The Gospel According to Slavery

Exodus 21:1–6 (ESV) “Now these are the rules that you shall set before them. 2 When you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free, for nothing. 3 If he comes in single, he shall go out single; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him. 4 If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out alone. 5 But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ 6 then his master shall bring him to God, and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his slave forever.

The first thing to recognize when we come to difficult texts in the Old Testament is to remember one simple thing: We are not living in the Ancient world. 

Today if I lose my job, there are unemployment offices to visit, food stamps to collect and soup kitchens to frequent when things get really bad. On top of that, I could go back to school, get a new skill, try my hand at a different career path. I have options. In the ancient world, going broke brought with it very few options and very many dangers. 

God provides these codes regarding slaves to do two things: Protect His people and preach the Gospel. We see that here. 

A Hebrew slave became a slave because they lost their ability to earn their own living. God gives a provision for such men to become an indentured servant to their brother Israelites. But there are limits to this situation of six years. Other cultures did not set such limitations. The Roman world in Jesus' day was still practicing life-long servitude and most of the world was enslaved to the aristocratic few. 

Now the harder issue is this idea of a wife being left behind when her slave husband is free. But notice, this is a wife given during the man's slavery. That means he came in single but now is going free with a family to care for. If he had a hard time providing for himself, how could he do better to provide for an entire family? He may put that wife and children in jeopardy. He had to first prove himself capable to earn a living for them, purchase them himself from his old master and then receive them. All these laws are protective of the most vulnerable members of society in the ANCIENT world - women and children. 

Should the man not be able to earn a living yet love his wife, he still had another option! He could stay for life and have a job for as long as he needed to care for those he loved. 

Again, these laws do not make sense in 21st Century America and they are not necessary for our world. But God was speaking into a context with protective care and concern for the weakest among His people. We see the love of God here, not some kind of slave-driving celestial tyrant as unbelievers like to accuse. Remember, God sets the slaves free in the book of Exodus.

Secondly, we see the Gospel. Jesus left the Father's house and became a servant (slave). He paid the ultimate price and proved His worth to purchase back His wife from slavery through His death on the cross. Today we are that bride, purchased by the blood of Jesus who did everything necessary to secure our redemption. But remember, our purchase price was not incurred by Jesus. No, we were sold as slavery by our own sin. Jesus became a servant when He didn't have to so that He could pay what He did not owe to bring people back to God who did not deserve it. 

What grace the Father bestows on us, His adopted children.