ISRAEL &Slavery

What does the U.S. military have to do with Israel's slavery? Please read on.

CRITICS OF GOD’S ROLE IN SLAVERY.  Some misunderstand about the nature of the true and living God.   They want to make him after their fantasies, ideas, etc.  If the Bible God does not match their ideal, they will make up their own.   But God is real, and who He is, is described in the Bible.  Perhaps the critics are like the ancients who suppose themselves to be more righteous than the Bible author and want to create a the image of a better god?  “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.  Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made” (Romans 1:21-23a). 

One item of criticism is in the subject of slavery.  Criticisms of Biblical servitude usually reveal ignorance of the context.  One example is the misquoting of verses to show that slaves could be beaten; the quoted verses actually are dealing with rearing and correcting children (Proverbs 23:13-14) which is another subject.  

NATURE OF THE TRUE GOD.  God is both severe and good.  Genesis 6:7 shows the severity of God towards disobedience. God’s judgment was upon mankind man’s sins.  It was not slavery. Man deserved Death.  He got it.  It was The Flood.   Only 8 souls were saved and that because Noah found favor in God’s sight.   Romans 11:22, “Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee [i.e., Christian], goodness, if thou continue in His goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.”   

DID GOD APPROVE OF SLAVERY?  The word “slave” is never used in the KJV OT except once and then it is in italics (Jeremiah 2:14).  What does that mean?   It meant the translators interpreted the context to refer to slavery and so they added it with italics according to their rules.  Rather than slave the Bible translators used “servant.”  But there are two chief Hebrew words translated “servant.” 

1.  The Hebrew servant word ‛ebed^H5650 (Leviticus 25:44, 45) meant a stranger slave, i.e., simply a person in bondage.  However, Egyptian officials were also called ‛ebed (Exodus 5:21; 7:10; 9:20; 10:1; etc.) 

2.  The Hebrew servant word śâkı̂yr^H7916 (Exodus 22:15; Leviticus 19:13) was a person with wages by the day or year, i.e., an hireling.

SERVITUDE EXISTS IN THE UNITED STATES.   In 2018 the size of the U.S. military was 1,379,800.    “When a person enters the U.S. military, they enter a contract with the U.S. government for a certain period of years. The government affords the new military recruit certain rights and also provides for food, shelter, clothing, money, etc. The new recruit acknowledges that the government now owns his or her labor and time in return for the length of the contract.”[i] This is the type of servitude in Israel instead of slavery. The purpose was designed especially to help a person who was in a bad place such as poor or a debtor.  In 1973 the military draft in the U.S. ended.  Conscription in the past was involuntary “servitude” for the men.  Currently, the service is voluntary for men and women just as Israel’s servitude was voluntary.    

SECULAR HISTORY; ORIGIN OF CITY STATES, ETC.  The first time that the descendants of Noah (MANKIND) are separated is at the Tower of Babel during the lifetime of Peleg (Genesis 11).  The time has been surmised to have been around the 23^rd century BC.  The division was not based on skin color or nationality (all were descendants of Noah’s family) but was on the basis of language differences.  This would have resulted in family-oriented groupings and competition between city-states..[ii] 

ORIGIN OF SLAVERY.  Slavery is thought to have been originally the result of men plundering their neighbors whom they considered as inferior beings.[iii]  Slaves in such cases would have been prisoners of war, i.e., “foreign” slaves.  Descendants of such made up a large part of the slave population in ancient Mesopotamia.  In Sumer and Akkadia there is evidence that the bulk of the Sumerian and Akkadian slaves actually came from their own native populations.  “Citizen debtors, unemployed men and women sold themselves voluntarily into slavery, and minors were either sold by their parents or who were forced into a position in which only slavery could save their lives.”[iv]   At any rate by 1900 BC, slavery was an established institution as reflected in the discovered Hammurabi Code of Mesopotamia.

PREDICTION OF CANAAN AS “SLAVES OF SLAVES.”  Now Noah’s son Ham was cursed through his descendant Canaan (Genesis 9:25); he was predicted to be “a servant (‘ebed)^H5650 of servants. ^H5650” Canaan was to serve both Shem and Japheth.  The curse was based upon the commonality of misbehavior between dad and son.  Whereas part of Abraham’s blessings was through a selection of his descendants (Genesis 12:1-5), the curse of Ham was to be realized through his son Canaan, his descendent.   But characteristic of God, the son did not bear the sins of his father but was judged by his own iniquities: “The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him” (Ezekiel 18:20).

The family of Canaan settled in what was considered the land of the “Amorites” (“Westerners”) at this time.[v]  However, God protected Canaan in their land until “their iniquity” was full.  Genesis 15: 16, “But in the fourth generation (heirs of Abraham) they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites [Canaanites] is not yet full.”  

To the critics:  Which is worse?   Slavery or annihilation?  God Himself thoroughly destroys Canaan’s sinful Sodom and Gormorrah during Abraham’s day.  These were two cities of Canaan (Genesis 10:15-19).  No slavery.  Like the Flood, He kills them all.  After the rest of the Canaan family’s iniquity is complete God commands the extermination of them, this time by Israel.  They are not to be made slaves.  It is God’s judgment for their sins ( Genesis. 15:16 ;  18:20-21 ;  Leviticus 18:20-30 ;  Deuteronomy. 7:1-4 ;  9:4-5 ). Their culture was totally committed to sins of idolatry, temple prostitution, adultery, homosexuality, incest, murder, bestiality, gang rape, and child sacrifice.   This was similar to God’s earlier judgment of Sodom.  “ When the LORD your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy. [or]… they will turn your children away from following me to serve other gods, and the LORD's anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you ” .[vi]

JOB’S HOUSEHOLD.  It is determined that Job lived during the Patriarchal Period after the Flood but before Abraham.[vii]  And the Bible tells us that Job had a “great” household (servants, Job 1:3) as later did Isaac (Genesis 26:14).  One criterion of Job’s and Isaac’s greatness was their number of servants.    Job took pride in his treatment of his slaves when he said, "Did I ever despise the judgment of my servant ^H5650 and my maid when they argued with me? Did not my Maker make him, too, in the belly; did not the same One form us both in the womb?"  (Job 31:13).  Job’s statement explains the free status of his slaves who were even allowed to argue with the master.

ABRAHAM’S SLAVES.  Genesis 20:14 tells how Abimelech took “menservants, and womenservants, and gave them to Abraham.”   These servants were not free but given as one gives livestock.   According to Genesis 12:16 Abram is a slaveholder; he has menservants and maidservants.  Sarai had a slave, an Egyptian handmaid, named Hagar (Genesis 21:10).   Eliezer of Damascus was Abraham’s steward (Genesis 15:2) and is assumed to be the elderly and trusted slave sent to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor, to locate a wife for Isaac (Genesis 24).

THE TORAH.[viii]    The Law of Moses.  Strictly for Israel plus any converts.  Deuteronomy 5:3, “The LORD made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day.”  Romans 3:2b (CEV), “First of all, God's messages were spoken to the Jews.” 

SLAVERY IN ISRAEL: The Servant ‛ebed^H5650.  FORBIDDEN FOR ISRAELITES.  It is important for us to recognize that God considered it an evil if Israel enslaved their own people.  Leviticus 25:42 (CEV), “I brought them out of Egypt to be my servants‛ebed^H5650, not to be sold as slaves. ‛ebed^H5650” Exodus 21:16, “And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.”  It was considered an evil.   Deuteronomy 24:7 “If a man be found stealing any of his brethren of the children of Israel, and maketh merchandise of him, or selleth him; then that thief shall die; and thou shalt put evil away from among you.”  

DEBT SERVANT śâkı̂yr^H7916 WAS VOLUNTARY.   A poor Israelite according to Leviticus 25:39-46 could sell himself as a “hired” slave (or servant) until Jubilee.  A year of Jubilee was held every 50th year.  These slaves (servants^H7916 ) were to be freed, debts forgiven, and land returned to its original owner.  He CANNOT BE SOLD AS ‘ebed (because he is already God’s ‘ebed).  God therefore allowed debt “servants” ^H7916 in order to help the poor survive. In Deuteronomy 15, Israelites are released from their debts every 7 years.  Deuteronomy 23, Israelites were not to be charged interest; foreigners may be charged interest.  The Israelite Thief would also fall into this category. According to Exodus 22:2-3, since an Israelite thief could not make restitution for his theft because he owned nothing, he was to be sold into service by the judges to pay his 200 % restitution. 

CHOICE OF BEING “FOREVER SLAVES.”   God provided for Israelites to independently choose to be lifelong servants out of love [ix] for their master (Exodus 21:5-6).   Deuteronomy 15:16b adds “ because he is well with thee.”

 THE FOREIGNER AS SLAVE ^H5650.  Leviticus 25:44-46, “Both thy bondmen ^H5650, and thy bondmaids, which thou shalt have, shall be of the heathen that are round about you; of them shall ye buy bondmen H5650 and bondmaids.    Moreover, of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy, and of their families that are with you, which they begat in your land:  and they shall be your possession.   And ye shall take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them for a possession; they shall be your bondmen forever: but over your brethren the children of Israel, ye shall not rule one over another with rigour.”  Laws protecting foreigners are found in Exodus 23:9; Leviticus 19:34; 24:22; Deuteronomy 10:19; 14:28; 24:14. If the foreigners converted, they could eat of the Passover with the family (Exodus 12:44). Would they not now be 'ebed of the Lord and be equivalent to the native Israelite servant?

HOW TO TREAT SERVANTS (Leviticus 25:25-55).^[x]   There was no differentiation between Jewish “servants” and non-Jewish “slaves” in several areas.   God provided guidance regarding how all servants (‘ebed and śâkı̂yr) were to be treated, including a provision for servants ‛ ebed^H5650 that run away (to be free, Deuteronomy 23:15), as well as ways for slaves to gain their freedom if they were mistreated physically.   If a master knocked out a tooth or an eye of a slave, he would have to let the slave go free (Exodus 21:27).  He lost “his property.”  If the slave was killed, the master would be charged with murder (Leviticus 24:21-22).   God commanded His people to treat others the way they would want to be treated, including the ‘ebed foreigners (Exodus 23:9; Leviticus 19:18; Deuteronomy 10:18-19; 27:17; 27:19). [xi]      Deuteronomy 24:14, Israel “shall not oppress an hired servant  śâkı̂yr^H791who is  of brethren or strangers.”   “You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God” (Leviticus 19:33-34).  Stranger in this context includes rigor slavery (e.g., Egypt, Exodus 1:13).  Servants and slaves were required to have a day off once a week (Exodus 23:12; Deuteronomy 5:14).  Such were not to be slandered (Proverbs 30:10), etc.

 FINALLY, the attitude of the God of the Bible always had mercy on a repentant man whether he be slave or free, Israel or Gentile.   Jonah 4:11 is an example.   

 footnote.   An estimated 25-40 million people were enslaved in the world as of 2013, the majority of these are in Asia.[xii]  Many so-called liberal politicians ignore also the slave trade through our southern border. 

 GAYLON WEST -- THROW OUT THE LIFELINE *** edited by Janie Ward & Mary West