Joshua, Part 3: Slavery
A question: is slavery “sin”? Is it “evil”? 100%, always immoral?
Let me ask that question in another way. Is freedom “righteous”? Is it “holy”? 100%, always godly and “moral”?
We might be tempted to answer the first question “yes,” but we might hedge a little bit on the second. I would answer both of those questions “no.”
Slavery has become a very emotional issue in America, and it has also become a sledgehammer that the Left uses to beat our Founding Fathers and early Americans over the head. They do this, of course, in order to diminish our history in the eyes of modern Americans for the sole purpose of replacing early American values with their own godless, Leftist, immoral, totalitarian, power-seeking ideas. Slavery gets very little objective examination any more.
I am certainly not in favor of slavery, not in the least. I believe in the ideal that “all men are created equal” and endowed by God with “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” That is the ideal. I wish all men could be free from government tyranny and the oppression of other human beings. Unfortunately, too often, the ideal and the reality run into conflict.
Slavery was an economic system, just like capitalism, socialism, mercantilism, hunter-gathering—these have been, through history, the various ways and means humans have tried to divide up the scarce resources that exist on this planet. Some of those systems do a better job of allocating scarce resources than others. But that is, in the end, the purpose of them all.
Slavery existed mainly in agricultural societies, and was extremely common until the Industrial and American Revolutions pretty well made it “unpolitical” and, frankly, uneconomic. And while it still exists today (mainly a sex slavery that seems to be increasing among parts of the degenerate population that is sex-obsessed and can’t reproduce because of their hedonistic choices), most of us are happy to see it go. Actually, it has been argued, with some pretty solid historical data behind it, that slavery never was the optimal way of allocating scarce resources. Kinda like socialism.
I think it is safe to say that, because there is evil in every human being, many slave owners were probably not very good people and mistreated their slaves. Many, maybe even most, but not all. At best, the temptation was there. But, honestly, if your life and livelihood depends upon your horse, it isn’t the height of intelligence to beat your horse to death. And most slave owners didn’t do that to their slaves, either. Still...the temptation was there, and they were legal protections for slave owners. That wasn’t good.
But legality and morality are not always the same things. Abortion and child mutilation are current proofs of that.
An economic system is neither “moral” or “immoral”; how one treats other people and obeys God defines “morality.” Some capitalists are “moral” people, some are “immoral.” The same could be said for socialists, mercantilists, hunter-gatherers—or slave owners. Some capitalists treat their employees very well. Some slave owners did the exact same thing. Proof below.
Slavery is not a “sin” unless our standard of “righteousness” is “freedom.” And all one needs to do to refute that nonsense is to ask, “Can freedom be abused?” Of course it can. Does the Bible regulate “freedom”? Of course it does: “Do not use your liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another” (Galatians 5:13). We must not use our spiritual freedom, or our political freedom, to sin against God or our fellow man. Freedom has limitations.
The Bible also regulates slavery. Not all slave owners were monsters. Slavery was accepted as a common economic system in Biblical times because, in agricultural societies, field workers were needed, and a capitalistic, wage-earning system had not yet been developed. Nor were the principles of the American Revolution widespread. Slavery wasn’t a sin, but the Bible did regulate it to prevent abuse (just like the Bible regulates freedom to prevent ITS abuse). Read Deuteronomy 15:12-17 to see some of the Law of Moses’s regulations about slavery. And let me directly quote verse 16: “And if it happens that he [your slave] says to you, ‘I will not go away from you,’ because he loves you and your house, since he prospers with you...” That doesn’t sound like a cruel master to me. Obviously, the slave didn’t think so, either.
Look also at Exodus 21:5: “But if the servant [slave, verse 2] plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free...’”
Why would a slave want to remain a slave? Well, he prospered (Deuteronomy 15:16), and he loved his master and family (Exodus 21:5). Slavery wasn’t always an option, of course, but it wasn’t always a bad one, either.
Folks, not every slave owner was a monster. Most may (or may not) have been, but some slave owners were obviously good people who treated their slaves so well that the slave didn’t want to leave when he had the chance (read again Deuteronomy 15, especially the time limitation placed on slave owning). Slavery is not a sin. Abusing people is a sin. Some slave owners did that, but it also happens under capitalism, socialism, and any other economic system one could name. The New Testament also regulates slavery (Ephesians 5:9; Colossians 4:1, and every other verse that teaches we should love all men).
Frankly, there does exist a cadre of human beings who would probably be better off under slavery than freedom. They can’t handle freedom. They don’t know how to take care of themselves. They don’t know how to use “freedom” to help themselves and others. They abuse freedom and infringe upon the freedoms of others. They sleep on the street and are a danger and nuisance to society. Maybe they belong in jail or a nuthouse. They definitely do NOT belong on the streets, “freedom” to the contrary notwithstanding. Nobody has the “right,” the “freedom” to be a public nuisance and danger.
So, maybe some of those people would be better off in the hands of a good, loving, caring master (like the one mentioned in Exodus 21:5 and Ephesians 6:9) who can provide for them and help them become productive members of society.
That’s just a thought. You decide whether you think it’s a good one or not. Of course, it isn’t going to happen, regardless.
“But, but, but, the Old Testament says a slave owner could beat his slave almost to within an inch of his life.” Yes, that’s true, and if my slave raped my daughter, or committed an equally abhorrent crime, I’d probably do the same thing and he would deserve it. Governments have a way of severely punishing heinous crimes, too. Skeptics are such non-thinking idiots.
Slavery can be abused. No question about that. Freedom can be abused, too. That happens all the time as well. Joe Biden does it every time he opens his mouth. I certainly prefer freedom to slavery, but my preference doesn’t make something either sinful or godly. Neither slavery nor freedom is a “sin” or “righteous,” both need to be regulated to prevent abuses. The Old Testament and New Testament both do that.
The above makes me a modern, democrat heretic, but, frankly, I’m too old now to care much about what people think. I look at history and God’s Word for my answers to life’s questions, not modern political philosophy.