200 years after the determination of William Wilberforce led to the abolition of the slave trade, the claim is still made by sceptics that Wilberforce's God is a God who condones slavery. This is manifestly untrue. In the following short article, five reasons are given to show that far from condoning slavery, the Bible is in fact unequivocal in its condemnation of this evil practice. By Robert Slane.
The charge levelled against the Bible that it condones slavery is dispelled when we consider the Scriptural view of Man, firstly in his relationship to God and secondly in his relationship to his fellow men. With regard to his relationship to God, the Bible affirms that Man was created 'in the image of God' (Gen 1:27) and that all men are 'made after the similitude of God' (James 3:9). This fact is used in Genesis 9:6 as the reason why the crime of murder should be met with capital punishment: 'Whoso sheddeth Man's blood, by Man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made He Man'. Although this verse apples primarily to the crime of murder, it doesn't take a great leap of the imagination to see how these words imply that any unprovoked attack on a fellow man is also an attack on God and is therefore a great evil. Therefore, he who would steal a free man and sell him into slavery is as if he were doing so unto God.
With regard to the relationship between men, again the whole tenor of Scripture is in opposition to the practice of slavery. The words given in Leviticus 19:18, and quoted by Christ on several occasions, 'Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself', in no way admit the possibility that God approves of slavery. Furthermore, just in case the Israelites might have thought this law only applied to their relationship with other Israelites, in the same chapter, God inserts the following commandment: 'If a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him. But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself' (Lev 19:33,34). Clearly, forced slavery of free men cannot be squared with these plain commandments.
The Eighth Commandment - Thou shalt not steal - ought to be sufficient to show that God does not approve of the theft of a person for the purpose of selling them into slavery. But if this general command were not enough for sinful men to grasp, God has given a far more specific command which leaves us in no doubt at all: 'And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, shall be surely put to death' (Ex 21:16). It is difficult to imagine a more unequivocal condemnation of slavery than this, and it is one that ought to silence the critics.
Although the stealing and selling of a person was forbidden, the following verse appears at first sight to contradict this law: 'Both thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, which thou shalt have, shall be of the heathen round about you; of them shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids' (Lev 25:44). If stealing and selling a person was punishable by death, how is it that this verse appears to approve of the buying of a stolen person? The answer is two-fold. Firstly, the bondmen and bondmaids referred to in this verse cannot mean those who had been captured and forcibly sold against their will, because God no more approves of those who are accessories to theft, than he does of thieves themselves. This is shown in Psalm 50:18 where God threatens to 'tear in pieces' those who 'sawest a thief' and 'consentedst with him'. Those who this verse permits the purchase of are therefore likely to be those who through destitution sold themselves into servitude; those who had been captured in war; or those who had forfeited their rights to be treated as a freemen by their criminal activity (see Exodus 22:3).
Secondly, the words which are translated bondmen and bondmaids are not quite what they first appear. In almost every other place in the Bible, the Hebrew words - ebed and amah - are translated as servant and handmaid. Ebed, for instance, is used throughout the psalms to describe the believer's standing before God, and in Psalm 116:16 David uses both words to describe his and his mother's relationship to God: 'I am thy servant (ebed), and the son of thine handmaid (amah)'. In other words, the relationship of the 'bondmen' and 'bondmaids' of this verse to their masters, is more akin to the relationship of the believer to God than to the relationship of the African and the slave-trader. Leviticus 25:44 does not, therefore, justify the forced slavery of Negro's in the 17th or 18th centuries.
Unlike the heathen nations, protection for servants was enshrined in the laws of Israel. All servants had a right to rest on the Sabbath (Deuteronomy 5:14,15); servants who were physically harmed by their masters could go free (Exodus 21:26); and in the case of a runaway servant, the law assumed that they were escaping an oppressive master and so not only prohibited their being returned to that master, but also compelled those to whom they sought refuge to accommodate them (see Deuteronomy 23:15,16). In the New Testament the picture is the same, with Paul exhorting masters to 'forbear threatening' (Eph 6:9), and to '...give unto your servants that which is just and equal' (Col 4:1). Sceptics often claim that the commands given to servants in these epistles to obey their masters, are evidence that the Bible condones slavery. However, the question such sceptics must answer is in what way does Paul condone slavery by commanding masters not to threaten their servants, and to be just and equal with them? Far from being an endorsement of slave-masters and slave-traders, Paul's words are an utter condemnation of all illegitimate masters whose trade in humans is anything but non-threatening, just and equal.
To all those who claim that the Bible sanctions slavery, the following verses should be noted: In Psalm 72:4 it is said of God that 'He shall break in pieces the oppressor'. In 1 Timothy 1:10 Paul places 'menstealers' on an infamous list of wicked sinners who will be judged by the law. And in Revelation 18:8, slavery is listed as being amongst the merchandise of 'Babylon the Great' who 'shall be utterly burned with fire' by 'the Lord God who judgeth her'. Thus will God judge all who oppress, steal and trade in other human beings. Thus does God testify clearly of his abhorrence of the slave-trade. And thus are those confounded who seek to portray the God of the Bible as an endorser of slavery.