Chapter VI: Servants Who Went Out at the Seventh Year, Were "furnished

LIBERALLY." Deut. xv. 10-14. "Thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy floor, and out of thy wine press, of that wherewith the Lord thy God hath blessed thee, thou shalt give him."[A] If it be said that the servants from the Strangers did not receive a like bountiful supply, we answer, neither did the most honorable class of _Israelitish_ servants, the free-holders; and for the same reason, _they did not go out in the seventh year,_ but continued until the jubilee. If the fact that the Gentile servants did not receive such a _gratuity_ proves that they were robbed of their _earnings_, it proves that the most valued class of _Hebrew_ servants were robbed of theirs also; a conclusion too stubborn for even pro-slavery masticators, however unscrupulous.

[Footnote A: The comment of Maimonides on this passage is as follows--"'Thou shalt furnish him liberally,' &c. That is to say, _'Loading, ye shall load him,'_ likewise every one of his family with as much as he can take with him--abundant benefits. And if it be avariciously asked, 'How much must I give him?' I say unto _you, not less than thirty shekels,_ which is the valuation of a servant, as declared in Ex. xxi. 32."--Maimonides, Hilcoth Obedim, Chap. ii. Sec. 3.]