Talk:Slavery

Places where slavery is discussed

• Exodus 12
• Exodus 21
• Leviticus 19
• Leviticus 22
• Leviticus 25
• Deuteronomy 15
• Deuteronomy 23
• Deuteronomy 24
• Philemon 1

Foreigners and sojourners

I don't know how super relevant this is, but one issue I see with slavery in the Bible is that the rules were different for native Israelites versus foreigners. Israelites had to be set free in the jubilee year, but foreigners could be slaves forever.

Is that racist? What else does the Law say about treatment of foreigners and sojourners?

Treat strangers, sojourners fairly

Ex 22:21; Lev 19:33–34; Dt 10:19 — see also Ex 12:49; Nu 15:15–16

A similar difference between native Israelites and foreigners was that you weren't allowed by the Law to charge interest on loans to other Israelites, but you could charge interest on loans to foreigners.

Interest on loans

Ex 22:25; Lev 25:35–37; Dt 23:19–20

Prisoners of war / captives

Ephesians 4:8 (citing Psalm 68:18) says Christ ascended on high leading a host of captives. Who are the captives? There is some debate on how to interpret this. The captives may be demons, or they may be those who were once his enemies but have been captured as prisoners of war and will now be made to serve him as slaves. In other words, prisoners of war may be a picture of our relationship with Christ (“Once your enemies, now seated at your table”).

Paul refers to himself as a prisoner of Christ in Eph 3:1 and Phm 1:1. Need to tease out more implications of this from cross-references. (He talks about “fellow soldiers” in Philemon also, possibly implying that his captivity is as a prisoner of war.)

Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing

The third and final verse of Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing describes grace as both a debtor and a fetter that binds our wandering hearts to God.

O to grace how great a debtor daily I’m constrained to be;

let that grace now, like a fetter, bind my wand’ring heart to thee.

Prone to wander—Lord, I feel it—prone to leave the God I love:

here’s my heart, O take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above.

Slavery contrasted with freedom

Several verses also contrast slavery with freedom. Need to document those verses here, too. The key to understanding this is that slavery to God = freedom from sin (a la Ro 6:22).

Yokes

When Jesus says “take my yoke upon you” in Matthew 11, he is talking about putting yourself into a form of slavery to him. Need to do a write-up of other references to yokes of slavery throughtout Old and New Testaments.