Slave Sale

This document, written in the city of Samaria in 335 BCE, records the sale of a slave, Yehohanan bar Sheilah, by Hananiah bar Beyadel to Yehonur bar Laneri. The slave is sold “in perpetuity,” indicating that the biblical laws limiting the duration of slavery for Israelites, such as Exodus 21:2–6, are not being followed here.

This document is part of a collection known as the Samaria papyri. They were written in Aramaic in the city of Samaria between 370 and 335 BCE, during the last forty-five years of Persian rule, although they were found in a cave in Wadi Daliyeh, about halfway between Samaria and Jericho. Most are deeds of sale for slaves, whereas a few record real estate or other types of transactions. More than half of the people mentioned in the papyri—buyers and sellers as well as slaves—have identifiably Hebrew names. It is not known, however, whether these people are descendants of the native Israelites or of foreigners who settled in Samaria after its destruction by Assyria in 720 BCE and became worshipers of YHWH, as mentioned in 2 Kings 17:24–31, 41. Although the documents are fragmentary, their use of standard legal formulas makes it possible to fill in many of the gaps with confidence.