Exodus 21:4Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

In a figurative sense, a master grants a wife to his purchased servant, paralleling the relationship between a preacher and the one who has been redeemed as a possession of the Sovereign Lord. Preachers are referred to as lords, exemplified by the encounter between the Prophet Elisha and his mentor, as noted, "Do you understand that the Lord charges your lord this day on the top of your head" (2 Kings 2:3)? The wife of a redeemed servant bears both sons and daughters, symbolizing the flourishing of virtue that produces both strength and tenderness. While the master retains the wife and her offspring, the servant himself is set free, as the fruits of his righteous deeds are credited to the preacher as a reward. The servant, by persistently cultivating his spiritual longing, is granted freedom through divine grace, leading him to a state of contemplation.

The master provided him with a wife. While the Hebrew woman may have been sold into servitude (see Deuteronomy 15:12), it is unlikely she was of Hebrew descent. She might have owned property herself and been sold into servitude due to debt or theft (note that they may have been landowners, as indicated in Numbers 36), in which case she would be liberated during the Jubilee year. Alternatively, she could have been enslaved alongside her husband, and as stated in verse 8 of this chapter, would be freed together with him. Verse 4 specifically addresses permanent slaves (see Leviticus 25:44-46), particularly foreign women who were the complete possession of the master.