deuteronomy

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slavery in the old testament

The former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd caused something of a stir during an appearance on the ABC’s Q&A program when he likened holding on to the notion that marriage should only be between a man and a woman because that’s the Bible’s position with the notion that we should support slavery because the Bible does.

His words were a pale reflection of Jed Bartlett’s words in The West Wing which also sought to establish that much of the Bible is simply irrelevant and outdated. Mr Rudd also mixed up Aristotle (who did argue that slavery, for some, was a “natural condition”) and the Bible (which never makes such a claim).

I don’t want to focus specifically on Kevin Rudd’s comment, but instead I think it worthwhile examining some of the background to slavery in the Bible (and particularly in the OT) to perhaps put things in perspective. Continue reading →

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deut 32:8–9 and the ancient israelite pantheon?

During a recent online debate the question of the meaning of Deut 32:8–9 was raised as evidence of the Bible’s affirmation of polytheism and the subordinate status of the God of Israel, Yhwh. The essence of the claim is that the version of this passage preserved in the DSS identifies El Elyon as head of a pantheon who assigns nations to various subordinate deities, and Israel is assigned to Yhwh in this process.

The argument rests upon the alternate reading found in a fragment from cave 4 at Qumran (4Q37 or 4QDeutj).1 This fragment only preserves a few words from these verses.

Continue reading →