7 "If a man sells his daughter as a female slave, she is not to go free as the male slaves do.
8 "If she is displeasing in the eyes of her master who designated her for himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He does not have authority to sell her to a foreign people because of his unfairness to her.
9 "If he designates her for his son, he shall deal with her according to the custom of daughters.
10 "If he takes to himself another woman, he may not reduce her food, her clothing, or her conjugal rights.
11 "If he will not do these three things for her, then she shall go out for nothing, without payment of money.
(Exo 21:7-11 NAU)
8 "If she is displeasing in the eyes of her master who designated her for himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He does not have authority to sell her to a foreign people because of his unfairness to her.
9 "If he designates her for his son, he shall deal with her according to the custom of daughters.
10 "If he takes to himself another woman, he may not reduce her food, her clothing, or her conjugal rights.
11 "If he will not do these three things for her, then she shall go out for nothing, without payment of money.
(Exo 21:7-11 NAU)
What is the point of the text blaming the prohibition against selling her to foreigners on his being unfaithful to her, if he wasn't allowed to sell her to foreigners regardless of the circumstances?
If you agree with me that this Hebrew master could sell this girl into foreign servitude as long as he wasn't unfair to her, then...do you accept the biblical testimony that the Gentile nations surrounding Israel in the time of Moses were exceedingly corrupt and sinful?
If so, doesn't Exodus 21:8 become divine authorization to subject a Hebrew girl to the most vile of pagan living conditions and practices?
You can scream as long as you wish that the Hebrew slave code was more civil than others, in your never-ending quest to excuse away the divine atrocities of the Old Testament, but that argument would not seem to benefit you much here. This is allowing for very cruel treatment of a girl solely because she is a girl, no punishment for sin expressed or implied. For which reason I conclude that within this "more civil" slave code, is a rather sadistic rule putting the Hebrews on par with the brutality of the very pagans that apologists ceaselessly try to contrast them with.
Think very carefully on this: If you observe the father in a modern American family selling his daughter to some guy whom she didn't herself pick for marriage, does your immediate revulsion to this arise from eternal absolute laws of god that are on your heart? Or do you feel revulsion merely because you've been conditioned to believe that the modern American way of life is best (i.e., relative morals)?
If they arise from absolute morals God placed on your heart, how can you reconcile that absolute law of god, with God's law in Exodus 21:8 authorizing Hebrews to sell their slaves to idolatrous Gentiles?
If they arise from relative morals, then aren't you saying that barbaric treatment of young girls in human trafficking can be morally justified if the conditions are right?
I have serious problems with conservative Christian apologists who are forever twisting the Mosaic writings to make them appear more in conformity with modern American morality than they really are. You would be horrified to see America replace its current federal laws with the Law of Moses, and it wouldn't simply be because of your subjective belief that modern American morality is superior. When we feel revulsion at the thought of human trafficking and slavery, it is most likely because we are instinctively aware of how dangerous and fundamentally unfair such practices are, and how such institutions easily breed great corruption. If we lived under the law of Moses today, what exactly could your slave girl/concubine do if you gave her a black eye? The law of Moses forbids punishing a slave owner where the abuse inflicted was not fatal. Exodus 21:21.
No amount of "but the Hebrew law code was more civilized than others in those days" will shield the conservative position from attack here. It could not be more obvious, once the realities of life in ancient Mesopotamia are taken into account, how utterly barbaric the Hebrew slave laws were.
Naturally raising the question of why you think the bible god is far more loving of you than your own parents, when this god instituted practices that make you scream "sadism!" when you see the pagans doing the same things. Have you ever seriously considered that Christian faith has a psychological dimension despite what other dimensions it has, and that you naturally rebel against justified rebuttals solely because the rebuttals are in fact attacking your comfort zone?
If a mom really is a crack whore subjecting her three year old to dangerous conditions, do you think you'll ever convince the toddler that her mom really is a bad person? No amount of evidence will be sufficient. There is a reason why people cling to what is comforting, and it obviously has nothing to do with desire to pursue "truth".
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