Untitled - African American History

SLAVERY AMONG THE JEWS. xllii
effect of it, however, was not to confer any political
privileges upon the freed man. His very name signified
"uncleanness." 1
At the Jewish feasts, the Mosaic law required the
slaves to be invited, and, for a time, to enjoy them equally
with their masters. The Sabbath was also, expressly, a
day
of rest for them. 3
Slavery continued among the Jews so long as they
were an independent nation. Even in their captivity
they did not lose them ; for we find, upon their return
under Nehemiah, one-sixth of the people that came up
from their captivity were " men-servants and maid-ser-
vants,"
exclusive of the children of Solomon's servants. 3
In the days of the Saviour, they still retained them. 4
!N~or did he hesitate to avow the rightful superiority of
the master, and to illustrate his precepts by this relation. 5
The kindly feeling existing towards the slave, is exem-
plified in the centurion whose sick slave was " dear unto
him." 6
When Nebuchadnezzar and his hosts came and
"pitched against Jerusalem," the Jews, alarmed at their
situation, made a covenant with Zedekiah, their king, to
manumit all their Hebrew servants. After the immediate
danger was removed, however, they reduced them
again to servitude. It seems that the provision of the
law, requiring them to be released on the seventh year,
after six years of bondage, had been disregarded, and it
was for this, among other sins, that Jeremiah prophesied
that captivity which soon overtook them. 7
1
Michaelis's Comm. vol. art. ii, 126.
2 Deut. 12: 17, 18; 16 : 11. Michaelis conceives that the provision
prohibiting the muzzling of the ox while threshing the corn, Deut. 25 : 4,
was extended to the slaves eating of the provisions they prepared for their
masters. Vol. ii, art. 130.
4 Mark 14 : 66.
3 Neh. 7 : 57, 66.
5 John 13 : 16 ; 8 : 35, 36 ; Luke 17 : 7, 8, 9 ; 22 : 27.
6 Luke 7:2, * 2 Kings 25 : 1 ; Jer. 34 : 8-20.