Slaves and Bondservants

Exodus 21:1-11 

1 “Now these are the judgments which you shall set before them: 2 If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years; and in the seventh he shall go out free and pay nothing. 3 If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him. 4 If his master has given him a wife, and she has borne him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself. 5 But if the servant plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ 6 then his master shall bring him to the judges. He shall also bring him to the door, or to the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him forever. 7 “And if a man sells his daughter to be a female slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do. 8 If she does not please her master, who has betrothed her to himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has dealt deceitfully with her. 9 And if he has betrothed her to his son, he shall deal with her according to the custom of daughters. 10 If he takes another wife, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, and her marriage rights. 11 And if he does not do these three for her, then she shall go out free, without paying money.

There were strict rules for slaves and willing servants (bondservants) given under the Law.  Buying a slave from God’s people was limited to six years, and if there was a family, they left at the seventh year together.  But if the master gave the slave a wife, she and her children remained the owner’s.  Yet the slave could choose to stay for life as a willing bondservant and would make it legal before the judges, as well as pierce an ear to indicate the willing servitude.  We who are in Christ were once slaves to sin and in bondage to the world of darkness (Galatians 4:3, 6-7, Romans 6:16-18), but are now willing bondservants of Christ and of righteousness (Romans 6:17-22).   We have appeared before the Judge and proclaimed we are His to serve willingly forever as free, slaves serving our Master from a whole heart forever.