One final point on this commandment: Yahweh differentiates Israelites from other “alien residents,” listing non-Israelites after livestock: “you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns.”24 He makes a point of saying that, although non-Israelites are lesser and treated as such in most of his laws, even they should not be made to work on the sabbath. As we’ll see, differential treatment for Israelites and non-Israelites plays a crucial role in interpreting commandments six through ten.
