12 Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: 13 “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I made a covenant with your forefathers when I brought them out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. I said, 14 ‘Every seventh year each of you must free any fellow Hebrew who has sold himself to you. After he has served you six years, you must let him go free.’ Your fathers, however, did not listen to me or pay attention to me. 15 Recently you repented and did what is right in my sight: Each of you proclaimed freedom to his countrymen. You even made a covenant before me in the house that bears my Name. 16 But now you have turned around and profaned my name; each of you has taken back the male and female slaves you had set free to go where they wished. You have forced them to become your slaves again. (Jeremiah 34:12-16)
Jeremiah 34 gives a good perspective on God’s view of slavery.
Slavery in the Hebrew culture was used primarily to pay off debts. If I owed you money (through reckless living or even through robbery) and had no resources from which to pay you back, then I sold myself to you as a slave. I gave you the only possession I had left–myself and my labor. Though I was a slave, I was not to be mistreated, harmed, or overworked. I was to have a day off on the Sabbath just as the whole Jewish community did. And in the seventh year of my labor (regardless of the extent of my debt) I was to be set free unless I voluntarily chose to remain as your slave (see Exodus 21:1-6).
It is a system so foreign to our own culture that it is hard to understand. But there was no “chapter 13″ in the Hebrew culture. If you owed a debt, you were obligated to pay it back even if it meant selling yourself into the service of another. I imagine that, in most cases, the six years of hard labor had a way of teaching people how to better handle their lives, their time, and their resources. It was a good balance of responsibility (pay your debts) and grace (you are free in the 7th year).
Unfortunately, over time, the grace part was left out and people became slaves for life as their owners refused to release them and forgive their debt. That is the context of Jeremiah 34. Israel is under attack. Nebuchadnezzar is about to totally wipe out their city and suddenly the king announces an “emancipation proclamation.” All the slaves are to be set free. The implication is that these are slaves that should have been released a long time ago but haven’t. Now, in a time of difficulty with Nebuchadnezzar breathing down their necks, the king and the people “repent” and release their slaves hoping to avert God’s judgment on the city.
But history says that in the midst of Nebuchadnezzar’s seige of Jerusalem, he suddenly had to leave to take care of an advancing Egyptian army. For a short time, his grip on Jerusalem was released. It was at this time, when things started looking more rosy, that the people decided, “Hey, the work around here is not getting done anymore. Where’s my slave?” And they forced the slaves they released back into labor.
God is angry with their half-hearted repentance and disregard for their brothers and proclaims, “You have not obeyed Me in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother and every one to his neighbor. Behold I proclaim liberty to you…to the sword, to pestilence, and to famine!” (34:17) And indeed, after quickly taking care of the Egyptian army, Nebuchadnezzar returns to Jerusalem and destroys it.
It reminded this morning of man’s fickleness (my fickleness). When the pressure is on, we are quick to “repent.” But when the pressure is gone, we quickly go back to our former ways. We want to follow God long enough to get Him off our back and then live the way we want to live. That is the essence of religion. Do my duty, make God happy, and then live the way I want to live. But God demands more. He demands our whole heart, our whole life. And He demands that we treat our brother in a way that honors Him, balancing responsibility and grace. When we forget this, we suffer the consequences. That is the message of Jeremiah 34.
But there is another message in the background. God wants His people to treat slaves in the right way because it is a picture of how He deals with us. We owe God a debt we cannot pay. We have no resources to meet our obligations to Him. God in His holiness holds us responsible for our debt but, in His grace, He freely offers to pay that debt Himself. Jesus on the cross proclaimed, “It is finished!” or perhaps better, “Paid in full.” The debt is paid. God is free to offer us liberty…if we are willing to accept it.
The Hebrews offended God because they forgot mercy. They were the person in Jesus’ parable who was forgiven an enormous, unpayable, billion dollar debt by his master and then went out and choked his brother demanding the $5 he owed him. James warns us, “For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy” (2:13).
Lord, forgive me for mistreating my brother by demanding from him that which I cannot even pay myself. Give me a heart that does justly, loves mercy, and walks humbly before You.