order.  Yet the more they imposed upon the Hebrew slaves, the more the slaves multiplied in numbers.

The American Experience

When Americans think of slavery inevitably we think of our own historical experience where slave traders sold Africans at auction on the docks of the East Coast.  The practice became widespread and eventually dominated the agricultural South, where it was necessary to employ the labors of large groups of workers to prepare and gather the crops.  Slavery compressed time for the farmers because it meant that they did not have to wait two or three generations to have enough family members to do large scale farming.  Slaves were not cheap, but it was an acceptable price for many because it gave them instant access to the dreams that had driven them to the New World.

With a wilderness to conquer and a quick fix before their eyes, many American pioneers succumbed to the temptation to own slaves.  Understand that some of the earliest settlers were men of questionable virtue, as anxious to leave their European homes as perhaps others were eager to see them depart. Not every soul who bounced down the gantry to the docks of America was a Bible-toting Puritan or Quaker eager to see the moral laws of God imposed upon a virgin land.

(Second in a Series)

                                                         By Dave Jones
How do you know if you’ve become a slave?

Merriam-Webster defines slavery as drudgery, toil; submission to a dominating influence; and the state of a person who is chattel of another.  Hmmm. What is chattel? It’s and old English word and comes from the same root for “cattle.” It means a possession, property.

Concepts of slavery have varied throughout history.

The children of Jacob (Israel) who once were welcome guests in Egypt eventually were considered “slaves” by the ruling pharaohs, even though there

Morality & Money, Part 2

Slavery: a most pervasive human condition

We’re not trying to make light of their situation. Most certainly there were punishments and “disincentives” for rebellious slaves who refused to do what they were asked, or who asked too many questions of overseers.  Occasionally the Pharaoh, or his designated surrogates, might have to imprison, punish or kill one or more slaves as an example to the others.

Oddly enough, the more a nation employs the use of slavery to produce its goods and services, the less vital is its overall economic health. The Kingdom of Egypt was even more dependent upon its Hebrew slaves than the slaves were on their Egyptian masters, although how many people knew it is a matter of sheer speculation.  What the Egyptians did know is that the slaves constituted a threat against the existing

is evidence that individual Israelites were more or less free to come and go about their business. In addition to providing the raw labor pool to build treasure cities and monuments, they also were able to hire out as nurse maids, domestic workers and artisans.  Yet it is clear from scripture that the Israelites, as a group, were considered second class citizens and chattel of the ruler.

At what point in their 430-year sojourn in Egypt did the Hebrews become slaves? The Old Testament simply declares that there came a time when a new king “who knew nothing of Joseph” came to power.  Scholars think foreigners took over the throne of Egypt about that time but no one is exactly sure.  In inspiring the early writers of the books that would become the Bible, the Holy Spirit was less interested in documenting history than in getting across important salvation blueprints and bullet points.  We have to fill in the gaps with reasonable guesswork.  One day it seems that the Israelites looked at each other and said, “You know what, we’re slaves!  We do the work we’re told, we receive almost nothing for it, and even if we were free to leave (and we’re not sure we are) we can’t afford it. And besides, where would we go?”

Complicating the moral picture were a good number of Caucasian immigrants willing to sell themselves as “indentured servants” for a period of time, traditionally seven years. For the life of the contract there was little difference between an indentured servant and a slave, save one: The indentured servant knew he or she would eventually fulfill their contractual obligations and be free to move about the country. They had hope.

Christians today often assume that the prevailing teaching from the pulpit then was the same as it is today. That would not be correct.  Remember that we are talking about the United States, mostly settled by protestants, whose preachers almost always obtained and kept their jobs by the good graces of their congregations.  A preacher might rail against slavery in one town but discovers that he has to find work in another.  A practical man may well decide to find scriptural cover for slavery -- while of course being personally opposed to it -- in order to continue to offer the rest of the word of

God.  So Saint Paul’s admonition of “Slaves, obey your masters,” offered by Paul as a spiritual palliative to those trapped in bondage, as encouragement to exhibit Christ-like forgiveness and patience, is twisted into a justification of a sin and a sinful system.

The irony of history is that the blooming of the Industrial Age spelled the doom of Southern-style slavery, although few were able to see it. Machines could do the work of several men, whatever their color, and only consumed fuel when they worked.  When the Civil War broke out in 1861 America was only one more generation away from mechanized harvesters, reapers, tillers and planters, but change was coming too slowly.  The issue of the physical ownership of slaves would be settled by the sword, not the plow, and over 600,000 Americans would give their all as the price.

Slavery was not an asset for the South in the war.  Just as in ancient Egypt, a slave-based economy was less viable than the more entrepreneurial, ownership-oriented economy of the north where wages served as an attraction for labor, and factory owners had been quick to see the value in mechanization.

It’s easy for Americans today to be critical of those first purchasers of slaves because we see their situation with eyes we proudly believe are trained to spot injustice.  As we move forward into history, we might do well to examine our eyes to see if there are any logs floating in them.

Slavery Today?

The economic model of the North became the pattern for the entire nation after the war. Most of the nation was comprised of farmers, and most farmers owned their land. Businesses tended to be small Mom and Pop concerns.  People were not especially mobile but trade between the various parts of the new nation grew rapidly.  Men in tall hats with big cigars could dine on beef steaks from cattle that had been driven from Texas to the railroad stop in Abilene, Kansas, by cowboys working for a rancher who paid them a set wage for their weeks or months of effort (if they lived).

As the nation’s need for manufactured goods increased, developing technologies allowed for the growth of factories to provide steel and finished products. Factories required workers, and workers were recruited from the farms to the cities. Young people felt the call of city life and the lure of wages that promised them time compression, the ability to buy the kind of life their parents never had, to enjoy a standard of living in a few years that would exceed the fruits of a lifetime of farming.

This process of changing America has continued to this very day. Accelerated by depressions and recessions, not to mention a profusion of labor saving devices that promised more free time even as they required more debt to acquire, and the glamour of vast choices of entertainment, most of America today lives in or near the city.

Most Americans today do not grow any food, spin any cloth, build any building or fence, tend any animal other than a pet, and have only the vaguest notion of how to do any of those things.  We are co-dependents in an economic system that provides us with the necessary food and energy that keep us alive.  We are fine as long as the system is fine. And the system is fine so long as we continue to believe that it is.

Does this sound strange?  It should.  Have you ever wondered why industry, with the blessings of the federal government, takes a monthly pulse of the people known as the Consumer Confidence Index?  An organization known as The Confidence Board began studies of such things as consumer confidence in 1916. One of the leading indicators of economic growth (and stability) is an increased public belief that the economy is doing well. People are willing to spend more money, invest in businesses, and assume more debt. Public confidence is a real, palpable force.

Notice that we said “take on more debt.”  Modern economics depends upon consumer debt. Most of us wish we had no debts. Can you imagine what it would be like to live debt free? Can you picture how much more you could do with your family budget if you did not have to pay for that house, that car, those credit card bills from last year?

Yet the modern American economic system absolutely depends upon you having those bills to pay.  There are several reasons for this and the explanations are complicated. So complicated, in fact, that there are competing versions of why debt is held in such high regard.

The bottom line, and suitable enough for our purposes as we discuss the spiritual implications of personal economics, is that there is a lot of money (profit) to be made through the creation of debt and its eventual repayment.

This may be good for the system. It is definitely good for those who are trained and in position to operate the financial institutions in the system.

It isn’t necessarily such a fine thing for the Christian wage-earner.

NEXT -- The specifics of debt slavery.