Commentary on Genesis and Exodus, Theological treatise · Chapter 21 · Questions · Question 22 – Question 32
QUEST. XXII. Whether it were lawfull among the Israelites for the parents to sell their children.
Vers. 7. IF a man sell his daughter, &c. 1. It is not like, that simply it was lawfull for the father to sell either sonne or daughter, as Gallasius thinketh, seeing that even the Heathen Emperours Dioclesian and Maximinian, provided by Law, that parents should not sell their children: therefore this was not properly a selling of them: Non datur pretium, ut serviat, sed principaliter ut ducatur: The price was not given that she should serve, but principally that shee might be married, Tostat. qu. 9. 2. And this must be understood of maids not yet come to yeeres, as R. Salomon thinketh, under twelve yeere old: both because afterward they were not in their fathers power, Borrh. as also, for that there was no danger to their chaste virginity, being sold before they were marriageable: but after there was, Tostat. quaest. 9. 3. There was difference betweene the selling of a maid by her father, for then shee was to be handled otherwise than common servants: and when she sold her selfe: for in this case she was not to be free till the seventh yeere, as it was with other servants, Deut. 15.12. 4. Tostatus seemeth to be of opinion, that no women, whether virgins or widowes (for wives were under their husbands power) could sell themselves, because they put their chastity in hazard when they were so sold into service, Tostat qu. 9. But this seemeth to be contrary to the letter of the Law, Deut. 15.12. any Hebrewesse might sell her selfe, as well as an Hebrew.
QUEST. XXIII. In what sense it is said, Shee shall not goe out as other servants.
Vers. 7. SHe shall not goe out at other men servants, &c. 1. Historia scholastica maketh this the sense: that she shall be dismissed by a bill of divorcement, and not goe out as other maids, but as other free women were dismissed if her master had espoused her to himselfe, or his sonne: if not, shee should goe forth as other maids, that is, sine mercede, without any reward. Contra. 1. But in case that her master had taken her to wife, now she was free, and no longer as a servant: this Law then should have beene impertinent, in speaking of her going out of service, but not as other servants. 2. And the latter part of this exposition doth contradict the text, inferring that she shall goe out as other servants, whereas the Law saith otherwise, She shall not, &c.
2. Tostatus giveth this interpretation: By other maid servants he understandeth such maids as were of other nations, which were two wayes set free, either being redeemed by money, or else if the master perished the eye or tooth of his maid, she should be set free for her eye or tooth, Exod. 21.26. But the case of Hebrew maids was divers, they should bee set free without money: and if their eye or tooth were hurt, their master should pay eye for eye, tooth for tooth, vers. 24. as if the hurt had beene done to other free men, or free women. Contra. 1. But it is evident, that this Law meaneth not by other servants those only of other nations, but such as were spoken of before, namely Hebrew servants, Iun. 2. And beside, it is not fit to run for the exposition of this difference to other places: this Law it selfe sheweth afterward, wherein this privilege beyond other servants consisteth.
3. Augustine thus understandeth it: she shall not goe out as other maids, for remunerabit eam, he shall reward her: so also Vatablus, because other servants did goe out, nudi & siue mercede, naked and without any reward. But Augustine here following the vulgar Latine, readeth ancillae, maids, whereas it is in the originall, as other men servants. So also Rupertus: this is prescribed according to the president of their father Iacob, Qui non passus est illam, sicut ancillam, si…e dote exire: Which would not suffer his wife as a maid servant to goe forth without a dowry. But this is not all.
3. Procopius referreth it to that which followeth, vers. 8. He shall not have power to sell her to … strange people. But it was not lawfull to sell any other Hebrew servant to a strange people: therefore this had beene no such privilege.
4. The most thus understand it: Vult potestatem habere redimendi se ante sexennium; Hee would have them to have power to redeeme themselves before the six yeeres expired: which it was not lawfull for other servants to doe. So Lyran. Marbach. Osiand. Borrhaius with others: this was part of the privilege, but not all.
5. But this privilege is more generall, and containeth divers branches, as afterward followeth: for hee was either to espouse her to himselfe, or to his sonne▪ or suffer her to be redeemed of her friends: if none of these, he was to provide her of three things, food, rayment, and dwelling, or else to let her goe out free i in all these respects it is said, She shall not goe out as other servants did, I…n. in Analys.
QUEST. XXIV. Whether it must be read betrothed or bethrothed not.
Vers. 8. IF she ple…se not her master, so that he betrotheth her not. There are divers interpretations made of this verse: 1. The Latine readeth, If she please not her master, cui tradita fuit, to whom shee was delivered, that is, upon hope of marriage: so also Tostat. Borrh. Lyran. But in the originall there is the negative particle foreign, lo: and therefore it cannot be read affirmatively. 2. Some thinke that the negative foreign, lo, not, is here taken for foreign, lo, to him: and that in fifteene places beside in the old Testament, the adverbe is taken for the pronoune, whereof this is one; and so they read thus: If she displease her master, who hath betrothed her to himselfe: So read the Chalde and Septuag▪ so also Lippom. But beside that it is a forcing of the words, to take foreign, for foreign, the adverbe for the pronoune: it is not like, that after a man had espoused unto him a wife, another should have liberty to redeeme her. 3. Therefore the true reading is: So that he doe not betroth her to himselfe: Vatabl. Iun. or, suffer her to be redeemed, that is, of her friends: yet he shall have no power to sell her to a strange people.
QUEST. XXV. How she was to be redeemed.
Vers. 8. OR cause her to be redeemed. 1. Tostatus giveth this sense, De… alteri qui cam emat: He shall give unto another money to redeeme her, and so take her to his wife, qu. 9. But this is not like, that having paid for her before to have her service, he should give money againe to be rid of her. 2. Vatablu… thus expoundeth, remittet illi pecuniam servitutis, &c. he shall release unto her the money, or price of her service, as though shee had beene redeemed with money. So also Oleaster. But this were an improper speech, He shall cause her to be redeemed, that is, let her goe out free: the one seemeth to be contrary to the other: for they which went out free, needed not to bee redeemed. 3. Wherefore the meaning is, he shall suffer her to be redeemed either by her selfe, Oleaster; by her father, Osiand. or some of the next of kindred, Iun. or by him that intendeth to have her to his wife, Marbach. And she must be redeemed at a reasonable price, the yeeres of her service which she hath served being considered: as if shee were sold to serve six yeeres for six pound, three of those yeeres being past, shee was to be redeemed at any time, before she had served the whole six yeeres, for three pound, halfe the money, Lyran. Galas.
QUEST. XXVI. Why it was not lawfull to sell their maids to strangers.
Vers. 8. HE shall have no power to sell her to a strange people, &c. 1. Cajetane understandeth here, homini Hebra… alterius populi, she should not be sold over to an Hebrew of another people or place: because the Hebrew maids were not to be carried from City to City. But Oleaster giveth a good reason against this sense: Populus alterius urbis non videtur alius populus ab Israeli; The people of another City seemed not to be another people from Israel. 2. Therefore the meaning is, that she should not be sold over to any other strange people of the Gentiles, for these reasons: 1. Because injury was done unto God, when as those whom he had chosen for his peculiar people, and were properly his servants, should become slaves to Idolaters, and so the name of God among the Heathen should bee blasphemed. 2. There was wrong also offred unto the maid, which should be so sold: bo…h because her bondage should be perpetuall, and not for a time, as it was among the Hebrewes: beside, her chastity was like to be endangered among the Gentiles; and her selfe in great hazard to be corrupted in religion, and seduced to Idolatry, Tostat. quaest. 10. 3. And as it was not lawfull to sell her unto any strange nation, so neither to any of the strange people which sojourned among the Israelites: because both such kinde of service was more hard, and beside it continued longer: for like as the strangers which were servants to the Hebrewes, were in harder case than the Hebrewes servants, Levit. 25.46. for they were the Israelites possession and inheritance for ever, and were not set free, neither in the seventh yeere of remission, nor in the yeere of Jubile: So the Hebrew servants, which served strangers, were in worse condition than those which served Hebrewes: for an Hebrew serving an Hebrew, was set free in the seventh yeere; but if he served a stranger, he could not have his libertie till the yeere of Jubile, unlesse he were redeemed with money, Levit. 25.55. Tostatus. 4. The meaning then of the Law is this, that if the master did neither marry his maid himselfe, not his sonne, he should suffer her to be redeemed; but in no wise was he to sell her to any strange people, Marbach. Which is therefore especially forbidden, because the Gentiles buying servants for a perpetuity, would give more for them than the Hebrewes would, whom they were to serve but six yeeres: therefore it was needfull that the covetousnesse of the Israelites should herein be restrained, Tostat. qu. 9.
QUEST. XXVII. What the meaning is of these words, He hath despised her.
SEeing he hath deceived her, or dealt perfidiously with her. 1. The Latine following the Septuagint readeth, Because he hath despised her, that is, defloured her: so also Augustine expoundeth: humiliavit eam concumbendo cum ca, he hath humbled her in lying with her: quaest. 78. in Exod. and the Chalde in the same sense reads, cum dominatus fuerit ejus, having ruled over her: so also Lippoman. Gal…s. But this sense cannot be admitted: for to what purpose should the maid be redeemed by her friends, if her master had defloured her? it had beene wrong enough to rob her of her virginity: and in this case the master should rather have paid money, to recompence the losse of her virginity, than to take money to redeeme her: therefore Cajetane here well understandeth, that puella est incognita à Domino, the maid spoken of here is supposed not to have beene knowne of her master. 2. Oleaster findeth out a new signification of the word; bagad, he would have to signifie, to deale covertly, or to cover: whereof a garment is called beged, of covering the body, and so he expoundeth thus, quia oper…it eam, id est, maritum egit, because he hath covered her, that is, played the part of an husband toward her: for the use was for men to spread their garment over them, whom they intended to marry, as Booz did to Ruth, chap. 3. But beside this is an unwonted and insolent signification of the word bagad, which betokeneth properly, to deceive, beguile, deale fraudulently: this sense cannot be received, for the reason before alleaged. 3. Osiander referreth this fraudulent dealing, to the not providing of things necessary for her, which afterward is prescribed, and so shifteth her off. Iunius understandeth it of his selling of her to strangers, wherein he transgresseth against the Law. But it is better expounded of the masters deceiving of the maids hope, accipiebat eam sub spe ut faceret eam uxorem, he tooke her with hope to make her his wife, which he not performing, therein deceiveth her, Tostat. quast. 10. and B…rrhaius, Piscator.
QUEST. XXVIII. What kinde of betrothing is here understood.
Vers. 9. IF he have betro…hed her to his sonne, he shall deale with her, &c. 1. The first case was put, if a man bought a maid servant, with intent to make her his owne wife: now, here it is shewed what is to be done, in case he take her for his sonne, Tostat. 2. Some understand this betrothing, of a promise only of marriage, not of any actuall contract: as if the father should say, I will this maid to be my sonnes wife: and so notwithstanding such espousals, he might cast her off, and afterward take another, though he had defloured her, Tostat. So also Oleaster pressing another sense of the word jaghad, which signifieth to appoint a time, will have it here to signifie, the appointing of a time of espousals. But it seemeth, that such espousals are here spoken of, whereby the maid became his wife, because he was to endow her, as other virgins being free, had their dowry given them, chap. 22.16. 2. Cajetanus picketh out another sense, that he shall give her her dowry, if she displease, and he purpose to send her away, because he hath taken away from her her virginity. But this is contrary to the text: for she is now espoused to his sonne, therefore she displeaseth not; neither is there here mention made of casting her out, but of endowing her, and making her the sonnes wife. 3. The meaning then is, ut ingenia puella nuptui detur, shee shall be given in marriage, as if shee were a free woman: her dowry being appointed her, and all other necessary things, Iun. And in this case he shall use her no otherwise, than if hee had bestowed in marriage his owne daughter, Osiander.
QUEST. XXIX. Whether it were lawfull to take another wife to the former:
Vers. 10. IF he take him another. 1. Some understand if he take him another wife beside this, quamvi… … uxor ei superinducatur, although another wife be brought in over and above, Gallas. Tostat. But if this first were now become the sonnes wife, she should be free by her marriage, and therefore that clause following should be superfluous, vers. 11. she shall goe out free. And it is not like that the Law would allow the wife without any further solemnity to be dismissed: therefore all this is yet to be understood of her that was a servant, and not a wife. 2. Cajetane saith, Si acceperit aliam concubinam: If hee take him another concubine, and keepe this still. But the Law alloweth not any man to take a maid to be his concubine, as Lyranus noteth, though therein Tostatus finde fault with him: for Deut. 23.17. it is said, There shall not be a whore of the daughters of Israel. Tostatus answereth, that this is to be understood of common harlots, not of concubines. But, if it had beene lawfull for one to keepe a concubine, and then to turne her off, and so she become anothers concubine, shee was by this meanes little better than common. 3. Therefore the meaning is, if the father or the sonne (not the sonne only, as Vatab.) take another wife, and not this, he shall provide sufficiently for her, Iun. If he refuse to espouse this unto his sonne▪ but take another, then he shall doe as followeth: Osiander. 4. Some thinke further, that this is understood de ancill… …bjecta, of a maid rejected and cast out, Lyran. Some, that he shall thus provide for her a certaine time after she is married to another: Osiand. But it is evident, that this maid, to whom these things are to be performed, is to cohabit still in the house: ne ut cum abjecta exterave ancilla agito: he shall not dealt with her as with an abject or forraine maid, Iun.
QUEST. XXX. Of the true reading and meaning of the 10. verse.
Vers. 10. HE shall not diminish her food, her raymint and dwelling. Two of these words are diversly read: 1. The first word sheerah, some read expens…, expenses, that is, necessaria ad vitam, necessary things for her life, that is, meat and drinke: Tostat. Lyran. Some read nuptias, shall provide a marriage for her, Latin. and so reads Augustine. But the word sheerah signifieth neither of these. Oleaster will have it here to signifie, the remainder or residue▪ because the second wife or concubine had the reliques or remainder of the principall wife. So shear is taken, 1 Sam. 16.11. There remaineth yet a little one: but there the word is (shear) here it is sheerah: therefore it is better translated, meat, food, or flesh▪ Iun. Vatab. Lippoman. Cajetan, following the Chalde: so also read Montanus, Paguine, Osiander. 2. The other word, gonah, is more doubtfull. Some read, pretium pud…e…tiae, hee shall not diminish the price of her chastity: Latin. Scilicet ablata, that is, taken away from her: Gloss. interlinear. Lyran. But the word gho…ah, signifieth no such thing. Some read horam, her time or houre: which some interpret, tempus nubendi, time of marriage: some the time of her service, He shall not diminish her wages for her service: Ex Lippoman…. Some, debitum conjugale, understand and it of the marriage debt: jus conjugale, the right of marriage, Cajetan: Vatab. Concubit…m, this lying with her, Chalde: so also Augustine: Actum matrimonialem: The matrimoniall act he shall not defraud her of: for they which had many wives, did not give unto every one of them their time: as may appeare in the story of … and L…ah, who purchased of her sister to I…dge with her husband, for her sonnes Mandrakes, Genes. 30. But beside, that this were apparently to allow the use of concubines, which no where the Law of Moses doth, the word ghonah is not found in any such sense. But it rather signifieth cohabitation, or dwelling: for the word maghon, which commeth of the same root ghoa, is taken for an habitation or dwelling: so read Iun. Oleast. Montan…. The meaning then is, that he shall allow her her food, rayment, and cohabitation or dwelling, because he hath dec…i…ed her of the hope and expectation of marriage. So the Septuagint read foreign, by the which word Augustine understandeth … ubi n…m ▪ lying with her: but it rather signifieth conversation: that is, he shall suffer her still to cohabite and converse in the house, not as his wife, or concubine, but now as a free maid, and no longer a servant.
QUEST. XXXI. What those three things are mentioned in the text.
Vers. 11. IF he doe not these three, &c. 1. Some expound these three things to be these, if the master that bought the maid, will not take her for his wife, nor give her to wife to his sonne, nor yet reteine her as his concubine: Ex Lyran…. But this cannot be, for these reasons: 1. Because it would follow, that it was by the Law allowed to take a maid to be ones concubine, which was apparently a sinne, and a transgression of the seventh Commandement, Thou shalt not commit adultery. 2. The sense and sentence should remaine imperfect, it being not determined what should be done, if hee refused to give her food, rayment, and dwelling: if this clause should be referred not to the three things spoken of immediatly before, but to those other there given in instance, Tostat. quaest. 12. 2. Augustine supposeth these to be the three, if he neither marry her himselfe, nor his sonne, neither have defloured her, then she shall goe out free, quast. 78. in Exod. But there is no mention made at all before of deflouring her, but of … her; therefore this cannot be any of the three. 3. The most doe make these the three things: if he neither take her to wife for himselfe, nor for his sonne, nor yet suffer her to be redeemed. So Mac…ach, Borrh. Lyran. Genevens. But this exposition cannot stand: 1. Because these three things mentioned, must be all performed, otherwise he must let her goe out free: but these three were divers cases, and are propounded disjunctively; either the father to marry her, or the sonne, or to suffer her to goe out free. 2. In this sense the text should imply a contradiction: for if these severall cases before propounded, be these three things, whereof one is this, that if the father doe not marry her himselfe, he shall suffer her to be redeemed, that is, for money: but here it is said, she shall goe out free, paying nothing: so shee should goe out for money, and goe out without money.
4. Wherefore the fittest sense is, and most agreeable, to referre this clause to the three things going next before: he shall not diminish her food, apparell and dwelling: Sic Tostat. Iun. Cajetan.
QUEST. XXXII. Whether maid servants were set free in the seventh yeere, and not sometime before, sometime after.
Vers. 11. SHe shall goe out free paying no money. 1. She should be set at liberty, not onelyonly in the seventh yeere of remission, but before, si appareant in ea signa pubertatis, if the signes of her womanhood appeared, Lyran. And the reason is, that if shee stayed still in servitude, being apt for marriage, and neither her master, nor his sonne take her to wife, she might be in danger to be defloured, or else lose the time of her marriage, passing over her virginity in service, Tostat. So that such maids might be made free before the yeere of freedome came. 2. But if the seventh yeere of redemption returned before the maid came to yeeres of marriage, which the Hebrewes doe appoint at twelve, then could not the master yet shew his liking or disliking of her: and therefore such young maidens were not made free, no not in the seventh yeere: for all this Law is grounded upon this supposition, If shee please not her master, that is, if he purpose not to espouse her to himselfe, or to his sonne: but this pleasing or displeasing could not appeare untill the maid were ripe and fit for marriage: therefore in this case they expected rather the accomplishment of her ripe age, than the approching of the seventh yeere, Tostat. qu. 13.