Questions about slavery in the Bible

[Gman]

And what's this? Are you reading my posts?

Strangely enough.. yes.

I said that they were allowed to beat them. And this is true. And not just "beat them", but beat them so hard that they were incapable of getting up for two days.

Ok.. Then show me the verse where it says that the Hebrews were allowed to beat their slaves.. Where in the Bible does it say "beat your slaves if they get out of line"..? Show me..

The fact that it gives laws for situatons "when" a man strikes his slave with a rod means that this was a common way slaves were treated in Israel. If there was enough room in the Old Testament for all sorts of seemingly pointless rules, like "do not boil a young goat in its mother's milk", then I see absolutely no reason why God would tolerate this horrible violence, when He could have prohibited it with one simle command.

I don't think so... The word is "if" or "when" not "you should." Like if you hit someone, then the consequences are this.." Also if you look up a verse it appears to be in the context of quarreling or fighting. Also reiterated in the next passage Exodus 21:22.

Exodus 21:18 "If men quarrel and one hits the other with a stone or with his fist..."

Exodus 21:22 "If men who are fighting hit a pregnant woman..."

Now if the Bible said " Masters can beat their slaves until the brink of death, and if he lives, then the master will go unpunished," then you might have a point. But it doesn't say that at all....

And what about our police force today? Do you know that our police force has the right to apprehend people by force if they resist? Why do you think they carry batons? Are you implying that our laws today should not involve any type of physical force? If not, what type of law do you propose?

Also any type of bruit force was highly condemned in the Bible.

Exodus 21:26 “When a man strikes the eye of his slave, male or female, and destroys it, he shall let the slave go free because of his eye. 27 If he knocks out the tooth of his slave, male or female, he shall let the slave go free because of his tooth."

Read your own link. The "oppression" this verse speaks of is not giving them wages, not that they should not use violence on them.

No.. But the verse Deuteronomy 24:14-15 shows that the Israelis weren't to treat their servants harshly or as dirt with no wages as you seem to think.

I agree absolutely, that's my point. Hebrew slaves are not to be treated ruthlessly, and that's exactly why they are singled out. Gentile slaves are not to be treated the same.

Again many of the Gentile slaves forfeited their rights when they attacked the Jewish state to become slaves. It's the price you pay. On top of that these slaves had rights Deut 16:11, Ex 20:10.

I'm sorry, but it's really sad seeing you do mental cartwheels trying to explain away the plain meaning of these verses.

It's sad to see that you don't understand how laws work.. including ours..

And that makes it okay? Are you on drugs?

Is that an intellectual statement?

First, thank you for conceding that the Bible does approve of harsh treatment of non-Hebrew slaves.

Where does the bible say that they can beat slaves? Where?? You have no proof. You can only imply that.. In some cases perhaps it did happen however when people resisted, but not severely.. It was never sanctioned. That's a big difference.

But you seek to avoid the problem by saying that "most" non-Hebrew slaves were Canaanites who were an aggressive culture. First of all, prove it. I see absolutely no reason to assume that "most" non-Hebrew slaves were Canaanites. The Israelities were surrounded by many nations and cultures of which the Canaanites were only one.

Know your history.. The Canaanite tribes surrounded Israel and were composed of many nations such as the Hittites, Edomites and Philistines..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canaan

In any event, I find it absolutely hilarious that you accuse the Canaanites of being "an aggressive culture who would do anything to destroy the Hebrews", when it was the Hebrews who slaughtered the Canaanites, not the other way around. And they also routinely engaged in all sorts of other pointless butchering of other nations.

That is a lie.. Google the ancient tribes of the Canaanites. Study the Canaanite pantheon as described in the Ugaritic sources.. The Canaanites and their gods were brutal warriors and sex driven fanatics..