0 EJAT: Slavery, War and Genocide

Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law. Matthew 5:18

All the Commandments in the Bible

    The Bible has 32 commandments on slavery. There are rules for beating slaves, dividing slave families, buying slaves from heathens and strangers, enslaving entire cities in war, inheriting slaves as property, and selling a thief to pay for his theft. There are even rules for selling you daughter into slavery. But there is not a single commandment against slavery in the entire Bible. Even the New Testament commands slaves to honor, serve, and obey their masters.

    The Bible's basic rule for war is this: kill everything that breathes without showing any mercy or pity. (Except for beautiful women, which you can take home for sex-slaves/wives.) And don't be afraid, because God is with you.


    Slavery
    War
    Genocide

    (Numbered P and N links are to the positive and negative commandments on Maimonides's list.)


    (Numbered P and N links are to the positive and negative commandments on Maimonides's list.)

    Slavery

    1. Let your circumcised slaves eat the Passover meal.

      And the LORD said unto Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the passover ... Every man's servant that is bought for money, when thou hast circumcised him, then shall he eat thereof. Exodus 12:43-44

      No comments yet


    2. If you buy a Hebrew slave, set him free after six years of slavery.

      If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing. Exodus 21:2

      And if thy brother, an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee. Deuteronomy 15:12

      Maimonides
      P232: Law of a Hebrew bondman - Ex 21:2

      No comments yet


    3. If he was married when you bought him, set the slave and his wife free after six years of slavery.

      If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him. Exodus 21:3

      No comments yet


    4. If you gave him a wife and they had children, keep your slave's wife and children and let him go free.

      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. Exodus 21:4

      No comments yet


    5. If he refuses to leave his wife and children, bore a hole in his ear and he shall serve you forever.

      And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children I will not go out free: Then his master shall bring him unto the judges he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul and he shall serve him for ever. Exodus 21:5-6

      If he say unto thee, I will not go away from thee because he loveth thee and thine house, because he is well with thee Then thou shalt take an aul, and thrust it through his ear unto the door, and he shall be thy servant for ever. And also unto thy maidservant thou shalt do likewise.Deuteronomy 15:16-17

      No comments yet


    6. If you sell your daughter, she shall not be freed after six years (as are male Hebrew slaves).

      And if a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant, she shall not go out as the menservants do. Exodus 21:7

      No comments yet


    7. If your daughter fails to please her master, she shall be redeemed.

      If she please not her master, who hath betrothed her to himself, then shall he let her be redeemed: to sell her unto a strange nation he shall have no power, seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with her. Exodus 21:8
      Maimonides
      P233: Hebrew bondmaid to be married by her master or his son - Ex 21:8
      P234: Redemption of a Hebrew bondmaid - Ex 21:8
      N261: Don't sell a Hebrew bondmaid - Ex 21:8

      No comments yet


    8. If the man who bought your daughter gives her to his son, the man who bought her shall treat her as his own daughter.

      And if he have betrothed her unto his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters. Exodus 21:9

      No comments yet


    9. A slave owner who beats his slave to death shall be punished.

      If a man smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand he shall be surely punished.Exodus 21:20
      Maimonides
      P226: Behead the transgressors of certain commandments - Ex 21:20
      (Maimonides had a strange interpretation of Ex 21:20!)

      No comments yet


    10. A slave owner shall not be punished for beating his slave if the slave lives for a day or two, for the slave is the slave owner's money.

      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.Exodus 21:20-21

      No comments yet


    11. If a man hits his slave and causes the slave to lose sight in one eye, he shall set the slave free.

      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. Exodus 21:26

      No comments yet


    12. If a man hits his slave and causes the slave to lose a tooth, he shall set the slave free.

      If he smite out his manservant's tooth, or his maidservant's tooth he shall let him go free for his tooth's sake. Exodus 21:27

      No comments yet


    13. If an ox kills a slave, the owner of the ox shall give the owner of the dead slave thirty shekels of silver.

      (And the ox shall be stoned.)
      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. Exodus 21:32

      No comments yet


    14. If a thief is caught and is too poor to make full restitution, he shall be sold to pay for his theft.

      If a thief be found ... he should make full restitution if he have nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. Exodus 22:2-3
      Maimonides
      P239: The law of theft - Ex 22:3

      No comments yet


    15. If a priest buys a slave, the slave and his family may eat the priest's meat.

      If the priest buy any soul with his money, he shall eat of it, and he that is born in his house: they shall eat of his meat. Leviticus 22:11

      No comments yet


    16. If someone in your country becomes poor and is sold to you as a slave, treat that person as a servant, not as a slave. Dont sell him, and set him free on the next jubilee year.

      If thy brother that dwelleth by thee be waxen poor, and be sold unto thee thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bondservant: But as an hired servant, and as a sojourner, he shall be with thee, and shall serve thee unto the year of jubile. And then shall he depart from thee, both he and his children with him, and shall return unto his own family, and unto the possession of his fathers shall he return.For they are my servants, which I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: they shall not be sold as bondmen. Thou shalt not rule over him with rigour. Leviticus 25:39-43
      Maimonides
      N257: Don't employ a Hebrew bondman in degrading tasks - Lev 25:39
      N258: Don't sell a Hebrew bondman by public auction - Lev 25:42
      N259: Don't employ a Hebrew bondman on unnecessary work - Lev 25:43

      No comments yet


    17. When you buy slaves, buy a heathen from a nearby country.

      Both thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, which thou shalt have, shall be of the heathen that are round about you of them shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids. Leviticus 25:44

      No comments yet


    18. You may also buy slaves that are strangers, or their children that are born in your land.

      Moreover of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy, and of their families that are with you, which they begat in your land: and they shall be your possession. Leviticus 25:45

      No comments yet


    19. Your slaves are your property and your children will inherit them after you die. They will be your family's slaves forever.

      And ye shall take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them for a possession they shall be your bondmen for ever.Leviticus 25:46
      Maimonides
      P235: The law of a Canaanite bondman - Lev 25:46

      No comments yet


    20. If a foreigner buys someone who lives in this country, the slave may be bought back by the slave's family, with the usual jubilee year pricing.

      And if a sojourner or stranger wax rich by thee, and thy brother that dwelleth by him wax poor, and sell himself unto the stranger or sojourner by thee, or to the stock of the stranger's family:After that he is sold he may be redeemed again one of his brethren may redeem him: Either his uncle, or his uncle's son, may redeem him, or any that is nigh of kin unto him of his family may redeem him or if he be able, he may redeem himself. And he shall reckon with him that bought him from the year that he was sold to him unto the year of jubile: and the price of his sale shall be according unto the number of years, according to the time of an hired servant shall it be with him.If there be yet many years behind, according unto them he shall give again the price of his redemption out of the money that he was bought for. And if there remain but few years unto the year of jubile, then he shall count with him, and according unto his years shall he give him again the price of his redemption. And as a yearly hired servant shall he be with him: and the other shall not rule with rigour over him in thy sight. And if he be not redeemed in these years, then he shall go out in the year of jubile, both he, and his children with him. Leviticus 25:47-54
      Maimonides
      N260: Don't allow the maltreatment of a Hebrew bondman - Lev 25:53

      No comments yet


    21. When you free your Hebrew slaves, give them something from your flock, threshing floor, and winepress.

      And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away empty:Thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy floor, and out of thy winepress: of that wherewith the Lord thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him. Deuteronomy 15:13-14
      Maimonides
      N233: Don't send a Hebrew bondman away empty-handed - Dt 15:13
      P196: Lavish gifts on a Hebrew bondman on his freedom - Dt 15:14

      No comments yet


    22. If a city decides not to fight against you, enslave its inhabitants.

      When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it. And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open unto thee, then it shall be, that all the people that is found therein shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee. Deuteronomy 20:10-11
      Maimonides
      P190: The law of the non-obligatory war - Dt 20:10

      No comments yet


    23. If a city resists your attack, enslave the women and younger children.

      (After killing all the males.)
      And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it: And when the LORD thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword:But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the LORD thy God hath given thee. Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations. Deuteronomy 20:12-15

      No comments yet


    24. Don't accuse a slave to his master.

      Accuse not a servant unto his master, lest he curse thee, and thou be found guilty. Proverbs 30:10

      No comments yet


    25. Free your Hebrew slaves.

      This is the word that came unto Jeremiah from the LORD ... that every man should let his manservant, and every man his maidservant, being an Hebrew or an Hebrewess, go free. Jeremiah 34:9

      No comments yet


    26. If you are a slave, don't worry about it.

      Art thou called being a servant [slave] care not for it.1 Corinthians 7:21a

      No comments yet


    27. If you are set free, that's OK too.

      But if thou mayest be made free, use it rather. 1 Corinthians 7:21b

      No comments yet


    28. Don't be a slave to humans.

      Be not ye the servants of men. 1 Corinthians 7:23

      No comments yet


    29. Slaves, obey your masters.

      (Even those that are evil and cruel.)
      Servants [slaves], obey in all things your masters according to the flesh not with eyeservice, as menpleasers but in singleness of heart, fearing God. Colossians 3:22

      Exhort servants [slaves] to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things not answering againNot purloining, but shewing all good fidelity that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things. Titus 2:9-10

      Servants [slaves], be subject to your masters with all fear not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. 1 Peter 2:18

      No comments yet


    30. Masters, give your slaves what is just and equal.

      Masters, give unto your servants [slaves] that which is just and equal knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven. Colossians 4:1

      No comments yet


    31. Slaves, honor your masters.

      (So that God isn't blasphemed.)
      Let as many servants [slaves] as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honour, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed. 1 Timothy 6:1

      No comments yet


    32. If your master is a believer, serve him.

      (Since he is a faithful and beloved partaker of the benefit.)
      They that have believing masters, let them not despise them, because they are brethren but rather do them service, because they are faithful and beloved, partakers of the benefit. 1 Timothy 6:2

      No comments yet


    War

    1. When you go to war, blow the trumpets to remind God to save you from your enemies.

      And if ye go to war in your land against the enemy that oppresseth you, then ye shall blow an alarm with the trumpets and ye shall be remembered before the LORD your God, and ye shall be saved from your enemies. Numbers 10:9

      No comments yet


    2. Don't be afraid when you go into battle.

      (Because God is fighting with you.)
      When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses, and chariots, and a people more than thou, be not afraid of them: for the LORD thy God is with thee. Deuteronomy 20:1

      Hear, O Israel, ye approach this day unto battle against your enemies: let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them For the LORD your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies. Deuteronomy 20:3-4

      Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. Joshua 1:9

      No comments yet


    3. Before going into battle, a priest shall speak to the soldiers.

      When ye are come nigh unto the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak unto the people, And shall say unto them, Hear, O Israel, ye approach this day unto battle against your enemies: let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them For the LORD your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies. Deuteronomy 20:2-4
      Maimonides
      P191: Appoint a priest for war - Dt 20:2

      No comments yet


    4. Men who have recently built houses, shall not fight in wars.

      And the officers shall speak unto the people, saying, What man is there that hath built a new house, and hath not dedicated it? let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it.Deuteronomy 20:5

      No comments yet


    5. Men who have recently planted a vineyard, shall not fight in wars.

      And what man is he that hath planted a vineyard, and hath not yet eaten of it? let him also go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man eat of it. Deuteronomy 20:6

      No comments yet


    6. Men who have recently married, shall not fight in wars.

      (He is free to stay home and cheer up his new wife.)
      And what man is there that hath betrothed a wife, and hath not taken her? let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man take her. Deuteronomy 20:7

      When a man hath taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war ... but he shall be free at home one year, and shall cheer up his wife which he hath taken. Deuteronomy 24:5

      No comments yet


    7. Men who are fearful or fainthearted, shall not fight in wars.

      And the officers shall speak further unto the people, and they shall say, What man is there that is fearful and fainthearted? let him go and return unto his house, lest his brethren's heart faint as well as his heart. Deuteronomy 20:8

      No comments yet


    8. When you besiege a city, don't kill the fruit trees.

      When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by forcing an axe against them: for thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt not cut them down (for the tree of the field is man's life) to employ them in the siege.Deuteronomy 20:19
      Maimonides
      N57: Don't destroy fruit trees during a siege - Dt 20:19
      Punishment: Whipping

      No comments yet


    9. When you besiege a city, kill all the trees that do not bear edible fruit.

      Only the trees which thou knowest that they be not trees for meat, thou shalt destroy and cut them down. Deuteronomy 20:20

      No comments yet


    10. When God delivers your enemies into your hands, and you see a beautiful woman among the captives, take her home,have sex with her, and marry her (after letting her mourn her parents for a month).

      When thou goest forth to war against thine enemies, and the Lord thy God hath delivered them into thine hands, and thou hast taken them captive,And seest among the captives a beautiful woman, and hast a desire unto her, that thou wouldest have her to thy wifeThen thou shalt bring her home to thine house, and she shall shave her head, and pare her nailsAnd she shall put the raiment of her captivity from off her, and shall remain in thine house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month: and after that thou shalt go in unto her, and be her husband, and she shall be thy wife. Deuteronomy 21:10-13
      Maimonides
      P221: The law of the captive woman - Dt 21:11

      No comments yet


    11. If she doesn't fully satisfy you, let her go without selling her.

      (Because you have humbled her.)
      And it shall be, if thou have no delight in her, then thou shalt let her go whither she will but thou shalt not sell her at all for money, thou shalt not make merchandise of her, because thou hast humbled her. Deuteronomy 21:14
      Maimonides
      N263: Don't sell a captive woman - Dt 21:14
      N264: Don't enslave a captive woman - Dt 21:14

      No comments yet


    12. When you go to war, stay away from wicked things.

      When the host goeth forth against thine enemies, then keep thee from every wicked thing. Deuteronomy 23:9

      No comments yet


    13. Keep your sword bloody.

      Cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood. Jeremiah 48:10

      No comments yet


    14. Prepare for war.

      Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near let them come up: Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Joel 3:9-10

      No comments yet


    15. Feed the flock of the slaughter.

      Thus saith the LORD my God Feed the flock of the slaughter. Zechariah 11:4

      No comments yet


    16. Don't fight against Jerusalem.

      (Or God will smite you with a plague that will make your flesh, eyes, and tongue rot.)
      This shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth. Zechariah 14:12

      No comments yet


    Genocide

    1. When God takes away land from other people and gives it to you, you must kill all the inhabitants.

      When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them. Deuteronomy 7:1-2

      Thou shalt consume all the people which the LORD thy God shall deliver thee. Deuteronomy 7:16

      Maimonides
      N50: Don't show mercy to idolaters - Dt 7:2

      No comments yet


    2. Have neither mercy nor pity when you to commit a God-commanded genocide.

      When the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them nor shew mercy unto them. Deuteronomy 7:2

      Thou shalt consume all the people which the LORD thy God shall deliver thee thine eye shall have no pity upon them. Deuteronomy 7:16

      No comments yet


    3. If a city resists your attack, kill every male in the city.

      (And enslave the women and younger children.)
      And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it: And when the LORD thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword:But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the LORD thy God hath given thee. Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations. Deuteronomy 20:12-15

      No comments yet


    4. When God gives you a city, you must kill everything in it that breathes.

      But of the cities of these people, which the LORD thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth:But thou shalt utterly destroy them namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee. That they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods so should ye sin against the LORD your God. Deuteronomy 20:16-18
      Maimonides
      P187: The law of the Seven Nations - Dt 20:17
      N49: Don't fail to observe the law concerning the seven nations - Dt 20:16

      No comments yet


    5. Kill Amalekites (men, women, infants and sucklings, ox and sheep, camel and ass).

      Thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven thou shalt not forget it. Deuteronomy 25:19

      Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt.Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass. 1 Samuel 15:2-3

      Maimonides
      P188: The extinction of the seed of Amalek - Dt 25:19

      No comments yet


Copyright © 1999-2024
The Skeptic's Annotated Bible

Send comments to Steve Wells
at swwells(at)gmail.com