Re: Genesis 1:1 - a standing miracle

From: "Gary Collins" <gwcollins@algol.co.uk>

> There are other issues in the
> Pentateuch which are similarly problematical, especially some of the
> instructions about slaves, which are attributed to God. Such as (I forget
> the exact references and wording, but to paraphrase) It's OK for a man to
> knock the living daylights out of his slave, just so long as the slave
gets
> up after a few days, because after all, the slave is his property; and,
> Slaves, like chattels, can be passed on as an inheritance.
> With passages like this, it's no wonder it took so long to get slavery
> abolished. I don't have a satisfactory explanation of such issues yet.
> Maybe I never will.

Gary, this is an aside to your passing comment on this now nearly-depleted
thread that I'm throwing in for what it's worth. In the abstract I can
appreciate how you think these OT laws don't seem too godly. The text to
which you might be referring is:

Exodus 21:20-21 (ESV)
    "When a man strikes his slave, male or female, with a rod and the slave
dies under his hand, he shall be avenged. [21] But if the slave survives a
day or two, he is not to be avenged, for the slave is his money.

First, the text places a limit on tort action against slaves. The question
is the resonableness of its extent. A slave generally has economic value to
the owner and the Law is counting on that regarding the extent to which an
owner will injure a slave. In harming a slave, the owner also took the risk
of losing the slave altogether:

Exodus 21:26-27 (ESV)
    "When a man strikes the eye of his slave, male or female, and destroys
it, he shall let the slave go free because of his eye. [27] If he knocks
out the tooth of his slave, male or female, he shall let the slave go free
because of his tooth.

As for passing slaves on as an inheritance, slavery was a method for
handling bankruptcy. If a slave had not yet paid off what he/she owed at the
time of the lender's death, it would seem reasonable to me that the debt, in
terms of work owed by the slave, should be passed on to the inheritor. When
people die today, their estate still must settle outstanding debts. In this
regard, we are slaves of the respective governments we live under in the
developed countries, with their inheritance taxes. Even death doesn't get
one
around taxes!

Although the more overt form of slavery has been abolished, slavery as such
is alive and well today. People who go into debt and become subject to "debt
management", people who cannot afford to lose their exploitative jobs, and
Christians who acknoweldge Christ as Master are all involved in a form of
slavery. In some respects the contemporary form of the institution of
employment is a kind of slavery.

Dennis Feucht
Received on Wed Jul 28 14:25:28 2004