SLAVERY, I (IN THE BIBLE)

Although slavery existed in Israel on only a small scale, it was an integral part of the ancient Semitic culture; basically, it was an economic institution that remained unchanged in a stable economy.

Enslavement. In Israel the following were reduced to slavery: captives taken in raids (Am 1.6, 9), insolvent debtors (Am 2.6; 2 Kgs 4.1; Neh 5.5, 8), convicted thieves unable to make retribution (Ex 22.2), young girls sold by their fathers into conditional slavery (Ex 21.7-11), and non-Israelite prisoners taken in war (2 Chr 28.8-15). The captives taken in war might become Temple slaves, domestic slaves, or state slaves. It was customary to dedicate some of the captives to Temple service (Nm 31.25–47; Jos 9.21–27); some became slaves in private households; others were made to work as slaves on state projects. The insolvent debtors mentioned above were sold into slavery to satisfy their creditors. To avoid the danger of wholesale population drift of small-scale farmers into slavery as a result of insolvency, the Law limited such slavery to a maximum of six years (Ex 21.2; Dt 15.12); at the end of this service, they were to be provided with the means necessary for returning to normal life (Dt 15.13–18). A Hebrew who had sold himself into slavery to escape poverty was to serve till the jubilee year. If his master was a foreigner, he could either purchase his freedom or ask to be redeemed by one of his relatives any time before the Jubilee Year (Lv 25.47–55). Yet this humanitarian legislation of 7th-year release and jubilee-year liberty remained largely theoretical, as is seen in the unfulfilled pledge given the Hebrew slaves at the time of the Babylonian siege (Jer 34.8-22; see Mendelsohn, 86–87).

Legislation. Legally, the slave was property, without name or genealogy, a commodity to be sold, bought, or inherited. However, OT legislation, especially the Deuteronomic code, mindful of Israel's slavery in Egypt (Dt 5.15; 15.15; 24.18) and increasingly considerate of the individual, aimed at keeping the number of Hebrew slaves to a minimum and mitigating the severities in their life. A man who was married when he became a slave could take his wife back with him at the end of his service, but if he was single at the beginning of his service and was given a wife by his master, the wife and any children born of the couple belonged to the master (Ex 21.3-4). A significant difference between Hebrew and foreign slaves was that the latter could be held in servitude permanently and handed on with other family property (Lv 25.44–46). Religious privileges were accorded also to slaves; Hebrew and non-Hebrew slaves were to be circumcised (Gn 17.12) and enjoy the Sabbath rest (Ex 20.11; 23.12; Dt 5.14). A woman captured in war and taken as a wife, if later divorced, could neither be sold nor again reduced to slavery; her husband had to allow her to go free (Dt 21.10-14). The death penalty was prescribed for a man who deceitfully sold a fellow Israelite into slavery (Dt 24.7). The OT codes limit their legislation to domestic slaves; no prescriptions are given for the state or Temple slaves mentioned in nonlegal texts.

Role in OT Economy. Slavery, as such, was not a prominent feature of the Israelite economy. The agricultural projects were too small to lend themselves to the exploitation of slave labor; the hired laborer did this work more economically. There were no private industrial projects of great scope in Israel, nor was there a continued international commerce. Yet the nation had its building programs and, for a time, a metal industry. Israel's most outstanding use of state slaves was in the copper smeltery and foundry built by King Solomon at Asiongaber [see N. Glueck, Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 79 (1940) 2–18]. Some slaves were attached to the Temple throughout Israel's history (Jos 9.23, 27; Ezr8.20). But the majority of Israel's slaves were found in private homes performing domestic chores.

Place in New Testament Ethics. The attitude of the NT toward the institution of slavery was primarily religious, not social. Christ and His Apostles did not give new legislation to oppose the system of existing slavery, but preached principles that would logically lead to its abolition. If all are children of the same Father, no essential distinction can remain between slave and free man (1 Cor 12.13; Gal 3.28; Col 3.11).

The Apostles did not intend an immediate change in social institutions; theirs was a religious message with the primary intention of making their converts obedient to God's revelation in Christ (Eph 6.5–9; Col 3.22–4.1; 1 Pt 2.18). Paul does not command Philemon to free his slave, although he implicitly recommends this in reminding him that Onesimus is his brother in Christ and is to be treated as such (Phlm 15–16). Moreover, he exhorts the slaves of the Corinth Church not to be impatient with their station, but to accept it, recognizing that they have a higher life in Christ (1 Cor 7.21–24). Nevertheless, in the NT the foundations were laid for a slow but effective social revolution that eventually caused the abolition of slavery in Christian countries.

Bibliography: i. mendelsohn, The Interpreters Dictionary of the Bible, ed. g. a. buttrick et al. (New York 1951–57) 4:383–391; Slavery in the Ancient Near East (New York 1949). r. salomon, L'Esclavage en droit comparé juif et romain (Paris 1931). m. roberti, La lettera di S. Paulo a Filemone e la condizione giuridica dello schiavo fuggitivo (Milan 1933). p. heinisch, "Das Sklavenrecht in Israel und im alten Orient," Studia catholica 11 (1934–35) 201–218. r. devaux, Ancient Israel, Its Life and Institutions, tr. j. mchugh (New York 1961) 80–90.

[h. c. franco]