Leviticus 25 · a question people ask
Why could Israel keep slaves from the nations but not from Israel?
The chapter sets the two laws side by side. An Israelite who "sells himself to you" is not to "serve as a slave" (25:39); he serves "As a hired servant" and goes free at the jubilee with his children (25:40-41), "For they are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. They shall not be sold as slaves" (25:42). Then: "As for your male and your female slaves, whom you may have from the nations that are around you, from them you may buy male and female slaves" (25:44). Of the children of the aliens among them, "they will be your property" (25:45), and "You may make them an inheritance for your children after you, to hold for a possession. Of them you may take your slaves forever, but over your brothers the children of Israel you shall not rule, one over another, with harshness" (25:46). The chapter gives a reason for the first law (25:42, 25:55). It gives none for the second. Christians agree that God "created man in his own image" (Genesis 1:27), and Paul tells masters, "give to your servants that which is just and equal, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven" (Colossians 4:1). They read these verses in more than one way.
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
Allowed because of hard hearts
Jesus said of divorce, "Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it has not been so" (Matthew 19:8). Those words are about divorce, not servants; Jesus doesn't apply them to these laws. Those who hold this view read 25:44-46 the same way: as a practice the law limited, not a picture of what God made people for "from the beginning", when "God created man in his own image" (Genesis 1:27).
Matthew 19:7-8 · Genesis 1:27 · Leviticus 25:44-46
Part of Israel's law for its life in the land
Those who hold this view read these verses as belonging to the law the LORD gave Israel for life in "the land which I give you" (25:2), the land of Canaan (25:38). They note that the one reason the chapter gives is for Israel's freedom: "they are my servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt" (25:55). They read the New Testament as saying Christians are not under that law in the same way: "the law has become our tutor to bring us to Christ", and "now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor" (Galatians 3:24-25). They also point to Paul: "there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:28).
Leviticus 25:2 · Leviticus 25:38 · Leviticus 25:55 · Galatians 3:24-25 · Galatians 3:28
The verses
“For to me the children of Israel are servants; they are my servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.”
“God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them.”
“Masters, give to your servants that which is just and equal, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.”