“There is neither … slave nor free …
for you are all one in Christ.”
(Gal 3:28, NKJV)
Slavery in the Old Testament was well-known, although the laws of Moses regulated rather than advocated it. Israel are reminded throughout that they had been slaves in Egypt – “then you shall say to your son: ‘We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.’” (Deut 6:21). The Old Testament laws are rife with Godly guidelines on how to treat slaves with dignity and sympathy. For our current purposes it is not necessary to delve into the detail of what the business of slavery entails, except perhaps to say that the year of Jubilee brought freedom to the slaves (Lev 25:10; Deut 15:17). During his time of service the slave was encouraged to adopt the Jewish faith (Ex 12:44). There were clear guidelines about the release of slaves (Ex 21:3, 20-21, 26-27). If he was murdered, his death was punishable with death (Num 35:31-35); he could lay claim to all the advantages which the Israelites had access to: circumcision (Gen 17:12), participation of the festivals (Ex 12:43), listening to the law, the Sabbath, the jubilee, etc.
The New Testament uses the slavery of the Old Covenant as symbol or metaphor to demonstrate man’s slavery to sin – “for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage” (2 Pet 2:19). [In a sub-theme that will be examined in the future we will look at quite a number of these sins to which people are addicted and look at how everyone can be freed from this form of slavery.]
Less than a century ago great men of God, like David Livingstone, made it their life’s purpose to end slavery. And although the state-sanctioned race-based slavery was largely reduced, the phenomenon had taken on a number of disguises, and is still driven by financial greed. Contemporary slavery includes international human trafficking, farm and factory slavery, child labour, child soldiers, forced prostitution, the exploitation of immigrants, the large number of domestic servitude slaves, child prostitution, forced labour, forced cultural marriages (often at a very young age), forced male and female circumcision.
In the foreword to Ronald Sider’s book Christians in an age of hunger David Watson writes the following – “It is disturbing … to find that most western Christians are closely identified with the ‘establishment’, with the rich and powerful. We have greater affinity with the affluent and the influential than with the downtrodden and the oppressed.”
The time has come, in Theodore Parker’s words, “to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable”. This is a large part of the scandalous anti-establishment hard-ass attitude which Jesus displayed towards the social disgraces of his time.
- Sela: Ask Yahweh for a practical strategy to deal with slavery in your immediate environment..
- Read: Jos 18-20
- Examine how this has been fulfilled: Jos 18:7a (Tip: 1 Pet 2:9; Eph 1:11 & 18)
- For a deeper understanding: Read Ronald Sider’s book.
