The Importance of Deuteronomy 23

Deuteronomy 23, 15 to 16 is a passage that scholars have recognized for quite some time isn't just about any slave that runs away. The idea that the text would say, let him stay wherever he wants among your gates, it doesn't make any sense. This is almost certainly foreign slaves escaping into Israel? They're not to be returned to their foreign masters. And so they're not supposed to then set up these extradition clauses where they're going to return slaves as if they have some equality with the nations around them.