SLAVES OF CHRIST
You are not your own
Slavery, no doubt, is a touchy subject in most parts of the world. It is an especially sensitive topic in the West as it has been widely politicized and there are countless stories of atrocities performed against slaves. For these reasons, the word "slave" has been removed from English translations of the Greek and Hebrew text... to the detriment of God's Word and the understanding of the believer.
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This page will seek to break down the history of slavery in God's Word from Genesis to Revelation, stopping along the way to highlight two things: 1)God's view of slavery, which has been largely ignored my mankind and corrupted, and 2)the impact of the slavery/Master relationship true believers have, according to God's Word, in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
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God is quite clear. The Son of God was killed and His blood spilled, paying the most costly price and gaining men and women of faith in Him to His own possession.
"Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought for a price: therefore glorify God in your body." - 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
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As a note of the Biblical text found here, I am starting with a base foundation of the Biblical text as found in the NASB2020 translation, as I have found it to be the best combination of concise translation and madern language. However, I have also found that this modernization of the text is a bit overdone in places, some important words, I find, are best left to genuine and rough translation (not modernized). These words, I will change back to their original language so as to be the most possibly accurate to God's Word. God wrote this text by His breath (or Holy Spirit) through men, and I seek to honor my Father, my Lord, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit by presenting the most accurate English translation I can.
History of Slavery in God's Word
- Gold (God's Word) - White (my inductive notes) - Blue (additional cited sources)
Genesis 4:2 --- 2 And again, she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel was a shepherd of flocks, but Cain was a slave of the ground.
- This is the first mention of the Hebrew word for slave ("obd" or "aw-bed" sometimes pronounced "ebed" or "eh-bed"). We know this by referencing the text and language used in Exodus in reference to God's people being slaves in Egypt. If any people were to embody the idea we have of slavery and truly being slaves under the rule of others, it would be God's people, the children of Israel, enslaved by Egypt.
- Here, we find the first slave-owner: the ground. As promised by God in His judgment of Adam and all men to follow after him, the ground would produce food by the sweat of his brow, and it would not be easy as it produced thistle and thorn to increase the difficulty. God implies here that Cain was bound to the working of the ground and all its implied challenges.
Books of the Bible
Genesis 9:24-27 --- 24 When Noah awoke from his wine, he knew what his youngest son had done to him. 25 So he said,
“Cursed be Canaan;
A slave of slaves
He shall be to his brothers.”
26 He also said,
“Blessed be Yahweh,
The Elohim of Shem;
And may Canaan be his slave.
27 “May Elohim enlarge Japheth,
And may he live in the tents of Shem;
And may Canaan be his slave.”
- A tragic account of Noah's faithfulness and trust in God ends with him on dry land, being one of eight survivors of the Great Flood. He celebrates by planting a vineyard and gets drunk. So drunk, in fact, that he runs around naked and eventually collapses in his tent. His youngest son dishonors him by bringing his older brothers to look at their father's shameful state. His brothers refuse to look at their father and instead enter his tent backward, facing away from him, and cover him with a blanket. When Noah wakes up and finds out what his youngest son did, he is angry. He prophecies that his descendants will be slaves of his older brothers' descendants. Later, we see that God's people (Shem) are taken captive and conquered over and over by other nations, most of which descended from his brothers. Below is a map showing the spread of Noah's sons and their descendants.
Genesis 24:2-39 A Bride for Isaac
1 Now Abraham was old, advanced in age; and the Lord had blessed Abraham in every way. 2 Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his household who was in charge of all that he owned, “Please place your hand under my thigh, 3 and I will make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live; 4 but you will go to my country and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son Isaac.” 5 The servant said to him, “Suppose the woman is not willing to follow me to this land; should I take your son back to the land from where you came?” 6 Then Abraham said to him, “Beware that you do not take my son back there! 7 The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my birth, and who spoke to me and who swore to me, saying, ‘To your descendants I will give this land’—He will send His angel ahead of you, and you will take a wife for my son from there. 8 But if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be free of this oath of mine; only do not take my son back there.” 9 So the servant placed his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham, and swore to him concerning this matter.
10 Then the servant took ten camels from the camels of his master, and went out with a variety of good things of his master’s in his hand; so he set out and went to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor. 11 He made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water when it was evening, the time when women go out to draw water. 12 And he said, “Lord, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. 13 Behold, I am standing by the spring, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water; 14 now may it be that the young woman to whom I say, ‘Please let down your jar so that I may drink,’ and who answers, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels also’—may she be the one whom You have appointed for Your servant Isaac; and by this I will know that You have shown kindness to my master.”
Rebekah Is Chosen
15And it came about, before he had finished speaking, that behold, Rebekah, who was born to Bethuel the son of Milcah, the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor, came out with her jar on her shoulder. 16The young woman was very beautiful, a virgin; no man had had relations with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jar, and came up. 17Then the servant ran to meet her, and said, “Please let me drink a little water from your jar.” 18And she said, “Drink, my lord”; then she quickly lowered her jar to her hand, and gave him a drink. 19Now when she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I will also draw water for your camels until they have finished drinking.” 20So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough, and ran back to the well to draw, and she drew for all his camels. 21Meanwhile, the man was taking a close look at her in silence, to find out whether the Lord had made his journey successful or not.
22When the camels had finished drinking, the man took a gold ring weighing a half-shekel, and two bracelets for her wrists weighing ten shekels in gold, 23and he said, “Whose daughter are you? Please tell me, is there room for us to stay overnight at your father’s house?” 24She said to him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel, Milcah’s son, whom she bore to Nahor.” 25Again she said to him, “We have plenty of both straw and feed, and room to stay overnight.” 26Then the man bowed low and worshiped the Lord. 27And he said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned His kindness and His trustworthiness toward my master; as for me, the Lord has guided me in the way to the house of my master’s brothers.”
28Then the young woman ran and told her mother’s household about these things. 29Now Rebekah had a brother whose name was Laban; and Laban ran outside to the man at the spring. 30When he saw the ring and the bracelets on his sister’s wrists, and when he heard the words of his sister Rebekah, saying, “This is what the man said to me,” he went to the man; and behold, he was standing by the camels at the spring. 31And he said, “Come in, blessed of the Lord! Why do you stand outside, since I have prepared the house, and a place for the camels?” 32So the man entered the house. Then Laban unloaded the camels, and he gave straw and feed to the camels, and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him. 33But when food was set before him to eat, he said, “I will not eat until I have stated my business.” And he said, “Speak on.” 34So he said, “I am Abraham’s servant. 35The Lord has greatly blessed my master, so that he has become rich; and He has given him flocks and herds, and silver and gold, and servants and slave women, and camels and donkeys. 36Now my master’s wife Sarah bore a son to my master in her old age, and he has given him all that he has. 37My master made me swear, saying, ‘You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live; 38but you shall go to my father’s house and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son.’ 39Then I said to my master, ‘Suppose the woman does not follow me.’ 40And he said to me, ‘The Lord, before whom I have walked, will send His angel with you to make your journey successful, and you will take a wife for my son from my relatives and from my father’s house; 41then you will be free from my oath, when you come to my relatives; and if they do not give her to you, you will be free from my oath.’
42“So I came today to the spring, and said, ‘Lord, God of my master Abraham, if now You will make my journey on which I have been going successful; 43behold, I am standing by the spring, and may it be that the young unmarried woman who comes out to draw water, and to whom I say, “Please let me drink a little water from your jar”; 44and she says to me, “You drink, and I will draw for your camels also”—let her be the woman whom the Lord has appointed for my master’s son.’
45“Before I had finished speaking in my heart, behold, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder, and went down to the spring and drew water, and I said to her, ‘Please let me drink.’ 46She quickly lowered her jar from her shoulder, and said, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels also’; so I drank, and she watered the camels also. 47Then I asked her, and said, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ And she said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor’s son, whom Milcah bore to him’; and I put the ring on her nose, and the bracelets on her wrists. 48And I bowed low and worshiped the Lord, and blessed the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who had guided me in the right way to take the daughter of my master’s brother for his son. 49So now if you are going to deal kindly and truthfully with my master, tell me; and if not, tell me now, so that I may turn to the right or the left.”
50Then Laban and Bethuel replied, “The matter has come from the Lord; so we cannot speak to you bad or good. 51Here is Rebekah before you, take her and go, and let her be the wife of your master’s son, as the Lord has spoken.”
52When Abraham’s servant heard their words, he bowed himself to the ground before the Lord. 53And the servant brought out articles of silver and articles of gold, and garments, and gave them to Rebekah; he also gave precious things to her brother and to her mother. 54Then he and the men who were with him ate and drank and spent the night. When they got up in the morning, he said, “Send me away to my master.” 55But her brother and her mother said, “Let the young woman stay with us a few days, say ten; afterward she may go.” 56However, he said to them, “Do not delay me, since the Lord has prospered my way. Send me away so that I may go to my master.” 57And they said, “We will call the young woman and ask her.” 58Then they called Rebekah and said to her, “Will you go with this man?” And she said, “I will go.” 59So they sent away their sister Rebekah and her nurse with Abraham’s servant and his men. 60And they blessed Rebekah and said to her,
“May you, our sister,
Become thousands of ten thousands,
And may your descendants possess
The gate of those who hate them.”
61Then Rebekah got up with her female attendants, and they mounted the camels and followed the man. So the servant took Rebekah and departed.