Perhaps, but it doesn't erase the fact, that at some point, this alleged God, instructed men on how to beat a slave, consider them your property, etc. Now honestly, does it sound like a Gods law, or men of that times law?
Exodus chapter 21 and in particular verse 20 is almost every biblical objectors favorite verse to quote (and always without context of course)
First a bit of context:Yes, I find it morally correct that the rights of a bondservant working off an individual or family debt were upheld. That’s the progressive nature of the law that protected the bondservant (“ebed” in Hebrew) within Israel that was found nowhere else in the pagan nations of the ancient near east.
I absolutely know the perception is that these folks were kept in shackles, practically starved, beaten, maimed, raped and treated like human garbage based on the whims of the debt holder. Just not the case (this was not ancient Egypt or the antebellum south in US). Simple comparisons with other ancient near east cultures will show you that the slave (not the bondservant) was treated like human garbage in those cases. The practices utilized with bond servants in ancient Israel were leaps and bounds above the slavery of surrounding pagan nations (these were the “work you to death, starve, maim, rape and beat you” cultures). The reality is that there was virtually no comparison between the treatment of bondservants in ancient Israel versus the treatment of slaves in the surrounding pagan cultures.
The Israelites that had acquired debt (ex: through failed business, theft, failed crops, etc…) and were unable to repay entered into a contract with the debtholder to work off the debt. As was customary in ancient Israel, sometimes individuals, individual and a family member or entire families worked off the debt. If the debt was satisfied prior to 6 years of service then that was it….the bondservant was released. If 6 years of service came and went and the debt was not repaid in full the debtholder simply lost out and the bond servant was to be released regardless. Often times the released bondservant(s) was to be given compensation, lifestock, grains, wine, etc…..upon their release. Sometimes the bondservants became full employees after the debt was settled and began earning a wage (if they chose to stay on board). Sometimes bondservants chose to stay with the family they worked off debt for and continue the bondservitude after the debt was satisfied because they developed such a strong relationship with the family they owed a debt to. Sometimes females bondservants became spouses of the owners or the owner's children (marriages were arranged) and as was customary the owner would pay out a brideprice to the bondservants family. Within the year of jubilee many, many bondservants were released from their service regardless of time served or amount of debt repaid.
And yes sometimes the bondservants' performance or behavior was inappropriate and they were punished for it. Although, the laws for bondservants didn't condone the capricious beating of the bondservant, the laws were meant to discourage that behavior on behalf of the owner. If owner did something as vile as murder a bondservant then that owner lost their life. Everyone quotes the scripture “if the owner beats the slave and slave recovers after 3 days……then all is good”. This circumstance was simply an exception, not the norm, but the laws were meant to govern all circumstances both the good and the bad. If the bondservant was beaten to a point in which they could not work they were supposed to be freed. The debtholder/owner was engaged in a contract with the bondservant and that bondservant was deemed property, but human property for the purposes of sweat equity for debt repayment that retained rights and privileges and just treatment. The owner was outlawed from ruling over the bondservant like a tyrant….that was not permitted. Did they work some of these folks hard? Sure. Was that hard work intended to be cruel and brutal and relentless and unreasonable? LOL no….that’s a fiction inferred by ignorant readers.
God’s ultimate goal was to lead Israel away from the practice of using bondservants altogether. The Lord works within the confines of our lives drawing us closer to him and away from the adopted practices of our hardened hearts that we freely choose to engage in. Regardless, the Lord is patient and will allow our free choices and some our less than desirable customs to be honored with the intention of leading us away from those practices. The use of bondservants is not the preference of the Lord though. Bondservants were also meant to respect their owners. Remember, some of the bondservants were working off a debt based a crime they committted against the family that held their contract for debt repayment. As I’ve said time and again on this topic it is completely illogical that God would free the Israelites from the brutal, forced slavery in Egypt and then allow them to engage in that same behavior among the people of their own nation. Folks will simply say “well, that’s a biblical contradiction” LOL……sorry, no. That’s ignorance on part of the critic that has done little more than a surface reading of the scripture. When I first read the these scriptures I was SHOCKED, but then I dug in deeper and understood the culture of the Isaelites, the culture of the pagan nations, learned some of the Hebrew terms and the definitely gained insight on the context…..makes all the difference.
Now I know I wrote all of this and some will just reply with “b.s.” or “keep polishing that turd” or whatever other witty retort they can think of; regardless, I hope this was at least helpful. I've learned that some religious objectors love their canned objections so much that they refuse to accept resolution when it's presented....I'm helpless to do anything about that.
Most people won't even read this LOL.The rules for slavery regarding Israel in the OT had nothing to do with the antebellum South or the slavery they were delivered from in Egypt. Two entirely different things....one was forced (ex: antebellum South and Israelites in Egypt) and the other was voluntary/customary for debt payment (ex: Israelites post-Egypt freedom). One was about inhumanity (ex: antebellum South and Israelites in Egypt) and one was about the preservation of humanity and rights of the servant/slave while working off individual or family debt (ex: Israel post-Egypt freedom). The word "slave" is always incorrecty associated with the antebellum South...just not the case for OT Israel.
Many slaves/bond servants ended up staying with the very owner/family they worked for after their debts were satisfied because they chose to. Many became full-time hands on the owners land receiving a normal wage. These folks weren't "picking the cotton on Massah's plantation" and then being beaten and/or raped in the evenings.....no, no, no.
I know many have serious issues with slavery in the bible, but the "issue of slavery" doesn't carry the negative connotation often force fit onto it because of the words “slave” or ”slavery”. It’s the culture and history of the Israelites who were delivered from the forced, "work til you die" slavery in Egypt that needs to be understood. If the Israelite that held the debt did something to mistreat the bondservant working off the debt the holder of debt was punished. God that freed the Israelites didn't turn around and say, "Ok, now y'all go ahead and enslave and mistreat others in the same manner you were just freed from".
Now here's Exodus 21 in its entirety:Exodus 21 English Standard Version (ESV)
Laws About Slaves
21 “Now these are the rules that you shall set before them.
2 When you buy a Hebrew slave,[a] 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.
12 “Whoever strikes a man so that he dies shall be put to death. 13 But if he did not lie in wait for him, but God let him fall into his hand, then I will appoint for you a place to which he may flee. 14 But if a man willfully attacks another to kill him by cunning, you shall take him from my altar, that he may die.
15 “Whoever strikes his father or his mother shall be put to death.
16 “Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be put to death.17 “Whoever curses his father or his mother shall be put to death.
18 “When men quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone or with his fist and the man does not die but takes to his bed, 19 then if the man rises again and walks outdoors with his staff, he who struck him shall be clear; only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall have him thoroughly healed.
20 “When a man strikes his slave, male or female, with a rod and the slave dies under his hand, he shall be avenged. 21 But if the slave survives a day or two, he is not to be avenged, for the slave is his money.*** this is purely an exception to the norm, not instruction on or encouragement to engage in slave beating. the idea was to treat the slave (bondservant) with respect but men are often disobedient and sometimes warrant punishment, but that punishment can't result in death. The owner of the bondservant must exhibit restraint and compassion, but if they fail to do so and kill the slave/bondservant the slave/bondservant will be avenged and the master put to death as was stated in previous verses. ***22 “When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that her children come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the woman's husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine. 23 But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
26 “When a man strikes the eye of his slave, male or female, and destroys it, he shall let the slave go free because of his eye. 27 If he knocks out the tooth of his slave, male or female, he shall let the slave go free because of his tooth.28 “When an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox shall be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten, but the owner of the ox shall not be liable. 29 But if the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past, and its owner has been warned but has not kept it in, and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned, and its owner also shall be put to death. 30 If a ransom is imposed on him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is imposed on him. 31 If it gores a man's son or daughter, he shall be dealt with according to this same rule. 32 If the ox gores a slave, male or female, the owner shall give to their master thirty shekels[e] of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.
Laws About Restitution
33 “When a man opens a pit, or when a man digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it, 34 the owner of the pit shall make restoration. He shall give money to its owner, and the dead beast shall be his.
35 “When one man's ox butts another's, so that it dies, then they shall sell the live ox and share its price, and the dead beast also they shall share. 36 Or if it is known that the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past, and its owner has not kept it in, he shall repay ox for ox, and the dead beast shall be his.
So there you go, no instruction on how to beat a slave....that's pure fiction. God knows sinful man's hearts are disobedient so he accounts for that fact. Context always tells a different story than simply lifting a verse off a page with zero support or casually (and incorrectly) quoting a part of a verse in "mic drop" fashion, but hey whatever helps you sleep at night.
