SELLING. The Hebrews might sell their own Liberty; Fathers had a Power of selling the Liberty of their Children: Si Lev. xxv. 39.paupertate compulsus vendiderit se tibi frater tuus, non eum opprimes servitute famulorum; If your Brother sells himself to you because of his Poverty, you shall not oppress him, nor sell him again as a Slave: He shall abide with you only as a Workman for Hire. Maimonides says, that an Hebrew could not sell his Liberty, but in Exod. xxi. 7.case of extreme Necessity. If a Man sell his Daughter to be a Maid-servant, she shall not go out as the Men-servants do. Her Master shall not dismiss her, as another Slave is dismiss’d at the Sabbatical Year. He shall take her as his Wife, or shall marry her to his Son. If he cares to do neither of these, he shall set her at Liberty.
Mat. xviii. 25. 2 Kings iv. 1.They sold also insolvent Debtors, and even their Children, as we find by the Gospel, and by the Books of the Kings. Sometimes they sold Free-men for Slaves, as Joseph was sold by his Brethren. This Crime was call’d Plagium, and the Law Exod. xxi. 16. Deut. xxiv. 7.punish’d it with Death: Qui furatus fuerit hominem, & vendiderit eum, convictus noxæ, morte morietur. The Jews confine this to the Theft of a Man of their own Nation. Esau sold his Birthright; and for Hebr. xii. 16.this, it is thought, that St. Paul calls him profane. Isai. l. 1 Zech. xi. 3 Joel iii. 8 Baruch. vi. 6. 1 Kings xxi. 25. Macc. i. 16.It is said in the Prophets, that the Lord had sold his People to their Enemies; as a Master parts with a vicious Slave, to punish him for his Infidelity.
Thou hast sold thy self to work Evil in the Sight of the Lord, said the Prophet Elijah to Ahab; Qui venundatus est, ut faceret malum in conspectu Domini. And the wicked Israelites mention’d in the Maccabees; Venundati ut facerent malum: They sold themselves as Slaves to Sin, being Subjects to all their bad Inclinations, as Slaves are to their Masters. These Expressions were very familiar to the Hebrews. See Judith vii. 13.
Rom. vii. 15.St. Paul, speaking of himself in like manner, or rather speaking of all Mankind in his own Person, makes no scruple to say, Ego autem carnalis sum, venundatus sub peccato; I am altogether carnal; and sold under Sin; the Slave of Concupiscence and of Sin by Nature, but set at Liberty from Sin by Baptism, and fortify’d against Concupiscence by the Grace of Jesus Christ.