of their father, "He hath
_sold_ us, and quite devoured also our money," referring to Jacob's long
service for them; were they chattels? Gen. 47:23, Joseph _bought_ the
Egyptians; were they chattels? Ex. 21:2, "If thou _buy_ a Hebrew
servant, six years shall he serve, and in the seventh he shall go out
free, for nothing;" was he a chattel? Ruth 4:10, "Ruth the Moabitess
have I _purchased_ this day to be my _wife_;" was she a chattel? These
passages clearly show that the simple application of the term "bought
with money" does _not_ imply property and possession as a chattel.

The phrase "bought with money" relates, in the case of wives, to the
dowry usual in Eastern countries; in the case of servants, to the ransom
paid for captives in war, and paid by the individual on adoption into
the tribe; or to an equivalent paid as hire of time and labor for a
limited period, either to parents for their children as apprentices,
&c., or to the individual himself, as Jacob to Laban. Gen. 31:41, "Thus
have I been twenty years _in thy house_; I served thee fourteen years
for thy two daughters, and six years for thy cattle, and thou hast
changed my wages ten times." Thus Abraham could acquire a claim on the
service of a man during life by purchase from himself; could acquire the
allegiance of a man and his family, and all born in it, by contract, not
to be broken but by mutual agreement; and in a few years have a vast
household under his authority, "born in his house," and "bought with
money," yet not one of them a slave.

Another general proof already alluded to is, that the terms #EVEDH#,
"servant," and #NAAR#, _naar_, "young man," are applied synonymously
and equally to servants and free persons. Gen. 14:24, Abraham calls his
servants young men, and again in Gen. 17:23, 27. So in Job 1:15-19, the
term #NAAR# is applied alike to Job's servants and sons. Also in
Judg. 7:10; 19:3, 11, 19; 1 Sam. 9:3, 5, 10, 22, and numerous other
places, these terms are applied indiscriminately to servants, showing
that they were always regarded as men, never as chattels.

But we are not left to conjecture in regard to the status or condition
of Abraham's servants; we will bring proofs showing that it could not
have been chattel slavery.

Two of the fundamental characteristics of chattelism are, The status of
the mother decides that of the child, and The slave, being property, can
not inherit or possess property. Was this the condition of "servants"