Exodus chapter 21 Part 1

After reading chapter 21:

*The first part of the chapter is about "servants," read slaves. If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve six years, then be set free in the seventh year, without paying for his freedom. This assumes that it is perfectly fine to buy, sell, and own another human being, even a fellow Hebrew. It is currently talking about a male slave, we will get to the females in a moment. If the slave has no wife when he is bought, he leaves without a wife. If he has a wife when he is bought, he gets to take his wife with him when he goes. If the master gives him a wife and they have children, the master gets to keep the wife and children when the slave leaves at the end of his service. So much for the sanctity of marriage and the family.

*The Hebrew male slave may decide he would rather stay with his wife and children than be separated. In that case, he will forfeit his freedom. Whoo, boy, what a tough spot to be in. If he chooses to stay, he will have his ear pierced with an awl to mark him as a slave for life. No changing of minds.

*If a man sells his daughter as a slave...back up and read that again.....she doesn't get to go free at the end of seven years. Let's be clear, this passage makes it obvious that this woman is a sex slave or a "concubine" like Hagar, Bilhah, and Zilpah were. If the master selected her for himself and she doesn't please him, he must sell her to another Israelite,  not a foreigner, because he has broken faith with her. Notice that this is a business transaction, it was similar to a marriage but didn't have the same rules that a marriage had. A female slave was responsible for keeping her master pleased or she could be sold, in turn she had limited rights. If the master was buying the woman for his son, he must give her the rights of a daughter. If the master married another woman after he bought the first, he must not deprive the first of food, clothing and "marital rights," read sex. If he did deprive her of those thing he had to let her go free, without payment. What a nice loophole. Want to get rid of your concubine and no one else wants to take her off your hands? Stop supporting her and completely ignore her. I wonder how many neglected women committed suicide or just died from extreme poverty.

Edited.