Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Exodus 21:3
If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him.
3. First and second of the special cases, viz. the cases (1) of an unmarried slave, and (2) of one married before he became a slave. There is no counterpart to this and the following verse in Dt.
by himself (twice)] lit. with his back or body, and with nothing else, i.e. alone, without wife or child. A peculiar expression, found only here and v. 4.
married ] Heb. the possessor of a woman (or wife); so v. 22; ba‘al, ‘possessor,’ also, in the sense of ‘husband,’ Gen 20:3, Deu 24:4 al. The woman, being the possession of her husband, naturally shared his fortunes, and both entered into servitude, and left it, with him.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
If a married man became a bondman, his rights in regard to his wife were respected: but if a single bondman accepted at the hand of his master a bondwoman as his wife, the master did not lose his claim to the woman or her children, at the expiration of the husbands term of service. Such wives, it may be presumed, were always foreign slaves.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 3. If he came in by himself] If he and his wife came in together, they were to go out together: in all respects as he entered, so should he go out. This consideration seems to have induced St. Jerome to translate the passage thus: Cum quali veste intraverat, cum tali exeat. “He shall have the same coat in going out, as he had when he came in,” i.e., if he came in with a new one, he shall go out with a new one, which was perfectly just, as the former coat must have been worn out in his master’s service, and not his own.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
By himself, i.e. with his own person only, not with a wife, as the opposite branch showeth.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself,…. That is, if he came into his servitude “alone”, as the Septuagint version has it, he should go out of it in like manner; the word for “by himself”, some interpret with “his garment” f, or the skirt of one; and then the sense seems to be, that as he was clothed when he was sold, so he should be when made free: but rather the phrase literally is “with his body” g; not his naked body, or as destitute of raiment, and the necessaries of life; for, as before observed, his master was to furnish him liberally with good things: but the plain meaning is, that if he was a single or unmarried man when he entered his master’s service, he should go out, so; or as a Jewish writer h expresses it, as if he should say, with his body, without another body with him, who is his wife, as appears by what follows; unless his master should give him a wife while in his service, which is supposed in the next verse, and even then he was to go out alone, if he chose to go out at all; though Jarchi says, if he was not married at first, his master might not give him a Canaanitish woman to beget slaves of her:
if he were married, then his wife shall go with him; that is, if he had a wife, a daughter of Israel, as the Targum of Jonathan; or an Israelitish woman, as Jarchi, and had her at his coming; for otherwise, if it was one his master after gave him, she might not go out, as appears by the following verse; but being his wife before his servitude, and an Israelitish woman, was not the master’s bondmaid, nor bought with his money, and therefore might go out free with her husband.
f “cum quali veste”, V. L. “cum veste sua”; some in Vatablus Drusius. g “Cum corpore suo”, Munster, Pagninus, Vatablus, Drusius “solus corpore suo”, Junius Tremellius “cum solo corpore suo”, Piscator. h R. Sol. Urbin. Ohel Moed, fol. 15. 1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
There were three different circumstances possible, under which emancipation might take place. The servant might have been unmarried and continued so ( : with his body, i.e., alone, single): in that case, of course, there was no one else to set at liberty. Or he might have brought a wife with him; and in that case his wife was to be set at liberty as well. Or his master might have given him a wife in his bondage, and she might have borne him children: in that case the wife and children were to continue the property of the master. This may appear oppressive, but it was an equitable consequence of the possession of property in slaves at all. At the same time, in order to modify the harshness of such a separation of husband and wife, the option was given to the servant to remain in his master’s service, provided he was willing to renounce his liberty for ever (Exo 21:5, Exo 21:6). This would very likely be the case as a general rule; for there were various legal arrangements, which are mentioned in other places, by which the lot of Hebrew slaves was greatly softened and placed almost on an equality with that of hired labourers (cf. Exo 23:12; Lev 25:6, Lev 25:39, Lev 25:43, Lev 25:53; Deu 12:18; Deu 16:11). In this case the master was to take his servant , lit., to God, i.e., according to the correct rendering of the lxx, , to the place where judgment was given in the name of God (Deu 1:17; cf. Exo 22:7-8, and Deu 19:17), in order that he might make a declaration there that he gave up his liberty. His ear was then to be bored with an awl against the door or lintel of the house, and by this sign, which was customary in many of the nations of antiquity, to be fastened as it were to the house for ever. That this was the meaning of the piercing of the ear against the door of the house, is evident from the unusual expression in Deu 15:17, “and put (the awl) into his ear and into the door, that he may be thy servant for ever,” where the ear and the door are co-ordinates. “ For ever, ” i.e., as long as he lives. Josephus and the Rabbins would restrict the service to the time ending with the year of jubilee, but without sufficient reason, and contrary to the usage of the language, as is used in Lev 25:46 to denote service which did not terminate with the year of jubilee. (See the remarks on Lev 25:10; also my Archologie.)
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(3) His wife shall go out with him.The privilege of the married Hebrew slave was to attach also to his wife, if he was married when he became a slave. It further, no doubt, attached to his children.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Exo 21:3-4. If he came in by himself, &c. That is, single, he shall so depart; if married, his wife also was to depart in freedom with him. Lev 25:41. The case was to be different if he married while in servitude; when, if his master gave him a wife, a slave like himself, and not of the Hebrew race,the wife, and such children as he might have by her, were to continue the master’s property, and the man alone was to be free. See Lev 25:44-45. But if, as was very likely to happen, the connection of wife and children, joined to a regard for his master, should induce the man to continue in slavery, Exo 21:5 then the ceremony mentioned in the next verse was to take place.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Exo 21:3 If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him.
Ver. 3. If he came in by himself, ] Without a second-self, a yoke fellow, standing on even ground with himself, though drawing on the left side.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
by himself. Hebrew “with his body”. Figure of speech Synecdoche (of Part). App-6.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
by himself: Heb. with his body, Deu 15:12-14
Reciprocal: Exo 21:7 – go out Lev 25:40 – General Lev 25:41 – then shall Lev 25:54 – then
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Exo 21:3. If he came in by himself That is, single, he shall so depart: if married, his wife was to depart with him.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
21:3 If he {b} came in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him.
(b) Not having wife nor children.