1975

It is widely accepted that there is a direct connection between the law of the Hebrew slave in Exodus 21:2ff., Deuteronomy 15:12ff. and Jeremiah 34:8ff. because the word עברי has been used in all three passages. As a matter of fact, it would be more reasonable to focus on the use of חפשי in those passages. This word very clearly implies a dependence of Deuteronomy 15:12ff. and Jeremiah 34:8ff. on Exodus 21:2ff., since in Deuteronomistic literature the use of חפשי is limited to Deuteronomy 15:12, 13, 18 and the Deuteronomistically coloured Jeremiah 34:9, 10, 11, 14 and 16. Apart from the passages mentioned, חפשי is used elsewhere only once in the Deuteronomistic historical work – namely, in 1 Samuel 17:25. This has, however, a non-Deuteronomistic setting and the way in which the word is used is often misinterpreted. The use of the words עברי and חפשי thus suggests links between Exodus 21:2ff. and the aforementioned passages, though they are also of the utmost importance for an understanding of Exodus 21:2ff. and its ‘Sitz im Leberi’. How עברי and חפשי have been used also allows us to draw conclusions about the historical construction of the first part of the Book of the Covenant, Exodus 21:2–23:16.