"Let
my people go..." (Exodus 5:1 and other passages).
These
words regardless, the Bible, both Old Testament and New, is
firmly on the side of the slave owner.
As
for your male and female slaves whom you may have: you
may buy male and female slaves from among the nations
that are round about you. You may also buy from among the
strangers who sojourn with you and their families that
are with you, who have been born in your land; and they
may be your property. You may bequeath them to your sons
after you, to inherit as a possession forever; you may
make slaves of them; but over your brethren the people of
Israel you shall not rule, one over another, with
harshness. Leviticus 25:44-46 (Revised Standard Version).
Let
all who are under the yoke of slavery regard their
masters as worthy of all honour, so that the name of God
and the teaching may not be defamed. Those who have
believing masters must not be disrespectful on the ground
that they are brethren; rather they must serve all the
better since those who benefit by their service are
believers and beloved. 1 Timothy 6:1-2, Revised Standard
Version. (See
also Exodus 21:2-6, 1 Corinthians 7:20-22, Ephesians
6:5-9 and Titus 2:9-10.)
In
a way, the New Testament is more oppressive towards slaves
because it allows Christians to hold fellow Christians in
slavery. This was something that the Law of Moses did not
allow Jews to do to other Jews (Leviticus 25:39-46).
Fortunately,
some New Testament verses suggest that bond and free are
equal in the eyes of God (1 Corinthians 12:13, Galatians
3:26-29, Ephesians 6:9, Philemon 15-16). While these texts
are not anti-slavery - Ephesians and Philemon both support
slavery - these statements of human equality have been built
on while the pro-slavery texts are quietly passed over and
forgotten.
