There were some people trying to argue about how they believe God is evil or non-existent because the Bible supports slavery and incest. I pointed out that those are sins in the Bible and they sounded brainwashed and dishonest. Of course, this made these liars angry but what they didn’t want to do was read the Bible and learn what I was talking about. Today I just want to talk about slavery for a minute.
Psalm 89:14 “Righteousness and justice are the foundation fo your throne; love and faithfulness go before you.”
If God isn’t righteous and just His throne falls. So let’s look how that applies to slavery. God made this law in the extreme early days of the nation He developed. “Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be put to death.” Exodus 21:16 That is what we call slavery in our culture. Both sides of the slave trade were punishable by death in the God’s law.
So why are there so many verses giving rules about slaves and slavery? There are some reasons, one is translation. Paid laborers are translated as slaves in many verses throughout the Bible. In Genesis 29-31 Jacob makes a few agreements to work for his wife and for his own flocks which were wealth in his time. He was stuck working for 21 years and his father in law took advantage of him but Jacob agreed to work all those years in exchange for something. That’s indentured service, it’s like working at McDonald’s but with a multiyear contractual agreement like a major athlete gets today. When you read the rules that are translated into English as slavery, in some cases they actually mean paid work.
Second reason looks like this. There was no jail, so if you did something that required a legal repayment and couldn’t pay, you worked off your debt. There was no bankruptcy, if you borrowed and couldn’t repay you worked off your debt. If you were too poor to survive or just moved in from another country you sold yourself into service A.K.A. did a job for someone to survive. It’s the same way most of us live now.
And let’s not forget that there were real slaves as we know them. While God required governments to put slave holders and slave sellers to death, the governments of the world didn’t follow God’s law, even his own nation at many times. God judged His own nation for breaking His law.
“You recently repented and did what was right in my eyes by proclaiming liberty, each to his neighbor, and you made a covenant before me in the house that is called by my name, but then you turned around and profaned my name when each of you took back his male and female slaves, whom you had set free according to their desire, and you brought them into subjection to be your slaves. Therefore, thus says the Lord: You have not obeyed me by proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother and to his neighbor; behold, I proclaim to you liberty to the sword, to pestilence, and to famine, declares the Lord. I will make you a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.” Jeremiah 34:15-17
God is righteous and obeys His own rules. He has slavery so much and the American slave trade was evil just like all the slave trades of world history. And He is so just that He would punish His chosen people for breaking His rules of right and wrong. And He’s so righteous that He would become a human and punish Himself for all the evil the world has ever done to give his righteousness and justice the right to exist in the face of forgiveness of evil. That’s Jesus who died for your sins. Accept Him, receive His gift, and turn from evil rather than accusing the God who loves you, created you and took your punishments of being the evil one so that you can go on sinning yourself into eternal punishment.
Practice Outlaw 