Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the LORD: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen.
There cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets. They were allowed to marry as well as the priests and Levites. Her husband, not enjoying the lucrative profits of business, had nothing but a professional income, which in that irreligous age would be precarious and very scanty, so that he was not in a condition to provide for his family, or to leave them in comfortable circumstances at his death. In fact, he had died insolvent.
The creditor is come to take ... my two sons to be bondmen. A Hebrew was permitted by the law (Leviticus 25:39; Deuteronomy 15:12) to sell himself, with his children, and another Hebrew to buy them, until the year of jubilee should set them free; but the purchaser was restricted from subjecting them to the rigorous service of a slave
(Leviticus 25:39-40). A thief might be sold, in order that by his service he might repay his theft (Exodus 22:2-3). But the law did not confer upon a creditor the power of selling an insolvent debtor. The practice had crept in through time; and to such an extent had it grown, that the sons and daughters of the debtor (Neb. 5:5), his wife, as well as his children (Matthew 18:25), nay, even the sons of a deceased debtor, were liable to be sold. The practice existed in the countries bordering on ancient Israel; and acts of cruelty similar to that which is related in this passage are frequently done in the East at the present day; for at Damascus, Bagdad, and Bokhara, the sons are taken as bondmen by the creditors of their father (see Joseph Wolf, 'Missionary Labours,' p. 493).