Weren't slaves made free, in the Old Testament, after seven years, under the Law?

Answer 1

Except for murder, slavery has got to be one of the most immoral things a person can do. Yet slavery is rampant throughout the Bible in both the Old and New Testaments. The Bible clearly approves of slavery in many passages, and it goes so far as to tell how to obtain slaves, how hard you can beat them, and when you can have sex with the female slaves.

Many Jews and Christians will try to ignore the moral problems of slavery by saying that these slaves were actually servants or indentured servants. Many translations of the Bible use the word "servant", "bondservant", or "manservant" instead of "slave" to make the Bible seem less immoral than it really is. While many slaves may have worked as household servants, that doesn't mean that they were not slaves who were bought, sold, and treated worse than livestock.

The following passage shows that slaves are clearly property to be bought and sold like livestock.

However, you may purchase male or female slaves from among the foreigners who live among you. You may also purchase the children of such resident foreigners, including those who have been born in your land. You may treat them as your property, passing them on to your children as a permanent inheritance. You may treat your slaves like this, but the people of Israel, your relatives, must never be treated this way. (Leviticus 25:44-46 NLT)

The following passage describes how the Hebrew slaves are to be treated.

If you buy a Hebrew slave, he is to serve for only six years. Set him free in the seventh year, and he will owe you nothing for his freedom. If he was single when he became your slave and then married afterward, only he will go free in the seventh year. But if he was married before he became a slave, then his wife will be freed with him. If his master gave him a wife while he was a slave, and they had sons or daughters, then the man will be free in the seventh year, but his wife and children will still belong to his master. But the slave may plainly declare, 'I love my master, my wife, and my children. I would rather not go free.' If he does this, his master must present him before God. Then his master must take him to the door and publicly pierce his ear with an awl. After that, the slave will belong to his master forever. (Exodus 21:2-6 NLT)

Notice how they can get a male Hebrew slave to become a permanent slave by keeping his wife and children hostage until he says he wants to become a permanent slave. What kind of family values are these?

The following passage describes the sickening practice of sex slavery. How can anyone think it is moral to sell your own daughter as a sex slave?

When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she will not be freed at the end of six years as the men are. If she does not please the man who bought her, he may allow her to be bought back again. But he is not allowed to sell her to foreigners, since he is the one who broke the contract with her. And if the slave girl's owner arranges for her to marry his son, he may no longer treat her as a slave girl, but he must treat her as his daughter. If he himself marries her and then takes another wife, he may not reduce her food or clothing or fail to sleep with her as his wife. If he fails in any of these three ways, she may leave as a free woman without making any payment. (Exodus 21:7-11 NLT)

So these are the Bible family values! A man can buy as many sex slaves as he wants as long as he feeds them, clothes them, and screws them!

What does the Bible say about beating slaves? It says you can beat both male and female slaves with a rod so hard that as long as they don't die right away you are cleared of any wrong doing.

When a man strikes his male or female slave with a rod so hard that the slave dies under his hand, he shall be punished. If, however, the slave survives for a day or two, he is not to be punished, since the slave is his own property. (Exodus 21:20-21 NAB)

You would think that Jesus and the New Testament would have a different view of slavery, but slavery is still approved of in the New Testament, as the following passages show.

Slaves, obey your earthly masters with deep respect and fear. Serve them sincerely as you would serve Christ. (Ephesians 6:5 NLT)

Christians who are slaves should give their masters full respect so that the name of God and his teaching will not be shamed. If your master is a Christian, that is no excuse for being disrespectful. You should work all the harder because you are helping another believer by your efforts. Teach these truths, Timothy, and encourage everyone to obey them. (1 Timothy 6:1-2 NLT)

In the following parable, Jesus clearly approves of beating slaves even if they didn't know they were doing anything wrong.

The servant will be severely punished, for though he knew his duty, he refused to do it. "But people who are not aware that they are doing wrong will be punished only lightly. Much is required from those to whom much is given, and much more is required from those to whom much more is given." (Luke 12:47-48 NLT)

Answer 2

Not unless Jews think that the arrival of Moses invalidated the covenant with Abraham. The interesting thing is that Abraham and Moses made sacrifices to G-d but the Jews today don't. Why not? Isn't it still written in the Torah or did they rip those pages out? It isn't because Jews started fulfilling the 10 commandments and not longer needed sacrifices for their sins as the Torah mandates. I say that Jews can't fulfill the OT laws as you act like Jews do fulfill the OT law and Christians don't. I would say that neither fulfill the law. No, the Jews on their own made the decision to stop offering sacrifices for sin with the priests and alter. They could have established the Tent of Meeting which G-d which was their other option and continued to make sacrifices for sin. Instead, they have become a very diverse group that span polar opposite viewpoints as different from Dr. Laura to Barbara Streisand with the only points in common being: 1. You can't be a Jew and believe in Jesus 2. All answers are perfectly answered in the unbiased website called Jews for Judaism from which come the only possible and plausible answers. However, Messianic Jews believe they still worship in a Temple with the sin requirement made on the alter fulfilled. You see, the question isn't about whether people sin. The sacrifical system was created because people do. There is a shank bone on the Passover plate remembering the day sins were forgiven. The question is whether there is forgivenness of sins and how that is obtained.

Answer 3

Not unless they wanted to stay slaves. Ex. 21:5, 6 says: "But if the slave should insistently say: `I really love my master, my wife and my sons, I do not want to go out as one set free,` then his master must bring him up against the door or the doorpost: and his master must pierce his ear through with an awl, and he must be his slave to time indefinite."

Answer 4

The slaves the Hebrews had - yes, it was indentured servitude, a lot like our modern day unpaid internships.

Answer 5

what year was that 4 ad 6 bc 1966 or is the fairy tale years not real years

Answer 6

Yes if they chose to be free. If not they could become a bondservent.

Answer 7

Yes, unless they CHOSE to remain, in which case the bondage was in perpituity.

Answer 8

Only Israelites, not foreigners.

Answer 9

I dont know, Big Bird.