Leviticus 25:48

48 after that he is solde he maye be redemed agayne. one of his brethren maye bye him out:

Leviticus 25:48 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 25:48

After that he is sold he may be redeemed again
Though an Heathen, sold to an Israelite, was to be a bondman for ever, and could not be released by the year of jubilee, yet an Israelite sold to an Heathen might be redeemed before, and if not, he was freed then. The Jewish writers understand this of an obligation upon the man, or his friends, or the congregation, to redeem him, and that immediately, as the Targum of Jonathan, and Jarchi, because of the danger he was in by being in the family of an idolater, lest he be polluted F3, that is, with idolatry; or be swallowed up among the Heathens, as Maimonides {d}; but it is plain from ( Leviticus 25:54 ) , that there was no obligation for an immediate redemption; nor was the person sold in such danger as suggested, since the sojourner, to whom he is supposed to be sold, was no idolater, whether a proselyte either of righteousness, or of the gate one of his brethren may redeem him;
which may be taken in a strict and proper sense, for any of his brethren who were in circumstances sufficient to redeem him, or for any near akin to him, as the following words seem to explain it. No mention is made of his father: the reason of which Abarbinel F5 says, because it cannot be thought that a father would suffer his son to be sold, if it was in his power to redeem him, since a father is pitiful to his son.


FOOTNOTES:

F3 Pesikta apud Drusium in loc.
F4 Hilchot Abadim, c. 2. sect. 7.
F5 Apud Muis. Varia Sacra, p. 373.

Leviticus 25:48 In-Context

46 And ye shall possesse them and geue them vnto youre childern after you, to possesse them for euer: and they shalbe youre bond men: But ouer youre brethern the childern of Israel ye shall not reigne one ouer another cruelly.
47 When a straunger and a soiourner waxeth rych by the ad thi brother that dwelleth by him waxeth poore and sell him selfe vnto the straunger that dwelleth by the or to any of the straungers kyn:
48 after that he is solde he maye be redemed agayne. one of his brethren maye bye him out:
49 whether it be his vncle or his vncles sonne or any that is nye of kynne vnto him of his kynred: ether yf his hande can get so moch he maye be loosed.
50 And he shall reken with him that boughte him from the yere that he was solde in vnto the trompet yere and the pryce of his byenge shalbe acordynge vnto the numbre of yeres and he shalbe with him as a hyred seruaunte.
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