The passage is pretty self-explanatory. To add on to the atrocities of Exodus, we have this marvelous piece of moral law from the Book from which morals come from, the Good Book. After this passage it describes selling your daughter into slavery and a bunch of other immoral passages of death and destruction.
The Passage
If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing. If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master have given him a wife, and she have born him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself. And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free: Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him for ever. (Exodus 21:2-6)The "Moral" of the Passage
What's an aul you ask? Over to the right is a picture of some for shoemaking.In yet another fantastic story, God, the moral lawgiver, sets forth a few more guidelines on owning slaves. Since the Bible was written by the Hebrews, God is obviously the god of the Hebrews. As such, there are special guidelines for having Hebrew slaves. The Hebrew slave shall be set free in the seventh year, including his wife. That is, unless his wife has children, in which case the wife and children stay as slaves with the master. The man is still free to leave, but if he loves his family and refuses to leave, thrust an awl through his ear and he can remain.
Are we really to believe that such barbarity comes from a Supreme Being? One who loves us all? One who is perfectly moral? Are we really to believe that this text is what our laws are based on; what they should be based on?
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