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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
"If one of your countrymen becomes poor among you and sells himself to you, do not make him work as a slave. He is to be treated as a hired worker or a temporary resident among you; he is to work for you until the Year of Jubilee. Then he and his children are to be released, and he will go back to his own clan and to the property of his forefathers. Because the Israelites are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt, they must not be sold as slaves. Do not rule over them ruthlessly, but fear your God."
"Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property. You can will them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your fellow Israelites ruthlessly. "
“If an alien or a temporary resident among you becomes rich and one of your countrymen becomes poor and sells himself to the alien living among you or to a member of the alien's clan, he retains the right of redemption after he has sold himself. One of his relatives may redeem him: An uncle or a cousin or any blood relative in his clan may redeem him. Or if he prospers, he may redeem himself. He and his buyer are to count the time from the year he sold himself up to the Year of Jubilee. The price for his release is to be based on the rate paid to a hired man for that number of years. If many years remain, he must pay for his redemption a larger share of the price paid for him. If only a few years remain until the Year of Jubilee, he is to compute that and pay for his redemption accordingly. He is to be treated as a man hired from year to year; you must see to it that his owner does not rule over him ruthlessly. "
“Even if he is not redeemed in any of these ways, he and his children are to be released in the Year of Jubilee, for the Israelites belong to Me as servants. They are My servants, whom I brought out of Egypt. I am the Lord your God."
Leviticus 25:39-55
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
The matter of slavery is an issue we don’t like to talk about, and even harshly reject in regard to civil rights today, but we see the matter discussed in the scriptures because it was part of the culture of those times, both in the Old and New Testament. Given this, we find the Lord providing stern guidelines in how slaves were to be treated in those times.
“If one of your countrymen becomes poor among you and sells himself to you, do not make him work as a slave. He is to be treated as a hired worker or a temporary resident among you."
Often times in the Old Testament, a person had to sell themselves (and sometimes their families as well) into slavery to repay a debt they owed someone. In those instances, their relationship to their masters was one of servitude, a hired worker whose labor served as repayment for debt owed. Even then, we know that the Year of Jubilee would automatically trigger their release.
We also see conditions where an Israelite may have to sell himself to one who is a non-Israelite to pay off a debt. In these instances, a relative could come and redeem him, someone the Bible refers to as a kinsman-redeemer, best illustrated in the Book of Ruth. In redeeming their kin, a relative would ensure the person who was owed the debt would receive proper compensation and once the arrears were paid in full, the slave’s service would end and they would be free to go, having been redeemed.
As we consider current life application principles that can be drawn from this passage and the matter of slavery, there are several points to ponder.
First, is the matter of being enslaved.
In biblical days, not everyone was considered a slave culturally. The scriptures tell us that only those Israelites who were indebted to another could end up slaves. Ditto for someone who wasn’t an Israelite but from one of the surrounding nations.
But was this really the case spiritually?
For after the disobedient actions of Adam and Eve in Eden’s famous garden ushered sin into the perfect world that God had created, all mankind became afflicted and enslaved by sin from that point on to include right up to this very moment.
So in reality, all people since the first created couple have been under the bondage of sin and in need of someone to save and redeem them, someone who could qualify as a kinsman-redeemer.
This leads me to my second point to ponder for once anyone places their faith in Jesus, they become a part of the family of God, His children as much as Jesus was. In fact, the scriptures tell us that we become children of God and co-heirs to the inheritance of the Kingdom of Heaven (Romans 8:14-17). Further, we learn in the Book of Hebrews that Jesus sees all His disciples as His brothers and sisters (2:11).
And so as God’s children, every Christian believer is related to one another. We have the same Heavenly Father and are all kin of Jesus, the One who God sent to pay the price for our sins on Calvary’s cross and purchase our pardon through His shed blood.
In other words, Jesus paid the debt we owed so to release us from our slavery in sin and that makes Him our Holy Kinsman-Redeemer, sent by a God who loved us so we wouldn’t perish but instead gain eternal life (John 3:16).
Friends, every single day, we need to rejoice and be glad in this truth, expressing never ending praise and gratitude to God, our Father, and Jesus, our Savior brother, the One who died and rose again so that we might too when this earthly life is over.
One last point before I close for did you catch the Lord’s words at the end of chapter 25?
He said the following:
"…the Israelites belong to me as servants. They are My servants, whom I brought out of Egypt."
We know that God delivered Israel from the oppression and bondage of Pharaoh and the Egyptian nation. In return, the Israelites were expected to be His servants, subordinate to His sovereignty and obedient in obeying His commands and will for their lives.
Nothing has changed today. For the God of the Israelites is still our God now and after He delivered us from our sin enslavement through Jesus, He expects all of us to serve Him as His Son did, with the fullest faithfulness and obedience. We are to always be about our Father’s business as Jesus was (Luke 2:49).
As we finish this study of Leviticus, chapter 25, let’s all remember the Word of God from Paul’s epistle to the Romans. There he writes:
"But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:22-23
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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