Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1860-06-01

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be in the fact Of man loving his wife ant
family that should subject him to formalit.
SO conspicuous and cruel?-to be cited befor'
the judges; to be brought to the open doc
i Gas we may presume); obe Frustrated to tn
Intel of the door, and to have an indelibb
mark stamped upon the featuress Critically
examined, it was made evident that the whole
enactment was intended to deal . death blow
to a custom which Moses regarded as highly
pernicious, and which had obtained implici
currency among the Jews. It was to hir'
out for wife-to accept s0Js as an equ'oa
lent for soagss-and obtained credit with thu
Jews from the precedent of Jacob, who hired
to Laban upon those terms (Gen. xxx, 1S)
After obtaining the woman of his choice
Jacob, it should be observed, felt himself
under the necessity of stealing her away from
Laban's house (Gen. XXI, 20, 21), because
Laban claimed the right to retain her and her
children (Gen. XXI, 4a). To overthrow this
custom, without at the same time prejudicing
the minds Of the people, incapable Of sensible
reflection after their long degradation in
Egypt, required the utmost .circumspection
and skill. Moses accommodated himself to
the popular sentiment, but, by embodying it
in law of his code, obedience to which
was to be exacted with merciless rigor "a
compromise might before be effected; as, for
example, in the case of Jacob and Laban
Gen. XXI, 29, 81, 52), the charm was
imperceptibly dispelled; for who, after all,
would accept compensation SO disadvan-
tageous, especially as a wife could be obtained
some other waye In order, it seems, to
guard the servant, Hebrew as well as Israelite,
against the possibility of being ensnared by
stupidity or folly into this, to Noses, obnox-
ious practice, he affixed to this law penalty
still more severe - publicly branding the
servile dupe with prominent and permanent
badge of his disgrace. The law was to
precsnt, not to encourage, the least compro-
mise of personal dignity and liberty; and so
adnirably did it accomplish its desired end,
that jewish history, with al it blemishes,
does not supply smother instance Of what the
lecturer termed the "Laban trick"
We have devoted so much space to this law
because its importance seemed to require it.
It was principal stronghold of the pro-
slaveryites, but, we think, has now become
rather untenable. We can only glance at the
remainder of the discourse.
The laws recorded in Exodus xxi, z, SO,
10, are complete network of legislation to
secure the highest interests of woman. The
expression in one place, "she shall not 60 out
as men servants" is, in fact, to say that she
shall not 90 out in the character Of servant
at all; and this is proved by the next verse
(Sth), which presumes upon her having first
been 6etrothed (that was the condition con-
templated) to the party to whom she is to be
transferred, and then goes on to fortify her
against imposition, providing, finally, that in
default of any one of her rights Il lth w., she
must be set at liberty. These laws are
intended, also, to checkmate any evasion of
the preceding ones (4th, 5th and 6th), which
cupidity or avarice could possibly devise.
The law for injuries inflicted (verses -,
20, 21O was also ably and critically elucidated,
showing in the last place that the rod was the
only recognized instrument of punishment,
the use of which, under certain circumstances,
would mitigate the consequences of fatal
result. .... .....l. ....
The following relates to kidnapping, and
was shown to put an effectual quietus to that
practice. The proper rendering Of the law,
according to the Hebrew, in paraphrase, is as
follows: "He that stealeth man and selleth
him shall (if detecteD surely be put to death;
or he in whose hands the man thus stolen be
found shall surely be put to DEATH" Upon
such terms, remarked the lecturer, the traffic
in this species of goods would hardly pay.
We omitted, in our last article, law (Lev.
xxi, 11,) upon which Mr.. Liberman dwelt in
his second lecture, and which is interesting
for having elected from DR.. Ross, an eminent
pro-slavery divine, prolific writer, land
author-ot the book entitled "Slavery ordained
of God," the rapturous ejaculation, "Even the
man of God must Rave his slave !" The
incorrectness, not to say fragrant absurdity,
Of this assumption, it needs no scholastic
attainments to detect. The preceding verse
fatty contradicts it, by prohibition
embracing the class which alone, it is
persisted, can be enslaved-the strangers;
and so, too, the repeated and emphatic
iniunctions to non.intercourse with the
stranger, imposed upon the priests, especially
(Num. xviii, 4, y. The Hebrew text is not
so ambiguous, and conveys the idea that
Lsuits (Num. xviii, %, 24), from whatever
locality, may be hired - an assistant to the
priest, or to perform whatever labor the priest
may lawfully require; the restriction upon
the consecrated food, as in the former verse,
being removed, by the "sojourner's" receiving
q "permanent'' situation. The object of this
law was to secure consolidation of the Levite
order, by placing the most ingenious embargo
upon their sustenance in case Of dispersion.
Here, again, the matter Of compensation, over
and above the necessaries Of life, is roundly
insisted upon. 1t should, perhaps, before
have seen remarked that Mr.. Liberman utterly
repudiates the English terms "buy and sell, :"
as employed in the translation, the sense in
the original being always that Of hire
engaging for confederation and the only
popularity connected with the system was
that, under certain circumstances, labor might
be coerced, and the proceeds diverted from the
hands of the laborer, as will hereafter appear.
We proceed to the third and last discourse
SpSV