Do Not Mistreat a Hebrew Maidservant to Force Her Sale
Two Prohibitions from One Verse
Commandments #608 and #609 both derive from Exodus 21:8, counted as two distinct negative commandments by Maimonides. Commandment #608 prohibits selling the Hebrew maidservant to foreign peoples outright. Commandment #609 prohibits mistreating her as a means of forcing her sale — degrading her conditions until she or her family redeems her at a lower price or she must be sold elsewhere. The Talmud (Kiddushin 18a) derives this second prohibition from the same verse: if the master cannot sell her to foreigners, he also cannot treat her so badly that she is effectively driven out of his household through intolerable conditions.
The distinction matters practically. A master who wanted to be rid of an amah without technically selling her to foreigners might simply make her conditions unbearable. The Torah closes this loophole by prohibiting not just the external sale but the constructive forcing of her departure through mistreatment. The protection of the amah must be substantive, not merely formal.
The Rights That Cannot Be Withdrawn
Exodus 21:10–11: “If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, or her marital rights. And if he does not do these three things for her, she shall go out for nothing, without payment of money.” The amah's baseline entitlements — food, clothing, and marital rights (onah) — are non-negotiable. They cannot be reduced to force her out, and if they are reduced, she goes free at no cost to the redeemer. The Torah creates a mechanism that makes mistreatment self-defeating: if you diminish her rights to the point where she qualifies for release, you lose any financial claim on her redemption.
This mechanism — automatic release for withheld rights — is the structural enforcement of commandment #609. The prohibition on mistreatment is backed not just by divine disapproval but by a legal consequence that removes the master's financial incentive for mistreatment. The Torah creates aligned incentives: treating the amah well is the only way to retain the household relationship; mistreating her forfeits it without compensation.
The Pattern Across Hebrew Servitude Law
The protections for the amah ivriyyah fit a consistent pattern across the Torah's Hebrew servitude laws: Deuteronomy 15:13–14 (send free male slaves out generously), Exodus 21:26–27 (if a master knocks out a slave's tooth or eye, the slave goes free), Leviticus 25:43 (do not rule over a Hebrew slave with rigor). Each commandment addresses a specific abuse mechanism and closes it through a combination of prohibition and legal consequence. The Torah's servitude laws are consistently constructed to limit the master's power over the Hebrew servant, not merely to acknowledge it.
Leviticus 25:39–40: “if your brother becomes poor beside you and sells himself to you, you shall not make him serve as a slave: he shall be with you as a hired servant and as a sojourner.” The overall principle: a Hebrew sold into servitude retains a status closer to a hired worker than to property. The specific commandments — including #608 and #609 — are the operational details that make this principle enforceable.
- The Three Entitlements — Exodus 21:10: food (she'er), clothing (kesut), and marital rights (onah). These three cannot be diminished to force the amah out. If they are diminished, she goes free without cost.
- Automatic Release — Exodus 21:11: “she shall go out for nothing, without payment of money.” The legal mechanism that backs the prohibition: mistreatment that constitutes rights-denial triggers free release, removing the financial incentive for the mistreatment.
- Eye and Tooth Rule — Exodus 21:26–27: physical injury to a slave triggers mandatory release. The Torah constructs multiple legal mechanisms that automatically penalize masters for mistreatment — each closing a specific abuse pathway.
Read the source passage in the reader.
Open in Reader — Exodus 21:8