Masters] Till her time of servitude was expired, (which might be the seventh yeare) or the fiftieth: this was not to be understood of an heathen woman: for of such they were to buy their bond-servants, Leviticus 25:44. and not of the Hebrews, vers. 42. the Masters] The wife shall remaine servant to her master, that gave her to her husband for a wife: and the birth following the belly, the children (borne in her service) shall remain (as the masters) with the mother. But how could this separation of man and wife be allowed, since their cohabitation is so expresly prescribed, Genesis 2:24? Answer: first, the husband was not compelled to part with his wife, for he might have continued his service and society with her if he would: secondly, this parting might be but for a season, and by mutuall consent; and wherein it may seeme to swerve from the ordinary Rule, there might be a dispensation, or toleration of it for the hardnesse of mens hearts, Matthew 19:8.