Leviticus 25:46

Lev 25:46 And ye shall take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit [them for] a possession; they shall be your bondmen for ever: but over your brethren the children of Israel, ye shall not rule one over another with rigour.

Ver. 46. But over your brethren the children of Israel.] Tacitus observed of the Jews in his time, that to their own countrymen they were very kind: but toward all others, cursed and cruel.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

(46) And ye shall take them as an inheritance for your children.—That is, they may appropriate them to themselves, as their personal property, which is transmissible as inheritance to posterity with the family land.

They shall be your bondmen for ever.—These are not subject to the laws of jubile. They remain in perpetual serfdom unless they or their friends redeem them, or their master has maimed any one of them. In case of injury the master is obliged to manumit him (Exo_21:26-27). The authorities during the second Temple enacted that the master’s right, even with regard to this kind of bondmen, is restricted to their labour, but that he has no right to barter with them, to misuse them, or to put them to shame.

Over your brethren . . . ye shall not rule . . . with rigour.—In contrast to these heathen bondmen the Jewish bondmen are here designated “brethren.” They are co-religionists, who have been reduced to temporary servitude, but who are, nevertheless, fellow-heirs with them in the land of their possession. Hence the greatest consideration was to be shown to them in these adverse circumstances. The authorities during the second Temple have therefore enacted that there must be no difference between the daily food, raiment, and dwelling of the master and his Hebrew slave, and that the master and the servant are alike in these respects.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And ye shall take them as an inheritance for your children after you,.... Which they might leave them at their death to inherit, as they did their estates and lands; for such servants are, with the Jews (y), said to be like immovable goods, as fields, vineyards:

to inherit them for a possession; as their property, as anything else that was bequeathed to hem, as negroes now are in our plantations abroad:

thy shall be your bondmen for ever; and not be released at the year jubilee, nor before nor after; unless they obtained their liberty, either by purchase, which they might make themselves, or by the means of others, or else by a writing under their master's hand dismissing them from his service (z); or in case they were maimed by him, then he was obliged to let them go free, Exo 21:26,

but over your brethren, the children of Israel, ye shall not rule one over another with rigour; which repeated for the confirmation of it, and for the fuller explanation and description of the person not to be ruled over with rigour; and that it might be the more taken notice of, and to make them the more careful in the observance of it and though this peculiarly respects masters' treatment of their servants, yet Jarchi thinks it comprehends a prince over his people, and a king over his ministers, whom he may not rule with rigour.

(y) Maimon. & Bartenora in Misn. Kiddushin, c. 1. sect. 3. (z) Misn. Kiddushin, ib.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

46. Take… as an inheritance — Rather, leave as an inheritance.

Bondmen forever — Albert Barnes thus explains this: “The permanent provision for servants was not that they were to enslave or employ their brethren, the Hebrews, but that they were to employ foreigners.” In other words, olam, forever, refers not to the persons bought and their children, but to the ordinance. But in case it did refer to persons there must be the following limitations: 1.) The law required the emancipation of a servant organically injured by the violence of the master. Exo_21:26; Exo_27:2.) Though the ear-bored servant was to be in bondage forever, the rabbins understand that he went out free at the jubilee. Hence we see no objection to this limitation of olam in the case of all servants, Gentile as well as Hebrew, to the year of jubilee. It is certainly limited to the term of life, which is often less than the jubilee period. See Lev_25:10, note.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

והתנחלתם אתם לבניכם means, you may hold them as your possession, לבניכם אחריכם, for the benefit of your children after you. It would not, however, be correct to give the word והתנחלתם the meaning: “leave them as an inheritance to your children”, for if this were intended it should have written: והנחלתם אותם לבניכם (the Hiphil), but והתנחלתם (which is the Hithpael form) is equivalent to והתחזקתם “you may hold them as your possession”.

איש באחיו ONE OVER ANOTHER — These apparently redundant words (for the text might have run: ובאחיכם בני ישראל לא תרדו בפרך) are intended to include in the prohibition that the prince must not rule with rigour over his people nor the king over his subjects.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.