“Let all who are under a yoke as bondservants regard their own masters as worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and the teaching may not be reviled. Those who have believing masters must not be disrespectful on the ground that they are brothers; rather they must serve all the better since those who benefit by their good service are believers and beloved. Teach and urge these things” (1 Timothy 6:1-2 ESV).
Before moving on from the question of Biblical slavery and its relationship to Christian life and practice, we should stop to consider another controversial passage on this subject…
“And as for your male and female slaves whom you may have — from the nations that are around you, from them you may buy male and female slaves. Moreover you may buy the children of the strangers who dwell among you, and their families who are with you, which they beget in your land; and they shall become your property.
And you may take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them as a possession; they shall be your permanent slaves. But regarding your brethren, the children of Israel, you shall not rule over one another with rigor” (Leviticus 25:44-46).
A thinking person might be challenged to explain how a just God could permit the ancient Israelites to take slaves from among the peoples of the surrounding nations. This is a valid question and there are intelligent, just, and rational answers available for those who are sincerely willing to give these verses the attention they deserve.
We can begin with the recognition that the ancient Israelites were instructed to kill (or at least dispossess) the members of the nations that inhabited the Promised Land. (see Deuteronomy 20:16-18). While this may seem shocking to modern-day audiences, the Old Testament book of Leviticus informs us that God did not instruct the people of Israel to undertake this course of action without justification…
“You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations, either any of your own nation or any stranger who dwells among you (for all these abominations the men of the land have done, who were before you, and thus the land is defiled), lest the land vomit you out also when you defile it, as it vomited out the nations that were before you” (Leviticus 18:26-28). (1)
When measured against the prospect of death or flight to a foreign nation where conditions were likely to be worse, this type of relationship with the people of Israel may have represented the best available option for the former inhabitants of Canaan.
(1) This did not represent an impulsive or capricious act on God’s part; in fact, Genesis 15:13-16 indicates that these abominations (including, but not limited to acts such as incest, bestiality, and child sacrifice) had been ongoing for many hundreds of years by the time Israel arrived to take possession of the land.