How God Breaks the Back of Abuse
Exploring What the Bible REALLY Says About Slavery
One of the vilest aspects of slavery is abuse — one person lording their power over another through violence.
How would a loving God address this situation?
How would a loving God write the laws of His new nation?
Perhaps something like this:
“When a man strikes the eye of his ebed, male or female, and destroys it, he shall let the ebed go free because of his eye. If he knocks out the tooth of his ebed, male or female, he shall let the ebed go free because of his tooth. (Exodus 21:26–27, ESV)
These laws build on what came before. They emphasize yet again that masters cannot beat those who work for them.
The smallest permanent injuries — an eye, a tooth — result in instant freedom for the servant.
Over and over, God keeps repeating: other people are not your playthings. You do not get to abuse others, even if you have the power. You respect every human you meet, or you will suffer the consequences.
God inverts abuse. In most societies, those with power abuse those under them as a means of control or a perverted form of pleasure. Their laws protected the rights of the privileged to abuse their “lessers”.
God won’t tolerate such atrocity.
Anyone who is abused instantly receives protection.
A servant who is abused receives instant freedom from their abuser. They never have to work in that toxic environment again (Exodus 21:26-27).
Any wife who is abused by her husband receives her freedom. She does not have to subject herself to his continued horrors. She gets to go free and find a life-giving home (Exodus 21:7-11).
Any baby who suffers from physical abuse, even before being born, is atoned by the Law. The baby cannot yet protect itself, so the Law protects the child and the mother. The one who injured them loses power as he makes restitution (Exodus 21:22-25).
Any time two men fight willingly, and one of them is injured, the other must see to his healing and financial compensation (Exodus 21:18-19).
In God’s law, abuse isn’t a path to power.
In God’s law, abuse is a path to losing all you have.
Yet this raises the question: Why does Exodus 21 need to specify that servants go free if they suffer any permanent injury? Why do they need to specify this, if a servant can leave whenever they choose, as Deuteronomy 23:15-16 says?
It’s the same reason a woman will stay with an abusive man.
Sometimes, the victim needs to know that it’s okay to leave.
Sometimes, the victim needs to know where the line is, such that if the line is crossed, they need to leave.
Sometimes, the victim needs to know that the abuser does not get to dictate the terms of their life.
Sometimes, the victim needs to know that this is not something the perpetrator can talk their way out of.
And sometimes, those with power need to know where the line is, such that they stop themselves from crossing it.
Remember that in every other culture around Israel, slavery is legal. In these other cultures, slaves could be beaten, even killed, and the law would do nothing. Israel alone draws these new lines. Israel alone says no, you may not abuse those who work for you.
The Law needs to draw the lines clearly so that everyone understands the way things are now. When people have been raised their entire lives in cultures that tolerate slavery, you have to be very, very clear about what is not allowable anymore. You cannot trust that they will get it instinctively.
So God lays it out clearly, over and over and over again.
Every person matters to God, because He created every person in His image.
You will treat every person as though they matter — because they do.