Slavery, the Sabbath, and the Bible

In another thread the practice of slavery was condemned on the basis that the Lord delivered the Jews out of Egyptian bondage. If the Lord delivered the Jews out of slavery because slavery was inherently wicked, then one would expect that He would have commanded the Jews not to practice slavery at all; but He did not. To the contrary, He made laws governing slavery.

One of those laws was the Sabbath:

"But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shlat not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou.

And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day."

The Lord told the Jews that, remembering they had been slaves in Egypt, they should give their own slaves a day off every week! "Read 'em and weep" John Brown!

Furthermore, Paul told the masters at Colossae to give their slaves,

"That which is just and equal."

Did you get that? A slave can be treated with justice and equity and yet still be a slave.

Paul also said in I Timothy that slaves were to serve their believing masters because they are,

"faithful and beloved, partakers of the benefit."

Did you get that? A faithful, beloved slave master a full partaker of Jesus Christ!

In the same passage Paul commanded the faithful to withdraw fellowship from any man who did not consent to this teaching, because such were proud, ignorant, perverse, corrupt trouble makers. Therefore I boldly assert that the southern Baptists were not only warranted but OBLIGATED to withdraw from the fellowship of the northern Baptist when they made adherance to abolitionism a text of Christian fellowship.

I also note that the post-civil war course of the northern Baptists as compared to the southern Baptists proves that Paul knew exactly what he was talking about when he described the character of the kind of men who categorically condemn slavery.

Brethren, I have no desire to own a slave, be a slave, or see slavery resurrected. I have no doubt that many great evils have been committed in the practice of slavery. But to condemn slavery as inherently sinful is to fly in the face of the word of God.

I once heard a popular radio religionist say that if a man owned a slave he did not love Jesus Christ; and yet Paul said of slave owning Philemon:

"I thank my God, making mention of thee always in my prayers, hearing of thy love and faith, which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus and toward ALL SAINTS."

Not only did Philemon love the Lord, he loved all the saints, which included many who were slaves; ergo it it possible to own slaves and still love them.

And one more shot:

When the Centurion, whose servant Jesus healed, stated that he understood authority because he told his servant "Do this, and he doeth it" Jesus commended the man as having a faith not found even in Israel!

Could it be that our abhorance of slavery has more to do with our hatred of doing what we are told than with love of our neighbor?

Could it be that the unprecedented hatred of God's authority that we are experiencing in western society today is a direct result of our ungodly notions of "freedom"?

Could it be that the abolitionists and their progeny are the very sort of folks of which Peter spake when he said,

"While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption; for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage"?

Mark Osgatharp

 

Grasshopper,

I agree, the Bible does not "promote" slavery in the sense of making it a necessity, but neither does in condemn the practice as being sinful.

The Bible does, however, strongly condemn the mistreatment of slaves as well as slave rebellion.

Mark Osgatharp