Slaves - Exodus 21:1-2

21:1-2 - When I think about how extensive this law of Moses is with all of it’s 600+ rules, I have to remember that ancient societies were different, and even now we have so many laws, the code of Hammurabi as an example of another set of laws to govern ancient society. The law of Moses, as given by God, begins with slavery, which is a tough subject in our society today, especially considering our own problematic history of African slavery in our recent past. Interestingly, TB notes that as God gives Israel the laws with which they are to govern their society, “what we should take immediate notice of is that God has just turned the common world social ladder upside down. Unlike any civil or social system ever devised by man, the one given to Israel by Yehoveh BEGINS by its concern with dealing fairly with those who are the lowest on the social scale: slaves.” I thought that this was an interesting point to make, that the law STARTED with how to treat the most disenfranchised of the community and work it’s way up, instead of protecting the highest on the social ladder and trickling down.

In the law concerning slaves, we have to remember the lot in life for ancient people who were considered slaves by non-Hebrew masters. If we remember Joseph, when he was enslaved in Egypt, it’s wasn’t as severe as working a sugar cane plantation in the Caribbean, in that they didn’t necessarily work them to death en masse typically. But just because it didn’t usually happen, didn’t mean that it never did. TB notes that there was a social structure of the working class and it went something like slaves -> servants -> hired laborers, etc. So while the treatment might not have been the worst ever in human history, it was still very subjective and at the whim of someone who was ok with owning people, so you never know what you’re going to get in that case. The IM notes an interesting correlation, saying, “here is the first example of the case law approach to the Mosaic law. The principle is ‘thou shalt not steal.’ One of the most precious things any man has is his personal liberty. To steal one’s liberty is a serious theft.” I hadn’t made that connection here between slavery and theft of personal liberty.

I think about this often, how lucky I am as a woman to live where and when I do because if I had been born less than a hundred years ago, I know for a fact my dad would have sold me to the highest bidder the first chance that he got. I’ve always known how women are and have been viewed throughout human history as property, and I’m lucky to be where I am and have the opportunities that I have. I guess that I’ve always been on stepping stones in survival mode my whole life, being forced to do things just to survive and make sure that my kids and responsibilities were taken care of and being guilted and manipulated into doing things that I didn’t want to do because some crazy person was able to convince me to do what was best for them. I don’t know, I just don’t really identify with the concept of “personal liberty,” it’s just not the life that I’ve lived, so maybe I need to think about that some more.