Translations:Status of a wife provided to a freed slave/2/en

Female slaves/servants would be set free in their seventh year if they were able to be supported/protected by someone, such as a husband or relative. They would not be forced to provide for themselves in a subsistence economy with no land possession. On the other hand, if a master gave a wife to his servant, the servant has incurred an additional debt of a bridewealth (mohar) payment (there is a similar example in the case of Joseph/Laban). He gets the benefit of having a wife and being able to produce children, but he has not yet demonstrated that he can support her independently. Rather than burden him immediately -- along with his own freedom -- with the responsibility to also support a wife (and possibly children), the master continues in that responsibility until the freed servant can pay him a bridewealth payment as a "redemption" for her.