Israel’s history as a slave nation is knit within the fabric of its identity. In spiritual Israel today, we identify with the rigors of bondage the ancient Israelites suffered. The Israelites’ slavery to Egypt typifies our slavery to sin and to Satan (e.g. John 8:34; Romans 6:20). Their miraculous redemption from captivity foreshadowed God freeing us. The spiritual imagery is profound, the lessons deeply personal.
But ancient Israel’s freedom did not end its association with slavery. Not only did the whole nation repeatedly go into varying degrees of captivity, but at times, individual Israelites actually became slaves and even owned slaves within the nation. Most of us probably haven’t thought much about this fact: While there is no indication Israel had a slave trade as some nations did, its people did own slaves. And God sanctioned and regulated this practice.
It is one of the most controversial aspects of God’s Old Testament law: slavery. Believe it or not, it is also a subject that glows with vision and even beauty when you properly understand it!
How to Become a Slave
Under what circumstances would an Israelite become a slave?
God designed His welfare system so that the people, not the government, provided for those in poverty. He wanted the entire nation to look out for those in financial straits, and for the poor to work to get themselves out of poverty. Yet these aids did not eliminate poverty completely. So God provided a plan of last resort for a person in terrible financial shape. In extreme cases, a horribly indebted individual could enter a work program to get back on his feet.
Read Deuteronomy 15:12. Essentially this is God’s six-year work program for poor Israelites. For someone capable of working, this was a way to get out from under a crushing burden of debt. It also ensured that the lender received something in return. Contrast that against the modern practice of filing bankruptcy, which leaves creditors without compensation when the borrower defaults on a debt.
God’s law outlines four other ways an Israelite might become a slave. In only one case did God actually command slavery: A thief without the money to pay the fine laid on him by the law was to be sold (Exodus 22:3). This punished the criminal for his crime and ensured that the grieved party received something for being wronged.
The other laws simply establish ground rules for this common practice. First, a father might sell his children (Exodus 21:7).
Second, someone might be taken as a prisoner in war and sold as a slave. Finally, an Israelite might ransom an Israelite from being a slave to a Gentile; he could then sell that slave to another Israelite (Leviticus 25:47-55).
All of these cases involve some kind of sin. If you consider these means by which someone could become enslaved, they illustrate one of the spiritual types at play in God’s laws regarding slavery: the fact that sin enslaves us. When an Israelite became enslaved, it was a sign that he had broken some laws—criminal or economic—and was now captive as a result.
It seems extremely likely that slavery will be a thing of the past in the World Tomorrow because God will eliminate all these causes for slavery. We will be teaching people—helping and guiding them—to ensure they are being responsible and actually growing their wealth. God wants everyone to prosper! God doesn’t intend people to be owned by other people. He wants all men to be free!
The Terms of Service
Let’s return to the slave in Deuteronomy 15. Read verse 12 again. Being a servant was a legitimate life in Israel, but it wasn’t a permanent condition. Slaves who were Israelites were set free after six years, unless they chose to remain slaves. Even then, they were freed during the year of jubilee, every 50th year. Study Leviticus 25:39-41 to see how God guaranteed a man this right. God did not want the situation to last forever (although Deuteronomy 15:16-17 provide a provision for the individual who preferred to remain a perpetual servant).
Notice Exodus 21:2. For six years, the master provided shelter, food and clothing for the servant, and would pay his debts. In exchange, the poor man would work. During that period, the master was forbidden from treating him harshly; he was commanded to acknowledge the servant’s status as a citizen of Israel and to treat him with justice in the fear of God. God gave many laws to ensure the servant was treated well—like family. And notice: “He shall go out free for nothing” means that at the end of the six years he no longer owed anything. His debts were considered paid in full.
Read Leviticus 25:48. The man in this work program had this option: He or his family could buy his freedom at any time. That price was probably negotiated with the employer; the judges may have also gotten involved where necessary.
Read Deuteronomy 15:13-14 and 18 to see what would happen when the poor man finished the six-year work program. Consider how different this was from slavery in other nations. This man was given a bonus so he could start life over again with some savings! That would help him stay out of poverty the next time. A man who experienced those six years of servanthood was strongly motivated to make sure he never fell into such a state again.
God really instilled within the master a strong sense of compassion toward the poor individual. This is reminiscent of when the Israelites went free from their slavery: As slaves they possessed little, but God made sure that as they started their life of freedom, they were rich! (e.g. Exodus 3:21-22; 12:35-36). God ensured the same for the Israelite slave who went free, commanding the master: Give to him liberally! God left the specific amount to the discretion of the master. Slaves knew about this law too; this would have been incentive to offer good service during those six years of work.
Contemplate Deuteronomy 15:15. God wanted the master’s history as a slave and emancipation by God to inform his compassion and empathy toward the indentured worker. This principle applies anytime we have people working under us. There was a time when you were the child, the student, the employee or servant—when you were under another’s authority. Remember that experience, and be sure to exercise authority with compassion for the person who is now in the same position you used to be in. This is a law of love—and a law of liberty! Give those under you the same generous treatment God has given you.
Consider the benefits of this program. It developed a stronger work ethic in the servant and provided a profit to both the employer and the worker. And it is worth mentioning that none of it required any public taxes.
Our Faithful Master
The other spiritual type at play in God’s slavery laws regards the conduct of the master. God’s laws on slavery actually point to our servanthood to God, who is our faithful master.
Really study this subject in Scripture, and you see that God actually uses the master-slave relationship to typify our relationship with Him. God Himself is a “slave owner.”
This idea is very foreign to modern ears: It goes against everything our culture promotes—glorifying the individual, worshiping personal expression, demanding selfish fulfillment. Nevertheless, this is the scriptural teaching. For example, God’s apostles often refer to themselves as the “servant,” or bondslave, of God (e.g. Romans 1:1; Galatians 1:10; Colossians 4:12; 2 Timothy 2:24; James 1:1; 2 Peter 1:1; Jude 1). As Gerald Flurry explains in the James booklet: “God’s very elect are a small little remnant of people who know a lot about the Father and Christ, and who want to be a slave to both of them. This is a bondage of love. We love being in bondage to God.”
The real issue is the attitude and motive of the ruler. Scripture teaches we are all slaves: slaves of sin, or slaves of righteousness. Satan is the cruel, oppressive, despotic master of slaves of sin; Christ is the benevolent master of slaves of righteousness. Satan oppresses and bludgeons all he can from his slaves. Instead, Christ paid for His slaves with His precious blood, and offers us everything. Christ says: “[M]y yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:30), compared to the hard bondage and destructive servitude Satan imposes.
Of course, God also typifies our relationship as a father-son relationship and a husband-wife relationship—but the way God views slavery, there isn’t necessarily a huge difference between those. The master-slave idea simply emphasizes the government—the authority and submission in the relationship. But in God’s view, it was almost like a family bond.
Reading about the relationships that some of the great men of the Bible had with their servants, you realize that they were very much like family. And we who are slaves of God are certainly family to God!
God wanted the physical level to mirror this spiritual reality. Thus, in His law, our spiritual Master heavily regulated the physical master’s conduct in order to prevent abuses. Read Colossians 4:1 and Ephesians 6:9, both of which explicitly draw the parallel between physical and spiritual. God enjoins masters to follow His example and to treat their servants with compassion. He instructs: Remember what I have done for you! Even masters are slaves of God, and they are to follow the example of how God treats them.
Again we see how God’s law tends to protect the person likelier to be trampled on. In this case, it contains many provisions to safeguard the physical and spiritual wellbeing of the servant. In fact, one of these is contained right within the Ten Commandments! Look closely at the Fourth Commandment in Deuteronomy 5:12-14.
God commanded that all slaves receive the weekly Sabbath rest! That alone reveals a lot about how unusual was the treatment slaves in Israel received as compared to those in other nations. On a spiritual level, the master and slave were equals. Galatians 3:28 specifically says, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” That is speaking to baptized people, but even in Old Testament Israel, God was no respecter of persons.
Other Old Testament laws commanded Israel’s slaves to keep all the religious festivals and sacrifices. God commanded families to bring their servants with them to the Feast of Tabernacles—and servants to rejoice with the family (Deuteronomy 12:12). Slaves who became circumcised even kept the Passover (Exodus 12:44). The children of non-Israelite slaves were circumcised and regarded as members of Israel (Genesis 17:10-14). That is a remarkable picture of how a person’s spiritual status before God is completely independent of his race, nationality, sex or station in life.
In practical effect, these laws encouraged masters to view servants as extended family. All the laws that applied to natural-born Israelites applied to slaves as well.
Laws granting rights to slaves were almost unheard of in surrounding nations. But slaves in Israel had many God-given rights. The law says an Israelite slave was to be treated just like a hired employee, one who received a paycheck each day (Leviticus 25:39-46). It says that if a master maimed a slave, that slave was to be set free (Exodus 21:26-27). It explicitly forbids killing a slave (Exodus 21:20).
Study all those laws, and you will detect a common thread of godly empathy. In all the laws regulating this practice, God continually reminds the Israelites of their unique history as a slave nation in Egypt. He commanded that His people remember that difficult past and make sure it informed their conscience when they dealt with those in similar circumstances. This reality is particularly relevant to those of us in spiritual Israel today.
The Law of Liberty
Meditate on the preamble to the Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy 5:6.
Before giving this foundational law, God established His credentials. He didn’t introduce Himself as Creator of the heavens and Earth, or as the Maker of Israel. He focused on the fact that He had redeemed the Israelites from slavery. Spiritually, He did the same for us! This is what sets God’s people apart: This world is still in bondage—but we are free! (e.g. Romans 6:16-17). This is how God founded us as a spiritual nation.
What a beautiful truth God expresses here: Remember that you were slaves—and I freed you! Now, here is a wonderful law that will keep you free. These commandments are not bondage—they are a law for free men! This is a law of freedom. James calls it “the law of liberty” (James 1:25; 2:12). Christ said, “[Y]e shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). It’s when you’re breaking the law—when you’re living in ignorance of this great law—that you are in bondage! Because we were slaves in Egypt, our appreciation for this beautiful law of liberty should be tremendous. We know what the terrible bondage of sin is like—and with God’s help, we can keep this law and remain free!
Consider the picture described in the law of Deuteronomy 23:15-16. This is an extraordinary law. If a slave from a foreign nation escaped to Israel, God commanded the Israelites to provide him asylum and allow him to live anywhere he wanted in the nation. This man could have a completely new life, transformed from being a slave in a harsh, pagan nation to being able to enjoy the choicest blessings of freedom within the nation of the true God!
God has tremendous compassion for those in bondage! He hears the cry of the oppressed—even Gentiles who are enslaved to other Gentiles—just as surely as He heard the cries of His people Israel when they were in bondage in Egypt! He has a mind to graft them into His chosen nation.
Now think about this. All of us were, at one time, slaves of a harsh, terrible master. We fled to become part of God’s chosen nation, and God gave us refuge—and granted us freedom. Of course, that isn’t the complete picture, because God does actually redeem us from bondage to Satan. But the picture of us running from Satan to be joined to God, and then being given wonderful refuge, certainly is accurate. In a way, this merciful law points to God’s plan for everybody who has grown up as slaves to Satan and to sin in this present world! When they show themselves ready by fleeing that, and coming out of this world, they can ultimately “be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God”!