The God delivered the Isrealites from slavery in Egypt, yet it fail to include a commandment against slavery amongst the ten. 2nd & 3rd commands seem pretty trivial by comparison. Any idea why not?
by 
buttman
ANSWERS: 2
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Because slavery was used often as a means of punishment in Old Testament times. If a man or woman was in debt and could not pay it, either they or their children would be sold into slavery to pay for it. - Now, before anyone goes off on the Bible condoning slavery, Leviticus and Deuteronomy inclued extensive laws regarding this practice which include but are not limited to: -No Israelite was to be sold to a foreign nation. -No discrimination was to be made on the basis of race. -Slaves were to be well cared for and had numerous legal rights if mistreated. -No slave was a slave against his volition for longer than seven years. If he wanted to, (if he loved his master as the Bible puts it) he could see a priest and have his servitude indefinitely extended but then he would be considered a part of the extended family.
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In a subsistance agrarian society where 95% of the population must work full-time in agriculture just to grow enough food to feed the whole population, slavery is the only alterntive to genocide against all POWs and capital punishment for all serious crimes (that is, imprisonment for a number of years - to be fed, clothed, and housed at taxpayer expense - wasn't an option). Also, in Israelite society debt-slavery (the most common form of slavery) wasn't what we think of as slavery, but was more like wage garnishment and Chapter 13 Bankruptcy, and what couldn't be paid back in 7 years or by the year of Jubilee - whichever came first - had to be forgiven. In the meantime, the "slave" got to keep the produce he needed to feed his family, but any surplus had to be given to his creditor.
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