The question whether the servants were a PROPERTY--"_possession_," has been already discussed--(See p. 36)--we need add in this place but a word. _Ahusa_ rendered "_possession_." Genesis xlii. 11--"And Joseph placed his father and his brethren, and gave them a _possession_ in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded." In what sense was the land of Goshen the _possession_ of the Israelites? Answer, In the sense of, _having it to live in_. In what sense were the Israelites to _possess_ these nations, and _take them_ as an _inheritance for their children?_ We answer, They possessed them as _a permanent source of supply for domestic or household servants. And this relation to these nations was to go down to posterity as a standing regulation--a national usage respecting them, having the certainty and regularity of a descent by inheritance_. The sense of the whole regulation may be given thus: "Thy permanent domestics, both male and female, which thou shalt have, shall be of the nations that are round about you, of _them_ shall ye get male and female domestics." "Moreover of the children of the foreigners that do sojourn among you, of _them_ shall ye get, and of their families that are with you, which they begat in your land, and _they_ shall be your permanent resource," (for household servants.) "And ye shall take them as a _perpetual_ provision for your children after you, to hold as a _constant source of supply_. ALWAYS _of them_ shall ye serve yourselves." OBJECTION IV. "_If thy brother that dwelleth by thee be waxen poor, and be sold unto thee, thou shalt not compel him to serve as a_ BOND-SERVANT, _but as an_ HIRED-SERVANT, _and as a sojourner shall he be with thee, and shall serve thee unto the year of jubilee_." Lev. xxv. 39, 40. From the fact that only _one_ class of the servants is called _hired_, it is sagely inferred that servants of the _other_ class were _not paid_ for their labor. That is, that while God thundered anathemas against those who "used their neighbor's service _without wages_," he granted a special indulgence to his chosen people to seize persons, force them to work, and rob them of earnings, provided always, in selecting their victims, they spared "the gentlemen of property and standing," and pounced only upon the _strangers_ and the _common_ people. The inference that "_hired_" is synonimous with _paid_, and that those servants not _called_ "hired" were _not paid_ for their labor, is a _mere assumption_.