Hello all. I’ve been challenged recently about the bible possibly condoning slavery, specifically passages like Exodus 21:7-11
(
biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus%2021:7-11&version=31 ) which seems to talk about selling your daughter as a prostitute. I found some information online which essentially said that “slavery” in biblical times was totally different than what we think of as slavery now. I was wondering if anyone could help elaborate on this and possibly let me know of books or articles that would explain this. Thank you very much.
The Exodus passage refers not to prostitution as such, but
concubinage, which is a limited form of the other: the woman, once sold, becomes the property of the buyer, to keep as his wife, to have as an extra bedmate (c.f., Abraham, Sarah and Hagar), or to give to his son. The woman is not consulted in these decisions. It is not indentured servitude, because a woman, unlike a man, is not to be freed after six years (Ex 21:2, 7). Deuteronomy 15:12-18 covers the indentured servitude into which either a woman or man might choose to enter. Concubinage is an ugly situation which allows a father to sell his daughter into
legally-sanctioned sexual slavery, and I do not think that we should attempt to ignore the dreadful realities of it.
That said, the Exodus instruction is not so much a validation of the practice as a regulation of it: it allows the sale of one’s child, but not of anyone else (21:16); it requires the woman’s owner to allow her to be redeemed if she is not pleasing, which means that he cannot simply kill her; it also prevents him from selling her into the hands of foreigners, which would place her beyond the protection of Hebrew Law. The chapter goes on to state that, should he beat her so badly as to destroy an eye or knock out a tooth, he must set her free (vv. 26-7), and that he will be punished if he beats her to death, but not if she can stand ‘after a day or two’ (v. 20). There are other regulations in Leviticus 25:39-55, also governing voluntarily-entered indentured servitude.
The authors of the texts in the
Bible certainly never questioned the validity of the institution of slavery. On three occasions (in Ephesians 6:5, Colossians 3:22 and Titus 2:9), Paul instructed slaves, or told others to instruct slaves, to obey their earthly masters as they obeyed God. Paul also instructed masters to treat their slaves well (Colossians 4:1), in which he was following the dictates of the Torah (Leviticus 25:43, 46). These passages have commonly been referenced as evidence that the
Bible condones slavery.
Personally, I would say that Paul most probably had another agenda, i.e., the spiritual salvation of the world, which he felt superseded issues of personal liberty. Had he advised slaves to rebel against their masters, he would have raised up Christianity as a direct political opponent of the Roman state, and a threat of violence to every slave-owning family in the Empire. Christianity would have lost the support of the ruling caste, and would quite possibly have been hunted down and obliterated.
As noted in the site to which Scott Waddell posted a link, early Christians did make concerted efforts to improve the lot of slaves, and did denounce the institution itself as unjust.
