Slavery in the BIble

Ariell

Leviticus 25:44-46 "Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property. You can will them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your fellow Israelites ruthlessly."

Exodus 21:20-21 "If a man beats his male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies as a direct result, he must be punished, but he is not to be punished if the slave gets up after a day or two, since the slave is his property"

Doesn't this go against the notion that God is impartial? How do you decide which will be the master and which will be the slave? Why was it even allowed? Why would humans be given servants if we're all created equal? I guess this is a question for the believers. I want to understand how you can justify this and then maybe I can understand how I managed to ignore it myself for so long.

Elsewhere

Yeah... if America was founded on "Biblical Principals" then I wonder why these "Biblical Principals" people don't demand the right to own slaves?

Isn't outlawing slavery an overt act agains gawd?

Ariell

Isn't outlawing slavery an overt act agains gawd?

Exactly. If I was a bible believing slave owner 200 years ago I would think slavery was okay too. I'm surprised they outlawed it.

Nan

Here's what www.carm.org has to say about it:

CHRISTIAN A POLOGETICS & RESEARCH MINISTRY	www.carm.org	HOME PAGE

You may buy slaves Leviticus 25:44

(Leviticus 25:44) - "?As for your male and female slaves whom you may have?you may acquire male and female slaves from the pagan nations that are around you."

In the fallen world that mankind had created, slavery was a reality. God permitted its existence and worked within its system. Slaves were more domestic servants than oppressed field workers. Slaves could be the captives of war (Num. 31:25-47), subjects of debt to be worked off (2 Kings 4:1), born into slavery (Gen. 17:12-13), or entered into voluntarily (Exodus 21:5-6). In the Ancient Near East, some slaves were able to own other slaves and even conduct business and in Exodus 25:2 a slave was required to be set free after six years of service. Though slavery carries a very negative connotation here in America, it was not nearly as bad it was here in the first 100 years of our nation's existence.
As I said above, God works within the fallen system to bring about His will. Slavery was permitted by God and rules of treatment of slaves were given so that they would not be mistreated.

Elsewhere

I sure hope you are only quoting the absurdity of that document.

Mary

OK, lemme take a wild stab at this..........the bible was written at a time when the culture was completely different than what we have today and would have seemed perfectly fine back then. Servants were a necessary part of life as they certainly did not have the modern conveniences for building, or working the land like we do today. Of course we do not agree with slavery today but we have the advantage of hindsight---they didn't. All men might have been created equal but that doesn't mean that they're going to be equal throughout their life. Think about it; even in today's society: not everyone can be rich. Wal-Mart, McDonalds, IBM......do the employees make as much as the owners? Of course not. A waitress doesn't make the same as the owner of a restaurant. If everyone were equally rich, our economy would be screwed as who could you possibly get to work for you?

As for the scriptures that talk about "beating" the slave, well of course we don't agree with that, but once again, that was the culture back then. Everyone today knows who Captain Bligh was and if the story of The Bounty took place today, he'd be charged with assault, confinement, murder, extreme emotional and physical distress, endangering the lives of his passengers and everything under the sun and then tossed into either prison or the insane asylum for the rest of his life. But 215 years ago, he was the norm.

In alot of cases we simply can't judge the morality of a 5,000 year old culture and apply it to our terms today.

Just my two cents worth.

Elsewhere

I consider it my right to judge them harshly for slavery.

Ariell

Think about it; even in today's society: not everyone can be rich. Wal-Mart, McDonalds, IBM......do the employees make as much as the owners? Of course not. A waitress doesn't make the same as the owner of a restaurant. If everyone were equally rich, our economy would be screwed as who could you possibly get to work for you?

Being a slave and being poor is two completely different things. A slave is owned. McDonalds doesn't own it's employees. When I say equal, I mean equal in a sense that no one is superior than the other in terms or race and ethnic background, not whether they are high class or low class.
In alot of cases we simply can't judge the morality of a 5,000 year old culture and apply it to our terms today.
But this is the bible we're talking about and a God who is suppose to be just and fair, not just a people and a culture. In that case, I think we can judge and should.

Mary

But this is the bible we're talking about and a God who is suppose to be just and fair, not just a people and a culture

You're right, but I think alot of what's written in the bible is simply written from man's point of view, not God's.

Elsewhere

we're talking about and a God who is suppose to be just and fair, not just a people and a culture.

And if slavery is "just and fair" then our modern society is rebelling against gawd for outlawing slavery. To say otherwise is to say that gawd suddenly had a flash of New Light in his eye balls. "Whoa! Hold on! Slavery is Baaaaad!"

There is no such thing as "good" slavery. As Ariell pointed out, employment is a choice, slavery is not. There are even times when "employment" is considered illegal. Have you ever heard of the term: "Unconscienceable contract"? Judges strike them down all the time. It doesn't matter if a person initially agrees to the contract. Odds are they did not fully understand the consequences.

Owning someone means you have absolute power over them... and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Slavery in the BIble

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