Do not consider it a hardship to set your servant free, because his service to you these six years has been worth twice as much as that of a hired hand. And the LORD your God will bless you in everything you do. – Deuteronomy 15:18

Today’s Scripture Reading (September 14, 2012): Deuteronomy 15

There is probably nothing that offends me more than the idea of slavery. From my standpoint with my feet firmly planted in the 21st century, the idea that one person could ever have owned another person and that the ownership was considered a good and moral idea escapes me. Descriptions of the slave ships that roamed the seas less than two centuries ago threaten to overwhelm me. And the thought that those ships still exist today scares me. I want to think that we are an enlightened culture, but the presence of the slave trade in our world now ruins any chance of that thought taking root.

So, I understand it when people criticize the Bible for not taking a stand on the issue of slavery. I wish the Bible took a stronger stand on the issue of people ownership. But it does not. One of the problems as we read the Bible is that, although the words make sense to us, we often do not understand the original context of the words. And nothing could be closer to that truth than when we consider the issue of slavery.

I recently had a conversation with a gentleman over the concept of being “slaves to Christ.” To him this made no sense. He could understand the idea of being a servant, but not a slave. In actuality, there probably is not as much difference between the servant and the slave in Bible context. What probably would compare to what my friend saw as the servant was more of the hired hand. And yet, that is one thing that God never asks us to be in relationship to him.

And there is a reason. In the Parable of the Lost Son, the son desires to come home and ask his dad if he can be a hired hand in his service. And the reason is not that slave was too low for him, but that the position of the slave or the servant was a step higher than the hired hand. The hired hand was there as long as there was work and money to pay him. If the conditions were not right, he could be sent packing at a moment’s notice, but the slave was part of the family – and there existed a mutual commitment between the slave and the master.

And in Mosaic law, the idea that certain people were created to be slaves was absurd. The rest of the world might believe that, but the law recognized, at least in the case of the Hebrew slaves, that slavery was only for a season. I still believe that slavery is wrong, but I recognize that we are called to be slaves of Christ. But in that statement, I can now hear God committing his resources to me as a member of his family. And if I desire to walk away from him, he will not stop me.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 16