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Luvnlife
Lion King
Joined: 22 Feb 2007
Posts: 1200
Location: US
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 Posted: Mon Aug 18, 2008 6:45 pm Post subject: Slave questions that I need answers to. Thanks in advance. |
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Hello;
I was reading Exodus 21 and came upon the following verses:
20 And if a man smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand; he shall be surely punished.
21 Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two, he shall not be punished: for he is his money.
Several questions immediately come to mind:
1) What would the punishment be if the Master killed the slave outright?
2) Why would he/she not be even MORE severely punished if the slave lingered in agony then died a few days later?
3) Did the Israelites, who themselves had been enslaved have slaves?
4) Why, after having been oppressed by slavery would they then enslave their fellow man?
I hope some one (or several some ones) can help me out.
Thanking you in advance for your consideration of these questions that are plaguing me.
Luv   
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Pondering
Lion King
Joined: 15 Sep 2005
Posts: 1394
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| Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2008 2:06 am Post subject: Re: Slave questions that I need answers to. Thanks in advan |
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| luvnlife wrote: | Hello;
I was reading Exodus 21 and came upon the following verses:
20 And if a man smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand; he shall be surely punished.
21 Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two, he shall not be punished: for he is his money. |
| luvnlife wrote: |
Several questions immediately come to mind:
1) What would the punishment be if the Master killed the slave outright? |
Probably not death for the master since other OT scripture calls for specific punishment, to include execution, seems to me that the Master's punishment would be something less than that.
| luvnlife wrote: |
2) Why would he/she not be even MORE severely punished if the slave lingered in agony then died a few days later? |
"he is his money". Cruelty isn't part of it. The prohibition seems to me to be more of a social control. Slaves = wealth and prosperity not only for the owner, but also the community. So killing a slave diminishes the wealth (and possibly food/goods) of the entire community.
| luvnlife wrote: |
3) Did the Israelites, who themselves had been enslaved have slaves? |
uhhh...yeah. On the upside, America is the only place where slavery was restricted to a specific race. It didn't start that way here, but ended up that way. Most cultures have included a period of slavery at some point in their history. In fact, Jews could own Jews, though for a specified period (6 years)...
| luvnlife wrote: |
4) Why, after having been oppressed by slavery would they then enslave their fellow man?
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Why not?
“Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart.”
—Ephesians 6:5-6.
In biblical times, slavery was viewed as a "normal" condition...it could also be transitory (meaning you could move from "free man" to slave and vice versa). It was morally neutral.
“When you buy a Hebrew slave, six years shall he serve; and in the seventh shall he go out free, for nothing. If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master has given him a wife, and she has borne him sons or daughters, the wife and the children shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself. And if the slave shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free: then his master shall bring him unto God, and he shall bring him to the door or unto the door-post, and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his slave forever.”
—Exodus 21:2-6
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