Leviticus 25:47-55—47 “Now if a sojourner or stranger close to you becomes rich, and one of your brethren who dwells by him becomes poor, and sells himself to the stranger or sojourner close to you, or to a member of the stranger's family, 48 after he is sold he may be redeemed again. One of his brothers may redeem him; 49 or his uncle or his uncle's son may redeem him; or anyone who is near of kin to him in his family may redeem him; or if he is able he may redeem himself. 50 Thus he shall reckon with him who bought him: The price of his release shall be according to the number of years, from the year that he was sold to him until the Year of Jubilee; it shall be according to the time of a hired servant for him. 51 If there are still many years remaining, according to them he shall repay the price of his redemption from the money with which he was bought. 52 And if there remain but a few years until the Year of Jubilee, then he shall reckon with him, and according to his years he shall repay him the price of his redemption. 53 He shall be with him as a yearly hired servant, and he shall not rule with rigor over him in your sight. 54 And if he is not redeemed in these years, then he shall be released in the Year of Jubilee --- he and his children with him. 55 For the children of Israel are servants to Me; they are My servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.”
Now, let’s picture this for a minute. Suppose you were an Ethiopian slave in Egypt and you and your family came out of Egypt on the night of the first Passover. The day comes when you find that you and your family are very poor. You put yourself out on the market, and one day find yourself being bought by a rich Israelite. You serve that Israelite for a few years, and one day you see one of his other servants—an Israelite by birth—going free. He has finished his sixth year of service, and under the Law, that Israelite servant goes free. You sit there watching him clear out his stuff, walking out through the gates, and off into the sunset. You, meanwhile, don’t go anywhere. You can't—you are this person’s slave. You belong to him for life. Sounds rough, doesn't it? It does…until you consider the benefits that come from being joined to the nation of Israel. And when a slave was bought, with money, from a foreign nation, that slave was to be circumcised. This goes all the way back to the commands God gave to Abraham in Genesis 17:10-13—“10 This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised; 11 and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you. 12 He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised, every male child in your generations, he who is born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not your descendant. 13 He who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised, and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.”
Now, the foreign slave who was now circumcised could join himself to the people of Israel—or not. If you did not, then you were of the people Paul talked about in Ephesians 2:11-12—11 Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands—12 that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. You, the Ethiopian slave who came out of Egypt, and who was now circumcised, being the slave of the Israelite, if you do not join yourself to the people of God, you were still just one more lost pagan who was destined for Hell when you died. But listen to this promise that God gave through the prophet, in Isaiah 56:1-7—1 Thus says the LORD: "Keep justice, and do righteousness, for My salvation is about to come, and My righteousness to be revealed. 2 Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who lays hold on it; who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, and keeps his hand from doing any evil. 3 Do not let the son of the foreigner who has joined himself to the LORD Speak, saying, ‘The LORD has utterly separated me from His people’; nor let the eunuch say, ‘Here I am, a dry tree.’ 4 For thus says the LORD: ‘To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths, and choose what pleases Me, and hold fast My covenant, 5 even to them I will give in My house and within My walls a place and a name better than that of sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. 6 ‘Also the sons of the foreigner who join themselves to the LORD, to serve Him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be His servants—everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, and holds fast My covenant—7 even them I will bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on My altar; for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations." The slave or the eunuch who was joined to Israel while that nation still lived under the old covenant—if that slave kept the Sabbath (the sign of the old covenant) and brought the offerings commanded under the Law, they would be accepted by God. And just as the keeping of the Sabbath and the bringing of the offerings of the Israelite covered his sins until Christ came to take them away forever, so too would the keeping of the Sabbath and the bringing of the offerings of the foreign slave cover his sins until Christ came to take them away.
“Why doesn't the Bible say anything about slavery? The Jews in the Old Testament had slaves and God seemed to be OK with that!” These people who say this are people who are willfully ignorant (or, as one fellow I know likes to say, they're ‘stupid on purpose’). God gives clear, specific instructions on how the people were supposed to treat their slaves. They were treat them fairly, to provide for them, and there were consequences for not doing so. This was to be a picture of our Master to come, who would tell us that His yoke is easy and His burden is light (Matthew 11:29-30). He does not rule over us with rigor, and when He came, it was the fulfilling of the Year of Jubilee—he set free those who were captives of sin, and brought us into His house and made us His people.
We are all slaves. Each and every person on Planet Earth is a salve. They are either a slave of Satan or a slave of God. Whether or not we have earthly master that we serve, we are under the control of either sin or righteousness. Do not consider slavery to God to be a dreadful thing, for if we are slaves of God then we will be welcomed into His house when our life on Earth is done!
Once I was bound by sin’s galling fetters/Chained like a slave, I struggled in vain;
But I received a glorious freedom/When Jesus broke my fetters in twain.
Freedom from all the carnal affections/Freedom from envy, hatred and strife;
Freedom from vain and worldly ambitions/Freedom from all that saddened my life.
Freedom from pride and all sinful follies/Freedom from love and glitter of gold;
Freedom from evil, temper, and anger/Glorious freedom, rapture untold.
Freedom from fear with all of its torments/Freedom from care with all of its pain;
Freedom in Christ, my blessed Redeemer/He who has rent my fetters in twain.
Glorious freedom, wonderful freedom,
No more in chains of sin I repine!
Jesus the glorious Emancipator,
Now and forever He shall be mine.
(“Glorious Freedom”, by Haldor Lillenas)
