And if a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant— It appears very plainly from the account given in Leviticus, that the law laid down in the former verses held good with regard to female as well as to male-servants; and consequently, what follows must be considered as an exempt or particular case: in which view, it can no otherwise be understood, than as referring to a parent's selling his daughter through poverty. Daughters, thus sold by their parents, were to be treated in a different manner from those females who were sold on the other accounts mentioned in note on Exodus 21:2.; for the sacred writer tells us, that if a man thus sold his daughter, she should not go out as the men-servants do; that is, by gaining her liberty after a servitude of six years: other and easier terms are assigned for her.

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