Debt-Slavery in Israel and the Ancient Near East
Overview
This original study concerns itself with the manumission laws of Exodus 20, Deuteronomy 15, and Leviticus 25. It begins with the social background to debt slavery and the socioeconomic factors encouraging the rise of debt slavery in Mesopotamia. After a comparative analysis of the Mesopotamian and biblical material Chirichigno examines the social background to debt slavery in Israel, the various slave laws in the Pentateuch (in order to delimit the chattel-slave laws from the debt-slave laws), and the biblical manumission laws themselves.
- Bibliography
- Indexes
Top Highlights
“citizens who became debt-slaves were not to be regarded as the property of their creditors” (Page 145)
“Therefore, it is possible that the laws in Exodus, Deuteronomy and Leviticus could have been ‘operational’ at the same time.” (Page 354)
“the deuteronomic additions, reflect the theological intentions of the deuteronomist who” (Page 300)
- Title: Debt-Slavery in Israel and the Ancient Near East
- Author: Gregory C. Chirichigno
- Publisher: Sheffield Academic Press
- Publication Date: 2009
- Pages: 409