What is there to say about slavery and the Bible? Especially the Old Testament? (MERGED)

[lax16]

I hope that before you leave this thread that you understand this from my perspective. As you know the case for and against God’s position on slavery in the Bible have been laid out here in some detail. I’m not sure what benefit would come from articles that merely retread the same ground. Not only that I think it’s a bit unfair to expect me to take 20-30 minutes out of my time to go through those links when I don’t believe even a fraction of that time was spent going over those articles before linking to them. If someone is trying to convince you that we are saved by faith alone by linking to a 25 minute YouTube video it’s only appropriate to expect that person first watched that same video and made sure it was both edifying and not just the same points rehashed.

Hi Mike - I couldn’t agree more. Normally, I would love to jump in and research this topic and discuss it point by point.

If you read my past posts over the years regarding Mormonism you will see this is something I enjoy doing.

I am not making excuses, however my health is not up to par and I am unable to read much at this time. I know I explained this to you earlier on another thread.

So, in an effort not to frustrate you any further, I will bow out of this conversation.

Peace to you!

 

[Mike_from_NJ]

Hi Mike - I couldn’t agree more. Normally, I would love to jump in and research this topic and discuss it point by point.

If you read my past posts over the years regarding Mormonism you will see this is something I enjoy doing.

I am not making excuses, however my health is not up to par and I am unable to read much at this time. I know I explained this to you earlier on another thread.

So, in an effort not to frustrate you any further, I will bow out of this conversation.

Peace to you!

Peace be to you as well! I hope your issues with your migraines greatly improves

 

[lax16]

Peace be to you as well! I hope your issues with your migraines greatly improves

Thank you. I really appreciate it.

 

[meltzerboy]

Did God intend to abolish murder in a gradual manner?
Did God intend to abolish theft in a gradual manner?
Did God intend to establish honoring the Sabbath in a gradual manner?
Did God intend to establish dietary restrictions in a gradual manner?
Did God intend to abolish bearing false witness in a gradual manner?
Did God intend to establish honoring one’s mother and father in a gradual manner?

The idea that God could not put his foot down on slavery the way he did on so many other matters – many of which were far less important – is silly on its face. God didn’t wait to say that all of the above was part of his plan, yet this institution of cruelty was encouraged by God. Was God not intelligent enough to come up with a way to say that owning people is wrong that didn’t take millennia to accomplish? Did he lack the power to have his people fall in line on this one issue?

We don’t teach our children to do things the wrong way, then expect them later to do it correctly. We don’t teach a child that it’s okay to talk back to an adult then expect him or her to respect their elders as they get older. We don’t teach our children to play with matches then expect them to learn fire safety as teenagers. You don’t tell people below you that beating another person so severely that they die the next day is a right act without punishment, and then later expect to tell them (whenever he gets around to it, if ever) that the same monstrous deed is sinful. It’s in all ways utterly illogical.

G-d did wait quite a while before he gave us His Law (Torah), and even then He did not demand a complete end to killing others or self-sacrifice, which depended on the situation. Nor are the dietary restrictions or even the observance of the Sabbath absolute in cases where one’s own or another’s human life or health is at risk. And non-Jews were/are not required to follow many of these laws. Further, none of the above which you mention took the form of a globally acceptable institution the way slavery had been. Slavery was, however, diminished greatly among the ancient Jews in the sense that there were plenty of restrictions against unjust cruelty and punishment. The slaves were treated as servants rather than as animals. Admittedly, this was still not the ideal, but better than in most other cultures, and better yet with the passage of time.

 

[Zeno11]

(Ephesians 6:5-9)

5 Slaves, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ; 6 not by way of eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. 7 With good will render service, as to the Lord, and not to men, 8 knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free.

9 And, masters, do the same things to them, and give up threatening, knowing that both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no partiality with Him.

** 1 Corinthians 7:22**
21 Were you called while a slave? Do not worry about it; but if you are able also to become free, rather do that. 22For he who was called in the Lord while a slave, is the Lord’s freedman; likewise he who was called while free, is Christ’s slave. 23You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men.

God does not interfere in our worldly affairs by abolishing slavery or the caste system or any other man made injustices or inhumanity. All these things come from men, not God. When God involved himself in our affairs, He met us where and how we are. Hence he died for us while we were still sinners.. If we are alive in Christ, then we are all free and all slaves to Him who rescued us from sin and death. Paul makes it clear that slavery is evil, but if you are in the position of being a slave, you become free by the spirit that is in you, while the free man now recognises that he is a slave! God works in mysterious ways His wonders to unfold.

I think people waste a lot of time on these forums intellectually debating matters that need to be examined in the spirit. But maybe some are not alive in the spirit? Yes there are overwhelming injustices in the world all through our sorry attempts to rule ourselves, and a day will come when every tear will be wiped away, and blessed will be those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

People are still in slavery all over our world right now; the sex trade alone traffics million of children and women yet a poster wanted to know why God didn’t teach his people the correct way to behave; do people still not know the right way to behave? Why haven’t we put an end to all modern day slavery?

‘There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus’.

-Galations 3:28

 

[Tomdstone]

People are still in slavery all over our world right now; the sex trade alone traffics million of children and women yet a poster wanted to know why God didn’t teach his people the correct way to behave; do people still not know the right way to behave? Why haven’t we put an end to all modern day slavery?

The Catholic Church teaches us today that slavery is wrong. Was it always so?

 

[rose_kelly]

(Ephesians 6:5-9)

5 Slaves, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ; 6 not by way of eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. 7 With good will render service, as to the Lord, and not to men, 8 knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free.

9 And, masters, do the same things to them, and give up threatening, knowing that both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no partiality with Him.

** 1 Corinthians 7:22**
21 Were you called while a slave? Do not worry about it; but if you are able also to become free, rather do that. 22For he who was called in the Lord while a slave, is the Lord’s freedman; likewise he who was called while free, is Christ’s slave. 23You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men.

God does not interfere in our worldly affairs by abolishing slavery or the caste system or any other man made injustices or inhumanity. All these things come from men, not God. When God involved himself in our affairs, He met us where and how we are. Hence he died for us while we were still sinners.. If we are alive in Christ, then we are all free and all slaves to Him who rescued us from sin and death. Paul makes it clear that slavery is evil, but if you are in the position of being a slave, you become free by the spirit that is in you, while the free man now recognises that he is a slave! God works in mysterious ways His wonders to unfold.

I think people waste a lot of time on these forums intellectually debating matters that need to be examined in the spirit. But maybe some are not alive in the spirit? Yes there are overwhelming injustices in the world all through our sorry attempts to rule ourselves, and a day will come when every tear will be wiped away, and blessed will be those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

People are still in slavery all over our world right now; the sex trade alone traffics million of children and women yet a poster wanted to know why God didn’t teach his people the correct way to behave; do people still not know the right way to behave? Why haven’t we put an end to all modern day slavery?

‘There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus’.

-Galations 3:28

Why haven’t we indeed? its the times now we in the so called “civilised world” should be focusing on. The shameful existence of modern day slavery, human trafficking, child exploitation and sex slavery.

 

[Mike_from_NJ]

G-d did wait quite a while before he gave us His Law (Torah), and even then He did not demand a complete end to killing others or self-sacrifice, which depended on the situation.

That’s putting it mildly. It’s far more accurate to say God never denounced owning people and hurting them, just the opposite.

Nor are the dietary restrictions or even the observance of the Sabbath absolute in cases where one’s own or another’s human life or health is at risk. And non-Jews were/are not required to follow many of these laws.

That’s not my point. The simple fact that God prioritized things like dietary restrictions, Sabbath honoring (under penalty of death), and circumcision (under penalty of death) over slavery shows a despicable mindset that is absolutely not worthy of honor.

Further, none of the above which you mention took the form of a globally acceptable institution the way slavery had been.

I’ll repeat it again:

1. God specifically told his people to not follow the practices of neighboring nations.
2. The Israelites were in captivity for 430 years and were wandering the desert. All that time they were without slaves. If ever the time was to tell his people that slavery was wrong it was then and not hoping compassionate people would end the practice thousands of years later.

Slavery was, however, diminished greatly among the ancient Jews in the sense that there were plenty of restrictions against unjust cruelty and punishment. The slaves were treated as servants rather than as animals. Admittedly, this was still not the ideal, but better than in most other cultures, and better yet with the passage of time.

This idea of treating slaves well withers under the mildest of scrunity. There’s the passage that has been noted several times, Exodus 21:20-21. Even leaving out the manslaughter that God said was perfectly acceptable we still have proof that it was perfectly fine to beat a slave severely. The upper limit was same-day death, and that by no definition restricts cruelty and punishment.

Then we must look at the fact that God, supposedly looking to ween the Israelites off of slavery, told his people to greatly expand the practice. One was by telling them that they could go out and purchase slaves from neighboring nations, and two was by blackmailing Hebrew slaves who were set to leave by not freeing families gained during captivity so they could make many more slave babies.

But even if we swallow the rationalization that slavery in the Bible was somehow nicer than that of other nations, we can’t ignore the fact that the very owning of a person is in and of itself a heinous act.

 

[Mike_from_NJ]

(Ephesians 6:5-9)

5 Slaves, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ; 6 not by way of eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. 7 With good will render service, as to the Lord, and not to men, 8 knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free.

What better way to control slaves then by making a promise of reward in the afterlife?

9 And, masters, do the same things to them, and give up threatening, knowing that both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no partiality with Him.

Or better yet, have them do what is right and good and free those that were born into slavery, purchased into slavery, or blackmailed into remaining a slave. Something that is not as evil as another thing is still evil.

** 1 Corinthians 7:22**
21 Were you called while a slave? Do not worry about it; but if you are able also to become free, rather do that. 22For he who was called in the Lord while a slave, is the Lord’s freedman; likewise he who was called while free, is Christ’s slave. 23You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men.

Paul is not God. Whatever God says trumps infinitely over what Paul says.

God does not interfere in our worldly affairs by abolishing slavery or the caste system or any other man made injustices or inhumanity.

Murder comes from men. False witness comes from men. Theft comes from men. God had no problems telling people to not do those things. God told his people HOW to own slaves and how to beat them and manslaughter them and show cruelty upon them. How can it be a man-made injustice when God spells out in great detail how to be injust without penalty?

All these things come from men, not God. When God involved himself in our affairs, He met us where and how we are. Hence he died for us while we were still sinners.. If we are alive in Christ, then we are all free and all slaves to Him who rescued us from sin and death.

You are equivocating the word slavery to both worshiping a deity and being restricted in deed, though, love, and health.

Paul makes it clear that slavery is evil, but if you are in the position of being a slave, you become free by the spirit that is in you, while the free man now recognises that he is a slave! God works in mysterious ways His wonders to unfold.

Paul does no such thing. He says it’s better to be free than a slave, but he doesn’t say that owning a slave is wrong. The best he does is tell people to be nice to their slaves.

I think people waste a lot of time on these forums intellectually debating matters that need to be examined in the spirit. But maybe some are not alive in the spirit?

It’s easier to make rationalizations of something when cruelty is brushed aside. Why can’t something be good in both body and spirit? What necessitated this call for gross harm by God?

Yes there are overwhelming injustices in the world all through our sorry attempts to rule ourselves, and a day will come when every tear will be wiped away, and blessed will be those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

It’s not a matter of ruling ourselves, but our alleged ruler (God) calling for injustice and claiming that it is just.

People are still in slavery all over our world right now; the sex trade alone traffics million of children and women yet a poster wanted to know why God didn’t teach his people the correct way to behave; do people still not know the right way to behave?

God at no point said anything against owning slaves. Never. The Church didn’t outright say slavery was bad until Vatican II. God and the Church have had millennia to take a firm stand on this position, so don’t try put this entirely the doorstep of others.

Why haven’t we put an end to all modern day slavery?

We will never be able to stamp out all evil, whether it be slavery, persecution, rape, or murder. That doesn’t mean that what God said endorsing slavery in the Bible was good whatsoever. In fact, one could say that God’s position of slavery in the Bible has hindered our ability to fight slavery, as many have pointed to God’s words to justify their actions. There have been many slaves owned by Christians who could have used an 11th commandment saying not to own slaves.

 

[Zeno11]

We will never be able to stamp out all evil, whether it be slavery, persecution, rape, or murder. That doesn’t mean that what God said endorsing slavery in the Bible was good whatsoever. In fact, one could say that God’s position of slavery in the Bible has hindered our ability to fight slavery, as many have pointed to God’s words to justify their actions. There have been many slaves owned by Christians who could have used an 11th commandment saying not to own slaves.

But Mike, I think you are missing a crucial point. Jesus did not come here, nor did God involve himself in the affairs of the Old Testament, in order to reform society, but to show us the way to everlasting salvation.

If a person experiences the love, mercy, and grace of God by receiving His salvation, God will reform his soul, changing the way he thinks and acts. A person who has experienced God’s gift of salvation and freedom from the slavery of sin, as God reforms his soul, will realize that enslaving another human being is wrong. He will see, with Paul, that a slave can be “a brother in the Lord” (Philemon 1:16).

If you love your neighbour as yourself, you will not keep a slave! Loving God and neighbour is the whole of the law.

 

[Mike_from_NJ]

But Mike, I think you are missing a crucial point. Jesus did not come here, nor did God involve himself in the affairs of the Old Testament, in order to reform society, but to show us the way to everlasting salvation.

He supposedly tried to teach his people how to work together in harmony, how to be fair to one another and not take advantage of each other, to live peacably. That is what society is. This ends-justifies-the-means proposition that it’s all about salvation neglects that in order to be saved one must do good, and in no way is owning a slave or harming a slave good. You seem to think that God telling people that there is no punishment in the slightest for doing these acts will lead them to salvation.

If a person experiences the love, mercy, and grace of God by receiving His salvation, God will reform his soul, changing the way he thinks and acts. A person who has experienced God’s gift of salvation and freedom from the slavery of sin, as God reforms his soul, will realize that enslaving another human being is wrong. He will see, with Paul, that a slave can be “a brother in the Lord” (Philemon 1:16).

How on earth can a person come to the realization that owning slaves is wrong if God himself is giving detailed instructions on how to purchase, beat, manslaughter, and rape slaves?

If you love your neighbour as yourself, you will not keep a slave! Loving God and neighbour is the whole of the law.

Exodus 20-24 is not part of the law? Leviticus is not part of the law?

 

[Achilles6129]

If you love your neighbour as yourself, you will not keep a slave! Loving God and neighbour is the whole of the law.

Hi Zeno,

While I certainly disagree with Mike’s theological position, I do have to agree that God did command slavery in the Torah. An example would be this passage:

“44 As for your male and female slaves whom you may have: you may buy male and female slaves from among the nations that are around you. 45 You may also buy from among the strangers who sojourn with you and their clans that are with you, who have been born in your land, and they may be your property. 46 You may bequeath them to your sons after you to inherit as a possession forever. You may make slaves of them, but over your brothers the people of Israel you shall not rule, one over another ruthlessly.” Lev. 25:44-46 (ESV)

Now if God commanded slavery in the Torah, then obviously slavery (or a certain type of slavery) can’t be wrong.

 

[Achilles6129]

How on earth can a person come to the realization that owning slaves is wrong if God himself is giving detailed instructions on how to purchase, beat, manslaughter, and rape slaves?

Nothing in the Bible tells you how to beat, manslaughter, or rape slaves. God does command slavery in the OT, there’s no doubt about that. But slaves are not punished unless they deserve to be punished and certainly the Torah commands against raping/killing/beating people.

 

[Mike_from_NJ]

Nothing in the Bible tells you how to beat, manslaughter, or rape slaves.

Exodus 21:20-21 certainly has God telling his people that it’s ok to beat and manslaughter slaves.

Exodus 21:7-11 talks about how a father can sell his daughter to another man who must please her master. She is a slave and it’s not like she can deny her body to her master or his son.

God does command slavery in the OT, there’s no doubt about that. But slaves are not punished unless they deserve to be punished and certainly the Torah commands against raping/killing/beating people.

Punishments are for crimes and wrong actions. What does a slave do that warrants such “punishments”?

Now if God commanded slavery in the Torah, then obviously slavery (or a certain type of slavery) can’t be wrong.

I would disagree that despite God commanding such an evil practice that he wasn’t wrong.

 

[Tomdstone]

Hi Zeno,

While I certainly disagree with Mike’s theological position, I do have to agree that God did command slavery in the Torah. An example would be this passage:

“44 As for your male and female slaves whom you may have: you may buy male and female slaves from among the nations that are around you. 45 You may also buy from among the strangers who sojourn with you and their clans that are with you, who have been born in your land, and they may be your property. 46 You may bequeath them to your sons after you to inherit as a possession forever. You may make slaves of them, but over your brothers the people of Israel you shall not rule, one over another ruthlessly.” Lev. 25:44-46 (ESV)

Now if God commanded slavery in the Torah, then obviously slavery (or a certain type of slavery) can’t be wrong.

This does seem to be pretty strong. Can God change His mind about slavery, so that at one point in time it is OK, but at a future point in time it is immoral?

 

[Tomdstone]

God does command slavery in the OT, there’s no doubt about that.

Does that mean that it is not wrong to enslave people, the way that ISIS is doing today to young women?

 

[Zeno11]

Slavery in the Old Testament

“Slave” and “Master” are not the best translations of ‘ebed and ‘adon. The Hebrew word used for “slave” or “servant” in the relevant Old Testament texts is ‘ebed. It simply means “employee” or “servant” and should not be translated “slave.” Paul Copan has noted Old Testament scholar John Goldingay affirms, “. . .there is nothing inherently lowly or undignified about being an ‘ebed.” Instead it was an honourable and dignified term". The Brown-Driver-Briggs Lexicon notes the word refers to a “servant of a household” and cites Exodus 21:2 as an example.
An ‘adon in Hebrew was a “boss” or “employer” not a slave owner. Even when the terms buy, sell or acquire are used for servants/employees, they don’t mean the person in question is ‘just property’. . . . Rather, these are formal contractual agreements, which is what we find in the Old Testament servanthood/employee arrangements. One example of this contracted employer/employee relationship was Jacob’s working for Laban for seven years so that he might marry his daughter Rachel”

Indentured servitude existed as a means of debt payment. These employees lived with and worked for a family in order to pay off a debt (Exodus 21:2; Deuteronomy 15:1, 12). A father of a family with failed crops etc., would sell himself to an Israelite boss for six years to pay off a debt (Leviticus 25:47).

God set up servitude as a last resort means of survival. The Old Testament affirms God ordained servitude for people to be able to survive when all other means of survival were exhausted. People would put themselves into indentured servitude to survive (Leviticus 25:35, 39-40)

Old Testament servants were more like live-in servants. They did not walk around with chains around their neck, enduring racism, or being worked to death. The rights and dignity of these indentured servants in the Old Testament make such comparisons to other slavery erroneous. For example, Exodus 21 demands these servants be treated as persons and not property. If a servant who owed a debt came in with his wife, then after 6 years they both were allowed to leave together, not just one (v. 3). Exodus 21:26-27 says if a boss injured a servant, the servant was to be set free. Such abuse was not tolerated. Deuteronomy 15:16 shows servants often truly loved the leaders of the household and thought of them as family. Leviticus 25:53 says such servants were to be treated as men “hired from year to year” not “rule[d ] over ruthlessly.” They were even to be given a regular day off during the week (Exodus 23:12). Also, Israelite servants could not be sold by their bosses (Leviticus 25:42) and are even differentiated from slaves in this text since it says “they shall not be sold as slaves.” Lastly, Deuteronomy 15:13-14 affirms once a servant’s service was over after 6 years, he was not to leave empty handed. The boss was commanded to furnish him out of his flock, and with corn and wine.

Lifelong Servitude was forbidden. Exodus 21:2 and Deuteronomy 15:12 commands an Israelite servant who owed a debt to be freed after 6 years. However, if the servant decided to remain with the household longer, due to loving the family, he was permitted to stay with that family (Deuteronomy 15:16; cf. Exodus 21:5).

Slavery in the New Testament

In Luke 4:18 Jesus cites Isaiah 61:1 which, in practical application, condemns the slavery of his day: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to*** proclaim liberty to the captives*** and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed” (Luke 4:18).

The fact is Jesus and the apostles didn’t create an economic reform plan for Israel and Rome. That’s not the way the kingdom of God would come about. The kingdom of God is inward and culminates in the return of Christ at the end of the world. So, economic reform was not the goal of the early persecuted Christians. The church was born into an already existing secular social world. So when Paul exhorts slaves within the Roman systems to behave themselves, he is not promoting or advocating the situation they were in, but was calling for good-conduct while in such an already existing predicament in the hopes that the master would see such good conduct and convert to Christianity and be saved (Titus 2:10). It was for the benefit of people’s eternal salvation.

Galatians 3:28 says “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). 1 Corinthians 12:13 says “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:13). Colossians 3:11 says, “Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all” (Colossians 3:11).

The Bible condemns slavery and the slave trade. In 1 Timothy 1:9-10 Paul castigates those who engage in slave trade in the context of his “vice list” of things to avoid. Moreover, in Revelation 18:10-14 Babylon is rebuked and judged in the context of treating humans as cargo, trafficking slaves and idolatrously and greedily making wealth with merchants.

 

[rose_kelly]

How very enlightening these posts have been.

I felt that my faith was growing deeper before I saw this thread, but thanks to these contributions its now even stronger.

 

[Mike_from_NJ]

Zeno11, while there is nothing wrong with referencing an article to bolster your point (in fact it can be quite informative), it is improper to copy and paste someone else’s article without linking to it or even giving any credit to the original author. Here is the original article for those interested.

Slavery in the Old Testament

“Slave” and “Master” are not the best translations of ‘ebed and ‘adon. The Hebrew word used for “slave” or “servant” in the relevant Old Testament texts is ‘ebed. It simply means “employee” or “servant” and should not be translated “slave.”

The first two pages I saw (here and here) define ebed as “slave, servant” in that order. If the author wanted to be accurate (something I don’t believe to be the case) he would have said that ebed can also be translated as servant as well as slave.

Paul Copan has noted Old Testament scholar John Goldingay affirms, “. . .there is nothing inherently lowly or undignified about being an ‘ebed.” Instead it was an honourable and dignified term". The Brown-Driver-Briggs Lexicon notes the word refers to a “servant of a household” and cites Exodus 21:2 as an example.
An ‘adon in Hebrew was a “boss” or “employer” not a slave owner.

Two link I see (here and here) say the word means lord – someone who is superior to someone else. It’s where the name for God Adonia originates from. There is no mention whatsoever of these dealing specifically with employment. It fits nicely with the English term master.

Even when the terms buy, sell or acquire are used for servants/employees, they don’t mean the person in question is ‘just property’

God literally calls slaves property twice in the Bible.

. . . . Rather, these are formal contractual agreements, which is what we find in the Old Testament servanthood/employee arrangements. One example of this contracted employer/employee relationship was Jacob’s working for Laban for seven years so that he might marry his daughter Rachel”

An agreement requires two or people to agree on something. Sure the Hebrew men who sold themselves to pay a debt would have made an agreement, but that conspicuously leaves out those who were sold into slavery against their wills. This article chooses to ignore that fact.

Indentured servitude existed as a means of debt payment. These employees lived with and worked for a family in order to pay off a debt (Exodus 21:2; Deuteronomy 15:1, 12). A father of a family with failed crops etc., would sell himself to an Israelite boss for six years to pay off a debt (Leviticus 25:47).

Indentured servitude was a real thing. There were people in colonial America who were indentured servants. The trick is that again this article deceptively focuses solely on those who sold themselves willingly into slavery and not those who were unwillingly purchased as slaves or those born into slavery. Also real indentured servitude doesn’t involve manslaughter, which God allows for, or for having an indentured servant’s children born in captivity become permanent slaves, which God also allows for.

You picked a heck of an article to copy and paste from.

God set up servitude as a last resort means of survival. The Old Testament affirms God ordained servitude for people to be able to survive when all other means of survival were exhausted. People would put themselves into indentured servitude to survive (Leviticus 25:35, 39-40)

This is the third time in rapid succession that the article ignores unwilling slaves.

Old Testament servants were more like live-in servants.

…who could be beaten to death.

They did not walk around with chains around their neck, enduring racism, or being worked to death. The rights and dignity of these indentured servants in the Old Testament make such comparisons to other slavery erroneous.

What rights?

For example, Exodus 21 demands these servants be treated as persons and not property.

Again, God literally calls slaves property including once in Exodus 21. What Bible is the author of this article reading?

If a servant who owed a debt came in with his wife, then after 6 years they both were allowed to leave together, not just one (v. 3). Exodus 21:26-27 says if a boss injured a servant, the servant was to be set free. Such abuse was not tolerated.

The author of the article is certainly massaging the message to the point of giving a false impression (which I know breaks a commandment). Exodus 21:26-27 state only that if a slave owner knocked out a slaves tooth or eye then they were to be set free. The author is trying to make it seem like any injury to a slave would cause him to be set free. There are many ways to hurt someone without going for the head and possibly knocking out a tooth or eye. As God himself said a beating to a slave so severe that he dies the next days brings on absolutely no punishment.

 

[Mike_from_NJ]

Deuteronomy 15:16 shows servants often truly loved the leaders of the household and thought of them as family. Leviticus 25:53 says such servants were to be treated as men “hired from year to year” not “rule[d ] over ruthlessly.”

Both of these calls for kindness are only for those Hebrew slaves that had sold themselves into slavery. They are not for those slaves who had been purchased. Two things on this:

1. These calls to be merciful don’t align with the allowance for brutal punishment God calls for. It’s like if one brother hits another and the mother, instead of trying to teach the brothers to stop that and act properly just tells them to play nice. It’s a contradiction and best and empty useless words at worst.
2. Those defending the indefensible practice of slavery in the Bible like to cite how the racism found in 18th century slavery doesn’t appear in Biblical slavery. This is obviously a boldfaced lie as you yourself should see how this call for kindness and the limitation on service only is for male Hebrew slaves. Non-Hebrews are not showing the supposed love of God.

They were even to be given a regular day off during the week (Exodus 23:12).

These argujments are somehow getting worse. The act of slavery is awful by all measures. Having it happen 6 days a week (with the 7th day still not allowing for freedom of movement or act) is still awful.

If Ariel Castro promised not to rape his captives on Sundays does that make his crime any better? Of course not! It’s garbage to even suggest something of that nature.

Also, Israelite servants could not be sold by their bosses (Leviticus 25:42) and are even differentiated from slaves in this text since it says “they shall not be sold as slaves.”

So sticking with one slaveowner and not being passed on between slaveowners is somehow better. They’re still slaves.

Lastly, Deuteronomy 15:13-14 affirms once a servant’s service was over after 6 years, he was not to leave empty handed. The boss was commanded to furnish him out of his flock, and with corn and wine.

Again this was only for male Hebrew slaves who would not sumbit to any blackmail of leaving any family gained in those 6 years behind. There isn’t enough corn and wine in the world.

Lifelong Servitude was forbidden. Exodus 21:2 and Deuteronomy 15:12 commands an Israelite servant who owed a debt to be freed after 6 years. However, if the servant decided to remain with the household longer, due to loving the family, he was permitted to stay with that family (Deuteronomy 15:16; cf. Exodus 21:5).

Lifelong servitude was just fine for someone sold into slavery according to God. Also it’s interesting how the author puts it “due to loving the family”. I don’t know if he intentionally tried to make it seem like he was talking about the family of the slaveowner, but Exodus is quite clear that someone who would submit to this blackmail (and it most certainly is blackmail) would do so for his wife and children.