Nine Clarifications Before Critiquing Old Testament Slavery
Apologetics, Christianity, Gospel, Is God Good? Biblical Ethics, Legislating Morality, Culture & Politics, Old Testament, Sean Redfearn, slavery, Theology and Christian Apologetics
Slavery in the Old Testament is a favourite topic among critics who wish to denigrate the moral character of the God of Israel. In my experience, critics will predominantly cite Exodus 21:20-21 or Leviticus 25:44-46 to appeal to a notion of horrendous oppression towards foreign slaves within the nation of ancient Israel – even though there are, by my count, at least 20 other passages in the Torah that are relevant to having a well-informed conversation on the topic. Still, the above two passages need to be engaged with, and I refer readers to a host of excellent resources that respond to the claim that the Old Testament endorses chattel slavery.[1] What do you mean by Old Testament slavery? In this article, I wish to propose a simple tactic for…