June 6, 2017
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Reading along with us in Exodus? Here’s today’s reading:
Exodus 21 (ESV)
Now these are the rules that you shall set before them. 2 When you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free, for nothing. 3 If he comes in single, he shall go out single; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him. 4 If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out alone. 5 But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ 6 then his master shall bring him to God, and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his slave forever.
7 “When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do. 8 If she does not please her master, who has designated her for himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has broken faith with her. 9 If he designates her for his son, he shall deal with her as with a daughter. 10 If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, or her marital rights. 11 And if he does not do these three things for her, she shall go out for nothing, without payment of money… Continue Reading
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I continue to work through Hebrews. Today I am finishing up the last chapter and reviewing chapter 6 for tonight.
Whole section on slavery is rather troubling on several levels
How was this ever considered acceptable
I think we have to consider how this servitude was actually a provision for the poor, especially women. This is not slavery in our more modern understanding of it but more indentured servitude. To recognize that harsh treatment of slaves was not condoned and to see that they could be freed in 6 years, completely changes the dynamic of what we found particularly in 1800s America. It’s also significant that they could surrender themselves to their master’s for life. To recognize the choice that gave them that may have been better than whatever alternative there was, as well as it being an encouragement for a master to create that kind of environment that one would want to stay.
I also really appreciate the justice of all these laws given: the recognition of motivation (by accident or intentional) as well as the extent of injury. You can see some of the same kinds of jurisprudence in America today…..
Creating rules and order and restitution