be thy servant
forever. And also unto thy maid-servant thou shalt do likewise."

Those who declare that the law of Moses makes a distinction in the
matter of release from servitude, between men-servants and
maid-servants, to the disadvantage of the latter, in confirmation of
their assertion quote Exodus xxi, 7; but if they read also, in
connection with it, the eighth, ninth, tenth, and eleventh verses of the
same chapter, a careful consideration of the entire passage will, we
think, clearly show that the reference therein contained is not to the
ordinary maid-servant, but to one whose master had betrothed her to
himself, or to his son. In the case of betrothal to himself, if the girl
failed to please her master, he was not to return her to her former
position of a servant, but to let her be redeemed. He must not sell her,
or otherwise dispose of her services during the unexpired period of her
servitude, because "he had dealt deceitfully with her." In case of
betrothal to his son, as in the other, she was not to be reduced to her
former rank as a menial, but to be treated in every respect as a
daughter. Even when the affection of the man to whom she was betrothed
waned, he was to yield to her all the rights and privileges which
belonged to her as his wife; and, if any of these were withheld, she was
at liberty to go forth a free woman.

The circumstance of Jacob serving Laban fourteen years for Rachel, is by
some deemed a parallel case with the prevailing custom of purchasing
wives among the people of the East; but the cases are not at all
similar. Jacob and Rachel had met at the well where she usually watered
her father's flock. He had introduced himself to the maiden, and won
her regard, before he proposed to her father for her, having spent a
whole month in the house of Laban prior to his doing so. There is no
reason whatever to doubt that he had Rachel's full consent to the
arrangement. It was not Jacob's fault that, through the stratagem of
Laban, he became the husband of Leah. The plurality of wives in this
instance was not so much the choice of Jacob as the fault of the wily,
semi-idolatrous Laban.

Shechem offered dowry to Jacob and his sons if they would consent to his
taking Dinah to wife; but it is evident he did so in order to conciliate
the outraged brothers of the girl whom he had so basely humbled, and
whom he really desired to retain.

It is very clear, from the testimony of sacred history, that wome