spes clara

In my previous two posts (which you can find here and here), I have been exploring the issue of slavery in the ancient Near East (ANE). The point of these somewhat scattered thoughts is to think about Old Testament slavery laws in a broader context. Now I’ve explored some of those background issues, I move to my main points about slavery laws in the Old Testament. Here are three points I think we need to bear in mind when thinking about what the Bible says about slavery:

1. Old Testament slavery laws must be read in the context of the hope-filled narrative arc of the Bible, centred on promises of global blessing and renewal through Jesus Christ.

All human language conveys meaning in context – either an historical, grammatical, or socio-cultural context. Reading part of a story should only be done in light of what the whole story is about. You don’t just get to read a few small parts of a text and assume what it means. To be factual and fair, a serious-minded person will look for wider features of a text which may shed light on a particular text in question. When applied to reading Bible, we discover laws about slavery are given in the context of a bigger, more hopeful story for humanity.

The entirety of the biblical story spans 929 chapters. It starts with God creating human beings in his “image” (cf. Genesis 1:27-28), meaning their primary function is to reflect the reality of God as they live productive, fruitful lives in the world. These first humans were offered an idyllic situation in which perpetual life and blessing would be theirs. At the start of the Bible, everything is just right.

“God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.” – Genesis 1:31 (NIV)

Human beings were made to flourish and cultivate the world so that it produced an abundance of good things and harmonious relationships. Human beings were made to enjoy true freedom, enjoying the good things of life under the loving rule of their maker. That’s what freedom is. Freedom isn’t the removal of any rules, boundaries, or moral obligations. It’s living and loving within the context of the lawful obligations God has placed on his image-bearers. The flight of an eagle is an example of this. An eagle is majestic and strong, and when it soars high above it seems so free. But its freedom exists within the natural constraints placed on it: gravity, air currents, aerodynamics, and food are all necessities if an eagle is to experience its “freedom”. Without these, the eagle remains on the ground and eventually dies there.

It is when we reach only the third chapter of the Bible (Genesis 3) that we understand that human beings have sought to find ‘freedom’ apart from the loving rule of their personal Creator God. Whether you take the opening chapters of Genesis as literal or figurative, it all comes out the same in the wash: God made us for blessedness, relationship, and freedom, living under his rightful, loving rule. We rejected that, preferring to act as our own little gods. God had assured Adam and Eve that the consequences of living outside his loving boundaries would turn out really badly; it will be a kind of living death – where pain, hard work, power struggles, and existential futility will run rampant (Genesis 2:15-17; Ecclesiastes ch. 1). This means that we humans become enslaved to our ‘sin’ – trapped by a human nature that aspires to great things, but also desires selfish and nasty things. To quote St. Augustine, our hearts have become incurvatus in se, “turned in on themselves”. The Bible is replete with references to this unfortunate state of affairs:

“The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.” (Genesis 6:5; NIV)

“Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.”  (Psalm 51:5)

“Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin” (John 8:34)

“For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. As it is written:

“There is no one righteous, not even one;
there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God.
All have turned away, they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good, not even one.”(Romans 3:9-12)

“The acts of the flesh [self-serving nature] are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Galatians 5:19-21; additional note supplied)

Certainly, human beings are capable of many wonderful, beautiful things. We build hospitals, donate food, write concertos, bake cakes, raise children, sail boats, build art galleries, and do many other good things. Like a child jumping on a trampoline, we humans leap up to many acts of goodness and generosity. But as they say, “What goes up must come down”. That’s why we find an obscene amount of evil and foolishness littering human history. We find rape, corruption, murder, child abuse, terrorism, greed, jealousy, arrogance, and violence. We find the world wars, violent conquest, the holocaust, September 11, and environmental destruction. We also find slavery. As Blaise Pascal put it, human beings are the glory and rubbish of the universe. The Bible says we are glorious dust, made to reflect the goodness and glory of God in every aspect of our lives as we live under his loving rule. But that’s not how it is. We’ve tried to go it alone without God. And it’s not gone well.

In short, human beings are enslaved to a broken human nature which retains some of the goodness that God had endowed it with, but is now tainted by a kaleidoscope of self-interest, shame, guilt, and, at times, grotesque evil.

As we consider the wider context in which we read Old Testament slavery laws, we need to remember that the story of humanity did not start with slavery, but freedom. The concept that people are equal in worth before God (and also accountable to him), is a theme right across the Bible. Thus, slavery and the mistreatment of fellow image bearers enters our human experience in the context of our grab for autonomy apart from God’s rule. Even if you reject the entirety of the Bible as ancient nonsense, there is simply no escaping the fact that the Bible begins without slavery in the picture. Then humans make the ultimate grab for personal power and autonomy. The rest is history. But not all of history.

Despite the horror of Adam and Eve rejecting God and the life promised in relationship with him, God later promises a day when the world will be suffused with the blessing and goodness he had always intended for it. Here’s what God said to Abraham – the spiritual ‘big daddy’ of the Old Testament:

The blessedness of life in this world was tarnished and lost. But God promised to Abraham that he would somehow suffuse the world with his goodness and glory again. Thousands of years after this, Jesus of Nazareth appears and begins his public ministry. Here is the first sentence of the New Testament:

This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham: (Matthew 1:1)

Notice, that Jesus is called ‘the son of Abraham’. He’s the one who comes to undo all the evil introduced to the world by our first human parents. The slavery to sin which results in oppressive slavery across the ANE is addressed by the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Jesus himself said:

So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. (John 8:26)

The Apostle Paul expressed it like this:

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. (Galatians 5:1).

There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28)

The primary slavery in this world is spiritual, not physical, social, or economic. Therefore, the primary freedom offered in the Bible is spiritual, not physical, social, or economic. That is the story of the Bible: a story of release from slavery to sin, and that offer of deep inner freedom will culminate in the divine remaking of the world – a world brimming with freedom, life, love, and glory.

In light of the blessing that Jesus brings, here’s how the big story of the Bible ends:

Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.  And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (Revelation 21:1-4; NIV)

The Bible presents a long, complex narrative which begins with freedom, quickly goes bad, and then freedom and redemption is offered through Christ, culminating in the liberation of the world from all that entangles it. The story goes: freedom –> bad stuff –> freedom remade. The Old Testament laws about slavery are given when humanity is up to its elbows in the ‘bad stuff’ bit. But God is working to a plan. He plays ‘the long game’ which works out in redemption and good stuff.

Anyone reading Old Testament slavery laws without regard for the wider context of the hopeful biblical narrative arc (which culminates in blessing and freedom) is either disingenuous or doesn’t know how to read texts responsibly. It’s like a trainee surgeon reading the bit about how to cut open a patient, but not reading the part where they are stitched back up again. Getting to that part is the culmination of the operation. All the difficult, bloody parts of the operation are meant to get you to that part of the operation which culminates in health and healing. And the Bible asserts that is what God is doing. He has allowed us to go our own way, in order to wonderfully redeem and remake everything (see Romans 8:20-21). In the Old Testament he provides many provisional laws to move this process along.

The Old Testament meets slavery as a deeply embedded human ‘institution’. It’s all part of how things go wrong. But God’s going to stitch the patient up in due course. God permits all sorts of nasty things to take place in his world, but he does so with a greater good in mind. Stories take time. Ultimate stories take a long time. We need to budget for the fact that God might actually be, well, like God – the sovereign Creator who is working out a bigger, better story than the one we want to write for ourselves. And it centres of the person and work of Jesus Christ.

God allows what he hates to achieve what he loves.

2. Old Testament slavery laws must be read alongside Old Testament teachings which view slavery as unfavourable, or show the status of slaves being much better than just ‘property’.

If the big story of the Bible offers a hopeful picture for the human race, when we shouldn’t be surprised to find a strange tension in the Old Testament regarding slavery. We find God’s laws addressing slavery as an already common human institution, but we also find numerous hints that slavery (particularly oppressive, harsh forms of it) isn’t the ideal. And we also find points where slaves become much more than just abused property of their owner. Here are a few examples:

(a) I have already shown in my previous point that the narrative arc of the Bible starts in freedom (service under God’s loving rule), and ends in glorious freedom. I reiterate the importance of this as it sets the tone for how we read Old Testament slavery. Is oppressive slavery truly, unequivocally condoned by God? No. Not when understood in its wider context.

(b) In the book of Job, we find Job is a very wealthy man who had many slaves (‘servants’ in some translations; see Job 1:1-3). After losing his great wealth and his family, he mourns their loss and considers a range of matters relating to life and death. Toward the end book, Job acknowledges the equality of all people and the necessity of treating slaves fairly:

“If I have denied justice to any of my servants,
    whether male or female,
    when they had a grievance against me,
    what will I do when God confronts me?
    What will I answer when called to account?
 Did not he who made me in the womb make them?
    Did not the same one form us both within our mothers? (Job 31:13-15)

Yes, Job had slaves. He also knew deep down that they are made in the image of God, just like him. He, like all slave owners, has an obligation to listen to them and give them justice. Job reasons that if he hasn’t treated them fairly, he won’t have anything to say in his defence before God. See also Leviticus 25:43 which says, “Do not rule over them [your Hebrew slaves] ruthlessly, but fear your God.”

(c) Point (b) is supported by Old Testament passages which suggest that all humans are given life by their Creator, and are in some sense His property:

The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it,
    the world, and all who live in it. (Psalm 24:1)

(d) Abraham, being a wealthy, successful man in the ANE, also owned numerous slaves. In Genesis 24, Abraham has a ‘head servant’ who is in charge of his vast fortune. Effectively, Abraham trusts this slave so much, he has made him second-in-charge. Rich people don’t usually trust their enormous wealth to people viewed as little more than incompetent cattle. If you read that chapter, you’ll see Abraham entrusts a critically important task to this head slave. You’ll also see this slave deeply respects his master and practices the same religion as him.

(e) In another famous story, Abraham’s great-grandson Joseph is sold into slavery by his brothers to an Egyptian official (Genesis 37:36). Joseph, though a slave in a foreign land, is seen to possess great wisdom and skill, and rises to become second-in-charge of Egypt (Genesis 41:39-43). In this context, Joseph is able to assist his biological family who are facing a severe famine in the land of Canaan. This shows some socio-economic mobility for slaves who possess considerable strengths. It also shows God allowing things he hates to achieve things he loves.

(f) One of the worst things to happen to the Hebrew people was their enslavement in Egypt for more than 400 years! Their release from slavery is the principal act of salvation in the Old Testament. So God liberates his Old Testament people through a sequence of dramatic supernatural and political acts. As I said in point 1 above, God allows slavery but has in view a wider good in mind. Thus, the “exodus” of the Israelites from ancient Egypt is a simulacrum of his end goal for his creation – a saved world, set free from its bondage to sin, suffering, and death.

These points simply tell us that slavery in Old Testament is not the ideal for human beings. While often treated poorly, slaves are pictured as being made in the image of God and entitled to justice. Release from slavery is offered as a paradigm of the redemptive purposes of God. And slaves who were skilled and hardworking could find themselves in positions of great power and responsibility.

Again, any fair-minded person seeking the truth about Old Testament slavery will bear these points in mind.

3. Old Testament slavery laws are generally more humane than most ancient societies in the ANE, and some of these laws appear to dissuade Israelites from the practice of slavery.

Yes, God gave laws to his ancient people that presumed a temporary socio-economic utility for slavery. However, these laws show a reasonable level of regard for people who were at the bottom of the social ladder. Consider these examples:

(a) Slaves were required to have one full 24hr day of rest a week (Exodus. 20:10). Due to restrictions on travel on the sabbath, a slave would normally rest in the home of their master along with his household.

(b) Hebrew slaves were to be released every seventh year – called the Sabbath Year (Deuteronomy 15:12-18). But if a slave did not want to leave their master’s service, it could be made a permanent arrangement at the request of the slave. These are strange provisions if slaves were uniformly treated like animals.

(c) Slaves were also released every 50^th year – called the year of Jubilee (Leviticus 25).

(d) If a slave ran away from their master, you cannot return him to the master: “If a slave has taken refuge with you, do not hand them over to their master. Let them live among you wherever they like and in whatever town they choose. Do not oppress them.” (Deuteronomy 23:15-16). Victor Hamilton argues that these and other laws attempt to dissuade Israelites from the practice of slavery. He writes,

“ . . . a slave can choose not to be a slave. To gain his freedom, he need not wait those six years. He can simply and legally run away, without consequence to either the fugitive or to the one who is harboring him. Here is one major difference between the [various ANE slavery] codes. In the Laws of Eshnunna (laws 12–13) there is a stiff fine for harboring a runaway slave, and Hammurabi’s Code (numbers 15–16) makes it a capital offense. As D. J. Clines (1995) has pointed out, “If a slave can choose not to be a slave, the concept of slavery does not exist as it once was thought to exist . . . ” [16]

(e) If you beat a slave “with a rod” (the use of the word ‘rod’ indicates a standard means of episodic discipline), you will be punished if the slave dies (Exodus 21:20-21).

God gives to his ancient people laws which accept slavery as an established necessity. Slaves, then, were seen as property which have economic value to the slave owner. Like any resource, slaves are worth something. But the laws governing the use and treatment of slaves among the Hebrews seem, on the whole, much more humane and fair than other ANE peoples. Since slaves are human beings created in the image of God, they are more than ‘property’. In neighbouring nations, laws for slaves were often quite brutal. However, the Hebrews had to give their slaves rest, release Hebrew slaves every seven years, not reacquire slaves who abandon their master, and slave owners had to be careful how they disciplined them.

To recap, here are my three main points outlined in this post:

1. Old Testament slavery laws must be read in the context of the hope-filled narrative arc of the Bible, centred on promises of global blessing and renewal through Jesus Christ.

2. Old Testament slavery laws must be read alongside Old Testament teachings which view slavery as unfavourable, or show the status of slaves being much better than just ‘property’.

3. Old Testament slavery laws are generally more humane than most ancient societies in the ANE, and some of these laws appear to dissuade Israelites from the practice of slavery.

Slavery in the ANE was ubiquitous for numerous reasons – one of them was the socio-economic utility of providing people without means to support themselves a place to live, work, eat, and sleep. God’s laws given to the Hebrews show clearly a temporary acceptance of this ‘institution’, but also hint at a more hopeful trajectory for God’s world in which blessing and freedom would spread. The Old Testament gives numerous indications that slavery was not God’s intention for humans, is not ideal, and provides laws which might dissuade the use of slavery.

God is working for the reformation of his world, not a sudden revolution where all slaves are suddenly set free. And how could that possibly work anyway? Let’s say God appeared in the sky around 1,500BC, and commanded that at sunset all slaves in the world were to be set free and must not live in the homes of their masters. Millions of people would be freed! But when the sun came up the next day, where do those millions get their breakfast from? The social security office? No. Maybe the wealthiest rulers would provide generous handouts to all of these people to help them get resettled in a new life? Good luck with that.

Slavery emerged in complex and harsh conditions. God began working out his promises of blessing by saving a people from slavery and giving them laws which allowed for slavery, without holding it up as ideal.

God is working out a big plan. It takes time. It’s reformation – not revolution.  

But I want to come to my central argument in relation to this topic. That’s for the next post.

REFERENCE

[16] Hamilton, Victor P. (2011). Exodus: An Exegetical Commentary. Baker Books.