John Gill Commentary Deuteronomy 15:12

"If thy brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years; then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee." — Deuteronomy 15:12 (ASV)

And if your brother, an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman, be sold
unto you
By others, as by the sanhedrim for theft, for which a man might be sold, but not a woman, as Jarchi observes; but then a father might sell his daughter for an handmaid, if little and under age; and to such cases this law is supposed to refer; see (Exodus 21:2Exodus 21:7) (22:3) though a man on account of poverty might sell himself:

and serve you six years ;
as he was bound to do, if his master lived so long; if he died before the six years were out, he was obliged to serve his son, but not his daughter, nor his brother, nor his heirs, as the Jewish writers affirm ^F7 : then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you; that is, at the end of the sixth, and beginning of the seventh year; see (Exodus 21:2) .

---

FOOTNOTES:

• F7: Maimon. & Bartenora in Misn. Kiddushin. c. 1. sect. 2.