Fourth Letter Challenging Exodus 21
The hotter the heat, the brighter the gold
Hello friends! After our first three exchanges, A.G. sent another letter, this time containing some research he’d done. I love these kinds of dialogues, as we get to hash out the history and let the true light of the Bible shine.
Let’s dig in.
Fourth Letter from A.G.
Hi.
What do you say to that then:
1. Although mass (chattel) slavery was a specifically Roman phenomenon in antiquity, Jews do not seem to have been less affected by this common and all-pervasive institution than Romans, Greeks and other provincials in whose immediate environment they lived. Ancient Jewish literary sources suggest that Jews were both slaves and slaveholders in antiquity, and that slavery had a major impact on almost all areas of Jewish daily life, whether in Hellenistic and Roman Palestine or in the Mediterranean Diaspora. The phenomenon of slavery shows how and to what extent Jews were part of Greco-Roman society while at the same time maintaining their biblical roots. It is therefore of particular interest to examine similarities as well as differences between the Jewish and Greco-Roman discourse on slavery to determine whether there was a particularly Jewish perspective and approach.
The Cambridge world history of slavery. Pages 438-455 write about this.
2. Slave Systems of the Old Testament and the American South: A Study in Contrasts Nathan Andersen. Scientific work on slavery in ancient Jerusalem, where the ban is not mentioned anywhere.
3. “anyone who kidnaps someone is to be put to death, whether the victim has been sold or is still in the kidnapper's possession." This is from the New International Bible. The most popular version of the Bible in the USA - 450 million copies. Do you think this is a wrong translation? I propose then to write in biblica and explain to them where they are wrong.
My Response
Hello A.G.,
Thanks for taking the time to respond.
You said:
What do you say to that then: 1.Although mass (chattel) slavery was a specifically Roman phenomenon in antiquity, Jews do not seem to have been less affected by this common and all-pervasive institution than Romans, Greeks and other provincials in whose immediate environment they lived. Ancient Jewish literary sources suggest that Jews were both slaves and slaveholders in antiquity, and that slavery had a major impact on almost all areas of Jewish daily life, whether in Hellenistic and Roman Palestine or in the Mediterranean Diaspora. The phenomenon of slavery shows how and to what extent Jews were part of Greco-Roman society while at the same time maintaining their biblical roots. It is therefore of particular interest to examine similarities as well as differences between the Jewish and Greco-Roman discourse on slavery to determine whether there was a particularly Jewish perspective and approach.
None of these deals with the times when Israel was governing itself.
When Greece and Rome ruled Israel, of course slavery came with them. Both Rome and Greece plied the slave trade.
The key is this phrase:
whether in Hellenistic and Roman Palestine or in the Mediterranean Diaspora
Hellenistic times came when Greek conquered Israel. They imposed their laws over Israel, including slavery. Rome replaced Greece, but kept slavery. The Mediterranean Disapora are the Jews scattered abroad due to persecution, not living in Israel. All of that came after Israel’s time of self-governance had ended.
The laws I’ve been pointing to are given to govern life when Israel is ruling itself — when Israel has its own leaders who enforce the laws God gave to them.
That’s why I keep appealing to the biblical narratives. When they describe what life was like in Israel when Israel could govern itself, slavery was non-existent. No slave markets, no slavers, no slave trade.
Next, you said:
2. Slave Systems of the Old Testament and the American South: A Study in Contrasts Nathan Andersen. Scientific work on slavery in ancient Jerusalem, where the ban is not mentioned anywhere.
I looked up the paper. He makes many of the same points I do, but he still holds onto the term “slavery” to define what happened in the Old Testament, despite acknowledging that the laws God provided prohibited the Israelites from actually practicing the abuses of slavery.
As he says:
The Old Testament slave laws established a threshold level of humanity and dignity, which the Israelites were obligated not to cross, whereas the Southern slave system negated the existence of the person, evidencing a total devaluation of
humanity.
I would point him to those very laws that require the Israelites to afford everyone basic humanity and dignity. People treated with full humanity and dignity are not slaves, as our modern world understands the term.
You said:
3. “anyone who kidnaps someone is to be put to death, whether the victim has been sold or is still in the kidnapper's possession." This is from the New International Bible. The most popular version of the Bible in the USA - 450 million copies. Do you think this is a wrong translation? I propose then to write in biblica and explain to them where they are wrong
Generally, this translation is known as the New International Version. It is popular, although it has gone through several revisions over the years.
They interpret “to steal” as “to kidnap,” and then add “kidnapper” in later, which is not present in the Hebrew. By doing so, they unfairly narrow the focus of the verse.
I prefer the ESV translation of this verse, which reads:
“Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be put to death.”
The NIV tends to add words to enforce the meaning they think the text means, while the ESV tends to avoid doing this.
In general, the ESV translates more word-for-word, while the NIV translates more thought-by-thought. It means the ESV is more specifically accurate for the translation of each word, while the NIV can read completely different in English than it does in Hebrew.