Hard Sayings: Slavery, Women, and the OT
Are OT laws about slavery, women, and punishment evidence of a primitive morality?
Why it matters
The "OT is a moral monster" critique, popularized by the New Atheists, has wide cultural traction. Paul Copan's work shows the question often misreads the genre and the historical trajectory: the laws regulate and limit an existing ANE practice rather than endorsing it as ideal, and the biblical trajectory moves consistently toward human dignity and eventual abolition.
The main case
Three interpretive moves matter: (1) Regulation vs. endorsement. Many OT laws are concessions to a fallen context (Jesus' explicit reading of divorce in Matt 19:8: "because of your hardness of heart"). They regulate and limit practices already existing in the ANE; they do not prescribe them as ideal. (2) Comparative context. Compared to Hammurabi, Hittite, and Assyrian law codes, the OT treats women and slaves far more humanely — Sabbath rest for servants, cities of refuge, year of Jubilee. (3) Trajectory. The NT seeds that dismantle these institutions (Gal 3:28, Philemon). Abolitionists like Wilberforce argued explicitly from biblical premises. The OT's moral vision is developmental, not flat.
Claim · Evidence · Objection · Response
1.OT regulation of slavery differed sharply from ANE chattel slavery.
Majority viewEvidence
- Hebrew indentured servitude was typically debt-relief, with release in the seventh year (Deut 15).
- Kidnapping for slavery carried the death penalty (Ex 21:16).
- Runaway slaves were not to be returned (Deut 23:15-16) — the opposite of US fugitive slave laws.
- Servants were included in Sabbath rest and festivals.
Strongest objection
"Even regulated slavery is slavery."
Response
Granted. The argument is not that OT institutions were ideal — it is that they were concessive and trajectory-pointing. The question is whether the OT commends slavery as good or regulates a broken situation toward something better.
- Is God a Moral Monster? Making Sense of the Old Testament God — Paul Copan (2011)scholarlyFind on Amazon
2.The biblical trajectory moves toward human dignity and abolition.
Widely acceptedEvidence
- Gen 1:26-27: all humans bear the image of God — foundational for later abolitionist argument.
- Gal 3:28: no slave or free in Christ.
- Philemon: Paul subverts the master-slave relationship from within.
- Abolitionist movements in Britain and the US were led by those reading exactly these texts.
Strongest objection
"If the trajectory is so clear, why did Christian civilizations keep slaves for 1,800 years?"
Response
Deep moral change is slow, and Christians often failed to apply their own Scriptures. The moral logic of imago Dei eventually won — which itself is evidence of the trajectory.
- Is God a Moral Monster? Making Sense of the Old Testament God — Paul Copan (2011)scholarlyFind on Amazon
- The Reason for God — Timothy Keller (2008)popularFind on Amazon
What scholars debate
Copan and Flannagan represent mainstream evangelical handling of these texts. Richard Hess and Walter Kaiser have defended similar lines. Critics (Hector Avalos, Thom Stark) argue the concessive reading is apologetics rather than exegesis.
Reflection
- 1.What is the difference between God commanding an act and God regulating an existing practice?
- 2.Does a developmental morality undermine or reflect God's character?
- 3.Which texts do you find hardest to read charitably, and why?
Key sources
- Is God a Moral Monster? Making Sense of the Old Testament God — Paul Copan (2011)scholarlyFind on Amazon
- Did God Really Command Genocide? — Paul Copan & Matt Flannagan (2014)scholarlyFind on Amazon
- The Reason for God — Timothy Keller (2008)popularFind on Amazon
Featured thinkers
Philosopher and OT ethics specialist who has written widely on Canaanite conquest texts and ethical objections to the Old Testament.
Twentieth-century Oxford and Cambridge scholar whose works on moral reasoning, joy, and the reasonableness of Christianity shaped modern apologetics.
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