Slavery question

[Eishiba]

So I'm aware of how slavery existed and that it was too pay off debts and not like the American past times. However it's not in the Bible so how do we know this?

 

[HTacianas]

So I'm aware of how slavery existed and that it was too pay off debts and not like the American past times. However it's not in the Bible so how do we know this?

We know that slavery existed through the study of history. Slavery has been around since the dawn of man, and in different forms. People could sell themselves into slavery (usually for a period of time), slaves could be prisoners captured during war time, criminals sentence to slavery for punishment, slaves sold by their leaders to outsiders, or simply people who were kidnapped and held as slaves. Usually the descendants of slaves inherited their status as slaves from their enslaved parents.

 

[Eishiba]

But what references are there for this? It's not in the Bible.

 

[Reluctant Theologian]

But what references are there for this? It's not in the Bible.

You are asking for all references in the OT or NT to slavery? ChatGPT is your friend

 

[HTacianas]

But what references are there for this? It's not in the Bible.

There are no references to George Washington in the bible. That doesn't mean he didn't exist.

 

[St_Worm2]

Hello @Eishiba, here's a short, interesting Q & A article about slavery in the Bible that may prove to be helpful.

Q. Does the Bible condone slavery?​

​

A. There is a tendency to look at slavery as something of the past. But it is estimated that there are today over 27 million people in the world who are subject to slavery: forced labor, sex trade, inheritable property, etc. As those who have been redeemed from the slavery of sin, followers of Jesus Christ should be the foremost champions of ending human slavery in the world today. The question arises, though, why does the Bible not speak out strongly against slavery? Why does the Bible, in fact, seem to support the practice of human slavery?​

​

Slavery in the Old Testament Law​

​

Slave ownership was a common practice long before the time the Mosaic Law was given. So, the law neither instituted slavery nor ended it; rather, the law regulated it. It gave instructions on how slaves should be treated but did not outlaw slavery altogether.​

​

Hebrews with Hebrew slaves. The law allowed for Hebrew men and women to sell themselves into slavery to another Hebrew. They could only serve for six years, however. In the seventh year, they were to be set free (Exodus 21:2). This arrangement amounted to what we might call indentured servanthood. And the slaves were to be treated well: “Do not make them work as slaves. They are to be treated as hired workers or temporary residents among you” (Leviticus 25:39–40). The law also specified that, “when you release them, do not send them away empty-handed. Supply them liberally from your flock, your threshing floor and your winepress. Give to them as the Lord your God has blessed you” (Deuteronomy 15:13–14). The freed slave had the option of staying with his master and becoming a “servant for life” (Exodus 21:5–6).​

​

Hebrews with Gentile slaves. When the Israelites conquered the land of Canaan, they were to drive out or destroy all the former inhabitants. However, that order was not fully obeyed, and many Gentiles remained in the land. God allowed the Hebrews to take slaves from among that population: “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 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). So, the law did allow for slavery.​

​

Several laws regulating slavery appear in Exodus 21. These laws gave some basic rights to slaves and curtailed the actions of masters in a historically unprecedented way. In the ancient world outside of Israel, slaves had no rights. But God’s Law extended to slaves the right to keep a wife (verse 3), the right not to be sold to foreigners (verse 8), the right to be adopted into a family by marriage (verse 9), and the right to food and clothing (verse 10). The law also limited masters in their use of corporeal punishment (verses 20, 26–27).​

​

Gentiles with Hebrew slaves. Under the Mosaic Law, and if economic circumstances demanded it, a Hebrew had the option of selling himself as a slave to a Gentile living in Israel (Leviticus 25:47). The law also provided for the slave’s redemption at any time (verses 48–52). And the treatment of the Hebrew slave was to be considerate: slaves were “to be treated as workers hired from year to year; you must see to it that those to whom they owe service do not rule over them ruthlessly” (verse 53). If no redemption came, the slaves were still released, with their families, on the Year of Jubilee (verse 54).​

​

New Testament Instruction on Slavery​

​

Even in the New Testament era, the Bible did not demand that every slave owner immediately emancipate his slaves. Rather, the apostles gave instructions to slaves and their owners on godly behavior within that social system. Masters were admonished on the proper treatment of their slaves. For example, in Ephesians 6:9 masters are told, “Treat your slaves in the same way [with goodwill]. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.” Elsewhere, the command is, “Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven” (Colossians 4:1).​

​

Jesus and the apostles did not outright condemn slavery. They didn’t need to. The effect of the gospel is that lives are changed, one by one, and those changed lives in turn bring transformation to entire families, clans, and cultures. Christianity was never designed to be a political movement, but, over time, it naturally affected political policy. Alexander MacLaren wrote that the gospel “meddles directly with no political or social arrangements, but lays down principles which will profoundly affect these, and leaves them to soak into the general mind” (The Expositor’s Bible, vol. VI, Eerdmans, 1940, p. 301). In nations where Christianity spread and took firm hold, slavery was brought to an end through the efforts of born-again individuals.​

​

The seeds of the emancipation of slaves are in the Bible, which teaches that all men are created by God and made in His image (Genesis 1:27), which condemns those who kidnap and sell a person (Exodus 21:16; cf. 1 Timothy 1:8–10), and which shows that a slave can truly be “a brother in the Lord” (Philemon 1:16).​

​

Some criticize the Bible because it did not demand an immediate overthrow of every ingrained, centuries-old sinful custom of the day. But, as Warren Wiersbe pointed out, “The Lord chooses to change people and society gradually, through the ministry of the Holy Spirit and the proclamation of the truth of the Word of God” (The Wiersbe Bible Commentary, David C. Cook, 2007, p. 245).​

The above article (and the word for word video of it) + some additional articles on this topic can be found here: Does the Bible condone slavery? | GotQuestions.org

God bless you!!

--David

 

[ViaCrucis]

But what references are there for this? It's not in the Bible.

The Bible isn't an encyclopedia.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[eleos1954]

So I'm aware of how slavery existed and that it was too pay off debts and not like the American past times. However it's not in the Bible so how do we know this?

Indentured servants was not slavery.

Indentures are agreements between two parties about long-term work.

One could say being employed is a type of indentured servant. Example: retirement benefits .... if one stays employed for a certain amount of time they will receive benefits for completing that time-frame. Non the less ... it is an agreement ... not salary.

It most certainly is in the Bible
.
“When you buy a male Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years, but in the seventh he shall go out a free person, without debt” (Exod. 21:2). Cruelty on the part of the owner resulted in immediate freedom for the slave (Exod. 21:26-27). This made male Hebrew slavery more like a kind of long-term labor contract among individuals, and less like the kind of permanent exploitation that has characterized slavery in modern times.

 

[RDKirk]

Indentured servants was not slavery.

Indentures are agreements between two parties about long-term work.

One could say being employed is a type of indentured servant. Example: retirement benefits .... if one stays employed for a certain amount of time they will receive benefits for completing that time-frame. Non the less ... it is an agreement ... not salary.

I would not compare indentured slavery to employment. They had employment as a separate situation from indentured slavery even while they had indentured slavery.

Today, unsecured debt is more comparable to indentured slavery...the only substantive difference is that the debtor is not confined to the household of the lender. But if we have unsecured debt, part of our labor every day belongs to the lender until we have paid off the debt.

 

[eleos1954]

I would not compare indentured slavery to employment. They had employment as a separate situation from indentured slavery even while they had indentured slavery.

Today, unsecured debt is more comparable to indentured slavery...the only substantive difference is that the debtor is not confined to the household of the lender. But if we have unsecured debt, part of our labor every day belongs to the lender until we have paid off the debt.

I would disagree ... it's not "indentured slavery" ... it's indentured servant .... an agreement for one to work for another for an established time frame and it was via an agreement between the two .... whereas slavery was basically forever and a forced situation.

Also, as far as loans go .... that is done via an agreement .... however I'd say taxes is slavery.

Different ways of looking at it.

 

[RDKirk]

I would disagree ... it's not "indentured slavery" ... it's indentured servant .... an agreement for one to work for another for an established time frame and it was via an agreement between the two .... whereas slavery was basically forever and a forced situation.

Also, as far as loans go .... that is done via an agreement .... however I'd say taxes is slavery.

Different ways of looking at it.

Please pardon me, yes, I should have said "indentured servant." And in that vein, I still maintain that an unsecured loan is indentured servanthood.

 

[Tuur]

But what references are there for this? It's not in the Bible.

Historical accounts.

 

[Jermayn]

So I'm aware of how slavery existed and that it was too pay off debts and not like the American past times. However it's not in the Bible so how do we know this?

Here's a nice article on slavery in the New Testament:

A Surprisingly Liberating Truth: Servant vs. Slave of Christ

Discover the liberating truth that's the foundation of the entire New Testament message. It's even more clear when we explore the original words of the New Testament authors.

rchristianbohlen.com