“If one of your fellow Israelites falls into poverty and cannot support himself, support him as you would a foreigner or a temporary resident and allow him to live with you.”

Leviticus 25:35 (NLT)

One attribute of God is that He is full of compassion. He watches over the poor, orphans, widows and strangers. Basically, He cares for the people who are often overlooked or even abused.

Slavery was a common practice when the children of Israel were in the wilderness. It was also a common practice in the Mediterranean world when the New Testament was written. It is estimated that half the people in the Roman Empire were slaves! God never advocated slavery, but He did form laws to govern its practice. Mainly these were to protect slaves and give them rights in a culture that often deprived them of any rights.

A poor Hebrew could sell himself as a slave to a fellow Hebrew or to a foreigner dwelling in the land. But the master of such a Hebrew slave could not rule him “with rigor”. In other words, he could not abuse him. The Hebrew would serve for six years, but in the seventh year he would go free. He would also be released in the year of Jubilee.

Thankfully, we have abolished slavery in our country (or at least made it illegal). But there is another slavery that continues undetected.

“Jesus answered them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.’”

John 8:34 (NKJV)

Sin robs us of our freedom. When we sin we sell ourselves as slaves. We come under sin’s power, and it rules over us with rigor. But Jesus redeems us from our sins. How does this occur? Would you believe through confession and aggression? We confess our sins to be forgiven, but then we must take an aggressive stance against sin or else we will fall into it again.

May God help us all to escape the slavery of every form of sin and live in true freedom! And then may we have His compassion for others and show it through genuine acts of kindness.

Photo by John Moeses Bauan on Unsplash