Deuteronomy 15:12-23
The Law Concerning Bondservants
12 “If your brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. 13 And when you send him away free from you, you shall not let him go away empty-handed; 14 you shall supply him liberally from your flock, from your threshing floor, and from your winepress. From what the LORD your God has blessed you with, you shall give to him. 15 You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this thing today. 16 And if it happens that he says to you, ‘I will not go away from you,’ because he loves you and your house, since he prospers with you, 17 then you shall take an awl and thrust it through his ear to the door, and he shall be your servant forever. Also to your female servant you shall do likewise. 18 It shall not seem hard to you when you send him away free from you; for he has been worth a double hired servant in serving you six years. Then the LORD your God will bless you in all that you do.
The Law Concerning Firstborn Animals
19 “All the firstborn males that come from your herd and your flock you shall sanctify to the LORD your God; you shall do no work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock. 20 You and your household shall eat it before the LORD your God year by year in the place which the LORD chooses. 21 But if there is a defect in it, if it is lame or blind or has any serious defect, you shall not sacrifice it to the LORD your God. 22 You may eat it within your gates; the unclean and the clean person alike may eat it, as if it were a gazelle or a deer. 23 Only you shall not eat its blood; you shall pour it on the ground like water.
These two laws cover the redemption of Hebrew servants given their freedom after seven years of working for their owner (employer in today’s world) and the sanctification or dedication and treatment of firstborn sacrifices. For the servants, they were to be worked for seven years and then set free, but not empty handed. They were to be liberally paid in the currency of the day - namely, food and grain and wine. The owners were told to recall how their people had been harshly enslaved in rigorous bondage and harsh treatment in Egypt, and then dwell on how the LORD had redeemed and saved them from that terrible treatment. Because they were set free and redeemed, they should do likewise for their servants and not as the world does in harsh cruelty and without final pay or severance. The servants who desired not to leave and continue to serve were to be identified as bonded servants with an awl piercing their ear as a mark of never ending ownership. We see this as a shadow of the relationship of the believer to the Lord as our master and we as willing bondservants (Romans 1:1, 6:17-18, 22-23, Galatians 1:10) to Christ to serve Him forever as belonging to Him. He then blesses us in all we do as His willing bondservants of grace in lives that are living sacrifices to the firstborn of God, His only Son. We partake of Him who has no defect, the perfect sacrifice who covers our sin utterly and completely forevermore. His blood we do partake of, for the lifeblood of animal sacrifices which could not cover our sin was not to be taken, yet His is because it redeems us fully and forever. We must partake of His sacrificial lifeblood (Mark 14:24, John 6:51, 53, 54-55, 56, 1 Corinthians 11:25) in order to be united with God the Father, the firstborn resurrected sacrifice, through and in Him.
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