I. Slavery Among the Hebrews: Slavery existed among the Jews throughout their national life, although this servitude was one neither of debasement nor of cruelty. In patriarchal times the servants, together with the cattle, formed a por-
><. Status tion of the estate of the head of the of Hebrew family or tribe (Gen. xxiv. 35, xxvi. 14;
Slaves. Job. i. 3), and there was, accordingly, a traffic in slaves (Gen. xxxvii. 28), which was actively carried on by the Phenicians. The rich nomad chiefs owned numerous slaves, Abraham having 318 that were " born in his house," i.e., hereditary property (Gen. xiv. 14); and slaves were also purchased (Gen. xvii. 23, 27). The female servants seem to have been the especial property of the wife or daughter, and to have been given as concubines to the husband (Gen. xvi. 1 sqq., xxix. 24, etc.). The slaves " born in the house " were, in general, devoted to the family, and some had the entire confidence of their masters (cf. Gen. xv. 2-3). Even in the nomad period these servants were not mere chattels, and the fact that the rite of circum cision was performed on servants born in the house, as well as on those obtained by purchase, indicates that they were received as members of the same race, and as such had religious rights and duties. In the national period the traditional legal principles were observed, as in the Babylonian code of Ham murabi, although the latter lacked to some degree the ethical and religious spirit that, from the time of Moses, exercised its more humane influence on the Jewish law. The Mosaic idea that the whole Tsraelitish race had been in slavery in Egypt, and, being freed from the house of bondage by Yahweh (e.g., Ex. xx. 2; Deut. v. 6), had now become his servants and property, led to the inference that, being his own, they would never again become the servants of a stranger (Lev. xav. 42, 55, xxvi. 13); while the recollection of their harsh treat ment in slavery taught them to be considerate and humane to their servants (Deut. v. 15, xv. 15). With the development of national consciousness, however, the law distinguished between bondser vants of Israelitiah stock and aliens (cf. Lev. xxv. 39-46), though practise may have been less rigorous than theory.Slavery was, throughout Jewish history, one of the consequences of war, and as warriors were more apt to be killed than taken prisoners, the majority of captives were women, especially
s. Sources virgins, who were the prize booty of of Supply. military and predatory expeditions (Gen- xi-. 12; Judges v. 30; II Kings v. 2; Deut. xx. 14, xxi. 10 sqq.; etc.). Many pris oners of war were sold in foreign lands (Joel iii. 4, 6; Amos i. 6), and many were bought by the Israelites . from traveling Phenician merchants. X.-29 Alien settlers i Skinner Slavery Slavery in America (¢ 8). The Philosophical Attack on Slavery The Christian Attack; abolition of Slave Trade (§ 8). Attitude of Religious Bodies ($ 9).in the land were also liable to come into bondage, and the Canaanitish population gradually became the slaves of the Hebrews, especially in the regal period. After the exodus, slaves of foreign stock were employed in lower menial capacities in the camp and in the sanctuary, thus ultimately giving rise to the Nethinim (see LEVi, LEVITEa, § 3). Both David and Solomon employed non-Israelitic slaves in public works, the latter monarch having 153,600 of these bondsmen (I Kings ix. 20 sqq.; II Chron. ii. 17-18). It was a capital crime unlawfully to deprive a man of his liberty and to sell him (Ex. xxi. 16; Deut. xxiv. 7; cf. the Code of Hammurabi, § 14). On the other hand, a thief caught in the act was to be sold into slavery unless he could make restitution (Ex. xxii., 3). Tradition forbade, however, the selling of a thief into foreign slavery, so that Herod's law requiring such sale (Josephus, Ant., XVL, i. 1) was a serious infringement of hereditary legal custom. It was usually abject poverty and insolvency that entailed the loss of freedom (cf. Lev. xxv. 39, 47 aqq.), and in such a case a man might sell his own daughter. The regulations of the Book of the Covenant (Ex. xxi. 7-11) apply only to a daughter sold to be the concubine or wife of the buyer or his son, and expressly protect her rights as a member of the family; but Deut. xv. 12 sqq. distinctly refers to female slaves. The law does not specify whether a father may sell his son, but he doubtless did so, in case of poverty, rather than sacrifice his own freedom. A Jewish creditor might seize both the family and the person of his debtor, and sell him (Amos ii. 6, viii. 6; II Kings iv. 1; cf. Isa. 1. 1; Neh. v. 5;
I Matt. xviii. 25), though this was not sanctioned in the Pentateuch. A slave's value depended on sex, age, health, capacity for work, and the relation between supply and demand. Thirty silver shekels was the average damages for the death of a slave, whether male or female (Ex. xei. 32), and some indication of the value of slaves may perhaps be3. Value gained from the scale given in Lev. of Slaves; xxvii. 2 sqq. for those desiring to be Duration of released from their vows to serve in the
Servitude. sanctuary: for a boy between one month and five years old, five shekels, and for a girl three shekels; for a male between fiveand twenty years old, twenty shekels, and for a female ten; for a man between twenty and sixty years old, fifty shekels, and for a woman thirty. for a man over sixty years old, fifteen She1Ce15, and for 3
woman ten. The price for captive Jews, 120 drachmas a head, is almost the same average (Josephus, Ant., XII., ii. 3). The duration of bondage was limited only in the case of Israelitish slaves, who were never absolutely to lose their freedom, unless they definitely refused to accept it (Ex. xxi. 1-11;