Hey friends! I have compiled a list of 101 books to read, so that I might not be so uneducated compared to Jane Fairfax.
(Kudos if you got the quote.)
I just finished #6 on my list, which was Eight Keys to Lasting Success, and it was actually written by my father, (Jay Thomson) who is very wise, and the book is very good.
I think my favorite chapter was the second last, in which he talks about slavery in the old testament, among other things, and it sparked a cool thought, so I decided to write about it.
In the old testament law, slavery was not what you and I think of in regards to the slave trade, or anything akin to it. Slavery had very specific guidelines set up by God, really for the betterment of everyone involved. It was a way of paying a debt, but in the process of this payment through servitude, the slave was to be mentored by his master, and equipped to be better able to provide for himself in the future.
The reason he would need to learn this at all was because as a part of the system, God had declared every 7th year to be a rest year, in which (among other things) every slave was to be set free.
And when you send him away free from you, you shall not let him go away empty-handed; you shall supply him liberally from your flock, from your threshing floor, and from your winepress. From what the Lord your God has blessed you with, you shall give to him. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this thing today. (Deuteronomy 15:13-15)
Okay, so the first thing that is cool about this setup is that it is a picture of a picture. The exodus from Egypt, we as Christians can clearly see was both a physical deliverance and a prophetic picture of what God intended to do through Jesus Christ.
The blood over the doors of the Hebrews from an undefiled lamb delivered their children from death, God brought them out of the captivity of Egypt into the Promised Land, just like He brings us out of the captivity of sin into the Promised Life, through the blood of His undefiled Son.
So the exodus itself was a picture of the gospel, and then God when He sets up the society of His people as an individual nation, says to mirror that picture, because God treated them well when they were slaves in Egypt, so they must treat their slaves well.
Beyond that, there is more to this slave/owner relationship. If the slave had gone into servitude married, in the 7th year he would come out just as he had been before. However, if he was given a wife by his master, his wife and any children would remain slaves when he was set free.
Now before you go thinking that this is so unfair, realize that the slave would have perfect understanding of this before going into it. He didn't have to get married, it was a choice he would've made while being fully aware of the consequences.
However, sometimes people did make that choice, and when it came time to be set free, he wouldn't want to leave his wife and children, so he would tell his master he wanted to stay. God's provision for this was that when he told his master he wanted to stay, he would become a permanant slave of the household.
If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years; and in the seventh he shall go out free and pay nothing. If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master has given him a wife, and she has borne him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out by himself. But if the servant plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ then his master shall bring him to the judges. He shall also bring him to the door, or to the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him forever. (Exodus 21:2-6)
Here is what struck me about this. If the picture of the slave/owner relationship is supposed to be another picture of the gospel, (shown even further in the New Testament, as Jesus said that he who wishes to be first among you must become a slave of all, and then taught His disciples how to be HIS servants, by serving them.) what significance does the issue of leaving have?
Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. (Romans 6:16-18)
It's cool because God makes the mirror work in two ways that are opposite eachother. On the one hand, the setting free of the slave on the Sabbath year is a picture of salvation. God brought the people out of the land of Egypt into "His rest," and He brings us out of bondage into "rest."
On the other hand, when we are set free from the bondage of sin, we naturally become slaves of righteousness. This is the slave relationship that I want to examine for a minute. God, in His picture, set up specific rules for the slave leaving. What is mirrored here about the way interacts with us?
If we choose to leave our Master's household, He will not hold us back. In fact, the principles we learned as Christians will benefit us in our life, in a way, He has "not let (us) depart empty-handed."
This success we will achieve as a result is of course, not lasting. At the very best it will carry up through to the end of our lives, and then every benefit we received in our lives on earth will be worth nothing in the face of eternal judgment.
But our Master does not just send us away willingly. He wants us to stay, so He provides incentive for us. If we choose to leave His house, we must leave our "wife and children" behind.
This is going to sound super weird for a minute, but hopefully you can get what I mean. Also, bear in mind that all of this was birthed out of my love for allegory in every possible scenario, so none of this is strictly biblical. God didn't speak to me from heaven to tell me that these were the reasons for these rules, but these are the pictures I see.
I'll start with the children. The bible sometimes refers to children as "fruit."
Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. (Genesis 1:28)
In another way, the bible compares the results of your actions to both fruit and children.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness... (Galatians 5:22)
But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. (James 1:14-15)
If we think of the word children in this way, that is what we leave behind when we leave our Master. Actually in both senses, if we are leaving the master of sin, James 1 describes the children we leave behind, if we leave God as our master, Galatians 5 describes the children we leave behind.
Now for the wife. When God instituted marriage, He said a man would leave his father and mother, cleave to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.
God calls those who respond to the gospel, those who become His slaves, as His bride. As the Bride of Christ, we get to own that which He owns, we get to have a deep and personal relationship with Him, and we get treated with the respect and love that is due the Bride of Christ. (Not that we deserve it, but that by "marrying" us, He has elevated us to that place of honor.)
Okay. So if the servant of God becomes one flesh with the bride, then they are the same person. The slave is both slave and bride. If that slave chooses to leave, he must leave the bride behind.
If you choose to leave salvation behind, you are not just walking away from a master that you have to submit to, you are walking away from the opportunity to grow in character, (the fruit, or children) and you are walking away from an identity of honor.
Anyway, I thought that was cool. Let me know what you thought of my observations, or share any additional ones you had!
