Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Exodus 21:5
And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free:
5. plainly say ] ‘Plainly’ should be omitted. It is an attempt to represent in English the idiomatic use of the Hebrew inf. abs., which emphasizes the verb to which it is attached, and is often used in the expression of a condition (G.-K. 113o). ‘Plainly,’ however, does not give the correct emphasis.
I love my master ] A slave was no doubt often well treated, and would then naturally ‘prefer slavery with comfort to freedom with destitution’ ( EB. iv. 4656).
my wife, and my children ] The case is supposed to be the one provided for in v. 4, in which the slave’s wife and children would not accompany him into freedom.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
5, 6. The fourth case. A slave, if he was happy with his master might, if he desired to do so, remain in his master’s service for life.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And if the servant shall plainly say,…. Or, “in saying shall say” i shall express himself in plain and full terms, and repeat his words, and abide by them, signifying it as his last will and determined resolution:
I love my master, my wife, and my children, and I will not go out free; but continue in his servitude, having a great affection for his master, and that he might enjoy his wife and children he dearly loved; and being animated with such a principle, his servitude was a pleasure to him: and when our obedience to God springs from love to him, and to his cause and interest, which should be as dear to us as our families, it is then acceptable to God and delightful to ourselves; in De 15:16,
it is, because he loveth thee, and thine house, because he is well with thee; hence the Jewish writers say k, understanding by “house” a family, if a servant has a wife and children and his master not, his ear is not to be bored; and if his master has a wife and children and he has not, his ear is not to be bored; if he loves his master and his master do not love him, or his master loves him and he do not love his master, or if he is sick, &c. his ear is not to be bored.
i k T. Bab. Kiddushin, fol. 22. 1. Maimon. in Misn. Kiddushin, c. 1. sect. 2.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(5) And if.Better, But if.
I love my master.Under every system of slavery affection grows up between the slaves and a master who is indulgent to them. At Rome it was common for slaves to endure the severest torture rather than betray or accuse their owners. If a man has no rights, he is thankful for small mercies, and responds with warm feeling to those who treat him kindly. As the Hebrew form of slavery was of a mild type, masters being admonished to treat their slaves not as bondservants, but as hired servants (Lev. 25:39-40), and, again, not to rule over them with rigour (Lev. 25:46), there would naturally be frequent cases where the slave would not wish to go out. He might actually love his master; or he might value the security from want which attaches to the slave condition; or he might be unwilling to break up the family which, by his masters favour, he had been allowed to create. For such cases some provision was necessary. It was made by the law here formulated (Exo. 21:5-6), which allowed the Hebrew slave, if he liked, to forfeit all claim to freedom, and take upon him permanently the condition of a bondman.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Beside the sense of those verses in reference to the servitude among the houses of Israel, is there not somewhat strikingly typical of the Lord Jesus here represented? Did he not say, by the mouth of the prophet, from the love he had to his Father and his Father’s house, I delight to do thy will, O my God: mine ears hast thou opened. Psa 40:6Psa 40:6 ; Joh 8:35 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Exo 21:5 And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free:
Ver. 5. I love my master. ] A little better than he in Plautus, that said, Ego non servio libenter; herus meus me non habet libenter, tamen utitur me ut lippis oculis.
shall plainly say. Hebrew “saying shall say”. Figure of speech Polyptoton (App-6) for emphasis. See note on Gen 26:28
children = sons.
And if: Deu 15:16, Deu 15:17, Isa 26:13, 2Co 5:14, 2Co 5:15
shall plainly say: Heb. saying shall say
THE PREVAILING MOTIVE
The servant shall plainly say, I love my Master I will not go out free.
Exo 21:5
John Wesley said truly that slavery is the sum of all the villainies. And yet servitude in an old Hebrew household must often have been a very happy experience. You recollect the picture of it, painted in this chapter. The seventh year, the year of release, has come. The serf may go out from bondage to freedom, but he protests with all the strength of his nature that he does not intend to do so; he means to serve his master to the end of his life. And the master, in token of this perpetual attachment of the slave to the home, nails his bondsmans ear to the door-post. That is a window opened for you and me into the generosity and kindliness that must have been the rule in many a Jewish homestead. Is it not a parable of spiritual experience? You love your Master. You cannot imagine a mode of life more joyous and free. What are some of the chains that bind you to the Lord Jesus Christ?
I. There is the Chain of Gratitude. Yours is the love of men and women for a Master who has paid, at the cost of His own life the ten thousand talents of your debt. You know where you met Him first. It was at the place, somewhat ascending, where stands a cross, and where, a little below the cross, there is a sepulchre. It was there He cast His spell about you. It was there you entered His household, and, because you entered it there, you intend to remain in it for ever.
II. There is another chain, the Chain of Reverent Admiration. You love your Master because He is the peerless Master, and, therefore, you will not go out free from His house. Where shall we find His like? If we leave His service, there is no other Prince or King who may be compared with Him; none so tender, none so wise, none so pure and spotless. The best rule for life is the rule that is embodied in a life. That is what Jesus Christ has given us. He goes in front of us along the road we are to walk. He has left us an example, that we should follow His steps.
III. The third chain is the Chain of Sympathy. We love our Master because we are devoted to the same purposes as those for which He lives. For the labour of Jesus Christ is not finished, now that He has gone into the heavenly places. What is His sorrow to-day? It is the sorrow that men and women and children should be ignorant of Him. What is His labour? It is the labour, by this agency and that other, to make them acquainted with His grace. What is His joy? It is the joy of seeing them gathered, from the east and west and south and north, within that city whose walls are Salvation and whose gates are Praise. And the same sorrow animates us, and the same labour prompts us to put forth our energies, and the same joy fills us with gladness.
IV. The final chain, the most marvellous in some respects of any, is the Chain of Union. We love our Master, we will not go out free, because the very life of our Master is throbbing and pulsating within ourselves. We are in the region of mysticism now, but it is the most glorious and most blessed mysticism. We do not simply listen to the teaching of Christ, as to a prophet, and go away and seek in our own wisdom and strength to translate this teaching into our life and work. There is something far better than that. Christ comes into us and abides in us. We begin to think the thoughts of Christ, because He is in our innermost soul. Abide in Me, and I in you. Let me count it my pride and joy to be a bond-slave of the Lord! Not for six years shall my service be, and a glad release on the seventh; but gladly for all years, and release to be counted the most terrible of disasters. My ear to Thy door post, O Thou Most High!
Illustration
(1)My Lord hath met my longing
With word of golden tone,
That I shall serve for ever
Himself, Himself alone.
Shall serve Him,and for ever!
Oh hope most sure, most fair!
The perfect love outpouring,
In perfect service there!
(2)I cannot leave my Master;
His love has pierced my heart;
He binds me to Himself with love;
He will not let me part.
I love, I love my Master:
To Him alone I cling,
For there is none like Jesus,
My Saviour, Friend, and King.
I love, I love my Master:
I will not go out free!
He says His saints shall serve Him,
And that my heaven shall be.
The Code of Hammurabi decreed that the master of a rebellious slave could cut off the ear of that slave. So the ear (Exo 21:6) evidently marked the status of a slave in the ancient Near East (cf. Psa 40:6).
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)