Texts in Conversation
Deuteronomy extends the protection found in Hammurabi's limit on debt slavery by requiring support at release. That support addresses the poverty that could force a freed person back into the same dependence.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Code of Hammurabi 1:127
Babylonian Legal Text
Ancient Near East
116 If the prisoner dies in prison from blows or mistreatment, the prisoner's master shall convict the merchant before the judge. If the prisoner was free-born, the merchant's son shall be put to death; if he was a slave, the merchant shall pay one-third of a mina of gold, and he shall forfeit everything the prisoner's master gave him. 117 If anyone fails to pay a debt and sells himself, his wife, his son, and his daughter for money, or gives them into forced labor, they shall work for three years in the house of the man who bought them or holds them, and in the fourth year they shall be set free. 118 If he gives a male or female slave into forced labor, and the merchant subleases or sells them, no objection can be raised.
Deuteronomy 15:12
Hebrew Bible
11 There will never cease to be some poor people in the land; therefore, I am commanding you to make sure you open your hand to your fellow Israelites who are needy and poor in your land. 12 If your fellow Hebrew—whether male or female—is sold to you and serves you for six years, then in the seventh year you must let that servant go free. 13 If you set them free, you must not send them away empty-handed. 14 You must supply them generously from your flock, your threshing floor, and your winepress—as the Lord your God has blessed you, you must give to them. 15 Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore, I am commanding you to do this thing today.
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Notes and References
“... 15:1-6. sabbatical year. The fallowing of the land in the seventh year, as an acknowledgment of the Creator’s work and an example of good husbandry, is first found in Exodus 23:10-11. An expansion of that law is later found in Leviticus 25:2-7, providing more specificity about how it affects the land and the people. The Deuteronomic legislation is more concerned with debt remission, manumission of slaves (15:12-18) and the educational process of reading the law publicly (31:1013) during the sabbatical year. Although there is no direct parallel to either sabbath or sabbatical-year legislation outside the Bible, the *Ugaritic epic of *Baal contains a seven-year agricultural cycle that may be related. In *Hammurabi’s laws women and children sold into slavery would be freed after three years. ...”
Walton, John H.
The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament
(p. 186) InterVarsity Press, 2000
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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