{"id":326,"date":"2010-08-30T17:43:43","date_gmt":"2010-08-30T23:43:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markniwot.com\/?p=326"},"modified":"2012-12-11T22:27:04","modified_gmt":"2012-12-12T05:27:04","slug":"all-slavery-is-not-equal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/markniwot.com\/?p=326","title":{"rendered":"All “slavery” is not equal!"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Most of us who have been around the “Hebrew Roots movement” for very long\u00a0, or who may refer to ourselves as some variant of “Torah-observant believers”,\u00a0 have heard a sordid collection of arguments all too often trotted out to demonstrate our folly.\u00a0 Those who long to show us that all such “Old” stuff\u00a0in the Bible has been “done away with” – or “nailed to the cross” —\u00a0have several favorite examples of Scriptures to “wrest” out of context in order to claim that such a “God” was not only wrong, but Politically Incorrect.\u00a0 Among the clear favorites of the scoffers is\u00a0what they call His approval of “slavery”.<\/p>\n

After all, in our enlightened, egalitarian, “modern” world, society has now\u00a0clearly “evolved” FAR beyond whatever some ancient Writings claim that\u00a0an allegedly “angry”, “jealous”, and — horror of horrors — “patriarchal” YHVH may have once said.\u00a0 And, of course, if He was wrong about such important things as supporting slavery, and the presumed “inferiority” of women by daring to create us “male and female”, with bodies suited to fulfill the roles He designed us for as well…why would ANYONE believe Him?\u00a0\u00a0The logical conclusion is to wonder\u00a0just how much of His “Law” is left which DOES still apply?<\/p>\n

So, it is important that we be able to debunk —\u00a0roundly, unequivocally, and directly from Scripture —\u00a0any and all such claims.<\/p>\n

And since marriage and sexuality is easily one of the most important, and most-discussed, relationships in all of Scripture (and I won’t claim to be able to distill all of His teachings on the topics into a single short article!) we’ll start with the “easy” one – slavery<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0 And I’ll start with an observation, as well…that those who most vehemently seem to REJECT His “teaching and instruction” somehow seem to be the most hopelessly ‘enslaved’ – and to be equally ignorant of their own condition!\u00a0 Perhaps that is why the advice to “let those who falsely believe they are free rattle their chains” <\/em><\/strong>so resonates in post-Biblical Amerika.\u00a0 After all, if we understand that those whom He makes free are “free indeed” (Yahuchanon 8:36), then what, conversely,\u00a0about those who deny Him entirely?<\/p>\n

Take a look at Exodus 21.\u00a0 Isn’t it just a bit remarkable that immediately<\/em> after delivering His people from brutal bondage in Mitzraim (“Egypt”, under Pharoah) and then giving them the Ten Words or Commandments\u00a0\u00a0(which outline just how these folks are to live and relate to Him and one another in that new freedom) that\u00a0virtually the next topic <\/em>He selects concerns what it means to be a “slave”?<\/p>\n

Observe a couple of very interesting things about\u00a0 the section.\u00a0 When a “master” gives his servant a wife, and the servant eventually leaves, the wife and any subsequent children belong to the master! <\/em><\/strong>(v. 21:3-4)\u00a0 Don’t think for a minute that Caesar (and his servants in “Child Protective Services”) fail to understand that meaning, even if those who take that master’s “marriage license” fail to understand it!<\/p>\n

Scripture also contains many other verses which outline treatment of “servants”, and specify various “do’s” and “dont’s”.\u00a0 Those ordinances show clearly how YHVH’s instruction concerning servants (who were often indentured because of\u00a0trespass, negligence, or debt) very much differs from the cruel slavery of the pagan cultures which surrounded them.<\/p>\n

But the next verses in Exodus 21 are perhaps even more telling, given that so many people now often unwittingly serve “another master” —\u00a0 which\u00a0Yahushua cautioned against.\u00a0 A servant may say, “I love my master, my wife, my children<\/em>“, and thus “I will NOT go out free<\/em>,”\u00a0 so a process is detailed by which that master “shall bore his ear through with an awl”<\/em> into the doorpost of the house, “and he shall serve him forever<\/em>.”\u00a0 (I suspect that many men who today want to wear an earring probably don’t understand the symbolism of that particular age-old “tradition”!)<\/p>\n

Before I gave much thought or study to the instruction of the Torah, I assumed that verses five and six simply referred to a “master” was not unkind, and thus treated his ‘slaves’ well.<\/em> But a good friend, who happens to be a well-known Orthodox rabbi, once told me of an ancient midrash<\/em> on the subject, which I found fascinating:\u00a0 No, such a man is NOT a “good master” at all, but a FAILURE! <\/strong>Why?<\/p>\n

Because he had FAILED to teach that individual how to live as a free man! <\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

The whole point of teaching a man how to be a servant was to prepare him not for slavery, but to know how to live according to Torah; how to be a head of his own house, a leader, and a contributor to his community.<\/p>\n

I see it now in a broader sense still.\u00a0 Why does our Savior say that\u00a0we must learn to serve before we can learn to be “kings and priests” for Him?\u00a0 There is in fact a TREMENDOUS difference between\u00a0“slavery” and what it means to be a “bondservant to the Most High” — as most of\u00a0the apostles understood clearly!\u00a0 (Check out not only Shaul’s claims from\u00a0the first line of the letters to Titus and the Romans, but\u00a0the introductions from\u00a0II\u00a0Kefa [Peter],\u00a0Yakov\u00a0[James],\u00a0Yahudah [Jude], and Yahuchanan in Revelation!)\u00a0\u00a0 Whether the metaphor is to learn how to be a good Bride to Him, or a subject of the One True King, or a bondservant of the Most High, the message is still that we must LEARN what it means to walk in obedience…or else live as slaves.\u00a0 Whether modern slaves understand Shaul\/Paul’s\u00a0teachings or not, that is ultimately what it means to be in “bondage to sin”, or rebellion to Him.<\/p>\n

The real irony, and the only most “difficult” part of the teaching, if you will, is that\u00a0to be\u00a0“free indeed” we must\u00a0first become servants.\u00a0 Because the only way we can really learn how to walk in true freedom is by surrendering, voluntarily,\u00a0in obedience\u00a0to Him.<\/p>\n

The key issue is choice,<\/em> but a deception exists even on that score.\u00a0 The real choice is not merely between “freedom” and “slavery”, but between “bondservice” to Him, and “slavery” to the world.\u00a0 That choice is determined by WHICH master we will choose to serve:\u00a0 either YHVH, or the ‘prince of this world’.\u00a0 And while being only “self-serving” may seem like an alternative, it ultimately defaults to the latter.<\/p>\n

America’s Founders, and those who came before them, understood the concept well.\u00a0 William Penn said that those “who will not be governed by God will be ruled by tyrants”.\u00a0 Yahushua [Joshua]\u00a0defines the issue in verse 24:15 of the Book bearing his name, when\u00a0he says, “Choose this day Whom you will\u00a0serve<\/em>“, and informs us of the\u00a0choice for “me and my\u00a0house<\/em>“.\u00a0 The Savior emphasized that very point when He responded to Satan’s offer of\u00a0power over all this world by quoting that, ” <\/em>‘You shall worship\u00a0YHVH your Elohim, and Him only you shall serve.'” <\/em> (Luke 4, Matthew 4)<\/p>\n

There really is ONLY one true Master Whom we should serve – and the choice is ours to make.\u00a0 We should be able to explain to those who do not understand why our choice of obedience to Him and His “teaching and instruction”\u00a0 (torah<\/em>, of course, in the Hebrew) is not “legalism”, or much less bondage, but simply demonstrates that we understand what He (and the apostoles as well!) were teaching us to proclaim:\u00a0 that “I love my Master,” and desire to “serve Him forever”.<\/p>\n

That is what John 14:15 is all about as well:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“If you love Me, keep My commands.”<\/em>
\n<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What Scripture calls being a “servant” should not be confused with the world’s politically-correct conception of “slavery”. YHVH has a reason for teaching us what it means to be a servant of His. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,11,12],"tags":[22,21,212],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/markniwot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/markniwot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/markniwot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markniwot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markniwot.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=326"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/markniwot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":887,"href":"https:\/\/markniwot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326\/revisions\/887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/markniwot.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markniwot.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markniwot.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}