Note 9 — Chapter IX · Slavery and Religion—Continued. LAW OF MOSES AND SLAVERY.

The passage in Ex. 21: 20, 21, applies, as all admit, mainly, if not exclusively, to native Hebrew servants, and as no one finds in the limited voluntary servitude of the native Hebrews a warrant for hereditary slavery, I have not thought it necessary to dwell upon it. It may be observed, however, that the word “punished,” is rendered in the marginal reading, “avenged;” and the meaning of the law is that the interest the master had in the life of the servant should be taken as presumptive evidence that he did not intend to kill him, unless the case was very clear, and hence that he should not be avenged summarily, by a relative of the servant, but be regularly tried and punished by the appointed authorities.