Exodus 21-Slavery in the Bible?
By Peter Salemi
A sarcastic letter came out many years ago to a famous radio personality named Dr. Laura Schlessinger. This letter was highlighting so-called fallacies in Biblical anti-homosexuality arguments. It is the old “homosexuality is wrong because the Bible says so argument.” Just because the Bible said so doesn’t mean it’s true or valid and we should follow it. Or, that it was for another time and it doesn’t apply to our modern day today some argue.
This piece struck a note with many people, and by June and July of 2000 it had made its way into a number of newspapers, including the Knoxville News-Sentinel (7 June), Seattle Weekly (8 June), OC Weekly (9 June), The [Syracuse] Post-Standard (11 June), [Madison] Capital Times (13 July), and the Modesto Bee (22 July). Even the television show the “West Wing” used it to justify the homosexual lifestyle.
This letter said that if you believe what the Old Testament said about homosexuality that it’s an abomination, well then you must also believe what the Old Testament says about “sell[ing] his daughter to be a maidservant” (Ex 21:7). If homosexuality is wrong because it goes against God’s law as outlined in the Bible, then you must believe in this commandment that appears to be saying “slavery is ok.” How can one part of Leviticus be deemed as etched in stone when other parts have been discarded as archaic? Therefore (people reason) we should not take the offense of homosexuality seriously and it is not to be deemed a sin, or sinful. What is the answer?
First, it was the constant propaganda of the media, Hollywood, and the government that forced society in the western world to accept and justify homosexuality. Just because man justified a certain behaviour does not mean it’s justified!
God says Christians are not to be “partial” in the law of God (see Malachi 2:9). We cannot pick and choose what we like and what we do not like. We must accept what Exodus 21 says; but does it really condone slavery? Or does it do the exact opposite and can we apply it in our world today?
Laws concerning “Slaves”?
God just saved Israel and brought them out of slavery, clearly God is against slavery. Many times we see in the Bible, God saving Israel, especially in the book of Judges from their oppressors. Is now God going to just implement and condone slavery in Israel? Do these laws really speak of “slaves?” Or, did the Geneva and King James Translators translate these passages poorly?
It is interesting that, “The different interpretations of Exodus 21 after the Geneva Bible have contributed to exposing Christianity and the Bible to the charge of sanctioning slavery. However, this charge is undeserved…. it should be clear that true slavery was not taught or tolerated under the Mosaic law…[the] Geneva, the KJV, and later Bibles followed the rabbinic interpretation. As a result, insofar as the Exodus 21 passage is concerned, moderns have developed a different understanding of life and justice under the Mosaic Law than the Matthew Bible (and other Reformation Bibles) taught.” (Article; Exodus 21 Concerning Daughters Sold into Service Virgins, Concubines, or Slave-wives? By R. Magnusson Davis, p.9, emphasis added). Apparently (and not surprisingly) the translators of the LXX were influenced by this rabbinic tradition. Tyndale, however, rejected it, as did Luther. Luther often rejected the interpretations of Jewish rabbis and grammarians – not, he emphasized, “out of a misunderstanding of the languages, nor out of ignorance of the rabbinical commentaries, but knowing and deliberately.” (ibid). Many times the translators translated certain words according to their biases and preconceived ideas. The reformers like Tyndale and others did not. Of course many reformers were persecuted and put to death.
The concept of slavery raises ugly spectres of human trafficking, kidnapping, and inhumane treatment. It was and has always been a terrible reality among the all nations, but God desired the Israelites to depart from such practices, and to be a special and holy people unto him. Mosaic Law prescribed that anyone who kidnapped and sold a person was to die for it (Ex. 21:16). Human traffickers today under Moses’ jurisdiction would be put to death; and the horror stories we are hearing from places where human trafficking is rampant TODAY- rightly so!
So is Exodus 21 really speaking of slaves as we think of slaves today?
The word “Slave”
The Bible says, “Now these are the judgments which thou shalt set before them.” (Ex 21:1). The word “judgement” in Hebrew is “mishpâṭ” (Strong’s #4941) translated in the Greek is “dikaioma” and it means, “…(from dikaióo = to justify díkaios = just, righteous, right) which refers to what God has declared to be right, so as to have the force of law; hence an ordinance. Simply stated dikaioma is what God has established and in Exodus 21:1-23:33 declares as right (righteous) and just. The word just means honorable, fair in one’s dealings and actions with others, and consistent with what is morally right.” (Exodus 21 Commentary, emphasis added). So these “judgments” are just and right in God’s sight and to be obeyed!
Now the scripture says, “If thou buy an Hebrew servant [some translations have “slave”], six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.” (v.2). Does this sound like slavery as we know it today, or for ancient times as well? A “servant” serves for 6 years and then is let “free” in the 7th? Slaves let free? Aren’t slave’s properties of the owner and has no rights and serves the owner until death? This article rightly states, “Since Exodus 21 makes it clear that the menservants and maidservants had many rights – including the all-important right to go free – it is simply not correct to refer to them as slaves. Semantics matter!” (Article; Exodus 21 Concerning Daughters Sold into Service Virgins, Concubines, or Slave-wives? By R. Magnusson Davis, p.9, emphasis added).
The word for “servant” in the masculine is “‛ebed” (Strong’s #5650) and the feminine “maidservant” is “'âmâh” (Strong’s #519). The first comes from the word “Abad” (Strong’s #5647). It mainly means to “to serve, cultivate, enslave, work.” Depending on the context! “This root is used widely in Semitic and Canaanite languages. This verb appears about 290 times in all parts of the Old Testament. The verb is first used in Gen. 2:5: ‘to till the ground.’ God gave to man the task ‘to dress [the ground]” (Ge 2:15; 3:23; cf. Ge 1:28). (Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old Testament and New Testament Words).
“(ebed)” means a servant or slave and it may also be used in a context of a worker or laborer (see, William Gesenius, Hebrew Lexicon, pp. 559-600).
This source states, “A verb meaning to work, to serve. This labor may be focused on things, other people, or God. When it is used in reference to things, that item is usually expressed: to till the ground (Gen. 2:5; 3:23; 4:2); to work in a garden (Gen. 2:15); or to dress a vineyard (Deut. 28:39). Similarly, this term is also applied to artisans and craftsmen, like workers in fine flax (Isa. 19:9); and laborers of the city (Ezek. 48:19). When the focus of the labor is another person, that person is usually expressed: Jacob’s service to Laban (Gen. 29:15); the Israelites’ service for the Egyptians (Ex. 1:14); and a people’s service to the king (Judg. 9:28; 1 Sam. 11:1). When the focus of the labor is the Lord, it is a religious service to worship Him. Moreover, in these cases, the word does not have connotations of toilsome labor but instead of a joyful experience of liberation (Ex. 3:12; 4:23; 7:16; Josh. 24:15, 18)…” (The Complete Word Study Dictionary – Old Testament). The word does mean “slave” or “servant” but the main definition is to be a “laborer.” Context is key!
What is the context of Exodus 21? The Jamieson Fausset and Brown commentary rightly states that, “Every Israelite was free-born;” None are born slaves nor is there a culture of slavery in the Israelite nation.
In Exodus 21:2 and in verse 7 the “maidservant” and “Hebrew servants” are NOT being sold into slavery. This source states, “…it does not by any means necessarily convey the idea of Hebrew servants’ being bought and sold as goods and chattels, as they are under the system of modern slavery, especially in our own country. Here, as the service among the Hebrews was for the most part voluntary, the ‘buying an Hebrew servant’ may as legitimately imply the buying him from himself, that is, buying his services, as any other mode of purchase. Indeed, as there is no positive proof that Hebrew servants were ever made such or kept in that condition by force, against their own consent, except as a punishment for crime, the decided presumption is that such is the kind of ‘buying’ here spoken of…. The first use of abad in Exodus is of Moses calling himself a ‘servant’ of Yahweh. Notice also that while the word slave is used here, this word does not convey the same sense as when the Hebrews were slaves in Egypt. A distinction is being made here between the status of slave and indentured servant. (see Lev 25:39 below). If a master actually struck a slave [servant] and injured him, that slave [servant] was to be set free (Ex. 21:26-27).” (Exodus Commentary, emphasis added). In our modern day do we not buy and sell one another’s services? This is what is being conveyed here! People are buying other people’s services-a contract between two parties. In our modern day do we not have employer/employee rights? This is what is also being established in Exodus 21!
In the Israelite nation to earn a living as we do today, many subjected themselves voluntarily to Indentured servitude which is a form of labor in which a person is contracted to work or to pay a debt, “A contract binding one party into the service of another for a specified term.” (“Indentured servant,” Free Dictionary.com). Correct words in the proper context must be used in translating, as this source observes, “There is a difference between protected, indentured servanthood and slavery. Tyndale and Coverdale used the more general term ‘bondservant,’ a broad word that was appropriate to different situations. There was no need to depart from their terminology and use the pejorative and inappropriately narrow term ‘slave.’” (Article; Exodus 21 Concerning Daughters Sold into Service Virgins, Concubines, or Slave-wives? By R. Magnusson Davis, p.9, emphasis added).
There were many different reasons, people sold themselves into indentured servitude, but in these cases all were voluntary, not forced. Some did it because of poverty and debt, and had created a contract and “sold” himself/herself into that person’s employment. (Thus the phrase: “He is his money” – Exodus 21:21)!
Lev 25:39 states, “And if thy brother that dwelleth by thee be waxen poor, and be sold unto thee; thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bondservant:
“But as an hired servant, and as a sojourner, he shall be with thee, and shall serve thee unto the year of jubilee:
“And then shall he depart from thee, both he and his children with him, and shall return unto his own family, and unto the possession of his fathers shall he return.
“For they are my servants, which I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: they shall not be sold as bondmen.
“Thou shalt not rule over him with rigour; but shalt fear thy God.” (vv.39-43). Forced labor was not allowed in the Israelite nation.
This source rightly reveals that these were businesses and servants were under contract voluntarily to serve these businesses and God established rights for employer and employee, “During this time there were no businesses or corporations who hired people. Almost all of the businesses were what we would call ‘small businesses’ in the sense that they were family owned and family operated. The ‘servant/slaves’ in the O.T. context were humans who were owned [under contract] by masters [employers] and they needed work and because they worked for a master [owner], they could be exploited. They did not have much and they did not run companies so they were subject to the masters who owned [under contract to] them. So God begins with a series of laws that apply to them.
“What these slave [indentured servant] laws did was to give employees and employers certain rights. The Egyptians had mistreated Israel by forcing Israel into horrible slave labor situations, and God’s Law protected that from happening in His people and nation.” (Article Exposition of Exodus, p.1, by David Thompson, emphasis added). This is what this is, employer and employee rights-rights that we have today in our modern world yet the Bible established these rights long before the forming of the USA Canada and the rest of the western world!
Exodus 21:7
In the case of Exodus 21:7, the passage does not suggest any kind of forcing people into servitude; it’s their own choice to sell their service. What we see here is the Law or contract of sale; in other words, if you disagree with the situation, don’t sell your service. This is a choice! This is the Law or contract of sale. This is done today selling our services to people willing to buy!
In this matter of selling their children into being servants is because they had no other choices making it in life, as this commentary states, “he not being able to support himself and his family, puts his daughter out to service, or rather sells her to be a servant:” (Gill’s Commentary, emphasis added). Today, many single moms mostly, give up their kids for adoption so that their child could have a better life with another family. The child’s benefit is put first. This is what this judgment is about!
Servants were Set Free or Stayed Voluntarily
Furthermore, contextually, in Exodus 21, servants usually had a set limit of time they served. Hebrew servants could work no longer than 6 years, and after that, had to be released from their contract for nothing (Leviticus 25 and 27). Some people actually became servants forever (by choice), simply because they would have bonded with their “masters,” and would have preferred to stay with them. They didn’t want to be loosed from their employers. In the following passage, the Bible gives instructions for such a case: “And if the servant shall plainly say, I LOVE MY MASTER, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free:
“Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him forever” (Exodus 21:5-6).
Surely this verse proves that this is not slavery, like how we think of the brutal slavery of Africans. Rather, this type of servitude was different. They worked for you in exchange for bread, a roof, and the payments of their debts. They could walk away after 6 years if they wanted, but many probably stayed on as hired hands forever by choice.
The Opposite is True
Clearly, as David Guzik observes, “Some think that the Bible is responsible for slavery. The opposite is true; slavery existed long before Israel or Moses. The Bible is responsible for the elimination of slavery, not its establishment.” He goes on to say, “‘Moses did not institute slavery in any shape; the laws concerning it were made on purpose to repress it, to confine it within very narrow bounds, and ultimately to put an end to it.”’ (Spurgeon)…
“The ideas of man-stealing and life-long servitude—the concepts many have of slavery—simply do not apply to the practice of slavery in the Old Testament. Normally, slavery [indentured servitude] was:
(1) Chosen or mutually arranged
(2) Of limited duration and
(3) Highly regulated.
“There were four basic ways a Hebrew might become a slave [servant] to another Hebrew.
1) In extreme poverty, they might sell their liberty (Leviticus 25:39).
2) A father might sell a daughter as a servant into a home with the intention that she would eventually marry into that family (Exodus 21:7).
3) In the case of bankruptcy, a man might become servant to his creditors (2 Kings 4:1).
4) If a thief had nothing with which to pay proper restitution (Exodus 22:3” (Enduring Word Commentary, emphasis added).
Conclusion
The critics of the Bible really have not thought these things through before writing an open letter to Dr. Laura complaining that she uses the Bible to justify her belief that homosexuality is a sin! To justify that, is to justify slavery and other things they have listed which we will answer in other articles as well. On the surface, it may seem that the Bible is justifying slavery and making God look like a hypocrite; but digging deep into it, it does not!
The Bible had rights and freedoms long before the western world was ever developed, and they are “right” and “just” then and now! The excuse, “just because the Bible say so” therefore we should not follow it, is a poor and weak argument. The words of God living words that operates for our good. These laws protect the rights of human beings, and when put into practice develop fair and just societies. These are not just words, but laws that affect our society, and work upon us automatically whether we like it or not, as the law of gravity does every day!
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