American slavery vs. Biblical slavery

Ugh. I am so sick of hearing and reading that Biblical slavery was a kinder, gentler version of slavery than American slavery. Folks, slavery is slavery. A person who is the permanent property of another, one who has no personal autonomy, by any other name, is still a slave.

Here is a reply I just posted to someone who wanted to recycle that old argument that Biblical slavery and early American slavery were in no way the same institution:

1. Indentured servitude and slavery are not the same thing, in the bible and in early American history. Do not equate them. Make sure each of your references are referring to actual slavery, not indentured servitude. Indentured servitude is usually voluntary and temporary, slavery is involuntary and permanent.

2. A Hebrew man was permitted to sell his daughter into slavery or servitude. Do you think the daughter had any say in the matter? For women, slavery and servitude this were basically the same thing. Female servants were not released to go free after a specified time, like male Hebrew servants, because they were considered "defiled." They were defiled because female slaves were also the sexual property of their masters. (As often was the case in American slavery) They were, however, "let go" to fend for themselves if the master was no longer willing to support them. Exodus 21

3.The Hebrews practiced indentured servitude on their own people and slavery on all other people. Leviticus 25:44-46. "Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of the clans born in your country, and they will become your property. You can will them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life."

4.Even an indentured servant's wife and children remained the property of the master after the servant gained his freedom. If he wanted to keep his wife and children, he had to submit to permanent servitude (slavery). Exodus 21:4-6

5. "If a man beats his male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies as a direct result, he must be punished, but he is not to be punished if the slave gets up after a day or two, since the slave is his property. " Exodus 21:20-21

6. Levitical priests were free to buy slaves. Leviticus 22:11

7. Slavery of women and children as spoils of war was permitted and encouraged by Yahweh. Deuteronomy 20:18. "As for all the women, the children, the livestock, and anything else in the city, you may take these as plunder for yourselves." 

I think that is enough. Slavery is a vile institution. People should not be property under any circumstance. They should have personal autonomy. Their cultural background, ethnicity, and gender, should not matter. Biblical slavery was not any better than American slavery, no matter how anyone tries to whitewash it. If slavery is wrong to the god Yahweh now, it should have been wrong to him then.

Jonah chapter 2

After reading chapter 2:

*This whole chapter is a poetic prayer that Jonah prays to Yahweh, while inside a fish, without breathable air. The odd thing about this poem is it is written in the past tense. So, he's hanging out in the fish and he thanks God for saving him from a certain death in the ocean. Supposedly, as he was about to drown, he "remembered" Yahweh and he prayed. God saved him. Now he is safe inside the fish. (If you were inside a fish would you feel safe?), Now he will make sacrifices and keep his vows. Did he not believe Yahweh had any power before this? I would think if someone actually believed in a powerful god that could punish them, they would be mighty cautious not to irritate that god to begin with.

*Yahweh told the fish to spit up Jonah, and it did. Not only that, it conveniently spit Jonah on to dry land. After a three day belly ache, it just swam up to the beach and retched Jonah out. What's not to believe?

Jonah chapter 1 part 2

We left off with Jonah explaing to his shipmates why the lots chose him as the reason for their peril. The other seamen were terrified and asked Jonah what could be done to appease his god and calm the seas. Jonah told them they must throw him overboard. Being reluctant to do that, they tried to row back to land. I looked up ancient sailing vessels that need to be rowed and found a list with illustrations here: http://www.rodlangton.com/ancient/desc.htm

They were unable to return to land, so they prayed to Yahweh not to hold them accountable for his life before they threw him in. The sea was quickly calmed. The seamen decided to offer a sacrifice to Yahweh and make vows to him, in gratitude. Yahweh provided a great fish to swallow Jonah and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights. This does not say Jonah was swallowed by a whale, but ancient people may not have recognized the distinction between whales and giant fish. 

Could a whale swallow a person whole? (Link)

Could a human survive being swallowed by a whale or big fish? (Link)

The gist of those articles is that a person swallowed by a wahale or fish would have no air to breath and would die. My personal thought is that humans also need water, and three days is hitting the maximum time possible to have no (fresh) water. Drinking seawater will kill you. A person swallowed by a whale would have to deal with the corrosive digestive juices, lack of oxygen, possible methane gas, and no fresh water. The conclusion is, no it's not possible for a person to live thre days and nights inside a fish or a whale. But, you know what, that won't matter to a fervent believer, because: miracles happen! God can do anything,  dontcha know, even make the impossible possible. When you get that response, there is often no option but to move on. You are talking to a brick wall. I know, it's extraordinarily frustrating. 

I've decided to have regular posts on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, unless there are other obligations that keep me from posting on a particular day. Maybe having a definite schedule will help keep me from procrastinating. Thanks to anyone who is still hanging around and reading.  

Jonah chapter 1

After reading chapter 1:

*Jonah is called the son of Amittai, exactly as mentioned in 2 Kings. Which came first, the book of Jonah or Kings? Who knows? Nobody that's who. But, as usual, there are plenty of scholars who try to pin these things down to a span of three hundred years, give or take a few years.

*Somehow, Jonah heard from Yahweh. There are no details. Was it a vision, a dream, or an angel? No information is available, and noone else heard the message. (Is a revelation to one a revelation to all?)Yahweh is said to have told Jonah to "go to Nineveh and preach against it" because it was wicked. Why Nineveh? Ninevah was the chief city of the Assyrian kingdom at the time the story takes place, which was 770-ish BCE.  Frankly, I'm pretty sure it wasn't any more wicked than any other large city in that time period. Who knows what even constituted wickedness to the author of Jonah. There are no details. I have a feeling that biblical authors ascribed most cultural destruction as being a consequence of "wickedness."

*According to Wikipedia, Nineveh was the largest city in the world for about 50 years, until it was sacked in 612 BCE. It is very possible, even probable,  that the book of Jonah was written after that. This is the subject of much debate. Isaiah and other prophetic books of the bible predict the fall of Assyria and Nineveh with it. Because I do not believe in prophesies, I am inclined to accept the judgement of historians who also do not believe in prophesies and say that those books were most likely written after the events they supposedly prophesy. Or they were wishful thinking. Assyria's power seems to have been at a lull during the reign of Jereboam II, but it did conquer Israel later and was responsible for the break up of the northern kingdom about 732 BCE.

*Anyway, Jonah "ran away from Yahweh" and headed for Tarshish, by way of a ship from Joppa. The exact location and existence of Tarshish are disputed. It was clearly intended to be in the opposite direction from Nineveh, which was about 600 miles  to the east of Jerusalem.

*While Jonah was at sea, there was a violent storm and the ship was in danger of sinking. The crew began to throw things overboard to lighten the ship, meanwhile crying out to their own gods. Jonah was sound asleep below. The captain berated him for not calling on his God to save them. The sailors decided to cast lots to see who was bringing them bad luck. The lot fell on Jonah. Those were smart lots! The ship's crew asked Jonah to explain his presence and the reason the lots chose him. So, Jonah told them he worshipped Yahweh, "the god of heaven who made the sea and land." He then explained that he was runnng away from Yahweh, which is not surprising when you realize most ancient gods were national in nature. But Yahweh apparently had power beyond the boundaries of Israel.

*I'm trying to keep dates, events, and facts straight, but this historical time period and the bible record of supposed events can be confusing. So I may edit when I find out something isn't right.

To be continued.

Introduction to the book of Jonah

Read about the book of Jonah here.

Read about the character Jonah in religion, tradition, and literature here.

Both articles have lots of interesting information. I almost feel like I don't need to cover the story myself. I will anyway, to see if anything particular strikes my attention.

Some facts to consider: The character Jonah is supposed to have lived in the 700's BCE. The story of Jonah is not likely to have been written before the 5th century BCE, after the Jews returned from exile in Persia. No manuscripts of Jonah older than that exist.  That is a gap of a few hundred years. The author is unknown. The book does not claim to be divine, inspired, or the word of a god or gods. There is no extrabiblical evidence that the events depicted therein actually happened and no reason to believe that they did.

In the Bible, outside of the book of Jonah, Jonah is found in 2 Kings 14:25. One sentence mentions that Jonah was  a prophet of Yahweh. He was the son of Amitai (which means truth) and he was from Gath Hepher. Jonah had told Jeroboam II, who was king of Samaria/Israel at the time, that Yahweh wanted him to restore the boundaries of Israel, and he did. I'm assuming this had to do with physical fortifications and protecting the land from invaders. This one passage is used to date the existance of Jonah.

Jereboam II definitely existed, according to archaeological evidence, and his reign was characterized by wealth and luxury, promoting trade with Egypt and Assyria. His kingdom had as many as 350,000 inhabitants. However, not much good is said about him in the bible. 2nd Kings says he did evil in the eyes of Yahweh. This "evil " was in the nature of the sins of the first Jereboam, found in 1 Kings 12: building sanctuaries for Yahweh and representing him with golden calves, to which sacrifices were offered. The book of Amos condemns Jeroboam II and prophesies he will die by the sword. It appears to have been a figurative sword.

One thing to remember is that the Israelite tribes (or the Yahweh worshippers) in Canaan were divided into two competing kingdoms. The kingdom in the north was Israel/Samaria. The kingdom in the south was Judah. They each worshipped the same god, but Judah claimed sole possession of Yahweh's authorized temple, which also would have meant his presence, and his favor. The people of the northern kingdom would have had to travel inconvenient distances in order to worship Yahweh.

Because I do not believe Yahweh ever existed, I conclude that this religious competition was purely a bid for power over people and territory. Judah claimed ownership of the high ground, Israel ignored that claim and worshipped Yahweh their own way. This was the reason for the condemnation. Let us remember that it is usually the victors, or at least those left at the end, who get to write the histories. These stories were probably written by those who sided with the lower kingdom, and show their prejudices. The upper kingdom was eventually conquered and its former citizens disappeared into historical oblivion. The lower kingdom was later conquered but was kept alive in a somewhat cohesive culture while exiled. After the return of the Jews to Judah is when  much of the Old Testament was written or redacted. The former Israelite territory in the north became known as Samaria and its remaining inhabitants Samaritans, who were despised by the Jews, not least because they did not worship Yahweh in Jerusalem. Some things never change.

In spite of the condemnation of this Jeroboam as evil in the sight of Yahweh, 2 Kings admits that Jereboam achieved some great things for his people the Israelites.

Galatians wrap up

Whew! I am so glad that is over. Galatians was much more complicated than I had realised.  Let's summarize:

The Galatians were gentiles that Paul had taught Jesus worship at one time. Paul got news that they were being influenced by Jews teaching that circumcision was necessary to become children of yahweh. Paul declares, through metaphors, that those who follow the law of Moses aren't the true heirs of the promise, but those that have faith like Abraham are. He compares followers of the law to children born in slavery, turning the conventional understanding of Judaism upside down. Then he declares the Galatians free, by virtue of faith, from a law they were never bound to in the first place.

Paul also gives an account of his conversion that is somewhat different from that depicted in the book of Acts. He tells the Galatians that he learned everything about Jesus from personal revelations through visions, not from mere people, especially not those Jews in Jerusalem, who think they are so special. Throughout the whole book we feel an antipathy towards Judaism. Paul even goes so far as to say that Jews are not children of the promise and will not inherit anything if they don't have faith in the cross of Jesus. Plus, if the Jews are so obsessed with circumcision, Paul says they should go one step further and cut it all off.

Last, Paul explains how to tell the difference between people who live by the sinful nature and those who live by the spirit. Just in case those who live by the spirit slip up, the ones who are more spiritual are to help those backsliders see the true path. Along the way, they must keep a steady eye on themselves as well.

This book does not claim to be the word of a God or gods. It is very one sided. We do not know what the Galatians or the Jews thought of what Paul wrote or taught.

I think the book of  Jonah will be a nice change of pace.

Galatians 6 part 2

*In verse 11 Paul says, "See what large letters I use as I write with my own hand!" This phrase is a non sequiter, stuck in the passage, perhaps to try to prove Paul is the actual author. Other writings ascribed to Paul indicate he had some kind of infirmity or disability. Speculation is that his eyesight was poor.

*Paul returns to the topic of circumcision and continues to discount its proponents. He says they are just circumcised to avoid persecution for identifying with the cross of christ. They don't actually obey the law themselves. The circumcision is a bragging point. Who would brag about being circumcised and why? Well, male Jewish identity was tied to that physical mark. God had given the covenant of circumcision to Abraham as an everlasting covenant. (Gen. 17:13) The descendants of Abraham were God's chosen people. How could they discern who was part of the in crowd otherwise? It seems kind of strange to think that first century males went around looking to see if their acquantances were circumcised. Who would persecute a man for not being circumcised but proclaiming himself a child of Yahweh? Certainly not a gentile.

*I notice that this letter is not directed to women at all. Women in Judaism had no commanded distinguishing feature to proclaim them as children of Yahweh. Women had no everlasting covenant of any kind. They were just fertile ground in which to plant the male seed. Circumcision was none of their business, thank goodness.

* Paul goes on to say that there aren't really any bragging rights inherent in circumcision. (Even though, as a jew, he is circumcised.) Circumcision doesn't mean anything, according to Paul. His bragging rights are in the cross of Jesus, through which the world has been crucified to Paul, and Paul to the world. (It's all about Paul.) So, because some poor guy got himself crucified, Paul has a right to brag. Paul brags because he believes the guy was crucified on behalf of Paul and Paul was "crucified" to the world, even though Paul never met the guy. He learned all about Jesus from visions, not real world experience. He believed his visions, so everyone else must too. I find it reasonable to wonder if the crucifixion only took place in Paul's head. His writings are the probably the earliest writings of Christianity, the gospels being written later. Is the whole thing a creation of Paul's imagination, through some kind of mental illness or brain anomaly?

*The thing that counts, says Paul, is a new creation. (What is a new creation?) Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule....even to the Israel of God. Okay, even Israelites are right, if they agree with Paul.

*Finally Paul tells them that nobody better mess with him, he bears the marks of Jesus on his body. This is interesting. Is he speaking physically or metaphorically? There are various speculations. My study Bible talks of scars and injuries from stonings and other persecutions. I've also heard it said that Paul bore the stigmata of Jesus's crucifixion. There is no way to know for sure. Like many passages in scripture, this statement is rather cryptic.