Zedekiah's Covenant (34:1-22) 561applies to everyone at the same time. In the law following on the release of
slaves, Deut 15: 12-18, each slave goes free whenever his or her six years are up.
This is no general release, nor is a general release of slaves mandated anywhere
else in the OT, except in the Law of the Jubilee. How then does the reference
to the Sabbatical release in vv 13-14 connect with the present release, which
must be a Jubilee release? The seeming inconsistency-a general release here
and a term release in Deut 15:12-18-is usually explained as the result of the
Sabbatical release not having been obeyed, which is implied in the people's re-
ported "turning around"(= repentance) in v 15. The Sabbatical release had
certainly been disregarded, but the text is given a fuller and more reasonable
explanation by Fried and Freedman (2001: 2257-58). In their view,All that Jeremiah says is that even though the fathers had not released their
slaves after their individual six years of servitude in the past, as they ought
to have (Exod 21:2; Deut 15:12), they still did what was right this time and
had released their slaves during the year of the deror, the only occasion de-
manding universal manumission.Zedekiah's release was, then, a Jubilee Year release, its purpose being to rem-
edy past and present disregard of the Sabbatical release law (D. N. Freedman
1993: 251-52). All Hebrew slaves, in any case, went free, those who worked
longer than the law required, and others whose terms had not yet expired.
Weinfeld (1990: 41-42 n. 10) offers another explanation. Citing a view put for-
ward by Rabbi Meir Loeb ben Jehiel Michael (Malbim),a Weinfeld argues that
the present release was not in response Lo any law, eillier Ll1e Sabbatical law or
the Law of the Jubilee, but was rather meant to be an absolute abolition of sla-
very for all time. Needless to say, the release was not understood this way by the
narrator of chap. 34, and it is doubtful whether Jeremiah would have under-
stood it as such. This view reads too much into the statement in v 9 "that no
person should make them serve a Judahite, his kin." Also, in vv 13-16, explicit
mention is made of people disregarding the Sabbatical law, which Weinfeld
(and Malbim) seem to overlook. The view of Rudolph, Lemche ( 1976: 51-5 3 ),
and others, that the association here with Deuteronomic law is secondary, is to
be rejected (Bright; Sarna 1973: 148 n. 23 ). The integration of Deut 15: 12 into
the oracle is too complete for it to be secondary.
to send away free each person his male slave and each person his female slave,
Hebrew and Hebrewess. The verb slb + bpsy(m) means "send away free" (Deut
15: 12, 13, 18; Isa 58:6), here broken up syntactically so that the terms frame the
clause at either end. Both male and female Hebrew slaves are to be released.
Compare the inclusive nature of the law as promulgated in Deut 15:12. The
Covenant Code (Exod 21:2-3) provides only for the release of male Hebrew
slaves after six years, although it states that, if the slave came in married, then
his wife can go out free with him. The terms "Hebrew" and "Hebrewess" are
'Malbim (1809-79) was a rabbi, preacher, and biblical exegete from Bucharest who published
commentaries on the Bible during the years 1867-76 (EncJud II: 821-24).