Leviticus 25 describes some aspects of a social safety net for Israelites who fell upon hard times. In such cases, a person's family and community were called upon to help out and not take advantage of someone in a vulnerable situation. For example, interest was not to be charged on personal loans (vv 35-38).
The Torah describes more than one option for people who needed to sell their labor. One could become an indentured servant for six years, as described in Exodus 21:1-6; or one could become a hired worker until the Jubilee year (Lev 25:39-41). In any case, Israelites were servants of God and were not to be enslaved by any human master (vv 42, 55).
Israel has been a multi-ethnic entity throughout its history, absorbing people from many nations who wanted to serve Yahweh. People who wanted to join Israel, like Rahab and Ruth, were to be treated just like native Israelites. Slaves from other nations could be held----e.g., people captured in war when some nation attacked Israel (vv 44-46). But if one of those captured people decided to serve Yahweh, then that person changed categories and could no longer be held in perpetuity. The precept in vv 44-46 provided an incentive for one of those slaves to convert.
Sadly, in the years before the American Civil War, many Americans misunderstood and misapplied Lev 25:44-46, using it as a proof text to justify slavery as practiced in the American South.
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