¿Realmente la ley bíblica permite a un padre vender a su hija como esclava?
Así es como a menudo oirán la pregunta, que utiliza términos cargados como "vender" y "esclavitud". Aunque estos términos son interpretaciones literales del texto hebreo subyacente, pueden dar lugar a malentendidos si no se conocen los antecedentes culturales de la ley.
7 “If a man sells his daughter to be a female servant, she shall not go out as the male servants do. 8 If she doesn’t please her master, who has married her to himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has dealt deceitfully with her. 9 If he marries her to his son, he shall deal with her as a daughter. Exodus 21:7-9WEB
Una familia pobre con una hija que quería casarse (el matrimonio es un pacto bíblico y [por definición] no se puede obligar a nadie) podía permitir que se comprometiera por adelantado y empezara a trabajar y a servir a la familia que iba a ser suya después del matrimonio. [1] A cambio, sus padres recibirían mohar, el nombre hebreo para el pago de la novia/precio de la novia, lo que aliviaría inmediatamente su pobreza.
Bridewealth was a payment by the future husband to the family of the bride, which recognized the value of their daughter as a worker and contributor to the family. Bridewealth is not the same thing as "dowry," which is a word that is sometimes used interchangeably by people who do not distinguish the two concepts. Bridewealth stays with the bride's family (unless they choose to gift it to her, in which case it becomes part of her dowry). "Dowry" is wealth which the daughter brings with her to the marriage.
You find, generally, that cultures which value women have bridewealth, and cultures which devalue women only have dowry. Israelite culture (at least at that time) was a culture which valued women.
This law gave poor families who had economic difficulties an option to obtain the bridewealth early and allow the daughter to be economically supported by her future in-laws. Until the actual betrothal (the law refers to a status preliminary to betrothal: "designated"), the daughter would have the status of a covenant-member servant, with all the usual legal protections in Biblical law (she couldn't be "sold"/transferred to someone else), with the exception that she would not be "freed" (sent away either to fend for herself or return to her family) on the seventh year like "men-servants" were.
La ley también tiene en cuenta a las familias que actúan "de mala fe". Familias pobres sin escrúpulos con hijas podrían prometerlas al hijo de un hombre rico, enviar a la niña a la casa y recibir el "mohar" (pago por la novia) avanzado, sin tener la intención de acordar un futuro compromiso/matrimonio. O la chica puede negarse a cooperar en la nueva casa, haciéndose poco atractiva como futura esposa. De acuerdo con esta ley, cuando el séptimo año rodaba, no podía ser liberada como otros esclavos para volver a su familia. Ella continuaría siendo mantenida hasta que su familia pudiera devolver el dinero que obtuvieron como un "mohar" avanzado. La devolución del pago original redimiría a la chica de la servidumbre y le permitiría volver con su familia.
- ↑ Douglas Stuart, Éxodo, New American Commentary, 2006, pp. 482-483
