The
opening issue that God dealt with in both the Ten Commandments and the Book of
the Covenant pertains to slavery. He wanted to transform their slave mentality.
In verse 7, it appears as if daughters were not treated equally as sons.
It says, “If a man sells his daughter as a female slave, she is not to go
free as the male slaves do.” Firstly, why did God allow a man to sell
his daughter as a slave? Secondly, when she had been sold as a slave why was
she not allowed to go free as a man slave would be accorded? A brief
scan of these verses seems to indicate that a daughter is not as well
treated as sons. If we see the real intention of God we will not come to that
conclusion. The reason is this: when a man sold his daughter, he was
not trying to profit from her but to ensure that she had a better life. What we
see in these verses is a marriage arrangement. In our day and age, arranged
marriages seem out of place but not so in the Biblical culture. It was a common
practice that a poor man would seek to give his daughter a better prospect in
life. So, he would arrange for a rich family to marry her into. A man
could either buy the other man’s daughter with the intention of making her his
wife or for her to be his daughter-in-law.
Verse
8 says “If she is displeasing in the eyes of her master who
designated her for himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He does not have
the authority to sell her to a foreign people because of his unfairness to
her.” This instruction was given to prevent the rich man from abusing the girl whom
he had bought to be his wife. He had no rights to get rid of her for a profit
should he decide not to marry her. Here God stipulates that the girl must be
redeemed so that she would not be thrust into danger without family protection.
For without the protection of a family, she was vulnerable and susceptible to
all sorts of dangers by men who sought to take advantage of her. So, God
ensured that when a man was not pleased with the service of the girl he had
bought as a slave, she must be allowed to be redeemed. The girl should not be
made to bear the blame. And he could not treat her any way as he pleased. The
right thing to do was for him to allow the family to redeem her.
If
the girl he had bought with the intention for his son to marry her, he must
grant her the rights of a daughter. In other words, he must adopt her as his
daughter and be accepted as a member of the family. She was to be given all the
privileges as a daughter of the family, by being the man’s daughter. One
further thing was ensured by God. When the man whose first intention was to
have her as his wife and then married another woman, the girl he had bought
must still be treated fairly. She should still be given her rights as a
wife. He must provide food, cloth and conjugal rights.
What
we see in these verses was God setting right the foundation of a marriage. A
woman whom a man married must be given that basic necessity of life. The
husband was obliged not only to provide for her sustenance but also to dress
her. He must also ensure that her sexual needs be met. Here’s a thought about
sex. It is not about deriving pleasure from a body but a means where a husband
and a wife express their total commitment to each other in the deepest
expression of love. A husband has to ensure that his wife is protected,
provided and her need for love met. This is the expectation that a man
should fulfil.
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