Last week

• Onesimus
  • Runaway slave
  • Converted by Paul
  • Sent back
• Slavery in 1st Century Rome
  • How one came into slavery
  • Where slaves were employed
  • Laws protecting slave owners, not slaves
  • Treatment of slaves

Treatment of slaves under Rome

• Fair treatment was economically sound
  • Hard work often came with an allowance (peculium)
  • Some allowed to marry
  • Some made wills
  • Some held property
  • Some became close to household members

Celebrity slaves – gladiators

• Usually POWs or convicted criminals
• Physically fit
• Sent to special school
  • Trained by ex-gladiator trainers
  • Learned combat plus protocol
• Did not always die in the fight
  • Fighting a good fight was prerequisite for living
• Some became well-known celebrities
• Could be granted freedom

Paths to freedom

• Process called manumissions – several types
  • Most common – magistrate ceremony
  • Master’s will
  • Declared free by master – apply for citizenship
  • Slave women
    • Marrying their masters
    • Allowed children to be born free
  • Least common – buying one’s own freedom
• Some who gained freedom also did very well.
  • Eurysaces: a freed slave who opened a baking operation that made him rich.
• Although being a slave in Rome made life difficult, it was not always a hopeless situation.

Slavery and the Bible

• Old Testament
  • Curse upon Canaan (Genesis 9:25-27)
    • Was the “curse of Canaan” upheld in perpetuity by God?
    • Who were/are the descendants of Canaan and how many generations bore the curse, if it was to be borne?
    • Does God condemn people because of the sins of their ancestors? Ezekiel 18
  • Joseph sold into slavery by his brothers
    • Did God approve or was this part of God’s plan?
    • Did God condone the act?
  • Slaves held by Israelites
  • Law of Moses – Exodus 21-23
    • Treatment of slaves
      • Protects the slaves
      • Not the owners
      • Slaves to be freed after seven years
    • Taking of slaves
      • Allowed
      • Not allowed
  • God stated His distaste for his people being slaves – they were His.
    • Hosea 2:23; I Peter 2:10; I Corinthians 7:21

Did God approve of slavery?

• Did not approve of divorce – stated so
  • Malachi 2:16
  • Mark 10:2-12 (Matthew 5:31-32; 19:3-9) – “From the beginning”
• Where it starts
  • Exodus 21:16 – To forcibly take a slave = death
  • Appears forced slavery not allowed
  • Not restriction as to nationality or religion
• Fact of slavery
  • We know that God did not condone forcibly taking one into slavery at the time the law was given.
  • He did not want an Israelite to be a slave beyond Jubilee every. Why? Leviticus 25:55
  • God approved of slavery as punishment – Exodus 22:2-4

Caleb

• The familiar account
  • From Numbers 13 and 14
    • Spies chosen – one from each tribe (Numbers 13:2)
    • Caleb chosen from Judah (Numbers 13:4)
    • Contention upon their return (Numbers 13:25-33)
    • Caleb quiets their murmuring (Numbers 13:30)
    • Israel’s rebellion (Numbers 14:1-10)
    • Caleb and Joshua tear their clothes (Numbers 14:6-9)
    • Threat of stoning
    • Glory of the Lord fills the tent of meeting (Numbers 14:10)
    • God condemns Israel (Numbers 14:11-12)
    • Moses contends for Israel (Numbers 14:13-19)
    • God relents, passes judgment (Numbers 14:15-38)
• What follows
  • God’s promises
    • Joshua and Caleb survive (Numbers 32:10-12)
    • Caleb now arbiter of Judah’s inheritance (Numbers 34:16-19)
    • More on why this has come to pass (Deuteronomy 1:34-39)
      • Promise of land to Caleb
      • Note who will possess the land
      • Instructions concerning Joshua – encourage him
• Taking the land
  • Conquests of southern and northern Canaan
  • Conquests east of Jordan
  • Dividing the land (Joshua 14:5)
  • Caleb’s request of Joshua fulfilled (Joshua 14:6-15)
  • He’s got it, now he has to take it
• Taking possession
  • Starts in Joshua 15
    • Caleb takes Kiriath-arba
    • Drives out sons of Anak (remember Numbers 13:33?)
    • Offered his daughter to one who took Kiriath-sepher
    • Othniel wins the prize
• Passing it on
  • Caleb gives Othniel his daughter
    • She convinces Othniel to ask for land from Caleb
    • He agrees, she makes the request
    • Obtains Negev and its upper and lower springs
    • Stays in the family
    • Othniel becomes the first judge over Israel
• Takeaways
  • Caleb had faith in God and His promises
    • Expressed that faith
    • Stood for God when dangerous to do so
    • Continued in his faith
      • Patience for 40 years to enter promised land
      • Patience for 45 years to receive his inheritance
  • God rewarded Caleb’s faithfulness
    • Fulfilled His promise to Caleb
    • Added to that promise – became father-in-law to the first judge of Israel