JOURNAL FOR THE STUDY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT SUPPLEMENT SERIES 141 Editors David J.A. Clines Philip R. Davies Editorial Board Richard J. Cogging, Alan Cooper, Tamara C. Eskenazi, J. Cheryl Exum, Robert P. Gordon, Norman K. Gottwald, Andrew D.H. Mayes, Carol Meyers, Patrick D. Miller JSOT Press Sheffield This page intentionally left blank Debt-Slavery in Israel and the Ancient Near East Gregory C. Chirichigno Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series 141 Copyright © 1993 Sheffield Academic Press Published by JSOT Press JSOT Press is an imprint of Sheffield Academic Press Ltd 343 Fulwood Road Sheffield S10 3BP England Typeset by Sheffield Academic Press and Printed on acid-free paper in Great Britain by Biddies Ltd Guildford British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Chirichigno, Gregory C. Debt Slavery in Israel and the Ancient Near East — (JSOT Supplement Series, ISSN 0309-0708; No. 141) I. Title II. Series 221.9 ISBN 1-85075-359-8 CONTENTS Foreword 7 Abbreviations 9 Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION 17 Chapter 2 THE SOCIAL BACKGROUND TO DEBT-SLAVERY IN MESOPOTAMIA 30 The Formation of the City-States of Mesopotamia 31 Composition of the State and Private Sector Households 36 Social Stratification in Mesopotamia 49 Summary and Conclusions 54 Chapter 3 THE LEGAL BACKGROUND TO DEBT-SLAVERY IN MESOPOTAMIA 55 The Role of Justice in the Mesopotamian Legal Collections and Edicts 55 The Distraint and Voluntary Surrender or Sale of Dependents in LH 61 The Treatment and Sale of Pledges in MAL 72 The OB mesarum Edicts 85 The Nuzi tidennutu Loan and habiru Service Contracts 92 Summary and Conclusions 97 Chapter 4 THE SOCIAL BACKGROUND TO DEBT-SLAVERY IN ISRAEL 101 The Formation of the State of Israel 102 Composition of the State and Private Sector Households 113 Social Stratification in Israel 139 Summary and Conclusions 142 6 Debt-Slavery in Israel and the Ancient Near East Chapter 5 OLD TESTAMENT LAWS DEALING WITH CHATTEL- AND DEBT-SLAVES 145 A Survey of the Slave Laws in the Pentateuch 147 Exegesis of Exodus 21.20-21 (and vv. 26-27) 148 Excursus: Cardellini's Analysis of the Slave Laws in the Covenant Code 178 The Use of 'Slave' Terminology in the Pentateuch 182 Summary and Conclusions 184 Chapter 6 THE MANUMISSION LAWS OF EXODUS 21.2-6,7-11 186 The Setting, Form and Structure of Exodus 21.2-6, 7-11 186 Exegesis of Exodus 21.2-6 200 Exegesis of Exodus 21.7-11 244 Summary and Conclusions 254 Chapter 7 THE MANUMISSION LAW OF DEUTERONOMY 15.12-18 256 The Setting and Form of Deuteronomy 15.12-18 256 Excursus: The none) in Deuteronomy 15.1-11 263 Exegesis of Deuteronomy 15.12-18 275 Summary and Conclusions 300 Chapter 8 THE MANUMISSION LAWS OF LEVITICUS 25.39-43,47-55 302 The Fallow Year (Exod. 23.10-11) and Sabbatical Year (Leviticus 25.2b-7) 302 The Jubilee Year (Leviticus 25.8-12) 311 The Literary Structure of the Jubilee Regulations 321 Exegesis of Leviticus 25.39-43, 47-55 328 Summary and Conclusions 342 Chapter 9 CONCLUSIONS 344 Bibliography 358 Index of References 398 Index of Authors 407 FOREWORD The origin of the present work lies in my unpublished doctoral thesis (1989) which was undertaken at the Cheltenham & Gloucester College of Higher Education (formally known as the College of St Paul & St Mary) and the Oxford Centre for Post Graduate Hebrew Studies, England. While the present work does not differ greatly from its predecessor, I have nevertheless endeavoured to bring the discussions contained herein up to date with the current state of scholarship, with perhaps the exception of the study of the early history of Israel which continues to evoke much scholarly discussion from all fields. My main aim has been to provide an exhaustive treatment of the biblical man- umission laws in the light of parallel ancient Near Eastern social and legal institutions. To this end I have not attempted to abridge signifi- cantly any of the original references or excurses found in the text or footnotes. However, three articles by R. Westbrook that appear in this work have now been included in a single work entitled Property and the Family in Biblical Law (JSOTSup, 113; Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1991). These articles have been marked with an (*) in the Bibliography. My initial interest in the biblical manumission laws originated in my research on the literary structure of the Covenant Code. I have always been intrigued by the special treatment given by the compiler(s) of the Covenant Code to these and the other slave laws that occur there, espe- cially since they occur at the beginning of each major legal discussion. While there are many people to whom I owe my gratitude, I would especially like to thank Dr Gordon J. Wenham, who was my director of study, for his careful and insightful direction throughout the course of my work and for continuing to provide valuable direction. I also would like to thank the editors at JSOT Press for including my work in their valuable series. Sunnyvale, CA, December 1992 Greg Chirichigno nosn rap nosn mtftn ruo mp "pTp^paat Prov. 4.7 This page intentionally left blank ABBREVIATIONS A A American Anthropologist AASOR Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research AB Anchor Bible A bhBA W Abhandlungen der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften philosophisch-historische Klasse N.F. AbrN Abr-Nahrain ADSNS Annali delta Scuola Normale Superiore AHDO Archives d'Histoire du Droit Oriental AHR American Historical Review AJA American Journal of Archaeology AJSL American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literature ALCRDS The Ayers Lectures of the Colgate-Rochester Divinity School AnBib Analecta biblica ANESTP J.B. Pritchard (ed.), Ancient Near East Supplementary Texts and Pictures ANET J.B. Pritchard (ed.), Ancient Near Eastern Texts AnOr Analecta orientalia Anton Antonianum AOAT Alter Orient undAltes Testament AOS American Oriental Series ARA Annual Review of Anthropology ARM Archives royales de Mari ArOr Archiv orientdlni ARU J. Kohler and A. Ungnad, Assyrische Rechtsurkunden A-s Ammisaduqa's Edict AS Assyriological Studies ASAR Association of Social Anthropologists Research Methods in Social Anthropology ASAW Abhandlungen der Sachsischen Akademie der Wissenschaften ASORSVS American Schools of Oriental Research Special Volume Series ASSt All Souls Studies ATANT Abhandlungen zur Theologie des Alien und Neuen Testaments BA Biblical Archaeologist BARev Biblical Archaeology Review BASOR Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research BAWPHKA Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften Philosphisch- Historische Klasse Abhandlungen, N.F.