Slavery is evil, period! So, does the Bible approve of such a vile practice? Does the Bible condone kidnapping, human trafficking, forced labor, rape, and the mistreatment of servants, even to the point of taking the life of a slave? Some Southern slave owners in the US from the 16th to 19th century who identified as Christians justified their practice and treatment of servants based on their understanding of the Bible. Were they justified in doing so? What does the Bible say about slavery?
Slavery Throughout History
More people are caught up in slavery today than at any point in history. According to Anti-slavery International, almost 50 million people were trapped in slavery worldwide in 2022. Slavery takes many forms. Human trafficking, the sex trade, forced prostitution, forced labor, and forced marriage are prominent manifestations of the phenomenon.
Most people think of the race-based trans-Atlantic slave trade when they hear the word slavery. It was a vile practice in which people were treated as sub-human, and slave masters often did not hesitate to beat, torture, rape, or even kill their slaves. Slaves were property that could be done with as the master pleased. This form of slavery is called chattel slavery, meaning the slave was no more than property that could be bought, sold, and dispensed with as the owner pleased. The question begs asking: Is this what the Bible referred to when mentioning slavery?
Slavery/Servanthood in the Old Testament
It is not possible to deal with slavery in the Old Testament comprehensively in one short article. Many Ph.D. theses have been written on the subject. The aim here is to briefly show the nature of slavery in the Israelite context and how it differed from chattel slavery.
Slavery in antiquity, outside of the Israelite context, was much like slavery today. It resulted in the type of abuse that the Israelites endured in Egypt. Slavery within the nation of Israel was something completely different. Abraham, for example, had hundreds of slaves, and his son Jacob worked for his uncle as a servant on a seven-year contract twice for his wives. Servanthood was regulated by laws that protected the rights of servants.
The Hebrew word ‛ebed is translated as “slave,” “servant,” or “bondman” in the Old Testament and comes from the root ‛âbad which means “to work,” “to serve,” or “to labor.” The female version of the word ‛ebed is ‘âmâh and is translated as “bondwoman,” “maidservant,” or “handmaid.” These words refer to a slave who was bought or someone who contracted themself to deliver a service for a specified period.
Different Types of Servitude
In the Old Testament, there were different ways that a person could become a servant. The first way was if the person or family fell on hard times and grew poor.
“If your brother becomes poor beside you and sells himself to you, you shall not make him serve as a slave: he shall be with you as a hired worker and as a sojourner. He shall serve with you until the year of the jubilee. Then he shall go out from you, he and his children with him, and go back to his own clan and return to the possession of his fathers. For they are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as slaves. You shall not rule over him ruthlessly but shall fear your God.” (Leviticus 25:39-43)
This form of servanthood served a socio-economic function in Israelite society, ensuring the poor could recover from their struggles and retain their inheritance. On the year of Jubilee, which was every fifty years, the persons who sold themselves and/or their families had to be set free. An agreement on remuneration was determined depending on how many years had to pass before the next Jubilee year.
In other instances, servants served for six years and could leave in the seventh year. They also benefitted greatly from the time of service:
“If your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you, he shall serve you six years, and in the seventh year, you shall let him go free from you. And when you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty-handed. You shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, out of your threshing floor, and out of your winepress. As the Lord your God has blessed you, you shall give to him. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this today.” (Deuteronomy 15:12-15)
This is a departure from the stereotypical idea of slavery. It resembles more of a contractual work relationship than it does the textbook definition of slavery. God reminds his people of their time as slaves, indicating they should not engage in that kind of abuse.
Another way to enter servanthood was if a person was a thief and could not reimburse the person they stole from.
“If a man steals an ox or a sheep, and kills it or sells it, he shall repay five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep. If a thief is found breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there shall be no bloodguilt for him, but if the sun has risen on him, there shall be bloodguilt for him. He shall surely pay. If he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft.” (Exodus 22:1-3)
In Israelite society, the thief had to reimburse the person harmed by the theft with interest. The inability to pay meant they had to work down the debt incurred by the theft.
According to Leviticus 25:44-46, Israelites could buy slaves from other nations though the limit of seven years of service did not apply to them. These servants could be given as part of the next generation’s inheritance. The rules of conduct towards servants applied to all slaves irrespective of the reason for their servanthood or what nation they were from. Mistreatment of servants was never acceptable, highlighting the difference between slavery in the Israelite context and that of chattel slavery.
Differences Between Chattel Slavery and Servanthood in the Old Testament
There are several laws detailed in the Old Testament that show the difference between chattel slavery and servanthood in the Old Testament. Contrary to the trans-Atlantic slave trade that saw people kidnapped and sold into forced labor, the Old Testament expressly forbade such practices. Exodus 21:16 states: “Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be put to death.” Both sides of the trans-Atlantic-style slave trade would be punishable by death if it occurred among the Israelites.
Exodus 21, a chapter that lists laws that regulated servanthood in Israel, shows that abuse, typical of Southern States’ slavery, would result in the servant going free in the biblical context. It says:
“But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. ‘When a man strikes the eye of his slave, male or female, and destroys it, he shall let the slave go free because of his eye. If he knocks out the tooth of his slave, male or female, he shall let the slave go free because of his tooth.’”
The servant was, therefore, treated much more humanely among the Israelites than in neighboring civilizations of ancient times and more recent manifestations of the practice. The master would suffer whatever he inflicted on the servant when malicious harm was inflicted purposefully.
A law that shows the nature of servanthood in Israel dealt with runaway slaves. Unlike lynchings that often resulted from running away, a slave that ran away in the Israelite context had to be protected and taken up into society in Israel.
“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.” (Deuteronomy 23:15)
This law shows that the master had to treat servants well enough not to lose them, for if they ran away, the law protected them from being forced to return. Further evidence shows that servants had the right to change their limited time of service into a permanent agreement. The expression suggests that servants may have been considered one of the family.
“But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ then his master shall bring him to God, and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his slave forever.” (Exodus 21:5-6).
A servant would only want to serve permanently if he was treated well and benefitted from the relationship to the extent that they wanted to continue that lifestyle.
The law of God does not allow sex outside of the context of marriage. Sexual exploitation of servants was, therefore, forbidden in Israel because it would constitute sexual immorality.
We have considered the laws on slavery in the Old Testament, but it is in the practice that we see the attitude God’s people had toward servants. In one of the lineages of Israel, we find the following record:
“Now Sheshan had no sons, only daughters, but Sheshan had an Egyptian slave whose name was Jarha. So Sheshan gave his daughter in marriage to Jarha his slave, and she bore him Attai.” (1 Chronicles 2:34)
What Sheshan did would be unthinkable in chattel slavery. The servant became the father to Sheshan’s grandson to continue his line rather than selecting a husband from another family among the Israelites. It says much about the relationship between master and servant.
Calling the practice of servanthood among the Israelites “slavery” is not a true reflection of what the Bible describes. It resembles a contractual agreement to perform work, and the arrangement could be terminated if abuse occurred. The idea that the Israelites practiced slavery comparable to the trans-Atlantic slave trade is false, and the “Christians” who justified chattel slavery from the Bible were ignorant of what the biblical laws prescribed. They did Christianity a disservice by engaging in a vile practice the Bible never condoned. It is noteworthy that slavery in America ended due to the Judeo-Christian values the Northern States were willing to go to war for, which resulted in the abolition of slavery in America.
