The Bible on slavery

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The Bible sanctions slavery. Nowhere, in either the Old Testament or New Testament, does it speak against the practice. It was the usual practice of wealthy people back in ancient times to own slaves. The Old Testament patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob owned slaves. The Mosaic law includes rules regarding slaves. Jewish people as well as those of all of the other countries owned slaves. It was common practice among the various nations.

Exodus 21:1 Now these are the judgments which thou shalt set before them. 2 If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing. 3 If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him. 4 If his master have given him a wife, and she have born him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself. 5 And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free: 6 Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him for ever. 7 And if a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant, she shall not go out as the menservants do. 8 If she please not her master, who hath betrothed her to himself, then shall he let her be redeemed: to sell her unto a strange nation he shall have no power, seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with her. 9 And if he have betrothed her unto his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters. 10 If he take him another wife; her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish. 11 And if he do not these three unto her, then shall she go out free without money.

It seems from verse 7 above that children were regarded as possessions which could be sold i.e. men were regarded as owning their children and with a right to sell them. How could early man have felt this way about his children? Well, he begat them, he raised them, so he felt he owned them. It is a mentality or outlook that would seem strange today.

Slavery. Is it morally right? Does it seem right that a man should own another person, just as one might own a piece of furniture, with all that that implies? The practice does seem wrong to me. I understand the sentiment that it is morally wrong.

For perspective on the practice of slavery, let us consider the way in which the practice most likely originated. In ancient times it was very common practice for the victor in a war to slaughter all of the enemy — men, women, and children. It is most likely that sometimes the victor in a war saw great advantage in another option: to take at least some, such as the women and children, into slavery. If you had the choice of execution or slavery, which would you choose? So this option of slavery had the advantage of not only being humane but also providing a cheap source of labor, an idea attractive to the wealthy, privileged classes.

If one feels intuitively that the practice of slavery is wrong and immoral, then let us ask another question. Is it morally right to take the life of an animal such as a sheep, cow, goat, dog, or cat? Or is it wrong, unfair, unjust? There are some people, such as some religious sects in India, who believe it is wrong to take the life of any creature. I, personally, would not feel right about killing an animal. I would not like the job of having to kill a cow, sheep, goat, or anything else. It is taking a life. I just don’t like the idea. But if it is wrong to kill a sheep or a dog or a cat, is it wrong to kill a fly or a mosquito? Is a fly’s life worth less than a sheep’s life? I personally would have no compunction about killing a fly. In addition, nature is such that many species of animals, birds, fish and other creatures are so made that they require meat to live and are forced to kill in order to live. They were intended to kill. Killing is thus unfortunately part of the order of things, like death itself. The danger of being killed and eaten is just one of the basic, hard facts of life for most creatures.

Also, note this. Life has always been filled with all kinds of risks and possible adversities. There have always been all kinds of bad things that can happen to a person e.g. famines, floods, hurricanes, pestilence, plagues; all kinds of ailments and diseases; death of a loved one; invasions by marauding hoards such as the Vikings, Huns or Mongols. How does the plight of becoming a slave compare with some of these other plights that can occur to a person? Also, back in ancient times, slaves of wealthy people often lived better than non-slaves. Why? Because non-slaves had to eke out a living for themselves in some way. Acquiring the essentials of life can be hard. Slaves, on the other hand, are provided with living quarters and food and have some security in that regard. In ancient cultures the slaves of wealthy people sometimes had important jobs such as managing estates. Joseph was a slave who rose to high office.

May 2019