Reply #10: The problem is applying the text to ante-bellum America. [View All]

[Igel]

Different kinds of slavery were in mind.

In fact, there are two different kinds of slavery in the OT.

1. War booty. They're yours. They're property. That's that. The war had to be right, however: In some cases, all the people were to be destroyed; in others, captives were okay.

2. A fellow Israelite. They sell themselves into slavery to provide (a) money for paying off debts and (b) sustenance for themselves or their families. There were quirky laws for them, but at the beginning of the year of release they're released, and free to go back to their land (which would also revert to them); in any event, the debt that landed them in slavery is to be forgiven, so there's no more threat for them. In most cases, the quirkiness also stipulates that since they're brethren, treat them kindly.

NT revision: Treat them all well because they're also people, and if things were different instead of you owning them/retaining them they'd be owning you or retaining you. Moreover, before letting them sell themselves into slavery you have a Xian duty to help them out (however, I don't see any commandment telling Xians to beleaguer Caesar to levy a tax and give them money--that's neither here nor there, as far as proof-texting is concerned).

There's no provision for going to war just to get slaves, NT or OT, or (in the NT) for treating them like complete and total crap. In other words, the abolitionists and slavers were both just about equally guilty eisegesis.