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The Bible contains several references to slavery.

The Hebrew Bible does not promote slavery, but neither does it condemn it.^[1] Slavery was customary in antiquity and taken for granted, as part of the economy and society of the time. The Torah neither encourages nor discourages slavery. However, in the event that a person has a slave, it sets minimum rules on their treatment (eg Leviticus 25:44-46; Exodus 21:7-11).

Biblical figures who kept slaves included the patriarchs Abraham and Isaac, Boaz (from the Ruth story) and King Solomon. Slaves mentioned in the Bible include Hagar, Sarah's hand-maid who was used by her as a surrogate mother, and Eliezer of Damascus, who was in charge of Abraham's household and charged with finding a bride for Isaac. Also, Bilhah is described as Rachel's handmaid and Zilpah as Leah's handmaid, both of whom are given to Jacob (also known as Israel) as concubines and whose children with him rank equally with those of Rachael and Leah, on the basis that they were acting as surrogates of their mistress.

There is also the story of the sale of Joseph by his brothers for twenty pieces of silver (Genesis 37:25-28) and the enslavement of the Hebrews in Egypt and their liberation by the hand of God in the Exodus, led by Moses, who was himself born a slave.

Most of these biblical references to slave ownership predate the handing down of the Mosaic Law at Mount Sinai following the Exodus.

Contents 1 Duration 1.1 Israelite slaves 1.2 Non-Israelite slaves 2 Slaves as property 3 Against mistreatment 4 Jewish captives 5 Against the keeping of slaves 5.1 Slavery under the New Testament 6 References

Duration

Israelite slaves

Israelite could be kept in bonded service but not as slaves:

"And if one of your brethren who dwells by you becomes poor, and sells himself to you, you shall not compel him to serve as a slave. As a hired servant and a sojourner he shall be with you, and shall serve you until the Year of Jubilee. And then he shall depart from you—he and his children with him—and shall return to his own family. He shall return to the possession of his fathers. For they are My servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as slaves. You shall not rule over him with rigor, but you shall fear your God." (Leviticus 25:39-43)

Despite the commandment even Hebrew slaves existed. In Jeremiah 34:9 Jeremiah commanded Zedekiah to order the manumission of every "male and female slave-a Hebrew man or woman-that no one should keep a Jewish brother in bondage."

Fellow Israelites were not kept in bonded service for more than seven years, unless they personally submitted to a longer term, in which case they would become permanent slaves.

"If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years; and in the seventh he shall go out free and pay nothing. If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master has given him a wife, and she has borne him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself. But if the servant plainly says, 'I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,' then his master shall bring him to the judges. He shall also bring him to the door, or to the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him forever." (Exodus 21:2-6)

Freed slaves were required to be provided with property, apparently so as to be able to attain economic independence.

If your brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you, he shall serve you six years; and in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. And when you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty-handed. You shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, and out of your threshing-floor, and out of your wine-press; from that which the Lord your God has blessed you, you shalt give to him. (Deuteronomy 15:12-14)

A father could sell his unmarried daughters into servitude, with the expectation that the master or his son would eventually marry her. Apparently the resulting period of servitude took the place of a dowry.

"And if a man sells his daughter to be a female servant, she shall not go out as the male servant do. If she does not please her master, who has betrothed her to himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has dealt deceitfully with her. And if he has betrothed her to his son, he shall deal with her according to the custom of daughters. If he takes another wife, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, and her marriage rights. And if he does not do these three for her, then she shall go out free, without paying money." (Exodus 21:7-11)

Non-Israelite slaves

In contrast, non-Israelite slaves were genuinely enslaved:

"And as for your male and female slaves whom you may have from the nations that are around you, from them you may buy male and female slaves. Moreover you may buy the children of the strangers who dwell among you, and their families who are with you, which they beget in your land; and they shall become your property. And you may take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them as a possession; they shall be your permanent slaves. But regarding your brethren, the children of Israel, you shall not rule over one another with rigor." (Leviticus 25:44-46)

In the course of war, it was permitted to take slaves: Deuteronomy 20:11-14 "If they open the gates and surrender, they are all to become your slaves and serve you", subject to the other rules relating to the treatment of slaves.

This was expanded in Exodus with the guidelines for Jewish soldiers who went on a quest to look at men to war in foreign lands and saw a beautiful woman who they wished to marry. Women captured by Israelite armies could be adopted forcibly as wives, but first they had to have their heads shaved and undergo a period of mourning. (Deuteronomy 21:10-14) However, "if you decide you no longer want her as a wife, you have to let her go free. Because you forced her into a sexual relationship with you; you are not allowed to sell her [as] a slave."

Slaves were considered money (property). If a male Hebrew slave was given a wife, his wife and children became the permanent property of the slave owner.

Slaves as property

If a negligent owner allowed his ox to kill a man or woman, the owner could be punished by death if this has happened before with the owner's understanding. (The ox should already have been stoned.) If the ox killed a servant, however, the owner owed thirty shekels to the servant's master. In any case, the ox is to be killed.

"If an ox gores a man or a woman to death, then the ox shall surely be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall be acquitted. But if the ox tended to thrust with its horn in times past, and it has been made known to his owner, and he has not kept it confined, so that it has killed a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned and its owner also shall be put to death. If there is imposed on him a sum of money, then he shall pay to redeem his life, whatever is imposed on him. Whether it has gored a son or gored a daughter, according to this judgment it shall be done to him. If the ox gores a male or female servant, he shall give to their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned." (Exodus 21:28-32)

Against mistreatment

A slave was entitled to a day of rest on Shabbat. The Shabbat rules applied equally to a slave owned by a Jew, whether the slave was an Israelite or not. (Exodus 20:8-10 and Deuteronomy 5:12-14)

The penalty for beating a slave to death may be less than the penalty for murdering a free person.

"He who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death." (Exodus 21:12)

"And if a man beats his male or female servant with a rod, so that he dies under his hand, he shall surely be avenged. Notwithstanding, if he remains alive a day or two, he shall not be avenged; for he is his property." (Exodus 21:20-21)

If, however, verses 20 and 21 are referring only to blood vengeance, then unspecified judicial punishments would still apply to the slave owner.

Many modern translations (such as the New Living Translation, New International Version, New Century Version, etc.) show verse 21 to mean "if the slave lives and returns to health in a day or two, then the owner is not to be punished."

A slave who suffers permanent injury as a result of the master's beating is released from servitude.

"And if a man strikes the eye of his male servant, or the eye of his female servant and destroys it, he shall let him go free for his eye's sake. And if he knocks out his male servant's tooth, or his female servant's tooth, he shall let him go free for his tooth's sake." (Exodus 21:26-27)

Jewish captives

Jewish communities customarily ransomed Jewish captives according to a Judaic mitzvah regarding the redemption of captives (pidyon shvuyimredeemed person).^[2] Knowing this, slave traders preyed on Jews.^[3] In his A History of the Jews, Paul Johnson writes:

Jews were particularly valued as captives since it was believed, usually correctly, that even if they themselves poor, a Jewish community somewhere could be persuaded to ransom them. If a Jew was taken by Turks from a Christian ship, his release was usually negotiated from Constantinople. In Venice, the Jewish Levantine and Portuguese congregations set up a special organization for redeeming Jewish captives taken by Christians from Turkish ships, Jewish merchants paid a special tax on all goods to support it, which acted as a form of insurance since they were likely victims.^[4]

The payment of a ransom in such a situation was not the purchase of the redeemed person, but the buying of their freedom.

Against the keeping of slaves

Against forced Hebrew enslavement:

"Anyone who kidnaps another and either sells him or still has him when he is caught must be put to death." (Exodus 21:16)

A Jew is forbidden to return a runaway slave:

"You shall not give back to his master the slave who has escaped from his master to you. He may dwell with you in your midst, in the place which he chooses within one of your gates, where it seems best to him; you shall not oppress him." (Deuteronomy 23:15-16)

Slavery under the New Testament

Main article: Christianity and slavery

In the New Testament, Christian slaves are admonished to obey their masters (1 Peter 2:18; Ephesians 6:5-8; Titus 2:9-10; Colossians 3:22-25; 1 Timothy 6:1), but kindness and just and equal pay was also urged (Colossians 4:1, and brotherly acceptance Philemon 1:10-16), with freedom being the ideal if it could be lawfully obtained (1 Corinthians 7:21-23, KJV).

References