Is the Bible Part of the Problem? Slavery, Racism and the Law of God

Better Is One Day

WELCOME

“A day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.” (Psalm 84:10-11)

Good morning family!

I wonder if you really believe that. That God withholds no good thing from those who walk uprightly.

Hard to believe because we don’t have every good thing that we want

So we tell ourselves that the problem must be that we’re not “walking uprightly” enough

But the Gospel tells us Jesus walked uprightly perfectly IN OUR PLACE

Therefore God graciously gives us all things that we need

If you don’t know that providing love this morning, we hope that you won’t leave here until you meet our Jesus

In just a moment we’ll hear a reading from Psalm 8. Turn there now.

While you’re turning, 3 quick announcements:

1) A word about PBC. We are Family.

Fellowship Groups begin this week

Groups available on Tuesday AM & PM, Wed PM; on zoom & in person

Go the blue flag or the website for more information

2) Refugee Ministry Interest Meeting (tonight at 4 PM)

If you’re interested please attend

Meeting in the room behind the blue flag

If you can’t attend but you want to help, PLEASE let us know at the blue flag

3) TableTalk Prayer at 5:30 PM

Now look in your Bibles at Psalm 8:1 as Susan Thomas comes to read for us.

Scripture Reading (Psalm 8)

Prayer of Praise (God is Unity), Susan Thomas

Come Behold the Wondrous Mystery

Blessed Be Your Name

Prayer of Confession (Rebellion), Cameron Harris

Behold Our God

PBC Catechism #2

How many persons are there in God?

There is one, and only one, true God, infinite in all His perfections, eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

Pastoral Prayer (Mike Klaassen)

SERMON

It’s been said that “Mixing Christianity with a political party is like mixing ice cream with horse manure. It might not harm the manure, but it sure messes up the ice cream.” [1]

If that’s true (and I think it is) then we might conclude the easiest way to avoid mixing the ice cream of Christianity with the manure of a political party is to avoid talking about anything political.

The problem with this approach is that eventually we’ll have nothing to talk about.

As politics increasingly becomes the national religion in our country, nearly everything is political. Including much of what we read in our Bibles.

So at PBC we’ve taken the opposite approach. This year will mark the sixth year in a row we’ve dedicated two weeks in January to discuss two tough topics that are increasingly political: abortion and racism.

Most of our preaching teaches God’s Word verse-by-verse, book-by-book.

Occasionally we’ll address important topics.

But why these topics?

Like it or not, our nation is stained by two great evils. The evil of racism that led to chattel slavery and the Jim Crow south, and the evil of abortion that has led to the murder of over 60 million unborn babies.

Because of this, both abortion and racism are commonly discussed in our country. You can’t get far on any newsfeed without hearing something about one or both topics. We hear a lot about abortion and racism from the world. It’s wise to hear about them from the Word.

And when we go to the Word, we learn that the two issues are actually related. They are twin evils because both deny the Bible’s clear teaching on the value of human life as image-bearers of God.

All humans are created in God's image regardless of size, so we fight the evil of abortion

All humans are created in God's image regardless of skin, so we fight the evil of racism

So today, with God’s help, we’re going to begin the first of two sermons on the tough topics of abortion and racism.

And this year, to make things a bit more challenging, we’re going to discuss these tough topics from two tough texts.

Turn in your Bibles to Exodus 21:20

Let’s go to the Lord one more time and ask Him for His help.

PRAY

Is the Bible part of the problem?

Are the Scriptures at least partly to blame for the evils of racism that have plagued our world for centuries?

Simply asking the question might strike you as offensive, but an increasingly vocal group of unbelievers in our world would say yes.

For example, in his book, “Letter to a Christian Nation,” NYT best-selling author Sam Harris writes...

“In assessing the moral wisdom of the Bible, it is useful to consider moral questions that have been solved to everyone's satisfaction. Consider the question of slavery. The entire civilized world now agrees that slavery is an abomination. What moral instruction do we get from the God of Abraham on this subject? Consult the Bible, and you will discover that the creator of the universe clearly expects us to keep slaves.” [2]

Is Sam Harris right? If he is, than Christians can hardly speak against the evils of racism.

If he’s right then our Bible is at least partly to blame for the evils of race-based chattel slavery that plagued these shores for nearly 250 years.

To respond to accusations like this we need to go right into the eye of the storm, to one of the passages Sam Harris alludes to in Exodus 21:20

God’s people were rescued from slavery in Egypt, they crossed the Red Sea, and now they’re camping in the wilderness at Mount Sinai.

There God gives them laws that will govern this nation, beginning with the Ten Commandments.

Included in those laws are something that may surprise you: laws about how to treat slaves.

And perhaps most troubling is the law given in...

Exodus 21:20-21—“When a man strikes his slave, male or female, with a rod and the slave dies under his hand, he shall be avenged. But if the slave survives a day or two, he is not to be avenged, for the slave is his money.”

Today’s sermon is divided into two parts. First, we’ll examine the meaning of this text. Then, we’ll discuss its significance for followers of Jesus today.

The Meaning of a Tough Text

What do we mean by meaning?

The meaning of the text is always what the author intended.

When I introduced Holly Boutot as “my sister and wife” a few months ago, you could rightly ask me, “what did you mean by that?” But you don’t get to decide for me what I meant. I meant what I intended to communicate, even if I communicated something poorly.

So we can’t take a passage like Exodus 21 and say it’s about slavery to sin, because that’s not what Moses meant when he wrote it. He was referring to real people in real slavery with real masters.

We learn the author’s intent by reading carefully, examining the context, the culture, the meaning of words, etc.

To determine what this text means we need to examine three key concepts...

A. The Institution of SLAVERY

When we hear the word “slave,” our minds almost immediately go to slavery in America.

Moses lived nearly 3000 years before American slavery

The word translated “slave” is the Hebrew word עַבְדּ֜ (ev-ed)

SHOW SLIDE

Unlike our English word “slave,” ev-ed is connected to the word for meaningful “work.”

It’s used twice in Genesis 2 to describe Adam’s work tending the garden of Eden.

So even before sin, Adam was created to be an ev-ed of God

Unlike our English word “slave,” ev-ed was a common self-description

Similar to how we might say “at your service” (Genesis 18:3, 5, 19:2, 19, 32:4, 10, etc.)

Unlike slavery in America, an ev-ed had rights and responsibilities

Like Abraham’s ev-ed Eliezar who was in charge of Abraham’s entire household, and would have inherited all that Abraham had, until Isaac was born.

Unlike slavery in America, the ev-ed relationship had nothing to do with race

Hagar was an Egyptian slave to a Hebrew couple named Abraham and Sarah

Joseph was a Hebrew slave to an Egyptian named Potiphar

Unlike slavery in America, an ev-ed’s work was temporary

Exodus 21:2—“When you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free, for nothing.”

This was a short-term contractual relationship that an ev-ed had with his master

Unlike slavery in America, an ev-ed’s work was voluntary

Exodus 21:16—“Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be put to death.”

DEATH PENALTY if you kidnap someone and sell him as a slave OR if you bought a slave that didn’t volunteer himself for service (cf., Deut. 24:7; 1 Timothy 1:10)

This alone sets slavery completely apart from slavery in America!

If you couldn’t be kidnapped and sold into slavery, how did you become an ev-ed? When you personally volunteered yourself (Leviticus 25:39, 47), usually to pay off a debt.

For these reasons, the English word “slave” is probably not the best translation of this word. Perhaps the KJV’s “servant” more accurately gets the point across.

Wait a minute! The word “servant” doesn’t work because the Bible talks about buying slaves

Exodus 21:2—“When you buy a Hebrew slave...”

Even when these terms are used, it doesn’t mean the person is property, like slaves were in America.

Think of someone who plays for the NFL. He "belongs” to a team that has an “owner.” And if he’s traded to another team, that team “buys” his contract. [3]

Now some have actually picked up on the connection and said that the NFL is just another form of modern-day slavery. But the contrast between the NFL and slavery is massive. And so too is the difference between an ev-ed and chattel slavery.

So for all these reasons and more, from here on out we’re going to use the word “servant” to describe the term ev-ed.

But even if you prefer the term slave, just understand that comparing slavery in Israel to slavery in America is like comparing apples to oranges

To determine meaning we need to examine another concept...

B. The Protection for SERVANTS

Exodus 21:20—“When a man strikes his [servant], male or female, with a rod and the [servant] dies under his hand, he shall be avenged.”

Who can tolerate a book that tolerates a master torturing his servant?

But let’s look a little closer...

The context actually indicates that physically assaulting a servant could lead to severe penalties...

Exodus 21:26-27—“When a man strikes the eye of his [servant], male or female, and destroys it, he shall let the [servant] go free because of his eye. If he knocks out the tooth of his [servant], male or female, he shall let the [servant] go free because of his tooth.”

When it says the servant will “go free,” it’s the same word used in verse 2.

So if a master mistreats his servant he stands to lose his entire investment and the servant is completely released from his contract

This would certainly be a strong encouragement to not abuse your servant

But what if your master beat you, but never hit you hard enough to knock out a tooth? Or what if you tried to get help from the local authorities but they didn’t listen? What could you do?

The law of Moses actually allowed servants to run away from abusive masters.

Unlike the Fugitive Slave Act passed by congress in 1850, which required slaves to be returned to their masters, even across state lines

An ev-ed could run away and it was against the law to return him

Deuteronomy 23:15-16—“You shall not give up to his master a [servant] 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.”

The law of Moses, given to govern the covenant people of Israel, was far more humane than the laws of the nations that surrounded them.

Like the Code of Hammurabi which demanded the death penalty for those who harbored runaway slaves.

The Antebellum south claimed to be following the Bible, but their laws looked far more like the code of Hammurabi than the Scriptures.

But still, doesn’t it seem like masters were allowed to beat their servants within an inch of their lives, as long as they didn’t kill them?

To answer this difficulty, let’s examine another key concept...

C. The Punishment for ABUSERS

Exodus 21:20-21—“When a man strikes his [servant] , male or female, with a rod and the [servant] dies under his hand, he shall be avenged. But if the [servant] survives a day or two, he is not to be avenged, for the [servant] is his money.”

The word “avenged” is נָקַם (nāy-kahm)

“The verb nāy-kahm always involves the death penalty in the Old Testament.” [4]

So if you kill your servant, you will receive the death penalty. A life for a life.

This is an astounding statement on the personhood of servants!!!

Look a few verses ahead to...

Exodus 22:1—“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.”

Notice the difference? If you unlawfully kill someone’s animal, you pay them back. If you unlawfully kill a servant, you die.

Why? Because, unlike an animal, humans are made in the image of God.

But why, then, is the master not punished if the servant survives for a day or two?

Wouldn’t this encourage masters to beat their servants within an inch of their life as long as they don’t knock out a tooth, an eye, or kill them?

Remember two things...

First, this is long before modern medicine.

If a master inflicted fatal wounds on a servant, it’s unlikely he would survive for long.

So requiring the death penalty if the servant died that day would actually be a pretty effective way of ensuring that masters didn’t treat their servants inhumanely

Second, remember that masters lives mattered too.

The local authorities shouldn’t assume that a servant who died two days after some form of discipline was intentionally murdered by his master.

He shouldn’t be guilty until proven innocent.

If the servant died right away at his hand, he should be sentenced to death. But if it wasn’t that cut and dry, he should be given the benefit of the doubt.

Meanwhile, the rest of the law related to the killing of another person went into effect...

Was the death accidental? (Deuteronomy 19:4-6)

Did the master have motive to take his servant’s life? (Deuteronomy 19:11-13)

Were their any witnesses? (Deut. 19:15)

Was the killing premeditated? (Numbers 35:20-24)

Those investigating a situation like this should be careful not to assume the master’s guilt because he had much to lose if the servant was unwell for any length of time.

That’s probably what the text means when it says [servant] is his money.”

Literal translation: it is his silver [the reference to the ev-ed is supplied by translators

If you look to the next few verses, you’ll notice the law requires fines that must be paid when you inflict physical harm on another person, which would include taking care of their medical expenses until they are well.

In other words, the master would have a vested interested in the health of his servant so unless there’s reason to believe there was foul play, the master should be assumed innocent.

So what’s the meaning of this tough text?

God’s people living under the law of Moses must not physically harm their servants (regardless of the servant’s gender).

A master who kills his servant will receive the death penalty.

If the master causes lesser harm it’ll come out of his pocket (because he’ll be paying for the servant’s lost time working and for his medical expenses until he is well).

That, I believe is the meaning of this passage. But what is it’s significance for us today?

The Significance of a Tough Text

The significance of a text is your relationship to its meaning. It’s the implication that it has for its readers.

A text can have multiple implications, depending on the person...

If you were a master in Moses’ day, a clear implication for you is don’t mistreat your servant

If you were a servant, an implication for you is to feel a sense of safety in the law knowing your master couldn’t mistreat you without consequences

If you were a community leader, an implication for you is to carefully investigate the death of a servant. Don’t assume the master is guilty of murder, but if he is do your best to ensure justice is served.

What significance does it have for us?

Remember: we are not under the Mosaic covenant

We’ve been set free from bondage to the law of Moses

The coming of Jesus revolutionizes our relationship to this passage in two ways:

A. Fulfilled by Jesus’ LIFE & DEATH

Matthew 5:17—“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”

This law is fulfilled by Jesus’ life

In His sinless life, Jesus fulfilled this law.

He never owned a servant, so He was never bound by the letter of this law. But He perfectly obeyed the spirit of this law by treating everyone He encountered with dignity and respect, whether they were oppressed or oppressor, victims or victimizers.

Think of Jesus healing the Centurion’s servant in Matthew 8. He is gentle and gracious to both the master and his servant.

This law is fulfilled by Jesus’ death

What’s the penalty in this law? Death.

Jesus also received the death penalty. But think about the contrast between Jesus’ death and the death penalty in this text...

Death for a master who mistreats his servant

In His death, Jesus isn’t like the master but He’s like the servant

Philippians 2 says He took “… the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

We are the abusers who mistreated God’s suffering servant. Yet the penalty for our abuse falls on the servant not us!!!

Unbeliever: repent and believe the Gospel!

Christian, because you are in Christ you have now been set free to obey the spirit of this law in a way that the Old Testament saints never could...

B. Fulfilled by Our LOVE

Near the end of His earthly ministry, Jesus is asked which commandments in the law of Moses are the greatest. He answers...

Matthew 22:37-40—...“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

It’s not enough to look at a tough OT law like this and say, “Okay great, Jesus fulfilled this in my place!” We should also ask, “How does this law propel me to love God and my neighbor?”

Love God because He cares for the vulnerable and the powerful

In our suffering we have all been vulnerable

As Americans we are all powerful

At the cross, Jesus died for both. He forgave a man with nails in his hands and feet, and a man holding a hammer.

Love your neighbor by caring for those in vulnerable situations

Support legislation that protects immigrants and refugees, the physically and mentally handicapped, oppressed minorities, etc.

Roll up your sleeves and care for the hungry, the unwed pregnant mom, the refugee

Love your neighbor by rightly treating those you have authority and influence over

Kids, employees, church members, etc.

Love your neighbor by refusing to assume the powerful are automatically guilty

Contra CRT

A bit later in his book, Sam Harris continues...

“As the Reverend Richard Fuller put it in 1845, ‘What God sanctioned in the Old Testament, and permitted in the New, cannot be a sin.’ The good Reverend was on firm ground here. Nothing in Christian theology remedies the appalling deficiencies of the Bible on what is perhaps the greatest—and the easiest—moral question our society has ever had to face.” [5]

Reverend Fuller was wrong.

He completely misunderstood what the OT taught about slavery.

And He completely misunderstood the relationship between the OT and the NT.

We should lament that any Christian anywhere would ever twist the Scriptures tojustify the evils of race-based slavery

But Sam Harris is wrong too.

Unraveling the evils of racism in our society was not easy

It took a bloody war and decades of legislation to overturn the evil that was promoted by pastors like Reverend Fuller

And the Bible isn’t part of the problem. It points to the only One who can deliver us from this mess.

The day is coming when Jesus will return, no longer in the form of a servant but as a conquering king.

On that day "every knee [will] bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue [will] confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Glorify Thy Name

Benediction (Romans 11:33, 36)