while that term lasted the servant was not to be treated as a slave, a “living tool” or a “chattel personal.” “If thy brother that dwelleth by thee be waxen poor, and be sold unto thee; thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bondservant: but as an hired servant, and as a sojourner, he shall be with thee, and shall serve thee unto the year of jubilee: and then shall he depart from thee, both he and his children with him, and shall return unto his own family, and unto the possession of his fathers shall he return. For they are my servants, which I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: they shall not be sold as bondmen. Thou shalt not rule over him with rigour; but shalt fear thy God.”[1]
The bondman might choose, as we have seen, at the expiration of his term to remain with his master instead of accepting his liberty; but to that end, and in order that a freeman might be finally divested of his freedom, not a mere tacit continuance of the relation, but a formal consent, and not only a formal consent, but a regular and public ceremony, was required. The bondman is to “say plainly” that he “loves his master,” and that he “will not go out free.” And he is then to be brought before the judges, and his ear is to be bored with an awl, as a sign that he elects to remain in servitude for life.
That the bondman when set free after six years might not fall into bondage again, he was to be liberally provided on leaving his master with the means of subsistence. “And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away empty: thou shalt
