Seder 99: Leviticus 25:38-43---Slaves of God

 Leviticus 25 instructs the Israelites that they are not to mistreat impoverished members of their community.  Verse 42 gives an important reason for this instruction:

"For they are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as slaves (ESV).  

When God delivered the children of Israel from Egyptian slavery, they changed masters.  Instead  of being slaves to the Egyptian Pharoah, they were slaves of God.  As a result, Israelites were not to be slaves to any other master.

Dr. Edwin Yamauchi has shown that the metaphor of being a slave of a deity was a familiar one in the ancient world.  In particular, it is used in both the Old and New Testaments.

Interestingly, English translations of the Bible traditionally have hesitated to use the word "slave" in this way.  In the King James Version, the words slave or slaves are only used a couple of times (Jer 2:14; Rev 18:13).  Yamauchi explains that at the time when this translation was carried out, the word "slave" in English tended to be restricted "to the extreme case of a captive in fetters."  

English has changed a lot since 1611, but English translations have tended to stick to the word "servant" rather than "slave" when talking about a believer's position of submission to God.  We see this, for example, in the verse quoted above, Leviticus 25:42, where the same Hebrew word is translated "servants" and "slaves."   

In the New Testament, there are a number of words for "servant" but only one word for "slave"---doulos.  Modern English translations typically will use "slave" to translate doulos when servitude to another person, or to sin, is in view.  However, servant is usually used for doulos in the case of a doulos to Christ or to God.  

There are historical reasons for the hesitance of English Bible translations to embrace this metaphor. In Britain and the United States, we are still wrestling with our history of slave-holding.  

What does it mean to be a slave of God?  New Testament scholar Murray Harris explains that a slave is "someone whose person and service belong wholly to another."  Slavery to God involves 

• humble submission to him.
• unquestioning obedience to his will.
• an exclusive preoccupation with pleasing him.

This is an accurate description of some important aspects of our relationship with God, so there is no reason to shy away from identifying ourselves as "slaves of God" or "slaves of Christ."

Ths is, of course, not the only metaphor used for our relationship with God.  In a sermon at Church of the Messiah on January 117, 2026, Kyle Kettering reminded us that we are also friends of Christ (Jn 15:14-15) and adopted children of God (Gal 4:1-7; Rom 8:14-17).

Seder 99: Leviticus 25---Aiding the Poor and the Stranger

 Leviticus 25 describes some aspects of a social safety net for Israelites who fell upon hard times.  In such cases, a person's family and community were called upon to help out and not take advantage of someone in a vulnerable situation.  For example, interest was not to be charged on personal loans (vv 35-38).  

The Torah describes more than one option for people who needed to sell their labor.  One could become an indentured servant for six years, as described in Exodus 21:1-6; or one could become a hired worker until the Jubilee year (Lev 25:39-41).  In any case, Israelites were servants of God and were not to be enslaved by any human master (vv 42, 55).  

Israel has been a multi-ethnic entity throughout its history, absorbing people from many nations who wanted to serve Yahweh.  People who wanted to join Israel, like Rahab and Ruth, were to be treated just like native Israelites.  Slaves from other nations could be held----e.g., people captured in war when some nation attacked Israel (vv 44-46).  But if one of those captured people decided to serve Yahweh, then that person changed categories and could no longer be held in perpetuity.  The precept in vv 44-46 provided an incentive for one of those slaves to convert.  

Sadly, in the years before the American Civil War, many Americans misunderstood and misapplied Lev 25:44-46, using it as a proof text to justify slavery as practiced in the American South.