When Slaves Go Free

A man or woman, according to Deuteronomy 15:12, who sells themself for servile labor must be released under ordinary conditions after six years.  Exodus 21:2-6 contains a parallel description of this process with a handful of differing but logically consistent details provided in each chapter.  While Exodus emphasizes that the spouse of slave who becomes married while a slave does not go free just because their partner's time has come, Deuteronomy 15:13-14 adds the vital prescription for a master or mistress, upon releasing their slave in the seventh year, to supply them "liberally" with various resources.  The slave regaining financial and material self-sufficiency or obtaining this autonomy for the first time is the thrust of the passage.

Animals, grain, and wine, all supplies useful or necessary for survival or economic stability, depending on the societal arrangement, are explicitly included in the articulated scope of this obligation.  While there is no law prohibiting a former slave later returning to their master or mistress or choosing to serve a new person for six years if they wish, the material provision even in their departure is clearly poised to help them never need to do so again, not out of financial desperation.  The most dire effects of poverty, which the preceding verses (15:1-11) are clearly about thwarting, are softened by the option of Biblical slavery, and upon being released, a slave is to be treated with extreme generosity, in accordance with the wealth of their master, which puts them in a better position to accumulate and keep their own wealth.

Now, an abused slave is released (Exodus 21:26-27) before the end of their six-year term (Exodus 21:2, Deuteronomy 15:12; Leviticus 19:33-34) or even after making a pledge of permanent servitude (Exodus 21:5-6, Deuteronomy 15:16-17), and going free, as addressed, means receiving extensive material supplies.  Exodus 21:26-27 does not need to say that the slave emancipated prematurely for being mistreated is to be given abundant resources because Deuteronomy 15:12-14 emphasizes this, and Deuteronomy 15 does not need to specify that slaves who go free for abuse as described in Exodus 21 would receive such supplies because all slaves who go free should receive them.  This adds another layer to the penalty for such injustices.

Other men and women who might have harbored interest in working for that abusive master or mistress might also very well refuse to approach them as potential employers.  Abusing a servant once does not mean it will happen again or worsen, but there could be additional pragmatic consequences for the abusive master or mistress.  However, no matter the reaction from their community, they lose the service of their slave and a significant amount of resources that would have been owed to the slave upon eventual release anyway.  The slave who goes free for one reason or another, short of simply leaving for another area as is their right (Deuteronomy 23:15-16), is not liberated only to face destitution and starvation.

When slaves go free, they are to to be equipped to support themselves and perhaps eventually be in the same position to offer employment of sorts to any willing or needy man or woman; he or she has the means of a new financial beginning, and contrary to what some might expect, the gift of resources to enable self-sufficiency (or for providing for family members if applicable) is not restricted to men alone.  An abused former slave is not jettisoned from a wicked misuse of slavery only to need to become a slave all over again to survive—without resorting to sins like theft.  Alone and in conjunction with Exodus 21:26-27, Deuteronomy 15:12-14 affirms numerous things: gender equality, the ability and moral right of someone to work and be treated with respect rather than live in poverty, and the right to abundant resources upon release.