Laws About Slaves

Story:  Laws About Slaves

Passage: Exodus 21:1-32

Characters:  God, Israel

Summary:    God gave Moses a set of laws about slaves.  These will be outlined in the notes below.

  

Notes:  This is an interesting passage.  Does God condone slavery?  Is the Bible at odds with our view of human rights?  This is an issue that is beyond my knowledge.  What I can tell you from this passage is that the slavery mentioned here is very different from what we think of when we think of slavery.  The first rule was that you could only have a slave for 6 years and then you had to let him go free.  He must leave the same way he entered slavery whether it is married or single.  This seems cruel to me if he got married when he was a slave then he has to leave his family behind.  If a slave decides he loves his master and wants to continue serving him, his master would pierce his ear with an awl and he would become his slave forever.  This concept of a bondservant is used in the New Testament to describe our relationship with God.  We are slaves to the Spirit by our own choice.  We are no bound to Him forever.  I could see these laws being abused if a master forced his slave to marry for the purpose of hoping he would not leave when he was freed.  The fact that a provision was made for a slave to choose to serve his master forever shows you that these slaves were not necessarily mistreated.  The rules were different for female slaves.  Female slaves were basically wives to their masters.  If the master was not pleased with her, he could not sell her because he had broken faith with her.  It is his fault not hers.  If she is for his son, he must treat her as a daughter.  If he marries another wife while he still has her as a slave, he is not allowed to diminish her food, clothing, or marital rights.  A female slave had equal footing legally to a wife.  If the master does not keep these rules she is to be freed without compensation.  If a man kills another man on accident, he is allowed to flee and take refuge.  If it is intentional though, he is to die.  Not even an attempt to take refuge at the altar would save him.  Striking your parents was punished by death.  This obvious importance of the parent child relationship is partially because that is one of the relationship dynamics we have with God, our father.  You were also not allowed to curse your parents.  Stealing a man and selling him earned the death penalty.  This in and of itself distinguishes slavery in this passage from the African slave trade.  If a man injures another in a fight, the man who is responsible must compensate the victim for his time until he is healed.  If a man strikes his slave, male or female, and they die, he is to be avenged.  The passage does state that his slave is his money.  A slave seems to be considered property, but property to be respected and treated well.  If a pregnant woman is struck, the responsible person shall pay what the husband decides.  If there is harm, the payment must be equal to the damage.  If a man strikes his slave and causes permanent damage, the slave is allowed to go free.  If an ox gores a man, the ox is killed and not eaten.  The owner is safe unless he knew his ox was a danger and did nothing about it.  This irresponsibility was a huge deal.  In this passage we see that life and parents are held in high esteem.  Disrespecting either was a huge offense and usually resulted in the death penalty.  We also see that slavery was very different from the slavery we once had in America.  Slaves were property, but were not to be abused.  They were to be treated in such a way that they may voluntarily remain serving their masters for life.  A slave was not to be kidnapped and sold and could not serve more than 6 years involuntarily. 

Questions:  Why were people allowed to be property?  Was God okay with the concept of female slaves?

Lessons:  We see in this passage how valuable life is and the parent child relationship is to God.  We need to examine our hearts and make sure that we respect and honor our parents the way we are told to in the Bible.  You may not agree with your parents always, but their position of authority over you was given to them by god whether they know it or not and that position alone deserves your respect and honor.