Vayikra 25:40

40 But as a sakhir, and as a toshav, he shall be among thee, and shall serve thee unto the Shnat HaYovel.

Vayikra 25:40 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 25:40

[But] as an hired servant
Who is hired by the day, or month, or year; and, when his time is up, receives his wages and goes where he pleases, and while a servant is not under such despotic power and government as a slave is: [and] as a sojourner;
an inmate, one that dwells in part of a man's house, or boards and lodges with him, and whom he treats in a kind and familiar manner, rather like one of his own family than otherwise: he shall be with thee;
as under the above characters, and used as such: this the Jews refer to food and drink, and other things, as they do, ( Deuteronomy 15:16 ) ; and say F17 that a master might not eat fine bread, and his servant bread of bran; nor drink old wine, and his servant new; nor sleep on soft pillows and bedding, and his servant on straw: hence, they say F18, he that gets himself an Hebrew servant is as if he got himself a master: [and] shall serve thee unto the year of the jubilee;
and no longer; for if the year of jubilee came before the six years were expired for which he sold himself, the jubilee set him free, as Jarchi observes; nay, if be sold himself for ten or twenty years, and that but one year before the jubilee, it set him free, as Maimonides says F19.


FOOTNOTES:

F17 Maimon. in Misn. Kiddushin, c. 1. sect. 2.
F18 Ibid.
F19 Hilchot Abadim, c. 2. sect. 3.

Vayikra 25:40 In-Context

38 I am Hashem Eloheichem, which brought you forth out of Eretz Mitzrayim, to give you Eretz Kena’an, and to be Elohim unto you.
39 And if thy brother that dwelleth by thee become poor, and be sold unto thee, thou shalt not compel him to do avodat eved;
40 But as a sakhir, and as a toshav, he shall be among thee, and shall serve thee unto the Shnat HaYovel.
41 And then shall he depart from thee, both he and his banim with him, and shall return unto his own mishpochah, and unto the Achuzzat of his Avot shall he return.
42 For they are My Eved, which I brought forth out of Eretz Mitzrayim; they shall not be sold in the manner of an eved.
The Orthodox Jewish Bible fourth edition, OJB. Copyright 2002,2003,2008,2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International. All rights reserved.