Does the Bible condone slavery? It certainly seems so, judging from verses like Leviticus 25:44-46. (As for your male and female slaves whom you may have: you may buy male and female slaves from among the nations that are around you. You may also buy from among the strangers who sojourn with you and their clans that are with you, who have been born in your land, and they may be your property. You may bequeath them to your sons after you to inherit as a possession forever. You may make slaves of them, but over your brothers the people of Israel you shall not rule, one over another ruthlessly.) However, the acceptance of slavery doesn’t seem to fit with God’s omnibenevolent nature. So why does the Bible state that possessing slaves is allowed?
When we think of slavery, we generally think of the cruel and heartless antebellum slavery of the south. But the type of slavery that is referenced in the Bible is very different from the slavery that we typically think of. Biblical slavery was indentured servitude. Families often turned to this when they weren’t financially stable, and they would enter a contract that lasted seven years, during which they would serve their master. At the end of the seven years, they would be set free with no debt. There were also laws protecting slaves from mistreatment at the hands of their masters. Exodus 21:26-27 says, “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.” In some cases, slaves even preferred to stay with their masters after the seven years were over, in which case their ears would be pierced with an awl, and they would serve their master for the rest of their life. God also condemns the practice of slave trade in 1 Timothy 1:9-10- “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, for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality, for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine.”
So, the short answer to the question of whether or not God endorses slavery is yes. God does endorse slavery. However, the type of slavery that was condoned by God was extremely different from the type of slavery we usually think of. The fact that God allowed Old Testament slavery should actually comfort us. There were many people in poverty at that time, but God didn’t just let them suffer. He offered them a way out, through indentured servanthood, and a way to turn their lives around. He didn’t abandon them. And God won’t abandon us either. No matter how many times we sin, no matter how many times we go against God’s command, He will still love us. God is merciful, and that will never change.
Marie Birkmann – 9th Grade