They are to be treated as workers hired from year to year; you must see to it that those who own them do not rule over them ruthlessly. The Israelite sold to a foreigner must be treated as an annual worker — not as a permanent slave. The ruthlessness prohibition applied to the foreign master communicates the covenant community's responsibility to enforce the Israelite debt-slave's protections: you must see to it. The covenant community has a responsibility to ensure that its own members receive the covenant's protections even when those members are in foreign service.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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