(21:2-6)
God's rules for buying slaves and splitting up their families.
You can buy one, but you must set him free on the seventh year. If
you have "given" him a wife and she bears children, then you get to
keep the wife and kids. If he refuses to leave his family when his seven years
are up, then bore a hole though his ear and keep him forever. (That sounds
fair!)
Does God approve of slavery?
What the Bible says about slavery
(21:2) "If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free."
(21:4) "If his master have given him a wife, and she have born him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself."
(21:5) "And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free:"
(21:6) "Then his master shall ... bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him for ever."
(21:7-8)
How to sell your daughter -- and what to do if she fails to please her new master.
What the Bible says about parenting
(21:7) "If a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant...."
"Exodus 21:7 says it's OK to sell your daughter into slavery. Not even in Nevada." --
Penn & Teller on the Bible
(21:8) "If she please not her master...."
(21:10) "If he take him another wife..."
God's rules for "taking" another wife.
Is polygamy OK?
What the Bible says about marriage and
polygamy
(21:15, 17) Kill unruly children.
A child who hits or curses his parents must be executed.
Does God approve of capital punishment?
What the Bible says about children, parenting,
and capital punishment
(21:15) "He that smiteth his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death."
(21:16) "And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death."
Slavery is approved by God, and those who steal slaves must be killed.
Does God approve of slavery?
(21:17) "He that curseth his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death."
(21:20-21, 24-27) Slowly beating your slaves to death
It's okay with God if you slowly beat your slaves to death. After all, they are your money.
Just make sure that they survive at least a day or two after the beating.
But try not to knock out their teeth or eyes. Otherwise you may have to set them free.
What the Bible says about slavery and
torture
(21:20-21) "If a man smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and ... he
continue a day or two, he shall not be punished: for he is his money."
(21:22) " If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her,
and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman's husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine."
If two men fight and cause a woman to
miscarry, but do not hurt her, then the one who hurt her shall pay her husband
an amount determined by the judges. Only if the woman dies is the punishment to
be death. Apparently, then, with respect to abortion, God is pro-choice since he
considers a woman's life to be more important than that of the fetus.
What the Bible says about abortion
(21:24) "Eye for eye, tooth for tooth."
(21:26) "If a man smite the eye of his servant, or the eye of his maid, that it perish; he shall let him go free for his eye's sake."
(21:27) "And if he smite out his manservant's tooth, or his maidservant's tooth; he shall let him go free for his tooth's sake."
(21:28-32) Capital punishment for animals (and their negligent owners)
What the Bible says about stoning
(21:28) "If an ox gore a man or a woman, that they die: then the ox shall be surely stoned."
(21:29) "If the ox shall push a manservant or a maidservant; he shall give unto their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned, and his owner also shall be put to death."
(21:32) "If the ox shall push a manservant or a maidservant; he shall give unto their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned."
If an ox gores a slave, the owner of the ox must pay the owner of the slave 30 shekels of silver, and "the ox shall be stoned."
Does God approve of slavery?