The second admonishment against treating slaves harshly seems redundant. Why was it necessary to repeat the same prohibition three pesukim later? The Chasid Yaavetz explains that since the Torah had previously stated that we may enslave the Canaanites, a distinct possibility exists that we may inadvertently begin to treat the Jewish slave like his Canaanite counterpart. The Torah, therefore, repeats its warning against mistreatment of the Jewish slave. This statement is vexing. Are we to believe that one would unjustly mistreat a Jewish servant, because he is permitted to treat a Canaanite slave as he wishes? How does the treatment…
