Part 33 (1/2)

[Footnote A: There is no evidence that masters had the power to dispose of even the _services_ of their servants, as men hire out their laborers whom they employ by the year; but whether they had or not, affects not the argument.]

Though servants were not bought of their masters, yet young females were bought of their _fathers_. But their purchase as _servants_ was their betrothal as WIVES. Ex. xxi. 7, 8. ”If a man sell his daughter to be a maid-servant, she shall not go out as the men-servants do. If she please not her master WHO HATH BETROTHED HER TO HIMSELF, he shall let her be redeemed.”[B]

[Footnote B: The comment of Maimonides on this pa.s.sage is as follows:--”A Hebrew handmaid might not be sold but to one who laid himself under obligations, to espouse her to himself or to his son, when she was fit to be betrothed.”--_Maimonides--Hilcoth--Obedim_, Ch. IV.

Sec. XI. Jarchi, on the same pa.s.sage, says, ”He is bound to espouse her to be his wife, for the _money of her purchase_ is the money of her _espousal_.”]

VII. VOLUNTARY SERVANTS FROM THE STRANGERS.

We infer that _all_ the servants from the Strangers were voluntary in becoming such, since we have direct testimony that some of them were so.

”Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren, OR OF THY STRANGERS that are in thy land within thy gates.” Deut. xxiv. 14. We learn from this that some of the servants, which the Israelites obtained from the strangers were procured by presenting the inducement of _wages_ to their _free choice_, thus recognizing their right to sell their services to others, or not, at their own pleasure. Did the Israelites, when they went among the heathen to procure servants, take money in one hand and ropes in the other? Did they _ask_ one man to engage in their service, and _drag_ along with them the next that they met, in spite of his struggles. Did they knock for admission at one door and break down the next? Did they go through one village with friendly salutations and respectful demeanor, and with the air of those soliciting favors, offer wages to the inhabitants as an inducement to engage in their service--while they sent on their agents to prowl through the next, with a kidnapping posse at their heels, to tear from their homes as many as they could get within their clutches?

VIII. HEBREW SERVANTS VOLUNTARY.

We infer that the Hebrew servant was voluntary in COMMENCING his service, because he was preeminently so IN CONTINUING it. If, at the year of release, it was the servant's _choice_ to remain with his master, the law required his ear to be bored by the judges of the land, thus making it impossible for him to be held against his will. Yea more, his master was _compelled_ to keep him, however much he might wish to get rid of him.

IX. THE MANNER OF PROCURING SERVANTS, AN APPEAL TO CHOICE.

The Israelites were commanded to offer them a suitable inducement, and then leave them to decide. They might neither seize them by _force_, nor frighten them by _threats_, nor wheedle them by false pretences, nor _borrow_ them, nor _beg_ them; but they were commanded to BUY them[A]--that is, they were to recognize the _right_ of the individuals to _dispose_ of their own services, and their right to _refuse all offers_, and thus oblige those who made them, _to do their own work_.

Suppose all, with one accord, had _refused_ to become servants, what provision did the Mosaic law make for such an emergency? NONE.

[Footnote A: The case of thieves, whose services were sold until they had earned enough to make rest.i.tution to the person wronged, and to pay the legal penalty, _stands by itself_, and has nothing to do with the condition of servants.]

X. INCIDENTAL CORROBORATIVES. Various incidental expressions corroborate the idea that servants became such by their own contract. Job. xli. 4, is an ill.u.s.tration, ”Will he (Leviathan) make a COVENANT with thee? wilt thou take him for a SERVANT forever?” Isa. xiv. 1, 2 is also an ill.u.s.tration. ”The strangers shall be joined with them (the Israelites) and _they shall_ CLEAVE to the house of Jacob, and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the Lord, for servants and handmaids.”

The transaction which made the Egyptians the SERVANTS OF PHARAOH was voluntary throughout. See Gen. xlvii. 18-26. Of their own accord they came to Joseph and said, ”There is not aught left but our _bodies_ and our lands; _buy_ us;” then in the 25th verse, ”We will be Pharaoh's servants.” To these it may be added, that the sacrifices and offerings which ALL were required to present, were to be made VOLUNTARILY. Lev. i.

2. 3.

The pertinence and point of our Lord's declaration in Luke xvi. 13, is destroyed on the supposition that servants did not become such by _their own choice_. ”No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other.” Let it be kept in mind, that our Lord was a _Jew_. The lost sheep of the house of Israel were his flock. Wherever he went, they were around him: whenever he spake, they were his auditors. His public preaching and his private teaching and conversation, were full of references to their own inst.i.tutions, laws and usages, and of ill.u.s.trations drawn from them. In the verse quoted, he ill.u.s.trates the impossibility of their making choice of G.o.d as their portion, and becoming his servants, while they chose the world, and were _its_ servants. To make this clear, he refers to one of their own inst.i.tutions, that of _domestic service_, with which, in all its relations, incidents and usages, they were perfectly familiar. He reminds them of the well-known impossibility of any person being the servant of two masters, and declares the sole ground of that impossibility to be, the fact that the servant _chooses_ the service of the one, and _spurns_ that of the other. ”He shall _hold to_ the one and _despise_ (reject) the other.” As though our Lord had said, ”No one can become the servant of another, when his will revolts from his service, and when the conditions of it tend to make him hate the man.” Since the fact that the servant _spurns_ one of two masters, makes it impossible for him to serve _that one_, if he spurned _both_ it would make it impossible for him to serve _either_. So, also, if the fact that an individual did not ”hold to” or choose the service of another, proves that he could not become his servant, then the question, whether or not he should become the servant of another was suspended on _his own will_.

Further, the phraseology of the pa.s.sage shows that the _choice_ of the servant decided the question. ”He will HOLD TO the one,”--hence there is no difficulty in the way of his serving _him_; but ”no servant can serve” a master whom he does not ”_hold to_,” or _cleave_ to, whose service he does not _choose_. This is the sole ground of the impossibility a.s.serted by our Lord.

The last clause of the verse furnishes an application of the principle a.s.serted in the former part, ”Ye cannot serve G.o.d and mammon.” Now in what does the impossibility of serving both G.o.d and the world consist?

Solely in the fact that the will which chooses the one refuses the other, and the affections which ”hold to” the one, reject the other.

Thus the question, Which of the two is to be served, is suspended alone upon the _choice_ of the individual.

XI. RICH STRANGERS DID NOT BECOME SERVANTS. Indeed, so far were they from becoming servants themselves, that they bought and held Jewish servants. Lev. xxv. 47. Since _rich_ strangers did not become servants to the Israelites, we infer that those who _did_, became such not because they were _strangers_, but because they were _poor_,--not because, on account of their being heathen, they were _compelled by force_ to become servants, but because, on account of their _poverty_, they _chose_ to become servants to better their condition.

XII. INSTANCES OF VOLUNTARY SERVANTS. Mention is often made of persons becoming servants who were manifestly VOLUNTARY. As the Prophet Elisha.

1 Kings xix. 21; 2 Kings iii. 11. Elijah was his _master_. 2 Kings ii.

5. The word translated master, is the same that is so rendered in almost every instance where masters are spoken of under the Mosaic and patriarchal systems. Moses was the servant of Jethro. Ex. iii. 1; iv.

10. Joshua was the servant of Moses. Ex. x.x.xiii. 11. Num. xi. 28. Jacob was the servant of Laban. Gen. xxix. 18-27. See also the case of the Gibeonites who _voluntarily_ became servants to the Israelites and afterwards performed service for the ”house of G.o.d” throughout the subsequent Jewish history, were incorporate with the Israelites, registered in the genealogies, and manifestly of their own accord remained with them, and ”_clave_” to them. Neh. x. 28, 29; xi. 3; Ez.

vii. 7.

Finally, in all the regulations respecting servants and their service, no form of expression is employed from which it could be inferred, that servants were made such, and held in that condition by force. Add to this the entire absence of all the machinery, appurtenances and incidents of _compulsion_.

Voluntary service on the part of servants would have been in keeping with regulations which abounded in the Mosaic system and sustained by a mult.i.tude of a.n.a.logies. Compulsory service on the other hand, could have harmonized with nothing, and would have been the solitary disturbing force, marring its design, counteracting its tendencies, and confusing and falsifying its types. The directions given to regulate the performance of service for the _public_, lay great stress on the _willingness_ of those employed to perform it. For the spirit and usages that obtained under the Mosaic system in this respect, see 1 Chron.

xxviii. 21; Ex. x.x.xv. 5, 21, 22, 29; 1 Chron. xxix. 5, 6, 9, 14, 17; Ex.

xxv. 2; Judges v. 2; Lev. xxii. 29; 2 Chron. x.x.xv. 8; Ezra i. 6; Ex.