Now these are the Ordinances which you shall set before them. When you buy a Hebrew slave … When a man sells his daughter … Ex. 21: 1, 2, 7
The first set of laws of the Book of the Covenant, after the introductory altar laws, have to do with slavery. Why this prominence? We must conclude that it was the most intimate social issue of the nation; they were slaves from their inception in Egypt. The immense pain of their experience was etched into the national psyche and pervades throughout the rest of the Bible. What is more, their slavery was no fault of their own; it was designed by YHWH so that He could reveal to the world His power in deliverance.
At root, slavery is a chaos motif. It is an affront to the image of God for one person or race to subjugate and oppress another person or race. We were made to exercise “dominion” over the earth, not each other. On the surface, it seems obvious what slavery is, and what freedom is. But when we dig deeper, we see how complicated definitions are. We may even say that it reaches as far back to the fall and Eve’s decision to be “free” of God. Freedom is the one fundamental concept humanity strives for most, and is most elusive.
What may offend modern sensitivities is that YHWH did not abolish slavery at this stage of redemptive history, but only regulates it by law. Indeed, what a horrible thing to buy a Hebrew slave, or sell a daughter. An owner must be “punished” if, upon striking a (foreign) slave, he kills him/her. But if the slave survives a day or two, he must not be punished, for the slave is mere property? What do we say? It was so much a part of this “primitive” culture that it could not be abolished, but regulated?
The even more uncomfortable question is; why doesn’t the New Testament condemn slavery? The answer is complex and goes beyond the moral and social aspects into the spiritual and theological. St. Paul considered himself a slave of Christ (Gk. doulos Xristou, e.g. Rom. 1:1), but elsewhere says we are no longer slaves but sons (Gal. 4:7). In Romans 6 he declares we are either slaves to sin or slaves to righteousness (v. 16) and slaves to God (v. 22). In the very same context St. John has Jesus saying, “No longer do I call you slaves, but friends” (15:15) but then declares, “a slave is not greater than his master …” (v. 20).
Consider Paul again in his First Epistle to the Corinthians. “Were you a slave when you were called? Don’t let it trouble you – although if you can gain your freedom, do so. For he who is called in the Lord as a slave is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise, he who was free when he is called is a slave of Christ. You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men” (15:21-23). It is obvious that social status means very little to St. Paul. He is keenly interested in who owns our soul; we serve the one we fear!
We conclude that Holy Scripture takes a realistic view of slavery. As long as there is evil, there will be slavery, and no society is, or ever will be, “enlightened” enough to fix this. Where there are the vulnerable, there will be the predators, and sin creates vulnerable people, and sin creates the predators. Human trafficking is the bane of all human societies, ancient and modern, and Holy Scripture understands this. It is also true, however, that the Church is the only gateway to freedom in this world, even if, as St. Paul says, we find ourselves physically enslaved, which is always a possibility. Interior freedom is what really counts. Having said this, social emancipation is the logical outgrowth of biblical theology, and society must do all it can to eradicate oppression of every sort.
Slavery is a key motif in the book of Exodus. In our allegory, Moses is our interior “spirit.” He engages the will, Aaron, to deliver the Children of Israel out of bondage from Egypt, symbolizing the world, which is intent on enslaving us. True freedom is uniting our will to God’s will, revealed in law, and experiencing the true freedom from sin. St. Jerome adds this to our allegory:
We read that every Hebrew keeps the same Passover, and that in the seventh year every prisoner is set free, and that at Jubilee, that is, the fiftieth year, every possession returns to its owner. All this refers not to the present but to the future. For being in bondage during the six days of this world, on the seventh day, the true and eternal Sabbath, we shall be free. If, however, we do not desire it, our ear will be bored [into the door as prescribed for a slave who wishes not to be freed from being a slave, Ex. 21:6] in token of our disobedience. We shall, with our wives and children, remain in perpetual slavery if we prefer the flesh and its works to liberty.
Against Jovinian 2.25.
Takeaway: Slavery, like the poor, we will always have with us in this fallen world. The important thing is our interior freedom regardless of our life’s circumstances.
Questions: Slavery is an issue as fundamental in the culture of the United States as it was for the ancient Hebrews; we cannot understand our histories apart from it. 1) How would you think our culture at large would receive this post? Explain. 2) How do you define freedom and how free do you think you are?
Resources:
ACCS, vol. III, p. 110.