9 That every man was to let his Hebrew man-servant and his Hebrew servant-girl go free; so that no one might make use of a Jew, his countryman, as a servant:
And one who had got away from the fight came and gave word of it to Abram the Hebrew, who was living by the holy tree of Mamre, the Amorite, the brother of Eshcol and Aner, who were friends of Abram.
And opening it, she saw the child, and he was crying. And she had pity on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews' children.
And they will give ear to your voice: and you, with the chiefs of Israel, will go to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and say to him, The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has come to us: let us then go three days' journey into the waste land to make an offering to the Lord our God.
And if your brother becomes poor and gives himself to you for money, do not make use of him like a servant who is your property; But let him be with you as a servant working for payment, till the year of Jubilee; Then he will go out from you, he and his children with him, and go back to his family and to the property of his fathers. For they are my servants whom I took out from the land of Egypt; they may not become the property of another. Do not be a hard master to him, but have the fear of God before you. But you may get servants as property from among the nations round about; from them you may take men-servants and women-servants. And in addition, you may get, for money, servants from among the children of other nations who are living with you, and from their families which have come to birth in your land; and these will be your property. And they will be your children's heritage after you, to keep as their property; they will be your servants for ever; but you may not be hard masters to your countrymen, the children of Israel.
And the Philistines, hearing the noise of their cry, said, What is this great cry among the tents of the Hebrews? Then it became clear to them that the ark of the Lord had come to the tent-circle.
Be strong, O Philistines, be men! Do not be servants to the Hebrews as they have been to you: go forward to the fight without fear.
For a number of nations and great kings will make servants of them, even of them: and I will give them the reward of their acts, even the reward of the work of their hands.
And all the nations will be servants to him and to his son and to his son's son, till the time comes for his land to be overcome: and then a number of nations and great kings will take it for their use.
And this was done by all the rulers and the people who had taken part in the agreement, and every one let his man-servant and his servant-girl go free, not to be used as servants any longer; they did so, and let them go.
So far from doing this, you yourselves do wrong and take your brothers' property.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Jeremiah 34
Commentary on Jeremiah 34 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 34
In this chapter we have two messages which God sent by Jeremiah.
Jer 34:1-7
This prophecy concerning Zedekiah was delivered to Jeremiah, and by him to the parties concerned, before he was shut up in the prison, for we find this prediction here made the ground of his commitment, as appears by the recital of some passages out of it, ch. 32:4. Observe,
Jer 34:8-22
We have here another prophecy upon a particular occasion, the history of which we must take notice of, as necessary to give light to the prophecy.