
the Hebrew. 1t is from the misinterpre-
tation of the words buy and sell that
much of the parversion of scripture on
this subject has originated and been
maintained
4 fair examination clears away all the
sophistry, and leaves the subject clear and
open as daylight. There is no such thing
as property an man permitted or sane
toned in Hte scriptures. j. X. Z.
TO he Continucd)