Paul returned to his master, was often quoted. It was also generally accepted that the Latin word servus , usually translated as servant, really meant slave. Even apparent abuses, when looked at in the right light, worked out for the best, in the words of Bishop William Meade of Virginia. And ought you not in such a case to give glory to Him, and be thankful that He would rather punish you in this life for your wickedness than destroy your souls for it in the next life?
But suppose that even this was not the case—a case hardly to be imagined—and that you have by no means, known or unknown, deserved the correction you suffered; there is this great comfort in it, that if you bear it patiently, and leave your cause in the hands of God, He will reward you for it in heaven, and the punishment you suffer unjustly here shall turn to your exceeding great glory hereafter. Bishop Stephen Elliott, of Georgia, also knew how to look on the bright side. For nearly a hundred years the English and American Churches have been striving to civilize and Christianize Western Africa, and with what result?
Around Sierra Leone, and in the neighborhood of Cape Palmas, a few natives have been made Christians, and some nations have been partially civilized; but what a small number in comparison with the thousands, nay, I may say millions, who have learned the way to Heaven and who have been made to know their Savior through the means of African slavery!
At this very moment there are from three to four millions of Africans, educating for earth and for Heaven in the so vilified Southern States—learning the very best lessons for a semi-barbarous people—lessons of self-control, of obedience, of perseverance, of adaptation of means to ends; learning, above all, where their weakness lies, and how they may acquire strength for the battle of life.
These considerations satisfy me with their condition, and assure me that it is the best relation they can, for the present, be made to occupy. Not much. Consider first that Israelite slavery was voluntary. The fourth commandment even requires that slaves enjoy the Sabbath along with their masters Exod — He shall dwell with you, in your midst, in the place that he shall choose within one of your towns, wherever it suits him.
You shall not wrong him. Effectively, Israelite slaves could break their service contracts simply by leaving. Slavery in Israelite law was entered into voluntarily and could be ended voluntarily. This stands in stark contrast to other ancient Near Eastern law codes of the day, such as the Law of Hammurabi ca. If a man seizes a fugitive slave or slave woman in the open country and leads him back to his owner, the slave owner shall give him 2 shekels of silver.
If that slave should refuse to identify his owner, he shall lead him off to the palace, his circumstances shall be investigated, and they shall return him to his owner. If he should detain that slave in his own house and afterward the slave is discovered in his possession, that man shall be killed.
Imagine that you are an ancient Israelite—the head of a household. You spend all day farming and keeping a small flock of sheep and goats, helped by everyone in your extended household. What do you do if you have a bad year, and are unable to feed your family? The answer is that you borrow from someone who has enough surplus grain or some other commodity to lend you. Under Israelite law, this loan would be interest-free Lev —37 , but you still need to pay back what you borrowed.
But now imagine that you have another bad year, and so you need to borrow again. Year after year, your debt accumulates, and you have no way to pay it back. Unless your intention is to default on the loan—effectively stealing from the one who lent to you at no interest rather than selling his grain—your only option is to repay your debt with your only means available, the labor of the people in your household.
The term of service that an Israelite could serve another under these conditions was six years. In the seventh, he had to be released Exod This is an upper limit; smaller debts could presumably be paid in less time. Under the care of a wealthier family, he would have been better fed, better clothed, and able to engage in work that was probably more rewarding.
Then, at the end of their six-year term,[4] Israelite slaves had two options: They could return to their household. If this is chosen, the master would be obligated to follow Deuteronomy — If your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, sells himself to you, he shall serve you six years, and in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you.
And when you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty-handed. You shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, out of your threshing floor, and out of your winepress. The Israelite slave was not expected to start over from scratch after he was released from service. They could remain permanently in the house of their master.
And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his slave forever. Deuteronomy , which addresses the same situation, adds an additional reason why a slave might choose to stay: "Since he is well-off with you.
The passage at the beginning of Exodus 21 continues with a stipulation that requires some comment. At first blush, this seems misogynistic, denying the woman of the same rights given to the man in the previous verse.
A man can be released after six years, but not a woman? This is emphatically not what is going on here. Notice that the woman in question was given to the male slave as a wife during his time as a slave.
This woman would have been a female slave. In such a case, his options would have been either to wait for her to be freed or to ransom her, perhaps with some of the provisions that he received at the time of his release. As for the children, these would all be young, a maximum of five years old assuming the woman entered service a year after the man and was married to him immediately , an age at which they need their mother, not their father.
This law probably would have influenced how often marriage between slaves would have taken place and would have prevented women from foolishly entering into a marriage only to gain an early manumission. The following paragraph also prevents a puzzling case: When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do [that is, she shall not be released from her service at the end of six years].
If she does not please her master, who has designated her for himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people since he has broken faith with her. If he designates her for his son, he shall deal with her as with a daughter.
If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, or her marital rights. And if he does not do these three things for her, she shall go out for nothing, without payment of money Exod — If the notion of a father giving her daughter in marriage to man in order to pay off debt seems disturbing, it should be remembered that the practice of arranged marriage has been the norm in many cultures, even in our own day, and often results in marriages that are just as happy and fulfilled as ones that are not arranged.
At any rate, such an objection is not to the institution of Israelite debt-slavery per se, but to the practice of arranged marriages. Should the master desire to divorce her i. Since it was illegal to sell an Israelite to another Israelite see above , only foreigners are mentioned here.
But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Twice a week we compile our most fascinating features and deliver them straight to you. Live TV. This Day In History. History Vault. That was something that was really different for me. Setting up the exhibit was a part of the seminar, to give the students start-to-finish, hands-on experience.
They had guidance, of course. Brekus, staff members from special collections in the Andover-Harvard Theological Library, and staff from the Weissman Preservation Center attended opening day as students added Velcro to the backs of posters that needed to be hung, made cradles to display the texts, and placed the texts in the displays.
In addition to the topic, the students said they were attracted to the seminar by the chance to take a class structured quite differently from most. For Mason Arbery, that was appreciated.
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