The Bible contains many references to slavery, which was a common practice in antiquity. In the course of human history, slavery was a typical feature of civilization, predated written records, and existed in most societies throughout history. Slavery is an economic phenomenon. Biblical texts outline sources and the legal status of slaves, economic roles of slavery, types of slavery, and debt slavery, which thoroughly explain the institution of slavery in Israel in antiquity. The Bible stipulates the treatment of slaves, especially in the Old Testament. Jewish Publication Society of America Version Jewish Publication Society of America Version Jewish Publication Society of America Version There are also references to slavery in the New Testament. New Revised Standard Version New Revised Standard Version In both testaments and Jewish culture, there are also practices of manumission, releasing from slavery. The treatment and experience of slaves in both testaments was complex, diverse and differed from those of surrounding cultures.
Many of the patriarchs portrayed in the Bible were from the upper echelons of society, owned slaves, enslaved those in debt to them, bought their fellow citizens' daughters as concubines, and consistently enslaved foreign men to work on their fields. Masters were usually men, but the Bible portrays upper-class women from Sarah to Esther and Judith with their enslaved maids, New Revised Standard Version New Revised Standard Version as do the Elephantine papyri in the 400s BC.
It was necessary for those who owned slaves, especially in large numbers, to be wealthy because the masters had to pay taxes for Jewish and non-Jewish slaves because they were considered part of the family unit. Slaves were seen as an important part of the family's reputation, especially in Hellenistic and Roman times, and slave companions for a woman were seen as a manifestation and protection of a woman's honor. As time progressed, domestic slavery became more prominent, and domestic slaves, usually working as an assistant to the wife of the patriarch, allowed larger houses to run more smoothly and efficiently.
Slaves had rights including protection from abuse, could own possessions, had opportunities for redemption and freedom; partly extending from God freeing his people from slavery in Egypt. Compared to neighboring societies, biblical laws had humanitarian elements and treated bonded individuals as persons, including encoding asylum for foreign fugitive slaves into law. According to Hector Avalos, the laws were ethnic based, gendered, and varied depending on the origin and social status of those enslaved.
Slavery in antiquity
Slavery is an economic phenomenon and its history resides in the economic history of the ancient world. In the course of human history, slavery was a typical feature of civilization, predated written records, and existed in most societies throughout human history. Though there is no consensus on what a slave was or on how the institution of slavery should be defined, some characteristics can be used. Two types of slavery have been common throughout all human history: domestic and productive slaves. Slaves performed a variety of tasks. To determine what a slave's task was, many scholars look at repetitive descriptions which are contained in texts that were written around the same time and they also look at well-documented reports about other cultures which were written by authors who were raised in the Greco-Roman culture. One of the main functions of slaves was to serve as status symbols for the upper members of society, especially when it came to the acquisition of dowries for their daughters. These slaves could be sold or given away as needed, and they also showed that the family was capable of providing generous amounts of money to their daughters when they were married off. They also catered to the needs of the temple and they performed more domestic tasks such as keeping up the household, raising farm animals and growing small amounts of crops. Masters frequently took advantage of their slaves who were at their beck and call by requiring them to perform duties in public that the master had the ability to do himself. This showed a level of luxury which extended from the private sphere to the public sphere. In addition to showing luxury, the possession of slaves was necessary for a good family background, and many wealthy men viewed their colleagues who only possessed a few slaves as the type of individual who needed to be pitied.
Old Testament In ancient near east and Israel, some sources of slaves were due to debt and criminality. It was also possible to be born into slavery.Peake's commentary on the Bible (1962), on Exodus 21:2-11 If a male Israelite slave had been given a wife by his owner, then the wife and any children which had resulted from the union would remain the property of his owner, according to the Covenant Code. Although no nationality is specified, 18th-century theologians John Gill (1697–1771) and Adam Clarke suggested this referred only to Canaanite concubines.
War captives The Israelites did not generally get involved in distant or large-scale wars, and apparently capture was not a significant source of slaves.
The enslavement of female captives is encouraged by Moses in Numbers 31. After being instructed by Yahweh to take vengeance upon the Midianites, Moses tells the Israelites to kill the male children and non-virgin females, but take the young virgins for themselves. Ken Brown claims that the army did not receive a direct instruction to take the virgin girls captive from Yahweh, and therefore this action cannot be justified as obedience of a divine order; instead, the Israelites enslaved the virgin women on their own initiative.
In the Deuteronomic Code, when Israelites go to war with far away cities, but they surrendered to the Israelites, the residents within were required to serve the Israelites as tributaries. However, if they reject the terms of surrender, all of the men would be killed and all of the women, children, livestock and everything inside the cities would be considered spoils of war.
If the soldier desired to marry a captured foreigner, he was required to take her to his house, shave her head, pare her nails, and discard her captive's garb. She would remain in his house for an entire month, mourning the loss of her father and mother, after that, he could go in to see her and become her husband, and she could become his wife. If he later wished to end the relationship, he could not sell her into slavery.
Harold C. Washington cites as an example of how the Bible condones acts of sexual violence which are committed by Israelites; they were taking advantage of women who, as war captives, had no recourse or means of self defense. M. I. Rey argues that the passage is an endorsement of sexual slavery and genocidal rape, because the capture of these women is justified on the ground that they are not Hebrew. Rey also argues that these women were not considered the equals of Hebrew women, instead, they were considered war trophies, and thus, their captors had no qualms which would have prevented them from engaging in acts of sexual violence.
According to many Jewish commentators, the laws which regulate the treatment of female captives are not intended to encourage the capture and forced marriage of women, instead, they view it as inevitable in wartime and they also seek to minimize the occurrence and brutality of it. ; . ("The Torah only spoke to oppose the evil inclination: If [God] did not permit her, he would take her in violation of the law".)
Debt slavery Debt slaves were one of the two categories of slaves in ancient Jewish society. As the name implies, these individuals sold themselves into slavery in order to pay off debts they may have accrued. These individuals were not permanently in this situation and were usually released after six to seven years. Chattel slaves, on the other hand, were less common and were usually prisoners of war who retained no individual right of redemption. These chattel slaves engaged in full-time menial labor, often in a domestic capacity.
Like the rest of the Ancient Near East, the legal systems of the Israelites divided slaves into different categories: "In determining who should benefit from their intervention, the legal systems drew two important distinctions: between debt and chattel slaves, and between native and foreign slaves. The authorities intervened first and foremost to protect the former category of each—citizens who had fallen on hard times and had been forced into slavery by debt or famine."
Poverty, and more generally a lack of economic security, compelled some people to enter debt bondage. In the Ancient Near East, wives and (non-adult) children were dependents of the head of household and were sometimes sold into slavery by the husband or father for financial reasons. Evidence of this viewpoint is found in the Code of Hammurabi, which permits debtors to sell their wives and children into temporary slavery, lasting a maximum of three years. Biblical authors repeatedly criticize debt slavery, which could be attributed to high taxation, monopoly of resources, high-interest loans, and collapse of higher kinship groups.
The earlierRichard Elliott Friedman, Who wrote the Bible?Jewish Encyclopedia (1901), article on Law, Codification ofAnthony Campbell & Mark O'Brien, Sources of the Pentateuch (2000)William Edward Addis, The Documents Of The Hexateuch (2006), Volume 2 Covenant Code instructs that, if a thief is caught after sunrise and is unable to make restitution for the theft, then the thief should be enslaved.
Sexual and conjugal slavery
There were two words used for female slaves, which were () and (). Based upon the uses in different texts, the words appear to have the same connotations and are used synonymously, namely that of being a sexual object, though the words themselves appear to be from different ethnic origins. Men assigned their female slaves the same level of dependence as they would a wife. Close levels of relationships could occur given the amount of dependence placed upon these women. These slaves had two specific roles: a sexual use and companionship. Their reproductive capacities were valued within their roles within the family. Marriage with these slaves was not unheard of or prohibited. In fact, it was a man's concubine that was seen as the "other" and shunned from the family structure. These female slaves were treated more like women of the family than other slaves which may have been because of, according to some scholars, their sexual role, which was particularly to "breed" more slaves.
Sexual slavery, or being sold to be a wife was common in the ancient world. Throughout the Old Testament, the taking of multiple wives is recorded many times.Gn. 25:1; cf. 1Ch. 1:32; Gn. 30:4; 31:17; cf. Gn. 35:22; 2Sam. 12:11; cf. 2Sam. 20:3David Noel Freedman, Allen C. Myers, Astrid B. Beck, Eerdmans dictionary of the Bible, p. 273 An Israelite father could sell his unmarried daughters into servitude, with the expectation or understanding that the master or his son could eventually marry her (as in Exodus 21:7–11.) It is understood by Jewish and Christian commentators that this referred to the sale of a daughter, who "is not arrived to the age of twelve years and a day, and this through poverty."