Smith's Bible Dictionary.pdf - Online Christian Library

Smith's Bible Dictionary
•After a long interval the name appears in the lists of Nethinim who returned from the captivity
with Zerubbabel. (Ezra 2:53; Nehemiah 7:55) It doubtless tells of Canaanite captives devoted to
the lowest offices of the temple. (B.C. before 536.)
Sitnah
(strife), the second of the two wells dug by Isaac in the valley of Gerar, the possession of which
the herdmen of the valley disputed with him. (Genesis 26:21)
Sivan
[Month]
Slave
The institution of slavery was recognized, though not established, by the Mosaic law with a
view to mitigate its hardship and to secure to every man his ordinary rights. I. Hebrew slaves.—
•The circumstances under which a Hebrew might be reduced to servitude were— (1) poverty; (2)
the commission of theft; and (3) the exercise of paternal authority. In the first case, a man who
had mortgaged his property, and was unable to support his family, might sell himself to another
Hebrew, with a view both to obtain maintenance and perchance a surplus sufficient to redeem his
property. (Leviticus 25:25,39) (2) The commission of theft rendered a person liable to servitude
whenever restitution could not be made on the scale prescribed by the law. (Exodus 22:1,3) The
thief was bound to work out the value of his restitution money in the service of him on whom the
theft had been committed. (3) The exercise of paternal authority was limited to the sale of a daughter
of tender age to be a maidservant, with the ulterior view of her becoming the concubine of the
purchaser. (Exodus 21:7)
•The servitude of a Hebrew might be terminated in three ways: (1) by the satisfaction or the remission
of all claims against him; (2) by the recurrence of the year of jubilee, (Leviticus 25:40) and (3)
the expiration of six years from the time that his servitude commenced. (Exodus 21:2; 15:12) (4)
To the above modes of obtaining liberty the rabbinists added, as a fourth, the death of the master
without leaving a son, there being no power of claiming the salve on the part of any heir except
a son. If a servant did not desire to avail himself of the opportunity of leaving his service, he was
to signify his intention in a formal manner before the judges (or more exactly at the place of
judgment), and then the master was to take him to the door-post, and to bore his ear through with
an awl, (Exodus 21:6) driving the awl into or “unto the door,” as stated in (15:17) and thus fixing
the servant to it. A servant who had submitted to this operation remained, according to the words
of the law, a servant “forever.” (Exodus 21:6) These words are however, interpreted by Josephus
and by the rabbinsts as meaning until the year of jubilee.
•The condition of a Hebrew servant was by no means intolerable. His master was admonished to
treat him, not “as a bond-servant, but as an hired servant and as a sojourner,” and, again, “not to
rule over him with rigor.” (Leviticus 25:39,40,43) At the termination of his servitude the master
was enjoined not to “let him go away empty,” but to remunerate him liberally out of his flock, his
floor and his wine-press. (15:13,14) In the event of a Hebrew becoming the servant of a “stranger,”
meaning a non-Hebrew, the servitude could be terminated only in two ways, viz. by the arrival of
the year of jubilee, or by the repayment to the master of the purchase money paid for the servant,
after deducting a sum for the value of his services proportioned to the length of his servitude.
(Leviticus 25:47-55) A Hebrew woman might enter into voluntary servitude on the score of poverty,
and in this case she was entitled to her freedom after six years service, together with her usual
gratuity at leaving, just as in the case of a man. (15:12,13) Thus far we have seen little that is
699
William Smith