The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Exodus 21:2,
"If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free, without paying anything."
The issue comes up at times as to why the Bible condones slavery. Another way to cast the question is, why does the Bible not condemn slavery?
We live in a society that seems to be driven by a fascination with "social justice". I see this fascination as little more than a faux-moral tool used to advance the cause of socialism and communism in our culture to silence opponents and to oppose true morality. In this hyper-charged atmosphere slavery can hardly be discussed in any context of truthful history.
Given that, the question of slavery in the Scriptures is something that we, as believers, should be equipped to discuss. Articles abound on the subject, but need to be read with a cautious eye. Many want to condemn the Scriptures out of their rejection of God and, I think, likewise, too many believers err in attempting to "protect" the Bible.
Trust me, the Bible does not need to be "protected". It is authored by God using men who were carried along by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:20-21), so it stands on its own as God's own authoritative word. Our efforts won't add to that. On the other hand, I do think the field of Christian apologetics is very important and a very useful field and needs to be pursued. Hopefully you can see the difference I am drawing here. But... I digress.
As an example of attempting to "protect" the Bible, in an otherwise good article on slavery in the Bible, the statement is made, "The slavery in the Bible was not based exclusively on race. People were not enslaved because of their nationality or the color of their skin." See https://www.gotquestions.org/Bible-slavery.html. While slavery in the Bible may not have been based exclusively on race, look at what we read in 1 Kings 9:20-21, "There were still people left from the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites (these peoples were not Israelites). Solomon conscripted the descendants of all these peoples remaining in the land—whom the Israelites could not exterminate—to serve as slave labor, as it is to this day." It looks like we do have King Solomon enslaving others based on nationality.
On the other hand, that article makes an important point about some of the slavery we read of in Scripture, and probably that which is addressed in Exodus 21, "In Bible times, slavery was based more on economics; it was a matter of social status. People sold themselves as slaves when they could not pay their debts or provide for their families. In New Testament times, sometimes doctors, lawyers, and even politicians were slaves of someone else. Some people actually chose to be slaves so as to have all their needs provided for by their masters."
This morning I wonder about this issue of slavery relative to another subject Jesus spoke of. When it came to divorce, Pharisees asked why Moses (in the Scriptures) provided for divorce. Jesus' answer was essentially, don't blame God - blame sinful man, "Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning." Matthew 19:3-12.
"If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free, without paying anything."
The issue comes up at times as to why the Bible condones slavery. Another way to cast the question is, why does the Bible not condemn slavery?
We live in a society that seems to be driven by a fascination with "social justice". I see this fascination as little more than a faux-moral tool used to advance the cause of socialism and communism in our culture to silence opponents and to oppose true morality. In this hyper-charged atmosphere slavery can hardly be discussed in any context of truthful history.
Given that, the question of slavery in the Scriptures is something that we, as believers, should be equipped to discuss. Articles abound on the subject, but need to be read with a cautious eye. Many want to condemn the Scriptures out of their rejection of God and, I think, likewise, too many believers err in attempting to "protect" the Bible.
Trust me, the Bible does not need to be "protected". It is authored by God using men who were carried along by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:20-21), so it stands on its own as God's own authoritative word. Our efforts won't add to that. On the other hand, I do think the field of Christian apologetics is very important and a very useful field and needs to be pursued. Hopefully you can see the difference I am drawing here. But... I digress.
As an example of attempting to "protect" the Bible, in an otherwise good article on slavery in the Bible, the statement is made, "The slavery in the Bible was not based exclusively on race. People were not enslaved because of their nationality or the color of their skin." See https://www.gotquestions.org/Bible-slavery.html. While slavery in the Bible may not have been based exclusively on race, look at what we read in 1 Kings 9:20-21, "There were still people left from the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites (these peoples were not Israelites). Solomon conscripted the descendants of all these peoples remaining in the land—whom the Israelites could not exterminate—to serve as slave labor, as it is to this day." It looks like we do have King Solomon enslaving others based on nationality.
On the other hand, that article makes an important point about some of the slavery we read of in Scripture, and probably that which is addressed in Exodus 21, "In Bible times, slavery was based more on economics; it was a matter of social status. People sold themselves as slaves when they could not pay their debts or provide for their families. In New Testament times, sometimes doctors, lawyers, and even politicians were slaves of someone else. Some people actually chose to be slaves so as to have all their needs provided for by their masters."
This morning I wonder about this issue of slavery relative to another subject Jesus spoke of. When it came to divorce, Pharisees asked why Moses (in the Scriptures) provided for divorce. Jesus' answer was essentially, don't blame God - blame sinful man, "Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning." Matthew 19:3-12.
I suspect the same can be said for slavery. Don't blame God, blame sinful man.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know. A blog with all my posts can be found here: http://worshipfortoday.blogspot.com/
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know. A blog with all my posts can be found here: http://worshipfortoday.blogspot.com/
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