Haftorah This Week
Welcome to Haftorah This Week, the place where you will find thoughts and
reflections by CLAL faculty and associates on this week's Haftorah.
HAFTARAT MISHPATIM
(Jeremiah 34:8-22, 33:25-26)
The Torah portion opens with rules requiring Israelites to free their Hebrew slaves
(i.e., fellow Israelites who have become indentured servants) after six years. The
Haftarah describes an incident in which the men of Jerusalem agreed to free their slaves,
then actually freed them, but afterwards reneged and forced (Jer.11, 16) the former slaves
back into servitude. Jeremiah tells the people that God will punish them mercilessly (Jer.
17-22) for this breach of faith.
Why is this transgression singled out for special condemnation? The key may lie in the
claim that the freed slaves were forced back into bondage. This sort of slavery was
endured by one who could not pay a debt s/he had incurred. As such, once a slave had been
freed, the only way for him/her to be re-enslaved was again to go into debt. But how can
one be forced to incur debt? It seems that only by misleading the poor into willingly
going into debt could the householders of Judea have "forced" them back into
slavery. Perhaps the wealthy promised that they would extend credit to the poor without
requiring them to pay it back in servitude. Or perhaps they convinced them that receiving
the material goods proffered through loan was more important than remaining free.
In either case, it seems certain that the only way the "haves" of Jeremiah's
time could have forced the "have nots" to re-enter slavery was to persuade them
that freedom was not the most important value in their lives. Essentially, they were
persuaded to reverse the route of the Exodus, voluntarily submitting to slavery once
again. This amounts to no less than the rejection of the offer by God of a covenantal
relationship, and thus well deserves the punishment promised by God: "I proclaim
freedom for you--for sword, for pestilence, for famine" (Jer. 34:17).
(David Nelson)
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