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slavery in the bible

 

 

Except for murder, slavery has got to be one of the most immoral things a person
can do. Yet slavery is rampant throughout the Bible in both the Old and New
Testaments. The Bible clearly approves of slavery in many passages, and it goes
so far as to tell how to obtain slaves, how hard you can beat them, and when you
can have sex with the female slaves.

Many Jews and Christians will try to ignore the moral problems of slavery by
saying that these slaves were actually servants or indentured servants. Many
translations of the Bible use the word "servant", "bondservant", or "manservant"
instead of "slave" to make the Bible seem less immoral than it really is. While
many slaves may have worked as household servants, that doesn't mean that they
were not slaves who were bought, sold, and treated worse than livestock.

The following passage shows that slaves are clearly property to be bought
and sold like livestock.
However, you may purchase male or female slaves from among the foreigners who
live among you. You may also purchase the children of such resident foreigners,
including those who have been born in your land. You may treat them as your
property, passing them on to your children as a permanent inheritance. You may
treat your slaves like this, but the people of Israel, your relatives, must
never be treated this way. (Leviticus 25:44-46 NLT)

The following passage describes how the Hebrew slaves are to be treated.
If you buy a Hebrew slave, he is to serve for only six years. Set him free in
the seventh year, and he will owe you nothing for his freedom. If he was single
when he became your slave and then married afterward, only he will go free in
the seventh year. But if he was married before he became a slave, then his wife
will be freed with him. If his master gave him a wife while he was a slave, and
they had sons or daughters, then the man will be free in the seventh year, but
his wife and children will still belong to his master. But the slave may
plainly declare, 'I love my master, my wife, and my children. I would rather
not go free.' If he does this, his master must present him before God. Then
his master must take him to the door and publicly pierce his ear with an awl.
After that, the slave will belong to his master forever. (Exodus 21:2-6 NLT)

Notice how they can get a male Hebrew slave to become a permanent slave by
keeping his wife and children hostage until he says he wants to become a
permanent slave. What kind of family values are these?

The following passage describes the sickening practice of sex slavery. How
can anyone think it is moral to sell your own daughter as a sex slave?

When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she will not be freed at the end of
six years as the men are. If she does not please the man who bought her, he may
allow her to be bought back again. But he is not allowed to sell her to
foreigners, since he is the one who broke the contract with her. And if the
slave girl's owner arranges for her to marry his son, he may no longer treat her
as a slave girl, but he must treat her as his daughter. If he himself marries
her and then takes another wife, he may not reduce her food or clothing or fail
to sleep with her as his wife. If he fails in any of these three ways, she may
leave as a free woman without making any payment. (Exodus 21:7-11 NLT)

So these are the Bible family values! A man can buy as many sex slaves as he
wants as long as he feeds them, clothes them, and screws them!

What does the Bible say about beating slaves? It says you can beat both
male and female slaves with a rod so hard that as long as they don't die right
away you are cleared of any wrong doing.

When a man strikes his male or female slave with a rod so hard that the
slave dies under his hand, he shall be punished. If, however, the slave
survives for a day or two, he is not to be punished, since the slave is his own
property. (Exodus 21:20-21 NAB)

You would think that Jesus and the New Testament would have a different view
of slavery, but slavery is still approved of in the New Testament, as the
following passages show.

Slaves, obey your earthly masters with deep respect and fear. Serve them
sincerely as you would serve Christ. (Ephesians 6:5 NLT)

Christians who are slaves should give their masters full respect so that the
name of God and his teaching will not be shamed. If your master is a Christian,
that is no excuse for being disrespectful. You should work all the harder
because you are helping another believer by your efforts. Teach these truths,
Timothy, and encourage everyone to obey them. (1 Timothy 6:1-2 NLT)
In the following parable, Jesus clearly approves of beating slaves even if they
didn't know they were doing anything wrong.

The servant will be severely punished, for though he knew his duty, he refused
to do it. "But people who are not aware that they are doing wrong will be
punished only lightly. Much is required from those to whom much is given, and
much more is required from those to whom much more is given." (Luke 12:47-48
NLT