The events of the Exodus show that the application of the Mosaic law of slavery was not limited to the land and nation of Israel: First, the fact that God demanded the release of Israel indicates that Israel was illegitimately held in bondage. Pharaoh violated Exo. 21:2 by holding believers as slaves indefinitely rather than only six years. Second, when Pharaoh relented and said that the men might leave, but not their families (Exo. 10:7-11), he was invoking the principle recorded in Exo. 21:4. However, Pharaoh did not have a legal claim to them because Jacob had brought his women, children, livestock, and servants with him when he settled in Egypt, and so the Hebrews were under the law of Exo. 21:3. Pharaoh may have provided some non-Hebrew wives, but the law states that a female slave goes free if the master reduces her lifestyle (Exo. 21:10-11), and Pharaoh had certainly done that. On the contrary, Pharaoh was guilty of man-stealing, a capital offense (Exo. 21:16). Third, the law of Moses orders that when a slave is set free, he is to be given going-away gifts (Deut. 15:12-16) to help him celebrate and to help him set up in business. God told the Hebrews to request (not "borrow") such presents from their neighbors (Exo. 3:22). Moses demanded such presents from Pharaoh (Exo. 10:25). Those who give such presents are blessed by God (Deut. 15:18), and the Egyptians knew this. Thus, as the plagues grew more severe, they lavished gifts on the Hebrews (Exo. 11:2-3; 12:35-36). When Pharaoh gave his presents, he specifically asked for this blessing (Exo. 12:32). Obviously, Pharaoh understood something about God's laws governing slavery. Fourth, Pharaoh drove the Hebrews out "as a slave wife" (Exo. 11:1). He was like a free wife who feared that the slave wife would eventually inherit the estate (cf. Gen. 21:10).
Pharaoh would have known theses laws because immediately after the flood, God’s law had been the only law; and although doubtless corrupted by sin, it still would have been influential as part of the common law of nations. Shem, the Godly son of Noah, lived 502 years after the Flood. Thus there was doubtless much Godly influence at the time of the Exodus. Also, Joseph had ruled Egypt in all but name for 80 years.
- James Jordan, The Law of the Covenant 42-45, cf. 50-51 (1984), at http://www.garynorth.com/freebooks/: HTML, DjVu.
