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The DEEP

Slavery

Combatting evil.

Exodus 21:1–6

“Now these are the judgments which you shall set before them: If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years; and in the seventh he shall go out free and pay nothing. If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master has given him a wife, and she has borne him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out by himself. But if the servant plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ then his master shall bring him to the judges. He shall also bring him to the door, or to the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him forever.”

The chilling history of slavery in America makes these verses difficult for us to read. But, in fact, they shouldn’t be troubling. The servitude called “slavery” here is not analogous to American slavery; it’s analogous to “indentured servitude.”

Indentured servants were common in colonial America. People sold themselves into indentured servitude to pay a debt or to pay for passage to America. But indentured servitude wasn’t permanent. That made all the difference. Indentured servitude was a form of paid up front employment. Conversely, American slavery was an inhumane system in which people actually bought and sold other people.

However, biblical slavery could be made permanent.

But if the servant plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ then his master shall bring him to the judges. He shall also bring him to the door, or to the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him forever.

We don’t know much about how this permanent slavery worked. Obviously, if it was anything like American slavery, no one would ever want to do this. We know from Genesis 42:6 that back then even a foreign slave in the Egyptian system could rise to become second in command over the whole nation. American slaves had nothing close to that kind of opportunity.

This passage doesn’t abolish slavery, but it does add some useful regulations. These regulations protected slaves and gave them specific rights.


It’s hard to imagine that slavery still exists, but it does. And modern slavery (AKA human trafficking) is just as vicious as antebellum American slavery—maybe more so. A lot of it is sex slavery.

This isn’t just going on around the world; it’s going on right under our noses. The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has a hotline to report suspected trafficking (888) 373-7888.

https://humantraffickinghotline.org/

https://www.dhs.gov/blue-campaign/what-human-trafficking

Do everything you can do to end this incredible evil. Pray, and keep your eyes open.


To forward this devotional, see the link in green below.

These weekday DEEPs are written by Mike Slay. Saturdays' by Matt Richardson. Subscribe here: https://www.ailbe.org/resources/community

The weekly study guides, which include questions for discussion or meditation, are here: https://www.ailbe.org/resources/itemlist/category/91-deep-studies

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Mike Slay

As a mathematician, inventor, and ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church in America, Mike Slay brings an analytical, conversational, and even whimsical approach to the daily study of God's Word.

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