Why did God permit slavery?

…. he is his property.

Exodus 21:21 (King James 2000 Bible)

There have been many excellent and thorough answers to the question, “Why did God permit slavery?” It’s a question which is often posed by those who want to rebel against the authority of scripture, and just as frequently by earnest and anxious seekers after truth. I don’t pretend to explore the question fully here, only to give a few simple thoughts on the subject, particularly as it is viewed in the Law of Exodus 21.

My first impression is simply that God permitted slavery under the Mosaic Law because – like so many aspects of the law – it taught man a vital lesson. It taught him what it is for him to be the property of another.

Sinful man naturally despises authority. This was never more clearly illustrated when the crowds called for Barabbas – the insurrectionist – to be released, and for Jesus to be crucified. The world has rejected the Lord and chosen the rebel.

The idea that a man can be another person’s property is repulsive to modern sensibilities – and rightly so, after the immoral and inhuman practice of the Atlantic slave-trade by so-called enlightened western nations over a period of five centuries. The distinction between the enslavement of foreign captives by the Israelites and the abduction practiced by African, Arab and Western slave traders was lost on our predecessors, and the prohibition written in Exodus 21:16 was clearly forgotten. The medallions produced by English potter, entrepreneur and abolitionist Josiah Wedgewood were a sign of the forceful awakening of Christian conscience in the 19th century, bearing the words, “Am I Not A Man And A Brother”.

Notwithstanding man’s sinful abuse of his fellow man, the divine lessons of scripture stand. It is vital that we all understand that we are the property of another. The apostle Paul puts the question to the Romans: ” Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves bondmen for obedience, ye are bondmen to him whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” (Romans 6:16, DBT). Speaking of his own unregenerate state, Paul could say, ” but I am fleshly, sold under sin” (Romans 7:14).

So, we must understand that at no point are we free of the authority of another. Either we’re serving sin as slaves of Satan, or we’re serving the Lord in obedience to His will. There is no middle-ground – there is no state in which I can do what I please and serve neither Satan nor God. This is the sobering lesson of all this.

Joshua places a choice in front of the Israelites in Judges 24:15 (DBT): “choose you this day whom ye will serve”. On one hand, there is “the gods whom your fathers that were on the other side of the river served, or the gods of the Amorite, in whose land ye dwell” – perhaps speaking of dead traditions and the mores of the world. On the other other is Joshua’s choice: “as for me and my house, we will serve Jehovah.” There is no neutral ground. Dear reader, if you’re lingering in indecision, wait no longer – choose to trust in and serve the Saviour!

For the believer in the Lord Jesus to know that they are the property of another is a wonderful thing. Paul writes to the Corinthians, “Ye have been bought with a price” (1 Corinthians 7:23, DBT). Not only does Christ have creatorial rights over you, He also has redemptive rights – He has gone a way which is unimaginable and a distance which is immeasurable so that He should have you as His own, and that you should know His great heart of love. Like Joshua, we can have that blessed assurance: “I will not leave thee, neither will I forsake thee” (Joshuas 1:5, DBT).

As the property of the Lord Jesus, purchased at such great cost with His precious blood, awaiting our redemption by the One Who has acquired us as His possession (Ephesians 1:14), we can rest with complete assurance on the efficacy of His finished work. We are in His hand, and in His Father’s hand, and no-one shall ever take us out of it (John 10:28-29). Being the property of the Lord Jesus Christ has its responsibilities – as a servant is responsible to His Master – but it also comes with the great assurance of His never-changing love.