And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away empty:
Thou shalt not let him go away empty - a seasonable and wise provision for enabling a poor unfortunate to regain his original status in society; and the motive urged for his kindness and humanity to the Hebrew slave was the remembrance that the whole nation was once a degraded and persecuted band of helots in Egypt. Thus, kindness toward their slaves, unparalleled elsewhere in those days, was inculcated by the Mosaic law; and in all their conduct towards persons in that reduced condition, leniency and gentleness were enforced by an appeal which no Israelite could resist.