Slaves and Masters

Slavery was not ordained by God as a way of life but was regulated to shape and order the society and actions of a sinful world.

The oldest known slave society was the Mesopotamian and Sumerian civilisations located in the Iran/Iraq region between 6000-2000BCE. The oldest known written reference of slavery is found in the Hammurabi Code of 1754 BCE which states "If anyone take a male or female slave of the court, or a male or female slave of a freed man, outside the city gates, he shall be put to death."

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 Genital 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:

Lev 25:44-46

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).

Biblical Slavery was not color based

American Slavery

The Slave Bible was actually titled Parts of the Holy Bible, selected for the use of the Negro Slaves, in the British West-India Islands. 14 of 39 books in the Hebrew Scriptures and 18 of 27 New Testament books

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

Slavery Today:

49.6m. An estimated 50 million people were living in modern slavery on any given day in 2021. This is nearly one in every 150 people in the world.

During the Bible TImes

About 10 Percent of the Roman population was made of of Slaves.

By Roman times Slavery was so extensive that in the early Christian period one out of every two people was a slave.

Walter A. Elwell; Barry J. Beitzel

It is crucial to note that the New Testament nowhere commends slavery as a social structure. It nowhere roots it in the created order, as if slavery is an institution ordained by God.

Thomas Schreiner

It was woven into every part of society.

THe SLave was with out social capital ZERO Worth

Paul again shakes society with an unfounded command -

Redemption FROM SLAVERY

Slavery

There is a worse slavery than that which they had suffered in Egypt, or the semi-slavery they were suffering under the rule of Rome. It is the slavery that grips not only individuals but also groups, nations and families of nations. It is the slavery we know as ‘sin’

N. T. Wright

Redemption in Christ- Freedom from that bondage

Redemprion is a word used in slavery contetx- It is a purchasing

We all have to undestand Gods Peurpose of the Bible is about leading us to altment Freedom

Freedom from Bondage to sin and death

God is about setting the captives Free-

P