Quick Note – Exodus 21 – Some Bible verses in reference to Slavery and Abortion

Exodus 21:16 – 16 “Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be put to death.

A lot of people argue that the Bible teaches that slavery is okay, because there are a lot of passages in both the Old and New Testament that speak about how slaves should obey their masters.  However, slavery in the ancient world was different than the concept that we think about now.  When we think of slavery now, we think of how people are captured and taken from their homes apart from their own free will and sold to another person’s service.  Although this form of slavery occurred in Biblical times, there was also another way a person became a slave and that is in exchange for paying a debt.  This verse in Exodus clearly delineates the two versions.  As you can see here, the first description of slavery, which is the outright evil one that we talk about today, is denounced in vs. 16, “Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be put to death.”  The punishment for selling slaves or buying them was death.  So when the Bible talks about how servants should obey their masters, it is in reference to those who were enslaved because of choice either due to financial or other circumstances.  So don’t fall for the idea that the Bible supports slavery.  It does not.  It teaches two things:  1) Slavery is wrong but 2) If a slave, then show God’s love and character even as a slave.  Whether the person was enslaved willingly or unwillingly, the slave, if a Christian, should do his best to serve as a witness for God even in that bad situation. 

Exodus 21:22-25 – 22 “When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that her children come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the woman’s husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine. 23 But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.

The Bible does not support abortion.  It is outright against it.  So if you know a Christian, who in some way tries to make it sound like God is okay with it, He is not.  As you can see here in Exodus 21:22-25, when two men are fighting and one hits a pregnant woman and the child comes out likely prematurely, then judgment occurs for the child.  If there is some type of harm, whether life, eye, tooth, hand, or foot, the man will pay in return the same thing.  This passage clearly indicates that God values the baby’s even though unborn as equal to a human beings.  A baby in the womb is not a bag of cells.  A baby is not some useless fetal tissue.  A baby is a human being living in the womb of its mother.  If God considers it a life to be protected, how can we so nonchalantly kill it.  Abortion is equivalent to murder.  Now, that is not to say there are no exceptions like if a mother’s life is in danger.  But that is to say that we shouldn’t treat taking life so nonchalantly.  God loves everyone including the unborn child.