Why did God allow slavery?

[tonychanyt]

Was slavery in the Bible indentured servitude?

Yes, in some cases when an Israelite voluntarily sold himself to a master for a period of time. Exodus 21:

2 If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free, without paying anything.

War captives could be made permanent slaves. The Israelites could also purchase foreign slaves. Israelite slavery was different from the modern kind of slavery, Exodus 21:

16 Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be put to death.

These were serious offenses: capital punishment. According to this Moses law, the Americans who stole black human beings from Africa should be executed and those who bought them and worked them on the US soil should be executed. The Bible does not condone this kind of slavery.

Paul condemns this kind of slave trader in 1 Timothy 1:

8 We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. 9 We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, 10for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality, for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine 11that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.

Even when an Israelite acquired a slave legally, there was a way out for the slave, Deuteronomy 23:

15 You shall not give up to his master a slave who has escaped from his master to you. He shall dwell with you, in your midst, in the place that he shall choose within one of your towns, wherever it suits him. You shall not wrong him.

If a slave didn't like his master, he could try to run away. Moses' law was on his side.

Why did the Bible allow any form of slavery at all?

Slavery was part of the ancient system of economy. The Bible focused on the redemption story, on obedience and righteousness. Jesus' concept of freedom was deeper, John 8:

31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

The Jews thought Jesus was talking about outward freedom.

33 They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”
34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

The opposite of freedom was not slavery but sin. Jesus focused on a deeper meaning of freedom. If a slave believed in Jesus, he was free indeed.

Further, I suspect that God would reward many of the slaves with eternal life while many of the ungenerous slave owners would be punished, Luke 16:

25 But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony.

In the end, God is just when justice is considered from the eternal perspective.

 

[HTacianas]

Was slavery in the Bible indentured servitude?

Yes, in some cases when an Israelite voluntarily sold himself to a master for a period of time. Exodus 21:


War captives could be made permanent slaves. The Israelites could also purchase foreign slaves. Israelite slavery was different from the modern kind of slavery, Exodus 21:


These were serious offenses: capital punishment. According to this Moses law, the Americans who stole black human beings from Africa should be executed and those who bought them and worked them on the US soil should be executed. The Bible does not condone this kind of slavery.

Paul condemns this kind of slave trader in 1 Timothy 1:


Even when an Israelite acquired a slave legally, there was a way out for the slave, Deuteronomy 23:


If a slave didn't like his master, he could try to run away. Moses' law was on his side.

Why did the Bible allow any form of slavery at all?

Slavery was part of the ancient system of economy. The Bible focused on the redemption story, on obedience and righteousness. Jesus' concept of freedom was deeper, John 8:


The Jews thought Jesus was talking about outward freedom.


The opposite of freedom was not slavery but sin. Jesus focused on a deeper meaning of freedom. If a slave believed in Jesus, he was free indeed.

Further, I suspect that God would reward many of the slaves with eternal life while many of the ungenerous slave owners would be punished, Luke 16:


In the end, God is just when justice is considered from the eternal perspective.

Exodus 21:16 has nothing to do with slavery. It prohibits kidnapping. That was the means the Muslims used against Europeans for centuries. Raid a city, kidnap people and keep them as slaves or hold them for ransom. But the European and American slave traders did not kidnap anyone. They bought slaves at the slave markets in Africa.

 

[tonychanyt]

Exodus 21:16 has nothing to do with slavery.

Define slavery.

 

[parousia70]

Even when an Israelite acquired a slave legally, there was a way out for the slave, Deuteronomy 23:


If a slave didn't like his master, he could try to run away. Moses' law was on his side.

Key word here is "His" - Female slaves didn't have such an option.

Why did the Bible allow any form of slavery at all?

Because God has dictated that people owning other people as property is completely moral and just.

It seems to me that the Same God who Commanded "Thou shall not Steal, Kill or eat shellfish" could have also said "Thou shall not own other people as property" if He found such a thing to be immoral, However God clearly says your slave is your property (Exodus 21:21)

I don't see how anyone can argue that people owning other people as property is immoral when God clearly asserts it's completely moral to do so.

 

[tonychanyt]

Key word here is "His" - Female slaves didn't have such an option.

NIV Deuteronomy 23:15 If a slave has taken refuge with you, do not hand them over to their master.

his master
אֲדֹנָ֑יו (’ă·ḏō·nāw)
Noun - masculine plural construct | third person masculine singular

It means his or her master.

 

[DragonFox91]

parou, some of the commandments given in the Law were to set Israel aside as holy. They weren't all 'this is right', 'this is wrong'.

Everyone is a slave to something. We even count ourselves as slaves to Christ! How can God say slavery is wrong, therefore? He would be contradicting the way he has set up the world...& eternity! What classifies as someone being owned as property? I also challenge you to find where it says to treat your slaves as degenerate.

I don't see where it says that Deut. 23 says not applicable for women?

 

[parousia70]

parou, some of the commandments given in the Law were to set Israel aside as holy. They weren't all 'this is right', 'this is wrong'.

Everyone is a slave to something. We even count ourselves as slaves to Christ! How can God say slavery is wrong, therefore? He would be contradicting the way he has set up the world...& eternity! What classifies as someone being owned as property? I also challenge you to find where it says to treat your slaves as degenerate.

I don't see where it says that Deut. 23 says not applicable for women?

Do you agree with Exodus 21 where is says you may beat your slave nearly to death as long as they don't die in a couple days, because your slave is your property?

Do you agree with God that owning other people as property, and beating them nearly to death is acceptable, moral and Just?

 

[Aaron112]

Why did the Bible allow any form of slavery at all?
Slavery was part of the ancient system of economy.

It is clear from the many posts about slavery that most posters never had any idea about what slavery was thousands of years ago among God's people , in God's Care.
Slavery that people learned about in school in the last few generations/ hundreds of years is nothing at all like it was in Bible Times.

Today there are tens of thousands who are not slaves , per se,
holding cardboard signs , living on the streets, living in abject poverty without enough food to be healthy, families losing their houses/ homes/ property .... to ungodly landlords and others.... even though the poor families/persons have relatives , brothers, fathers, with more than enough - a dozen cars and trucks in their garages, a multi-level house with six bathrooms (or aw, only two or three bathrooms ?!) ...
while pastors (so-called that is) live in luxury within miles if not even next door !?

Still truth: if someone will not work, neither shall they eat , (though now hand outs to anyone asking are too common) ....

But those who are willing , ESPECIALLY of the household of faith, but not only,
were given an opportunity, while the FAITHFUL ones who had the means, were instructed to give/lend whatever was NEEDED to their brethren/ fellow Israelites without expecting anything in return !
And the Instructions concerning slavery "at that time" (not like in recent centuries) ,
were clear and un-ambiguous, and made provision for the destitute to live well , to survive , to have no worries about having food and clothes and a roof over their heads... righteously ! (not charity , no; RIGHTEOUSNESS - DOing what the Creator Himself Directed/Directs; every day)

 

[David Kent]

Exodus 21:16 has nothing to do with slavery. It prohibits kidnapping. That was the means the Muslims used against Europeans for centuries. Raid a city, kidnap people and keep them as slaves or hold them for ransom. But the European and American slave traders did not kidnap anyone. They bought slaves at the slave markets in Africa.

But they didn't treat them as the Bible says that a slave could love his master, US and European slave owners didn't treat them in a way that comes under that described in scripture.

 

[parousia70]

It is clear from the many posts about slavery that most posters never had any idea about what slavery was thousands of years ago among God's people , in God's Care.
Slavery that people learned about in school in the last few generations/ hundreds of years is nothing at all like it was in Bible Times.

Both are correctly described as "people owning other people as property". In fact, the that's the Biblical definition of a slave from thousands of years ago. (Exodus 21:21)

The question is, do you believe people owning other people as property is EVER moral and Just? The Bible says YES.