Introduction

The Old Testament contains numerous laws and regulations concerning slavery, explicitly permitting and regulating the practice rather than condemning it. These texts show that slavery was an accepted institution within the legal and moral framework attributed to Yahweh. This page examines the biblical evidence for divine endorsement of slavery in the Torah (the first five books of the Bible).

God Permits Slavery

Foreign Slaves

"As for your male and female slaves whom you may have: you may buy male and female slaves from among the nations that are around you. You may also buy from among the strangers who sojourn with you and their clans that are with you, who have been born in your land, and they may be your property. You may bequeath them to your sons after you to inherit as a possession forever. You may make slaves of them, but over your brothers the people of Israel you shall not rule, one over another ruthlessly." Leviticus 25:44-46

This passage explicitly authorizes the purchase of foreign slaves, defines them as property that can be inherited, and establishes them as permanent possessions. The text makes a clear distinction between the treatment of Israelite servants (who had certain protections) and foreign slaves (who could be owned permanently).

Captured Women as Wives

"When you go out to war against your enemies, and the LORD your God gives them into your hand and you take them captive, and you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you desire to take her to be your wife, and you bring her home to your house, she shall shave her head and pare her nails. And she shall take off the clothes in which she was captured and shall remain in your house and lament her father and her mother a full month. After that you may go in to her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife." Deuteronomy 21:10-13

This law explicitly permits Israelite soldiers to force captured women to become their wives, with no consideration of the woman's consent.

Selling a Daughter as a Slave

"When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do. If she does not please her master, who has designated her for himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has broken faith with her." Exodus 21:7-8

This passage explicitly allows fathers to sell their daughters as slaves. The passage regulates rather than prohibits this practice.

God Regulates Slavery

Masters and Beating Slaves

"When a man strikes his slave, male or female, with a rod and the slave dies under his hand, he shall be avenged. But if the slave survives a day or two, he is not to be avenged, for the slave is his money." Exodus 21:20-21

This law explicitly permits beating slaves with rods, with no punishment for the master as long as the slave doesn't die immediately. The rationale given is economic: "the slave is his money" (property).

Slaves and Inherited Property

"If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out alone." Exodus 21:4

This text shows that children born to slave women automatically became the property of the master, regardless of who the father was.

Slavery & War

Enslavement of Conquered Peoples

"When you draw near to a city to fight against it, offer terms of peace to it. And if it responds to you peaceably and it opens to you, then all the people who are found in it shall do forced labor for you and shall serve you." Deuteronomy 20:10-11

This passage explicitly commands the enslavement of conquered peoples who surrender, establishing forced labor as the expected outcome of successful military campaigns.

Women and Children as War Plunder

"Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man by lying with him. But all the young girls who have not known man by lying with him keep alive for yourselves." Numbers 31:17-18

This text describes Moses commanding the Israelites to kill all Midianite males (including boys) and all non-virgin women, while keeping the virgin girls "for yourselves."

Distribution of Human Captives

"And the LORD said to Moses, 'Take the count of the plunder that was taken, both of man and of beast, you and Eleazar the priest and the heads of the fathers' houses of the congregation, and divide the plunder into two parts between the warriors who went out to battle and all the congregation... From the people of Israel's half, Moses took one of every 50, both of persons and of beasts, and gave them to the Levites... And from the half belonging to the people of Israel, Moses took one drawn out of every fifty, of people and of beasts, and gave them to the Levites... And the tribute for the LORD from the sheep was 675. And the persons were 16,000, of which the LORD's tribute was 32 persons." Numbers 31:25-26, 47, 40-41

This passage shows captive people being distributed as "plunder" alongside animals and other property, with a portion of the human captives being given to the Levites as Yahweh's tribute. The text explicitly states that 32 virgin girls were given as "tribute for the LORD."

Distinctions Between Israelite and Foreign Slaves

Israelite Servants Foreign Slaves
Limited service of six years (Exodus 21:2) Permanent slaves for life (Leviticus 25:44-46)
Released in the Jubilee year (Leviticus 25:40-41) Not released in Jubilee; remained property (Leviticus 25:46)
Not to be treated ruthlessly (Leviticus 25:43) No comparable protection from ruthless treatment
Could not be sold as slaves to foreigners (Leviticus 25:42) Could be bought, sold, and inherited as property
Required to be released if physically injured (Exodus 21:26-27) No comparable protection for injury

The Torah establishes a two-tier system that offers certain protections to Israelite servants while allowing much harsher treatment of foreign slaves. This distinction is explicitly based on ethnicity.

Biblical Slavery in Historical Context

Comparison to Other Ancient Near Eastern Codes

The biblical regulations on slavery share many similarities with other ancient Near Eastern law codes, including the Code of Hammurabi and Middle Assyrian Laws. While the Torah does provide some humanitarian provisions (especially for Israelite servants), its fundamental acceptance of slavery as a legitimate institution aligns with the broader cultural norms of the period.

No Condemnation of Slavery as an Institution

Despite numerous opportunities to condemn slavery, the Old Testament never does so. Slavery is consistently regulated rather than prohibited, and there is no indication that the practice itself was considered morally problematic within the biblical ethical framework.

Conclusion

The textual evidence clearly demonstrates that the Old Testament, attributed to divine revelation, explicitly authorizes and regulates slavery rather than condemning it. While some provisions moderate the harshest aspects of slavery (particularly for Israelite servants), the institution itself is presented as a legitimate part of the social order established by divine law.

The legal codes in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy contain permissions and regulations for:

  • Purchasing foreign slaves as permanent property
  • Inheriting slaves across generations
  • Physically punishing slaves
  • Forced marriage of captive women
  • Enslavement of conquered peoples
  • Taking virgin girls as plunder in warfare