Having already shown that the servants became and continued such of their own accord, it would be no small marvel if they chose to work without pay.  Their becoming servants, pre-supposes compensation as a motive.

That they were paid for their labor, we argue,

1. Because, while Israel was under the Mosaic system, God rebuked in thunder, the sin of using the labor of others without wages.  “Wo unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbor’s service without wages, and giveth him not for his work.” Jer. xxii. 13.  Here God testifies that to use the service of others without wages is “unrighteousness,” and He commissions his “wo” to burn upon the doer of the “wrong.”  This “wo” was a permanent safeguard of the Mosaic system.  The Hebrew word Rea, here translated neighbor, does not mean one man, or class of men, in distinction from others, but any one with whom we have to do—­all descriptions of persons, not merely servants and heathen, but even those who prosecute us in lawsuits, and enemies while in the act of fighting us—­“As when a man riseth against his NEIGHBOR and slayeth him.” Deut. xxii. 26. “Go not forth hastily to strive, lest thou know not what to do in the end thereof, when thy NEIGHBOR hath put thee to shame.” Prov. xxv. 8. “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy NEIGHBOR.”  Exod. xx. 16. “If any man come presumptuously upon his NEIGHBOR to slay him with guile.”  Exod. xxi. 14.  In these, and in scores of similar cases, Rea is the original word.

2. We have the testimony of God, that in our duty to our fellow men, ALL THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS hang upon this command, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Our Saviour, in giving this command, quoted verbatim one of the laws of the Mosaic system.  Lev. xix. 18.  In the 34th verse of the same chapter, Moses commands obedience to this law in all the treatment of strangers, “The stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and THOU SHALT LOVE HIM AS THYSELF.”  If it be loving others as ourselves, to make them work for us without pay; to rob them of food and clothing, as well as wages, would be a stranger illustration still of the law of love!  Super-disinterested benevolence!  And if it be doing to others as we would have them do to us, to make them work for our own good alone, Paul should be called to order for his hard sayings against human nature, especially for that libellous matter in Ephes. v. 29, “No man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it.”

3. As persons became servants FROM POVERTY, we argue that they were compensated, since they frequently owned property, and sometimes a large amount.  Ziba, the servant of Mephibosheth, gave David a princely present, “An hundred loaves of bread, and an hundred bunches of raisins, and an hundred of summer fruits, and a bottle of wine.” 2 Sam. xvi. 1.  The extent of his possessions can be inferred from the fact, that though the father of fifteen sons, he still employed twenty servants, of whom he was the master.