Now when all the princes, and all the people, which had
entered into the covenant
The king had made with the people. Here the princes are mentioned, who were not before, but included in the people; they and the rest of the people are here meant, who having agreed to the covenant, heard that everyone should let his manservant, and everyone his
maidservant, go free, that none should serve themselves of them any
more;
or any longer, which they had done, contrary to law: when they understood that this was the sum of the covenant they had entered into, and this the intent of the proclamation they agreed unto; or when they heard the law read and explained by the prophet, concerning the manumission of the Hebrew servants, when the time of their servitude was expired, then they obeyed, and let [them] go;
dismissed them from their service, in obedience to the law of God, agreeably to their own covenant, and the proclamation of liberty they assented to. The whole might be rendered thus, "and all the princes and all the people obeyed, which had entered into the covenant, to let everyone his manservant, and everyone his maidservant, go free, not to serve themselves of them any more, and they obeyed, [I say], to let [them] go"; so far they did well, and were praiseworthy, that they kept the law of God, and their own covenant.