Slavery

shall i presume Abraham was heartless?

Currently, we're all slaves to the system of man, which is of Satan.
There will, however, come a time after the tribulation period in which the travailing woman brings forth (Micah 5:3), when the children of God shall no longer travail for man (Micah 5:7).

Micah 5:3 Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth: then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel.
7 And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the Lord, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men.

The slaves of Israel were treated as family after so many years. They also were allowed to work off their pay, and it iwas illegal to harm slaves. They were sometimes taken forcefully and sometimes indentured.

The cruelest form of slavery in history is that of the United States…….

Until God revealed Joseph's abilities to Potiphar, Joseph was just a slave like any other slave he had owned. He was only promoted when he physically saw Joseph's God acting on his behalf.

As far as the wife is concerned, a woman cannot rape a man. A man controls his mind and body and could prevent any possibility of the wife ever being able to do as such.

And if men do fall under rape from a woman, it is pure hogwash. If the man enables the ability to have intercourse, then he is being a willing participant, not a rape victim!!

Abraham did not have men overseeing slaves in the fields, with guns prepared to kill if someone did not do their duty.

Maybe have a look at Leviticus what it says about keeping slaves.
I do think it related to being an employer - employee relationship over a father- son/daughter relationship.
That its abused is one of the bad things about it. Theres a fine line between servanthood and slavery.

Also letter to Philemon talks about a former slave Onemisus who ran away from his master, Paul took him up and says hes converted and treats him as a brother.

Abraham and Sarah kept Hagar and used her as a surrogate, she ran away with Ishmael but the angel did tell her to go back. IShamel did not inherit but God blessed him anyway and made him a separate nation. They werent regarded as kin to Isaacs progeny.

Regarding Abraham who owned Hagar the egyptian maid...
HAgar was the bondwoman..,Sarah was free.

Check out Hebrews 4:22-31 and then chapter 5

Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and do not be entangled with the yoke of bondage.

It is talking of circumcision..being under the law, which is slavery because the law is for the flesh not the spirit.
When anyone is in bondage they are bound by rules. This is why Jesus gives us authority to bind whatever is on earth to bind in heaven and also to loose whatever in earth as it is in heaven . Slavery is bondage.
HAgar did not have any choice whether to bear children to .abraham or not. It was not her decision, she was bound to Abraham.

I do think when you a slave, you dont have any choices, someone makes them for you but when you free, you can make your own choices.

I was watching a movie last night called Selma, its about Martin Luther King Jr and how he led a protest march from Selma to Birmingham I think it was because in Alabama the white officials wouldnt let the black people vote even though in legislation they were allowed to. They were still treated as slaves though they had won their freedom. Welll when they first tried to march, with no weapons or anything the sheriff blocked them on the bridge and got his troops to beat them up, shot them with tear gas, etc. many were injured and some people nearly got killed. They were just brutal. Actually there were too many deaths already with white folk bombing churches and children and teens being killed. They thought if these former slaves really got free, they couldnt control them anymore. They made them sit apart and not allow them to mix or even call them brothers.

The second time they marched some white folks came and joined them, especially clergy, the troop stillmet them but they withdrew that day (maybe they didnt want to be seen beating them up too...it made the news) but later that day some of the troops beat up people they regarded as 'white niggers' and one died.

This got the attention of PResident LBJ who changed legislation to stop people from obstructing anyones right to vote. Martin Luther King had pleaded with him several times but LBJ claimed he had other things to do and didnt see they were serious. Well he had a change of heart. Hallelujah.

Am amazed that all this happened only last century people treating each other like that. A similar thing happened with women denied the right to vote. Women had to march for their freedom. I am so over people in power abusing their positions and treating others like slaves! Equality is still, something we need to address today. Brothers and sisters together walking side by side, because we are one in Christ.

2 things that popped up in my mind when reading this thread.

I’ve always found this proverb interesting

Proverbs 22:7 The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender.

How many of us are enslaved in this way? I certainly am. I read above where someone mentioned we’re slaves to the system. How true

Also in regards to American slavery, What about the loophole in the 13th amendment? Like king Herod, we had some sly foxes in offices

13th amendment: Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

being powerless over something , is that the same as being held in slavery , ie death,
being held as a slave depends on who hold you prisoner,


Luke 4
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,

2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you[a] free from the law of sin and death

There’s over 40million world wide and growing, doesn’t seem to be on the front burner of any country to stop it.

That practice is still happening like in India the largest country with slavery over 14 mil in that country alone, mostly do to unpaid debts. the parent or parents die before the debt is paid and the children are owned they can’t pay it so their children are owned a horrible cycle.

They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. Jn.8:33-34

Amen good responses given me scriptures to think about. As for being slaves to the 'system' do people not think this is the kingdom of the beast? You can quit any time and rely solely on God.

In some of the letters Paul addresses slaves and says we are now free, we can ask, like Moses did to the Pharoah, ask to be let go. Of course it might be tough you master or boss may not let you go and give you heaps of incentive to stay slaving for him or her, or paying off your mortgage to the bank..being slave to the lender...being in debt, but God has actually called us to freedom. Which also miracoulosuly can mean financial freedom as well.

Also I think people need to think seriously before they go into debt that they can pay it off before buying a house or whatever. Cos it may mean years of slavery!!

Just to add, Jacob worked 7 years for Laban and then another 7 years to have the hand of Rachel, yet those 14 years passed by so quickly because he was in love.

Was thinking on this again as mum said to me you cant be employed if you dont do what the boss wants you to do, shes right, but what if the boss wants you to do something wrong?

Then I thought of the scripture My sheep listen to my voice, to another they wont listen.

What if your boss is horrible and satanic, would you still do everything they tell you to do? Would you listen? If satan is your boss, are you his slave?

I come back to this thread I started as was trying to explain more about slavery in modern times.

Another poster was saying, as I understand it, reading his posts that the Israelites practiced slavery, but he meant 'forced labour' with foreigners, howeer, I dont think that was the case that God told them to treat them cruelly like the egyptians evenutally did.

Seeing they had such a bad experience under egypt, why would God want the Israelites to become like Pharoah and work everyone else to the ground and not let them go? Instead he wants Israelites to love their bonservants and bondmaids, trest them with respect, even if they had limited choices or debts to pay..to redeem them. Hes already sent a redeemer - Jesus, who can redeem anyone, its not limited to your own blood family. If youve got nobody of your own kin to free you, from bondage, you have Jesus.

My understanding of slavery in the origial Israel is the relationship had a kind of contract given automatically in the laws . Since then slavery evolved into some kind of cruael relationship whereas the person was treated asand object with no soul or being in God….even to the extremes of abuse.

well if it was legal to own slaves it would be the christian duty if u owned one to treat him or her well, this goes for people who work for u too.

If you treat employees/slaves/bondservants cruelly then they just going to run away, or if you starve them they not going to be strong enough to do any work for you, so, why would you treat them cruelly, its in your best interests to treat them well so that they will WANT to work for you.

They might not be free or have any authority to make important decisions but they can just refuse to work, go on strike. They wont get paid or fed, but then you'll have no workers. And you'll have to find new ones.

As for treating foreigners as less than just because they are in a different country and not their own homeland, well there may come a time when you are in their position, the roles are reversed and you would be grateful to be a stranger in a strange land for any kind of hospitality. I see no excuse in the Bible given for abuse of servants or bondservants (some translations say slavery) and no mandate for Israelites to practice cruelty. Even for anyone they take captive. Their own experiences in captivity are testmament to this..some of them, even though they were sold and enslaved and were actually treated very quite well by the babylonians and egyptians and rose to prominent positions.. Eg Daniel, Joseph.

Jesus says we can bind and loose but we are given that privelige to bind what is wicked and to loose what is good. Not the other way round.