| |
If this law had been used, the Civil War would not have occurred.
All slave traders would have been killed and slave trading would have
stopped. We also find that God prohibited the return of a slave who
ran away.
| |
You
shall not hand over to his master a slave who has escaped from
his master to you. He shall live with you in your midst, in
the place which he shall choose in one of your towns where it
pleases him; you shall not mistreat him. (NASB) Deut. 23:15-16 |
This is very different from our normal concept of slavery. God did
not permit a man or a woman to be mistreated. If this is true, then
how did a person become a slave in the Old Testament? How were they
to be treated, and was it possible for them to get their freedom back?
Becoming
A Slave.
Slavery in the Old Testament usually occurred when a person sold or
gave himself or herself to another person. It was voluntary. It was
by choice. It was done to pay off a debt, or to provide money for
a destitute family. In effect, it was a labor contract. But in every
case, the slave was to be released after six years - on the year of
Jubilee (Exodus 21:2).
| |
. . . a Hebrew slave, he shall serve for six years; but on the
seventh he shall go out as a free man without payment. (NASB)
Exodus 21:2
He
shall be with you as a hired man, as if he were a sojourner;
he shall serve with you until the year of jubilee. (NASB) Lev.
25:40 |
A discussion of some difficult passages will follow. But first we
will summarize the different ways a person became a slave.
|
Becoming
A Slave |
Passage |
|
|
A
man who was very poor could sell himself. |
Lev.
25:39, 47 |
|
|
A
father could sell his daughter. |
Ex.
21:7; Neh. 5:5 |
|
|
An
adult woman could sell herself. |
Deut.
15:12-13 |
|
|
A
thief paid off his debt by serving as a slave. |
Exodus
22:1-3 |
|
˜
It is important to note that scripture is providing guidelines for
handling these situations and is not requiring these individuals to
sell themselves, or saying that someone must be sold. In ancient Israel,
very poor people sold themselves as servants or slaves to wealthy
families in order to survive. God did not want poverty in the land.
This was an ancient form of welfare. This is the background to the
situations above.
| |
However,
there shall be no poor among you, since the LORD will surely
bless you in the land which the LORD your God is giving you
as an inheritance to possess . . . (NASB) Deut. 15:4 |
Ancient
documents reveal that a father,
| |
. . . driven by poverty, might sell his daughter into a well-to-do
family in order to ensure her future security. The sale presupposes
marriage to the master or his son. Documents recording legal
arrangements of this kind have survived . . .
|
|
Nahum
M. Sarna. Exodus. The JPS Torah Commentary.
The Jewish Publication Society. 1991. |
|
|
