Slavery in the Old and New Testaments

Chapter 1 - 1.3

Artwork: A Crucifixion in the Time of the Romans Artist: Vasily Vereshchagin

In the Old Testament, slavery language was common among the Prophets and the Psalms. Briefly and notably, the word “עֶבֶד (ebed) as slave”¹ is rendered appropriately in the Old Testament as “slave.” Slavery in the context of the Old Testament was ordinary among God’s people, as slavery was common in the Greco-Roman period. This is why slavery language was relevant and helpful to God’s people in the New Testament. Examining slavery among God’s people from the time of the patriarch Abraham will help generate a general comprehension of ancient slavery. Erwin Lueker noted ancient slavery “was practiced among Jews from the time of Abraham, but consciousness of caste is hardly noticeable in patriarchal days; master and slave lived together as members of a household (cf. Gn 15:2–3; 24; 1 Sm 9:5–10; Pr 29:19–21).”²

Israel experienced oppressive slavery in Egypt for four hundred thirty years (cf. Exod 1:8-22-12:42).³ The Israelites were slaves in Egypt until Yahweh freed them (e.g., Ex 20:2; Lev 26:13).”⁴ Later, the Babylonian captivity (slavery) lasted for seventy years.⁵ Therefore, the examination of slavery in the Old Testament connects slavery in the context of Paul’s writing to the Romans and the church today.

The Hebrew word עֶבֶד is best translated as “slave” in the context of slavery, even though English translators often render עֶבֶד “servant.”⁶ Although “servant” at times (cf. Gen 9:25-26, [LSB]) can serve as a proper rendering of עֶבֶד in context, עֶבֶד is another deep study with a broad and narrow range of definitions.

The עֶבֶד – slave of God looks to Him as Master. Yahweh God Almighty beautifully illustrates a comparison between a slave and master. The Psalmist writes, “As the eyes of [עֲבָדִ֡ים] slaves look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a [שִׁפְחָה]⁷ female slave look to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the LORD our God, till he shows us his mercy.”⁸ עֶבֶד has been frequently translated as “servant” in English translations, (e.g., Psalm 119:125 [NIV]).⁹ Other English versions less often translate עֶבֶד as “slave” (cf. Psalm 105:17 in parallel). To better handle the context of slavery, עֶבֶד is most appropriately delivered as “slave” for the reader of all ages in the proper context of slavery.

It would also be pragmatic to define slave and servant, and a few slave–master/mistress words in Hebrew. Master “אָדוֹן (adon) – lord, master,” and “גְּבֶרֶת (gebereth) – lady, queen, mistress.”¹⁰ Comparing the word “slave” in Hebrew consists of a few different words with specific renderings; e.g., עֶבֶד, slave, servant, interestingly, שִׁפְחָה female slave, maidservant, and “אָמָה (amah)–female slave, maidservant.”¹¹ Perhaps, the word “servant” could be helpful at times, yet the word “servant” does not communicate as effectively “slave” for עֶבֶד. “Servant” is often used interchangeably between עֶבֶד, יָלִיד, and נַעַר. This study holds the Hebrew word עֶבֶד appropriately as “slave” in context, just as the Greek word δοῦλος as “slave” in context. Rendering “servant” is perhaps ostensibly overused in English translations for עֶבֶד, conceivably softening and muddling the language for the modern reader.

Slavery in the Old Testament highlights Israel’s history of slavery and bondage to Egypt. Slavery in ancient Israel connects to the deliverance from enemies and slavery by Yahweh God.¹² Yahweh God brought Israel “out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery” (Exod 20:2; Deut 5:6; 6:12; 8:12; 13:10, Josh 24:17; Jer. 34:13).¹³ Later, Israelite men and women sold as slaves were to be released on the Sabbatical year, remembering Yahweh redeemed the enslaved in Egypt (cf. Duet. 15:12-15). Also, the Babylonian captivity has shown Yahweh’s grace and mercy toward Israel in slavery. God gives this grace to Israel in its slavery through Ezra,

But now for a brief moment grace has been shown from Yahweh our God, to leave us an escaped remnant and to give us a peg in His holy place, that our God may enlighten our eyes and give us a little reviving in our slavery. For we are slaves; yet in our slavery our God has not forsaken us, but has extended lovingkindness to us before the kings of Persia, to give us reviving to raise up the house of our God, to restore its waste places, and to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem (Ezra 9:8-9; cf. 9:11; Neh 1:4-11; 4-5).

Slavery in the context of the Old Testament shows slave relationships between earthly rulers, as well as God’s lovingkindness and grace toward Israel in captivity, delivering His people as promised. Israel would later be subject to the Roman Empire.

Slavery in the Greco-Roman Age and Modern Slavery

According to scholars, the Roman Empire’s slave population is remarkable around the time of Paul. Most historians come to a general estimate of the slave population around the 1^st century which seems accurate in proximity to one another. For example, Walter Scheidel claims,

I will reckon with six million slaves in a population of sixty million, who thus made up 10 percent of the total population. In this context, the term 'slave' is narrowly defined, excluding free but dependent populations in the provinces. This estimate gives us about two to three million slaves for Italy and three to four million for the provinces.¹⁴

Other scholars draw from Scheidel’s approximately “ten percent”¹⁵ and possibly observe more of the population were likely slaves in the Roman Empire during the first century B.C., likely similar in the first century A.D. Sarah Joshel follows, “By the late first century BCE. In Roman Italy, the heartland of the empire, slaves numbered 1 to 1.5 million out of a population of 5 to 6 million, or about 20-30 percent.”¹⁶ Ten percent seems to be the lower limit scale for slaves in ancient Rome around the first century. Middendorf notes, “Estimates are that slaves comprised as much as one-third of the population of the Roman Empire.”¹⁷ Slaves in the Roman Empire may have been prisoners of war, captives of hired slave captors, born into slavery or abandonment, one who was paying a debt, sold into slavery, and others who sold themselves into slavery.¹⁸

In comparison to the ancient world of the Greco-Roman period, the approximate number of slaves in 2003 A.D. in the world was an “estimated 27 million men, women, and children in the world who are enslaved—physically confined or restrained and forced to work, or controlled through violence, or in some way treated as property.”¹⁹ It is estimated as of 2017, “global estimates of modern slavery estimates that 40.3 million individuals were living in modern slavery . . . exploited for the purpose of sexual exploitation, forced labor, forced marriage, domestic servitude, and forced criminality.”²⁰ The modern American slavery population in 2003 A.D. was estimated, “according to Kevin Bales . . .  between 100,000 and 150,000 slaves in the U.S. today.”²¹ Disturbingly, according to the 2017 A.D. estimations, “1.9 million men, women, and children were living in modern slavery in the Americas.”²² Most recently, from a study in 2023, the estimate of modern slavery is 50 million people enslaved globally.²³

According to these estimates, the Roman Empire around the 1^st century A.D. exceeds modern slavery in America. Slavery is not a thing of the past only, or an institution that can be solely reduced to America’s participation in the African slave trade. Notably, slavery in Paul’s day was evident and vast in the Roman Empire. Scrutinizing the slave population is an investigative way to appreciate slavery in the context of the New Testament era and critique Paul’s theological thought and slavery language.

Slavery in the New Testament

Paul asserts, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:28).²⁴ All are one in Christ’s Kingdom. The slave in Gal 3:28 is the slave of man in the worldly sense. Yet, no matter the ethnicity or gender or status, slaves in Christ in Gal 3:28 are one in Christ’s Kingdom, in Paul’s day and today. Kerr writes of the early church and the worldly institution of slavery,

The early church did not attack slavery as an institution. It did, however, reorder the relationship of slave and masters (Philem.), indicate that in God’s sight there was neither ‘slave nor free’ (Gal. 3:28), and state that both were accountable to God (Eph. 6:5-9). The interpersonal relationship was recast in terms of the character of Christ and his kingdom.²⁵

This influenced how a Christian viewed being bound to another in Christ and, even, a slave relationship with God.

One might view slavery by the world’s standards only and misrepresent the discernment of unity and oneness in Christ alongside one’s ethnicity, callings, position, gender, and perhaps a liberal position on equality. Although the reader may be influenced by post-Enlightenment thought, Nordling writes, “Paul would almost certainly not have held post-Enlightenment conceptions of equality, including the common (mis)understanding of many modern Americans and western Europeans today as they ponder a passage like Gal 3:28.” Tolerating slavery as a pre-existing institution of the Roman Empire is the consistent teaching of Paul. All are one in Christ, even Christian slaves under a master’s rule. Nordling writes about the proper understanding of Galatians 3:28,

A proper understanding of Gal 3:28 distinguishes those obligations under the Law that have been nullified for all who are justified by faith in Christ from those kinds of obligations that remain in effect for Christians until the return of Christ . . . Freedom in Christ, however, is not license—that is, the mistaken idea that Jesus liberates us to be “all that we can be,” do whatever we please, or even transgress God’s Law by violating Scripture’s clear directives. Indeed, St. Paul writes at length about how Christians are in fact dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus (e.g., Rom 6:11–23; Gal 5:16–26).

A Christian master and slave are both described as without distinction among the children of God. Lueker wrote, “Christianity did not require masters to release their servants (cf. Eph 6:5-9) but invited all to be children of God, without [social distinction] (1 Co 7:21-22; Gl 3:28; Cl 3:11; Phmn 10, 16).” Slavery in a Christian context does not categorize a difference in status as children of God, but unity in Christ as Christians, whether master or slave or non-slave.

1.  “עֶבֶד­ n.m. slave, servant . . . 1. slave, servant of household . . . ” Francis Brown, William Gesenius, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English lexicon of the Old Testament, with an appendix containing the biblical Aramaic (Oxford: Clarendon, 1951), 713, cf. 713-716. Hereafter, BDB; Cf. “עֶבֶד­ . . . slave” William L. Holladay, W. Baumgartner, and Ludwig Koehler, A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Pub, 1971), 262. Hereafter, CHALOT; “עֶבֶד–ebed (713d); from H5647; slave, servant: — attendants.” NASEC, H5650. This study uses NASEC for Hebrew Strong’s references and comparability to BDB and CHALOT; See also, Preface to the English Standard Version (ESV) 2016 text edition, ix-x; cf. Legacy Standard Bible (LSB), 2021, foreword, III.

2. Erwin Lueker, Lutheran Cyclopedia, (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 1975), 720.

3. Cf. Gen 1 5:13; Acts 7:6; Gal 3:17.

4.  Middendorf, Romans 1–8, 342.

5. For references to the seventy years of Babylonian slavery, cf. 2 Kings 20:17; 24-25 2 Chron 36; Ezra 1:1-2; Jer 25:11, 12; 29:10; Dan 9:2.

6.  Cf. עֶבֶד in Genesis 32:10 and compare English translations––LSB, NASB, ESV, KJV. The LSB translates עֶבֶד the most as “slave.”

7. Some older translations (e.g. AV/KJV) use, “שִׁפְחָה n.f. maid, maid-servant . . . 1. lit., . . . as belonging to a mistress . . .” BDB, 1046; “שִׁפְחָה . . . female slave, maidservant (not clearly distinguished fm. ʾāmâ) Gn 16:1; humble self-designation 1 S 1:18 . . .” CHALOT, 380; “שִׁפְחָה shiphchah (1046c); from an unused word; maid, maidservant: — female.” NASEC, H8198; Compared to some newer translations (e.g. NASB) which use, “שִׁפְחוֹתֵיכֶם: female slave, maidservant (not clearly distinguished fm. ʾāmâ) Gn 16:1; humble self-designation 1 S 1:18.” CHALOT, 380; “שַׁעֲרַיִם Shaarayim (1045c); from the same as H8179; two cities in Isr.: — maid (2), Shaaraim (3).” NASEC, H8189.

8. Psalm 123:2, New International Version (NIV). The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011).

9.  Cf. Psalm 119:17,23,38,49,65,76,84,122,124,125,135,140,176; In comparison to the NIV and other English translations, the LSB notably renders all of these verses with עֶבֶד in the Old Testament as slave appropriately, where most English translations do not render these specific verses with עֶבֶד­ as slave, instead, render עֶבֶד­ as servant.

10. “אָדוֹן n.m. . . . 1. sg. lord, master . . . 4. אֲדֹנָ֤י יֱהוִה֙ (a) my Lord Yahweh . . .” BDB, 10-11; “אָדוֹן . . . I. (earthly) lord, master . . . II. God . . . (c) 'ădônây yhwh my Lord Y.” CHALOT, 4; “אָדוֹן adon (10d); from an unused word; lord: — husbands . . .אֲדֹנָי Adonay (10d); an emphatic form of H113; Lord: — Lord.” NASEC, H113, H136; “גְּבֶרֶת n.f. 1. lady, queen . . .” BDB, 150; “גְּבֶרֶת . . . lady, mistress . . . 2. ‘lady,’ title of queen mother . . .” CHALOT, 54; “גְּבֶרֶת gebereth (150c); from H1396; lady, queen, mistress: — mistress.” NASEC, H140.

11.  “אָמָה n.f. maid, handmaid . . . 1. lit. maidservant . . .” BDB, 51; “אָמָה . . . female slave, maidservant & concubine, orig.: unfree woman . . .” CHALOT, 19; “אָמָה amah (51a); of unc. der.; a maid, handmaid: — female.” NASEC, H519.

12.  Elwell elucidates several claims of slavery in ancient Israel: “Slaves generally performed household duties or labored with the family in the fields. Slaves were acquired by purchase, in payment of debt, by inheritance, by birth, and as prisoners of war. OT instances show a father selling a daughter (Exod. 21:7, Neh. 5:5), a widow selling children (2 Kings 4:1), and people selling themselves (Lev. 25:39; Deut. 15:12-17). A person might be freed from purchase (Lev. 25:48-55), sabbatical year law (Exod. 21:1-11; Deut. 15:12-18), the jubilee year (Lev. 25:8-55), or death of the master (Gen. 15:2) . . . Israel as a nation knew bondage in Egypt and thus the exodus experience plays a major role in both OT and the NT.” Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, 1113; Cf. the Tenth Commandment, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or his male slave or his female slave.”(Exod 20:17).

13. Cf. Exod 13:3, 14; Deut 7:8; 13:5; Jdgs 6:8; Mic 6:4.

14.  Walter Scheidel, “Quantifying the Sources of Slaves in the Early Roman Empire” Journal of Roman Studies 87 (1997): 167.

15. Cf. Scheidel, “Quantifying the Sources of Slaves in the Early Roman Empire,” 156-159; Scheidel comments in his notes (16), “This is the only yardstick for the extent of slave-ownership outside the central areas of Roman 'slave society’. Hence, reckoning with a much higher proportion of slaves in Italy, my estimate of 10 per cent for the Empire as a whole seems rather a lower limit than a reasonable average. The larger the overall share of slaves was, the less likely extraneous sources would have been to meet the demand for replacement slaves: from a methodological point of view, my low estimate serves the useful purpose of making it more difficult for me to argue my case for a high incidence of natural reproduction.” Ibid., 116.

16. Sandra Joshel, Slavery in the Roman World (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010), 8; Cf. Walter Scheidel, “Quantifying the Sources of Slaves in the Early Roman Empire” Journal of Roman Studies 87: (1997), 155-169; Many scholars seem to draw from Walter Scheidel, whose research appears helpful in slavery population from the Greco-Roman era and the first century AD Roman Empire.; Cf. Scheidel, “Human Mobility in Roman Italy, II: The Slave Population” The Journal of Roman Studies, 95 (2005), 64-79; James S. Jeffers, The Greco-Roman World Of the New Testament: Exploring the Background of Early Christianity (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1999), 221; Peter Hunt, Ancient Greek and Roman Slavery (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell, 2018), 43.

17. Middendorf, Romans 1–8, 342.

18. Cf. Jeffers, The Greco-Roman World Of the New Testament, 222.

19. Andrew Cockburn, “21st-Century Slaves,” National Geographic, 204, no. 9 (September 2003): 2-3.

20.   “Resource Downloads” Global Slavery Index, accessed 05/06/2022, https://www.globalslaveryindex.org/resources/downloads/. Hereafter “RD” GSI.

21. Cockburn, “21st-Century Slaves,” 7-12.

22.  “RD” GSI, accessed 05/06/2022, https://www.globalslaveryindex.org/resources/downloads/.

23.  Ibid., accessed 01/26/2024, https://www.walkfree.org/global-slavery-index/downloads/; https://cdn.walkfree.org/content/uploads/2023/05/17114737/Global-Slavery-Index-2023.pdf.

24.        Translation by Andrew Das, Galatians, ed. Dean O. Wenthe, Concordia Commentary (Saint Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2014). Unless otherwise noted, Paul’s letter to the Galatians in this study is translated by Das.

25. Elwell, 1113.