* My notes from a Bible study on slavery in the Bible. This is a work in progress. Part of a series on Tough Topics and Texts in the Bible.
Old Testament Ethics:
Slavery
1.
Big Picture: Looking at the Bible’s grand
narrative
a.
Creation: no slavery
i. “As
we approach the Bible’s presentation of humanity as it relates to slavery and
sexism, we must distinguish between the way the world was when God created it
good and the way it became after humans sinned and God leveled judgment and
curse on both transgressors and the world they inhabited.”
ii. “We
don’t know exactly when slavery was first practiced, but the first mention of
it in the Bible comes when Noah curses the descendants of his youngest son:
‘Canaan will be cursed.
He will be
the lowest of slaves to his brothers’ (Gen 9:25).
This shows that slavery was not part of God’s original good
creation.
Rather, slavery is
mentioned in response to the sin of Ham.”
iii. Some
things permitted but not ideal: Matthew 19.8
1.
Steve Hays comments:
“Here's one distinction: there's a difference between
commanding evil and permitting evil. To command evil would be wrong. But
permitting evil isn't necessarily wrong.
I'd say the Mosaic law never commands
evils. It does permit certain kinds of evil, but it mitigates the evils it
permits.
Some laws are prescriptive or proscriptive while others are
permissive. In theory, the Mosaic law could forbid every kind of evil, but that
would be unenforceable: an empty gesture. Instead, the Mosaic law improves on
the status quo ante.”
b.
Future eternal state: no slavery
c.
Jesus’ goal: release the captives… set free those oppressed
(Luke 4.18; cf. Isaiah 66.1-2)
2.
The Word “Slavery”: Caution in Connotations
a.
The word “slavery” is loaded with connotations
of race-based chattel slavery of the 19th century leading to the
Civil War.
b.
Harriet Beecher Stowe in Uncle Tom’s Cabin described antebellum (pre-Civil War) slavery:
“The legal power of the master amounts to an absolute despotism over body and
soul,” and “there is no protection for the slave’s life.”
i. Watch
for the biblical portrait of slavery—does it match this description given by
Stowe?
ii. In
what ways is OT slavery different?
c.
The word in our English versions is used to
cover a number of different concepts
d.
Slavery is not one thing in the OT
3.
Kinds of Slavery in OT
a.
Punishment
i. Nations
surrounding Israel
1.
Involved in idolatry
2.
Child sacrifice
ii. Theft:
Exodus 22.1-3
iii. “Being
sold into slavery was often a government-regulated punishment based on a
criminal action.
One can see,
then, that it is morally permissible to revoke freedoms of certain people or
groups of people based on their inappropriate conduct.”
iv. We
do this in our constitutional Republic: see 13th Amendment, section
one of U.S. Constitution
1.
“Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime
whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the
United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”
2.
“And this is not a punishment that we resort to
on rare occasions either.
There
are over two million people currently
incarcerated in the United States.
You think that slavery is gone because on your way to work you don’t
drive by anybody working in the cotton fields.
That is because our
system of slavery has built a massive network of kennels to store people out of
sight in six-foot by eight-foot cells.
You might say that these people are restricted in their liberty because
they were convicted of crimes.
Many of them were, and every society has a right to protect itself—ours
included—and so perhaps you ought not to ride a high horse when it comes to
ancient societies protecting themselves as well.”
b.
Mutually beneficial relationship
i. Job
31.13-15
ii. Abraham
1.
Eliezer
a.
Born in Abraham’s house: Genesis 15.3
b.
Ruled: Genesis 24.2
2.
318 servants armed to help Lot: Genesis 14.14-15
“If the slave/owner relationship was anything less than mutually
trusting, Abraham most likely would not have intentionally armed his slaves.”
iii. Seen
in laws that regulate the institution
1.
Deuteronomy 15.16-17: servant may not want to
leave
2.
Deuteronomy 23.15-16: escaped slave from foreign
nation is not to be returned
3.
Exodus 21.16: death penalty for kidnapping and
sale of person
c.
Debt resolution: Leviticus 25.47-49
i. “An
Israelite servant’s guaranteed eventual release within 7 years was a control or regulation to prevent the abuse
and institutionalizing of such positions.
The release-year reminded the Israelites that
poverty-induced servanthood was not an ideal social arrangement.
On the other hand, servanthood existed in Israel precisely because poverty existed: no
poverty, no servants in Israel.
And if servants lived in Israel, this was voluntary (typically
poverty-induced)—not forced.”
ii. “Slavery
in the Old Testament is not the horrible institution known by the same name in
the modern western countries, for it often approximated employer and employee
relationships, but there were aspects of it that were subject to abuse and the
law spoke to these.”
4.
Some Difficult Passages in the Old Testament
a.
Exodus 21.20-21
“If a man strikes his male or female slave with a rod and he dies at his
hand, he shall be punished. If,
however, he survives a day or two, no vengeance shall be taken; for he is his
property.”
i. “The
aim of this law was not to place the slave at the mercy of the master, but to restrict the master’s power over his
slaves.
Simply put, proof was
needed only of a master’s malice or of his murderous intent.
In cases where the slave lived ‘a day
or two’ after the chastisement, the benefit of doubt was given to the master
only because proof became more difficult.
But if the slave died immediately, no more proof was needed and
presumably laws such as Exodus 21:12 would be operative.”
ii. “The
mere risk of jeopardizing one’s investment—for it must not be forgotten that in
the case of a fellow Hebrew, this was like a bank loan situation (‘he s his
property [or money], v. 21)—was a powerful deterrent.
Even the slightest injury to one part of the body entitled
the slave to his full freedom and exemption from any further obligation to pay
back the debt with his labor power (Exod. 21:26-27).
Thus all disciplinary actions by a master had better be held
in check or some would come within a hair’s-breadth of loosing [sic] their
shirts in a fit of temper!
Hitting
a master where it hurt—in the pocketbook—reinforced the value system that said
people were more important than investments.
This law is almost unprecedented in the ancient Near East
where men usually treated their slaves as they pleased.”
b.
Exodus 21.26-27
“If a man strikes the eye of his male or female slave, and destroys it,
he shall let him go free on account of his eye. And if he knocks out a tooth of his male or female slave, he
shall let him go free on account of his tooth.”
i. “This
law is equally unparalleled in protecting the male or female slave from
arbitrary assault by the master.
The granting of freedom, as Noth points out, is a kind of reparation
since it represents a forfeiture of the purchase price of the slave.
The inclusion of the ‘tooth’ indicates
that the law does not intend only grievous bodily harm, but any unwarranted
assault.
The basic humanity of the
slave is given precedence over his property status.
According to Childs, ‘A slave is not freed because of
property damage, but because he is an oppressed human being.
For this reason the loss of a tooth
represents an act of abuse as well as the loss of an eye’—that is, even though
loss of a tooth could not detrimentally affect his usefulness as working
‘property.’”
ii. “The
law, if it were to have any meaningful legal (as distinct from merely
charitable) force, must presuppose that there were some circumstances in which a slave could appeal to judicial
authority against his own master, that in some
situations a slave could have definite legal status as a person,
notwithstanding his normal status as purchased property.”
c.
Leviticus 19.20-21
i. Translational
issue
KJV: And whosoever lieth carnally with a woman,
that is a bondmaid, betrothed to an
husband, and not at all redeemed, nor freedom given her; she shall be scourged;
they shall not be put to death, because she was not free. 21 And
he shall bring his trespass offering unto the Lord,
unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, even a ram for a trespass offering.
NASB95: Now if a man lies carnally with
a woman who is a slave acquired for another
man, but who has in no way been redeemed nor given her freedom, there shall be punishment;
they shall not, however, be put to
death, because she was not free. He shall bring his guilt offering to the Lord to the doorway of the tent of
meeting, a ram for a guilt offering.
ESV: If a man lies sexually with a
woman who is a slave, assigned to another man and not yet ransomed or given her
freedom, a distinction
shall be made. They shall not be put to death, because she was not free;
21 but he
shall bring his compensation to the Lord,
to the entrance of the tent of meeting, a ram for a guilt offering.
NIV: If a man sleeps with a female
slave who is promised to another man but who has not been ransomed or given her
freedom, there must be due
punishment. Yet they are not to be put to death, because she had not
been freed. 21 The man, however, must bring a ram to the
entrance to the tent of meeting for a guilt offering to the Lord.
NKJV: Whoever lies carnally with a
woman who is betrothed to a man as a
concubine, and who has not at all been redeemed nor given her freedom, for this there shall be
scourging; but they shall not
be put to death, because she was not free. 21 And he shall
bring his trespass offering to the Lord,
to the door of the tabernacle of meeting, a ram as a trespass offering.
ii. Some
have argued that based on the KJV rendering the woman slave is scourged but the
man merely has to offer a ram for repentance.
iii. Modern
translations recognize that this is a faulty rendering. Both parties are given the same
recompense and the man must offer a ram for sacrifice.
5.
The New Testament and Slavery
a.
Challenge: Jesus and the apostles do not
challenge or seek to overthrow slavery.
They allow the institution to stand and even encourage slaves to obey
their masters: Ephesians 6.5-8; Colossians 3.22-25; 1 Peter 2.18-19.
b.
Perspective is needed to properly contextualize
the NT and slavery.
c.
Some types of slavery in the NT were due to
debt—the revoking of freedoms until a debt was paid. Matthew 5.25-26 seems to indicate this kind of situation
(cf. Matthew 18.21-35).
d.
Mentioning a topic doesn’t mean God condones it
or approves of it
i. Jesus
mentioned turning the other cheek but this doesn’t mean he condones the one
doing the slapping (Matthew 5.39).
ii. Paul
urges Christians to honor the government but this doesn’t mean he condones
everything the government does (Romans 13.1-7).
e.
The culture of the time did not allow for
large-scale revolution on the issue of slavery. Christians had to navigate the times with wisdom and engage
in a longer-term project of undercutting slavery.
i. Slaves
and Slavery in the Greco-Roman World
1.
Estimates: 85-90% of the inhabitants of Rome and
peninsula Italy were slaves or of slave origins.
2.
Beginning of the 1st century the
number of manumitted slaves (freed persons) increased dramatically. This caused Caesar Augustus to pass
laws governing the number and ages of slaves who could legitimately be set
free.
3.
Germanic slaves led a revolt under Spartacus in
73 BC.
4.
“Slaves of eastern origin, on the other hand,
enjoyed great popularity at Rome.
They were trusted household servants, teachers, librarians, accountants
and estate managers.
They were
manumitted by the thousands in the late Republic and early Empire.”
ii. “Christianity
arose in a real-life, tension-filled setting.
The slave insurrections had already failed, causing
significant injury, sorrow, and loss of life.
On the positive side, ‘the social position of the slaves was
not seen as a human disqualification.’
Working within these tensions, however, the seeds of abolition were
sown.
No epistle expressed that
better and more powerfully than Philemon.”
iii. “What then could Christian slaves (who had no legal
rights regarding their masters' abuse) and Christian citizens (who stood on the
cusp of legal prosecution for their faith) do when experiencing abuse? Their
best response was to let their godly behavior challenge unjust treatment and
unjust slander, which is precisely what Peter repeatedly prescribes
(2:12,1&-20; 3:16). Peter's admonition for those abused to submit passively
and entrust themselves to God would probably be very appropriate today in
fundamentalistic Muslim cultures governed by strict Islamic law (Sharia). In
these settings, abused women have few legal rights
or protections, so a passive response
and faith in God might well be the best response. In other cultural settings,
particularly in the West, various options for challenging the evil of physical
abuse would be available and quite appropriate for abused believers.”
iv. “Jesus
and the apostles didn’t go on an anti-slavery crusade, because doing so would
have been futile and a hindrance to their primary mission.
The priority of Jesus was the provision
of salvation.
For the apostles it
was the proclamation of the gospel.
But both Jesus and the apostles undermined the basis for slavery by
making it clear that God equally loves the rich and poor, free and slave, male
and female.
The apostles also
welcomed into the church and gave equal status to all who believed, regardless
of race, gender, nationality, or social position.”
f.
Subtle opposition to slavery in the NT
i. Repudiated
slave trading: 1 Timothy 1.9-10; Revelation 18.11-13
ii. Equality
within the church.
1.
To be spoken of and to as in Ephesians,
Colossians, and 1 Peter spoke of their equality in the church.
“Paul taught equality.
Colossians 3:18-4.1 contains some basic
principles.
Slaves served Christ
in spite of their economic situation.
Their owners were also slaves, only they were slaves to the Master in
heaven.
This equality was to lead
the way to sympathy one for the other.
Further, God called people to serve him in varied circumstances, and he
judged impartially.
The
application of these principles would bring a de facto end to the institution.”
2.
Slave names in Romans 16
“The
names of those mentioned in Romans 16 suggest that many had been slaves.
Andronicus [v. 7] and Urbanus [v.9]
were exclusively slave names in the literature and inscriptions of Paul’s day.”
iii. Practices
in the church served to undermine slavery—do not underestimate the power of
these symbolic actions!
1.
Holy kiss
2.
Language of “brethren,” “brothers,” and
“sisters”
* The words of F. F. Bruce
regarding Philemon seem to apply more broadly here as well: “What this letter
does is to bring us into an atmosphere in which the institution could only wilt
and die.”
iv. Paul
encouraged slaves to acquire freedom if possible: 1 Corinthians 7.20-22.
v. In
Ephesians 6 when Paul mentions slaves and masters he does not quote Scripture
as he does when discussing the other aspects of the household such as
husbands/wives and fathers/children.
