Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1862-07-10

! WV iHib' IhOu blluib uCiNutl bOh blll
field nor prune thy vinyard."
The sixth verse declares that "1he sab
bath of the land shall be meat for you
for thee and thy servant, and for thy mud
and for they hired ScrUant, and for the
stranger that sojourncth with thee"
From the eigth verse; inclusive, to the
end of the chapter, the main subject is
the jubilee, re-occurling once in fifty
years, and its bearings on the various
interests of the Hebrew Comm ouwcalth.
The tenth verse is in the following words,
"And yc shall hallow the fifteth year,
and proclaim liberty throughout all the
land unto all the inhabitants thereof it
shall be a jubilee unto you and ye shall
return evory man unto his possession,
and We shall return every man unto his
family"
This pa sage is often quoted as cvi-
dcnce that slavery ceased among the
Hebrews every fifty years, whereas, TAX
ing the whole chapter together, it proves
exactly the reverse. In the first place,
the bond servant not a Hebrew, never
had q possession to which he could ie-
turn. In the next place, the jubilee was
an institution for the benefit Of Hebrews
only, from which the bond servant Of
foreign blood are expressly excluded
The 39th to 43d verses, inclusive read as
follows
"And if thy brother that dwelcth by
thee be waXed poor, and be sold unto
thee thou shalt not compel him to serve
as a bond servant. But as a hired SER
want and a sojourner, he shall be with
thee and shall serve thee until the year
of jubilee:
"And then shall he depart from thee,
both he and his children with him, and
shall return unto his own family, and
unto the possession Of his fathers shall
return.
For they are my servants which l
brought forth out of the land of Egypt +;
they shall not be sold as bondmen.
Thou shalt not rule over him with
rigor, but shalt fear thy God"
Then comes the 44th, 45tb, and 10th,
verses, in the following words. viz:
Both thy bondmen, and thy bond
maids, which thou shalt have, shall he
of the heather that are around about
you; Of them shall ye buy bondmen and
, bonamaias.
"Morcover. of the children of the
strangers that do soiourn among you, of
them shall you buy, and their families
that are with you, which they begat in
your land: and they shall be your poss-
cssion.
"And ye shall take them as an inheri-
, tance for your children after you, to in
, hcrit them for possession, they shall be
your bondmen for ever: but over your
brethren, the children Of Israel, ye shall
not rule one over another with risor."
1t is impossible for language more
clearly to declare that, while the Hebrew
servant was to be set free in the year Of
jubilee, the bondmen and bondmaids, of
foreign blood might be held as bend
men for ever"
If there were any room for doubt on
this subject, it would be solved by the
4th verse of the 2lst chapter of Exodus,
in which it is proved that if the master
of the Hebrew servant "have given him
a wife and she have borne him sons or
daughters, the wife and her children shall
be her masters, and he shall go out by
himself" But if the husband and father
prefer remaining in scrvitudc with his
wife and children, it is provided verse g.
that "his master shall bring him unto
the Judges he shall also bring him unto
the door, or unto the door post, and his
master shall bore his ear through with
an awl, and he shall Serpe him .forecer."
1t hence appears that when master
had given his Hebrew servant wife, the
wife and children were not to be free with
the husband and father, who might if he
choose, remain servant with them, not
to tho year Of jubilee only, but 'Jorever. "
a practical illustration of the meaning
of these provisions is found in the 34th
chapter of jeremiah 1t seems that the
Jews had fallen into the practice of dis
regarding the law and holding their He
brew brethren in bondage more than six
years. On being required to comply with
the law they had done so, and sec their
Hebrew servants free. Afterward, how
ever, resum d control over them and
again reduced them to slavery. For this
violation of the law the prophet de-
nounced against them the most terrible
judgments. The crime, however. did not
consist ia holding Hebrew in bondage
sir years or the stranger forever but in
holding the Hebrew more than six ye rs
The class Of servants to which the crime
\ was confined is explicitly stated in the
9th verse, as follows, to-wit "That every
man should let his man servant, and
every man his maid-servant, being an
Hebrew or an Hebrewess, go free that
none should serve himself of them, to-
wit, OF jew his brother"
In Abraham's time the power of the
master over the slave appears to have
been absolute nor was it very materially
modified by the laws of Moses.
, Among the regulations which God pre-
scribed through Moses were the following
in the 2lst chapter of Exodus, 20th and
2lst verses, viz:
"And if man smte his servant ol
his maid with rod, and he die under hi
hand, he shall be surely punished. Not
withstanding, if he continue day or two
he shall not be punished for he IS hts
, money"
| In the same chapter verse 70 and u
l it is provided that if a master smite ou
an eye or a tooth of servant, he shal