Yes, the Bible does speak of slavery, which can be very upsetting and even cause confusing when we look at just how brutal and inhumane it has been in our society. In the book of Leviticus chapter 25:23-30, this passage can definitely sound harsh and raise eyebrows. Let’s examine the text to see what it says.

Leviticus 25:23-20

23 “The land must never be sold on a permanent basis, for the land belongs to me. You are only foreigners and tenant farmers working for me.

24 “With every purchase of land you must grant the seller the right to buy it back. 25 If one of your fellow Israelites falls into poverty and is forced to sell some family land, then a close relative should buy it back for him. 26 If there is no close relative to buy the land, but the person who sold it gets enough money to buy it back, 27 he then has the right to redeem it from the one who bought it. The price of the land will be discounted according to the number of years until the next Year of Jubilee. In this way the original owner can then return to the land. 28 But if the original owner cannot afford to buy back the land, it will remain with the new owner until the next Year of Jubilee. In the jubilee year, the land must be returned to the original owners so they can return to their family land.

29 “Anyone who sells a house inside a walled town has the right to buy it back for a full year after its sale. During that year, the seller retains the right to buy it back. 30 But if it is not bought back within a year, the sale of the house within the walled town cannot be reversed. It will become the permanent property of the buyer. It will not be returned to the original owner in the Year of Jubilee.

 

Examination Of Leviticus 25:44-45

The key thing to remember is that during ancient times, slavery was just part of how every society worked. It wasn’t like modern slavery that is based on race.

In ancient times slavery was about economics and survival. People often sold themselves or their families into servitude to pay off debts. Neither the Bible nor God created slavery, but gives guidance on how it should have been done during that specific period in time (Leviticus 25:39-40)

In Leviticus, God is giving laws to help regulate a society that already had slavery. The idea was to make things fairer and limit abuse, not necessarily to endorse the system forever. For example, Israelite slaves had to be released after six years, and there were rules about treating them well (Leviticus 25:39-40). Foreign slaves didn’t have the same rights, which seems wrong to us, but again this was a law code in a very different world.

Over time, the message of the Bible teaches against such practices. By the time you get to Jesus and the early church, you start hearing things like ‘love your neighbor as yourself’ and ‘there is no slave or free all are one in Christ.’ That was radical stuff back then, and it started to challenge the idea of slavery from the inside out.

As a result, this verse isn’t a blank check to support slavery today, and I do believe that God doesn’t condone. This verse provides a glimpse into a moment in history where God was working with people in the middle of a broken system in that particular time, but scripture shows that God slowly guides them toward something better.

Key Takeaways

  • The Bible contains descriptions of practices that were common in the ancient Near East. It doesn’t always mean God endorses those practices in a moral sense for all time.
  • This passage shows how God regulated flawed human systems to reduce harm.
  • Just because something appears in the Bible doesn’t mean it’s a moral ideal. For example, many things in the Old Testament like polygamy or blood vengeance were described, but later challenged or transformed by later biblical teaching, especially by Jesus.
  • As the Bible progresses, especially in the New Testament, we see increasing emphasis on equality, dignity, and freedom. Early Christians were even told to treat slaves as brothers (Philemon).
  • Just like modern laws regulate things like war, prisons, or divorce without necessarily approving of them, these ancient laws tried to bring order and restraint to deeply entrenched cultural practices.

Blessing Pastor Robert

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