Demonstrating #1 is easy. We could expand it to the entire Torah, but Exodus 21 stands out because it's the beginning of the Law. Right at the start, in God's opening salvo against the unrighteousness of the world, He outlaws slavery in multiple ways. That immediacy gives the anti-slavery stance extra weight.
Demonstrating #2 is harder, but only in the sense that it's hard to prove a negative. None of the ancient laws we have access to abolish slavery as Exodus 21 does. It really is the first that we know of. Given the nature of document preservation over millennia, it's always possible we'd one day dig up something earlier that abolishes slavery. It's possible, but extremely unlikely, because there's precious little in the way of anti-slavery ideas anywhere in the ancient world except in Israel.
If you’re arguing that Exodus 21 is the world’s first anti-slavery declaration, you would need to demonstrate two specific things:
1: That Exodus 21 (or the Torah as a whole if you want to broaden your scope, but you might need to change your title for that) is anti-slavery.
2: That there are no anti-slavery declarations in any law codes on Earth from before the exodus and wandering period.
Hi Coury,
Indeed, my friend.
Demonstrating #1 is easy. We could expand it to the entire Torah, but Exodus 21 stands out because it's the beginning of the Law. Right at the start, in God's opening salvo against the unrighteousness of the world, He outlaws slavery in multiple ways. That immediacy gives the anti-slavery stance extra weight.
Demonstrating #2 is harder, but only in the sense that it's hard to prove a negative. None of the ancient laws we have access to abolish slavery as Exodus 21 does. It really is the first that we know of. Given the nature of document preservation over millennia, it's always possible we'd one day dig up something earlier that abolishes slavery. It's possible, but extremely unlikely, because there's precious little in the way of anti-slavery ideas anywhere in the ancient world except in Israel.