Biblical self-sale was bound labor, not slavery, because masters could neither kill nor maim

Evidence

I confess, we find among the Jews, as well as other nations, that men did sell themselves; but, it is plain, this was only to drudgery, not to slavery: for, it is evident, the person sold was not under an absolute, arbitrary, despotical power: for the master could not have power to kill him, at any time, whom, at a certain time, he was obliged to let go free out of his service; and the master of such a servant was so far from having an arbitrary power over his life, that he could not, at pleasure, so much as maim him, but the loss of an eye, or tooth, set him free, Exod. xxi. — , Second Treatise of Government, 38

Categorization

• SHARE: Niche enough for someone who works on Exodus 21 or early modern readings of Hebrew servitude — a lawyer citing an eye or tooth as the threshold of freedom.
• XREF: connects to: Biblical master-slave duties were framed as protective guardianship — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long: The Legacy of White…, 240

Broader Connections

• Biblical master-slave duties were framed as protective guardianship #qualifies (0.90) — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 240