SUMMARY
While intentionally entering debt slavery is allowed, kidnapping and selling Israelites into slavery was expressly prohibited.
ANALYSIS
This law is limited to Israelites. Kidnapping for the purpose of enslaving is a capital crime. There is no distinction on the economic status of the victim. No Israelite could be enslaved against her or his will. The kidnapper is to be killed in order to eliminate evil from among the Israelites. Kidnapping and selling into slavery, like murder and idolatry, is a crime so heinous that its perpetration endangers the entire community settlement in the HolyHoly is a term that originally meant set apart for the worship or service of God. While the term may refer to people, objects, time, or places, holiness in Judaism and Christianity primarily denotes the realm of the divine Land.
If enslaving by kidnapping is absolutely prohibited, intentionally entered indentured servitude is at least regrettable. The duty of the kinsman-redeemer to redeem extended family members out of slavery is meant to mitigate debt bondage. Further the Sabbatical year (Deuteronomy 15) was a time for release of Israelites who had sold themselves into bondage but were not redeemed by a kinsman redeemerA redeemer is someone who literally buys back, wins back, or frees from distress. The Hebrew term for redeemer (go'el) means to deliver or rescue. It may be a person or God who performs the act of redemption.. Even those Israelites who chose to remain slaves at the Sabbatical year were forcibly liberated in the JubileeJubilee is a time of celebration and rejoicing. Hebrew law, as prescribed in Leviticus 25 and 27, declared every fiftieth year to be a jubilee year during which time slaves would be emancipated, debts would be forgiven, and even the land would be allowed to rest., if they lived to see it.
Certainly, there is no absolute prohibition on slavery in the Bible. But Deuteronomy strongly limits slavery, at least for Israelites, and contains a multi-tiered plan for liberating all those who were enslaved (and for providing reparations, for that matter).
