The daughter of an Israelite, who had been sold by her father as a maid-servant (לאמה), i.e., as the sequel shows, as a housekeeper and concubine, stood in a different relation to her master's house. She was not to go out like the men-servants, i.e., not to be sent away as free at the end of six years of service; but the three following regulations, which are introduced by אם (Exodus 21:8), ואם (Exodus 21:9), and ואם (Exodus 21:11), were to be observed with regard to her. In the first place (Exodus 21:8), "if she please not her master, who hath betrothed her to himself, then shall he let her be redeemed." The לא before יעדהּ is one of the fifteen cases in which לא has been marked in the Masoretic text as standing for לו; and it cannot possibly signify not in the passage before us. For if it were to be taken as a negative, "that he do not appoint her," sc., as a concubine for himself, the pronoun לו would certainly not be omitted. הפדּהּ (for הפדּהּ, see Ges. 53, Note 6), to let her be redeemed, i.e., to allow another Israelite to buy her as a concubine; for there can hardly have been any thought of redemption on the part of the father, as it would no doubt be poverty alone that caused him to sell his daughter (Leviticus 25:39). But "to sell her unto a strange nation (i.e., to any one but a Hebrew), he shall have no power, if he acts unfaithfully towards her," i.e., if he do not grant her the promised marriage. In the second place (Exodus 21:9, Exodus 21:10), "if he appoint her as his son's wife, he shall act towards her according to the rights of daughters," i.e., treat her as a daughter; "and if he take him (the son) another (wife), - whether because the son was no longer satisfied, or because the father gave the son another wife in addition to her - "her food (שׁאר flesh as the chief article of food, instead of לחם, bread, because the lawgiver had persons of property in his mind, who were in a position to keep concubines), her raiment, and her duty of marriage he shall not diminish," i.e., the claims which she had as a daughter for support, and as his son's wife for conjugal rights, were not to be neglected; he was not to allow his son, therefore, to put her away or treat her badly. With this explanation the difficulties connected with every other are avoided. For instance, if we refer the words of Exodus 21:9 to the son, and understand them as meaning, "if the son should take another wife," we introduce a change of subject without anything to indicate it. If, on the other hand, we regard them as meaning, "if the father (the purchaser) should take to himself another wife," this ought to have come before Exodus 21:9. In the third place (Exodus 21:11), "if he do not (do not grant) these three unto her, she shall go out for nothing, without money." "These three" are food, clothing, and conjugal rights, which are mentioned just before; not "si eam non desponderit sibi nec filio, nec redimi sit passus" (Rabbins and others), nor "if he did not give her to his son as a concubine, but diminished her," as Knobel explains it.

Exodus 21:14 Parallel Commentaries

presumptuously

Numbers 15:30,31 But the soul that does ought presumptuously, whether he be born in the land, or a stranger, the same reproaches the LORD...

Deuteronomy 1:43 So I spoke to you; and you would not hear, but rebelled against the commandment of the LORD, and went presumptuously up into the hill.

Deuteronomy 17:12,13 And the man that will do presumptuously, and will not listen to the priest that stands to minister there before the LORD your God...

Deuteronomy 18:22 When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass...

Deuteronomy 19:11-13 But if any man hate his neighbor, and lie in wait for him, and rise up against him, and smite him mortally that he die...

1 Kings 2:29-34 And it was told king Solomon that Joab was fled to the tabernacle of the LORD; and, behold, he is by the altar...

Psalm 19:13 Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright...

Hebrews 10:26 For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins,

2 Peter 2:10 But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, self-willed...

slay

Numbers 35:20,21 But if he thrust him of hatred, or hurl at him by laying of wait, that he die...

Deuteronomy 27:24 Cursed be he that smites his neighbor secretly. And all the people shall say, Amen.

2 Samuel 3:27 And when Abner was returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside in the gate to speak with him quietly...

2 Samuel 20:9,10 And Joab said to Amasa, Are you in health, my brother? And Joab took Amasa by the beard with the right hand to kiss him...

take him

1 Kings 1:50,51 And Adonijah feared because of Solomon, and arose, and went, and caught hold on the horns of the altar...

1 Kings 2:28-34 Then tidings came to Joab: for Joab had turned after Adonijah, though he turned not after Absalom...

2 Kings 11:15 But Jehoiada the priest commanded the captains of the hundreds, the officers of the host, and said to them...