While Egyptian civilization was thriving around 1850B.C, many nomadic tribes were wandering the wilderness of Palestine and the surrounding areas. One of these tribes, the Hebrews (Israelites) led by Abraham, came from the land of Ur in Sumer to the land of Hebron located in Canaan (Genesis 11:31).
The Hebrews, made up of shepherds, artisans and merchants, settled in central Palestine and in the Negrev desert south of it. Under the leadership of Joseph, the Hebrews went into Egypt around 1700B.C to seek refuge in the Nile Delta because there was a severe drought and famine in Palestine. They settled on the eastern edge of the Nile Delta, where they multiplied and prospered. Here in Egypt they began to call themselves Israelites.
The Bondage of the Israelites:
About the same time that the Israelites settled on the Delta, the Hyksos people, another tribe originating from Palestine or Arabia, conquered much of Egypt and held power for almost 150 years before the Egyptians drove them out and enslaved the foreigners who remained in the country.
Exodus 1:7-14 speaks clearly on how Egypt felt about the Israelites after recently driving out the Hyksos. They did not want to take any chances of another war with foreigners, and viewing how the Israelites were multiplying at a rapid pace, the Egyptians came to the conclusion that these people were becoming the next big threat to their sovereignty. (Exodus 1:14 “..and they made their lives bitter with hard bondage..”)
The Israelites “bondage” began around 1700B.C; approximately 400 years before Moses was born and led the Israelites escape from Egypt. Around 1250B.C, Moses took the Israelites out of Egypt and first went into the Sinai Peninsula, a burning hot desert upland from Egypt. They “wandered” 40 years in this desert looking for their “land of promise.” During this time, Moses taught the Israelites and other mixed tribes who came with them the worship of a unique and universal God (Yahweh). This teaching of one God welded together a new nation.
Moses led them across the Sinai Peninsula but died just before they entered “the Promised Land.” Joshua took over but the conquest of Canaan was actually carried out by the 12 tribes of Israel, each fighting for its own piece of land under elected chiefs, or “Judges”.
1000B.C- the rule of the Judges gave way to Saul, who laid the foundations of the Hebrew kingdom. David, Saul’s successor, expanded the borders of the kingdom, conquered Jerusalem and made it the capital of the kingdom. Solomon, David’s son, ruled over Israel for many years, increasing trade and wealth, building palaces and the Great Temple. He reduced the Canaanites to serfdom, but since their labor was not enough to carry out the king’s ambitious projects, Solomon exacted forced labor from his own people also. (I Kings 5:13- 17…the building of the Great Temple “by levy” with Israelites).
980B.C- Solomon died and the kingdom divided into two parts: Israel in the North with Samaria as the capital, and Judah in the South with Jerusalem as the capital. Both kingdoms lasted about 100 years until the Assyrians overran Israel, and the Babylonians under King Nebuchadrezzar overran the southern kingdom of Judah. During this period, the Hebrews were scattered, with most sent to Mesopotamia. Later, when they were allowed back to Palestine under the rule of the Persians, most of the Hebrew descendents that were dispersed chose to stay where they were, which was over most of the ancient world.
The Hebrews and Slavery:
Like the other tribes at that time, the Hebrews practiced slavery. Most of the slaves were taken in wars. Some were also purchased, especially from the Phoenician Slave Traders. (Phoenicians were sea sailors/ traders of the Mediterranean and were known to the Egyptians in even an earlier time. They called themselves Canaanites, and according Webster’s Dictionary they were closely related to the Moabite and Hebrew peoples. Phoenicia was an ancient region of city-states at the East End of the Mediterranean, in the region of present-day Syria and Lebanon.)
The Old Testament on Slavery:
Leviticus 25:10… the Year of Jubilee… “And ye shall hallow the 50th year, and proclaim liberty thruought all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof; it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.”
Leviticus 25:35- 42 makes clear that the Hebrews were not to enslave their fellow Hebrews, but be “hired servants” who may serve their Hebrew hirers until “the year of Jubilee”. Keep in mind that the year of Jubile comes every 50 years! As for non-Hebrews, in Leviticus 25:44- 46, the Bible is very clear on their treatment by the Hebrews…. “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 bonds maidens. 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 beget in your land: and they shall be your possession…” Although Hebrews could hold non-Hebrews in slavery for life and do as they wish with them, they could not hold fellow Hebrews who were in “servitude” in the same manner…verse 46 “. but over your brethren the children of Israel, ye shall not rule one over another with rigour.” (also see Exodus 21:2 and Deuteronomy 15:12- 18)
These laws were supposed to protect the Hebrews from being enslaved by their own people, (Exodus 21:16 and Deuteronomy 24:7), but they did not protect the poor. No matter if you were Hebrew or not, if you had debt or were on the brink of starvation, slavery was your only choice (see II Kings 4:1). For the poor Hebrews, supposedly, it was not to be permanent (Leviticus 25:39- 41).
The Israelites must have broken these laws quite often (Jeremiah 34:8-11). It was after this betrayal of a pledge to free their slaves that the Lord said through Jeremiah that Israel would be punished by defeat and destruction at the hands of Babylon’s king.
In Hebrew law and sayings, the act of freeing slaves was an act of greatest merit. There were laws written to protect both the Hebrew and the non-Hebrew slave from his master’s brutality, but as we now see, civilizations from the beginning, and including the biblical Israelites, were built on the backs of human slaves.
Outline Source: SLAVERY: A World History, by Milton Meltzer; Da Capo Press 1993
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