Slavery in the Bible

Here are a few rules that I came across while reading The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs.

It's a great book, I'm almost done with it, and I highly recommend it to anyone regardless of religious beliefs. You learn a lot about what is in the Old and New Testament. It's interesting, funny, and easy to read.

SLAVERY IN THE BIBLE...

- You can beat your slave as hard as you want - as long as he survives a day or two post-beating (Exodus 21:21)

- But if you beat him with a rod and he dies immediately, you will be punished (Exodus 21:20)

- You also can't pluck out the slave's eye, or else you have to set him free. Likewise, you can't knock out his tooth, or you set him free. (Exodus 21:26-27)

- If the slave was born to the Hebrew race, then, regardless of his eye and tooth situation, he gets his freedom after six years. If he opts to refuse his freedom, you must put him against a doorpost and drill a hole in his ear with an awl (Exodus 21:6)

The more you read the Bible, the harder it is to believe that it was, in fact, "God-inspired."

auf wiedersehen,

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