God’s morality is objective and absolute except slavery–that depends on the century you happen to be living in.
atheist meme
In the previous blog and video, the case was made that there is NOT the promotion or even regulation of slavery for foreigners in the Old Testament (OT). Rather, the OT Law provided foreigners sanctuary and asylum for foreigners escaping from oppression. Those who came to Israel impoverished (as the majority would) became bond-servants who would hire themselves to an Israelite family until they could gain their economic freedom.
In making this case, some will raise serious objections to this picture of mercy and asylum from Leviticus 25:44-46.
How can you say it is not slavery when…
44 “‘Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. 45 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. 46 You can bequeath them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your fellow Israelites ruthlessly.
Leviticus 25:44-46
- Leviticus 25:44, 46 uses the word, “slave?”
- Leviticus 25:44 says you can buy them?
- Leviticus 25:45 says they will become your property?
- Leviticus 25:46 says they can be your property for life and they can be given to your children?
- Leviticus 25:46 implies you cannot treat an Israelite ruthlessly, but you can a foreigner?
Before we answer each of these questions, we need to keep in mind that God gave Israel an entire law code. Every law is connected to every other law. None of the laws or regulations are given in isolation, but are to be understood together. In the OT, there are around twenty-five verses giving clear instructions on providing rights, privileges and protections to the foreigner residing in Israel. Therefore, to properly evaluate the three verses of Leviticus 25:44-46, we have to connect them with the other regulations.
Slavery vs Debt-Service
Israelites clearly did NOT go into slavery but debt-service. I have seen no debate on this issue. Jews were never to be sold as slaves when they became indebted; they entered into a voluntary debt-service which offered a pathway to economic freedom. Here were essential conditions of this debt-service:
- It would be voluntary and never forced.
- It would only be for a person’s labor, not the person.
- It would have a six year limit.
- It was given resources and provisions at the end of the service.
- It was given rights and protections.
Foreigners were offered the same type of debt-service as an Israelite, except there was not a fixed six year limit. Everything else was the same. Because of this their service could be called a debt-service, as well. Look at the provision and rights which were provided to them:
Foreigners as debt-servants were given equal rights of protection:
“When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.”
Leviticus 19:33–34
“Do not deprive the foreigner or the fatherless of justice, or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you from there. That is why I command you to do this.”
Deuteronomy 24:17-18
Foreigners could not become debt-servants by force, only voluntarily:
“Anyone who kidnaps someone is to be put to death, whether the victim has been sold or is still in the kidnapper’s possession.”
Exodus 21:16
“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
A foreign debt-servant was to be released from service if they were injured:
“An owner who hits a male or female slave [servant] in the eye and destroys it must let the slave go free to compensate for the eye. And an owner who knocks out the tooth of a male or female slave [servant] must let the slave go free to compensate for the tooth.”
Exodus 21:26-27
Even when there was accidental injury, the servant had to go free as compensation for his injury.
Why does Leviticus 25:44 & 46 use the word, “slave?”
The Hebrews did not have a term for slave because slavery did not exist as a practice in their culture. OT scholar, J.A Moyter writes, “Hebrew has no vocabulary of slavery, only of servanthood.” The Hebrew term translated “slave” in modern translations is ebed. This could mean slave, but it usually meant “servant,” “worker” or “employee” (using today’s terminology). The OT uses the word ebed because they had no term which meant slave. John Goldingay, a professor of OT at Fuller Seminary, states that “there is nothing inherently lowly or undignified about being an ‘ebed.’” In fact, earlier translations of the OT do not translate ebed as slave. The Latin Vulgate, which is the 4th century Latin translation of the Bible, most commonly translates ebed as “servus” (Latin for servant). At times the Vulgate uses “famulus.” (Latin for family.) This is quite distinct from the Latin term, “mancipum,” which means a “slave as property.” The King James Version (1611) regularly translates ebed as “servant,” while occasionally using the word, “bondman.” It never translates ebed as “slave,” and neither do the nineteenth-century revisions of the King James Version. The translation of ebed as slave did not become common until the Revised Standard Version (1952) onwards.
Why does Leviticus 25:44 & 45 say you can buy them?
from them you may buy slaves
The verb “buy” is qanah. The use of the word does not necessarily involve selling or purchasing, especially of people. In Hebrew, this word can mean to “buy,” or “acquire,” or even “create.” In modern lingo it has the idea of to “hire” or “employ.”
“I have also acquired [qanah] Ruth the Moabite, Mahlon’s widow, as my wife…”
Ruth 4:10
Obviously, this was not a financial transaction by Boaz. She was not inferior but a full partner in marriage. Exodus 21:16, as seen above, forbids owning and selling people. So who is receiving the money in Leviticus 25:44? There’s only one possibility: the worker themselves. In view of the other passages regarding the treatment of foreigners, it describes a hiring process where someone from a nation is being paid to work. Remember from what we said above regarding these foreign debt-servants:
- They would have the same rights as native-born Israelites.
- They could leave anytime they wanted.
- They could not be forced to stay in this position.
The best interpretation from understanding all of the relevant passages of the Law of Moses is that this was a hired servant.
Why does Leviticus 25:45 say they will become your property?
“they will become your property”
So what is this describing? It seems the answer is fairly simple. The word “property” simply means they are working for you, instead of for someone else. In English, calling someone your “property” is awful, and understandably so. But, Leviticus wasn’t written in English to 21st century readers, and that’s not what the word means. Biblical scholar, Paul Copan writes:
“Even when the terms buy, sell, or acquire are used of servants/employees, they don’t mean the person in question is ‘just property.’ Think of a sports player today who gets ‘traded’ to another team, to which he ‘belongs.’ Yes, teams have ‘owners,’ but we’re hardly talking about slavery here! Rather, these are formal contractual agreements, which is what we find in Old Testament servanthood/employee arrangements.
Today, a boss can speak of “his employees,” and we never assume he means that they are slaves or his property. They’re free at any time to leave and find work elsewhere.
Why does Leviticus 25:46 say they can be your property for life and given to your children?
“You can bequeath them to your children…and can make them slaves for life”
So, why is this arrangement for life? There is a provision for those Israelites who were in debt-service that they could become life-long servants to their employer if the arrangement they had with him was better than being on their own.
“But if the servant declares, ‘I love my master and my wife and children and do not want to go free, then his master must take him before the judges. He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life.”
Exodus 21:5-6
A similar provision was obviously given to these resident foreigners who had no land or homes they could go to, and most likely no family with whom they could stay. Because they were landless and homeless and without family, this arrangement could be extended into the next generation. This is really a provision of love and mercy.
Let’s bear in mind, also, that this setup wasn’t to be permanent, unless the debt-servant chose to stay with the owner. The owner cannot force the servant to stay. This was by mutual choice.
The text of Leviticus 25 makes clear that the alien/stranger could potentially work himself out of debt and become a person of means in Israel:
If a foreigner residing among you becomes rich and any of your fellow Israelites become poor and sell themselves to the foreigner or to a member of the foreigner’s clan…
Leviticus 25:47
This is another indication that he wasn’t stuck in lifelong servitude without a choice. These “acquired” servants could potentially better themselves to the point of hiring servants themselves. Keep in mind that:
- They would have the same rights as native-born Israelites.
- They could leave anytime they wanted.
- They could not be forced to stay in this position.
Ruling ruthlessly
“but you must not rule over your fellow Israelites ruthlessly”
What on earth does this mean? Does it imply that you can’t rule ruthlessly over an Israelite brother, but you could over a foreigner. Thankfully, the passage never says they can.
Kyle Davison Blair explains:
“…the passage highlights the difference between Israelites and foreigners. A foreigner whom you hire may work for you for a time but then return to their own land. But an Israelite brother will be with you in the land forever. Therefore, you treat them well. While an Israelite brother might serve you for a time as your worker, he may one day be a land-owner like you. Treat brothers as equals, even if they currently are in a low situation. Or to say it simply: treat a brother like a brother.”
Conclusion
Leviticus 25:44–46 only seems to support slavery if you rip it out of its context in the rest of the Law. But when you let the entire Law inform the situation, any hint of slavery disappears rather you end up with a perfectly moral code of employment for foreigners. Here is how the passage reads with some translational adjustments from the NIV:
44 “‘Your male and female [workers] are to come from the nations around you; from them you may [acquire] [workers]. 45 You may also [acquire] some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your [employees]. 46 You can bequeath them to your children as inherited [employees] and can make them [employees] for life, but you must not rule over your fellow Israelites ruthlessly.
Leviticus 25:44-46
It is so important to understand that these laws were NOT permanent. They were temporary. They do not apply to us today. They were for the nation of Israel until Christ would come.
For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. But God found fault with the people and said,
“The days are coming, declares the Lord,
Hebrews 8:7-9, 13
when I will make a new covenant
with the people of Israel
and with the people of Judah.
It will not be like the covenant
I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand
to lead them out of Egypt…
By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.
Like a booster rocket that takes a space craft into space and then is discarded, this is what these laws of Israel did. At the time and in the conditions of the ancient world, these are a vast upgrade of mercy and love to Jews and foreigners. But once they served their purpose and there was no longer even debt-servitude in Israel by the time of the first century with the coming of Jesus Christ, these laws, like the booster rocket were discarded. When evaluated at the time and for the purpose they were given, they show God to be wise and gracious to restore a broken world.
Related blogs:
How NOT To Misread the Bible (Part 8): Slavery for Foreigners or Refugee Protection?
Story of Grace 