by Leighton Smith

Created on: July 15, 2009

Christianity has a far-reaching impact. Many of its adherents follow strictly the Christian doctrine and accept it without hesitation. For this reason, when the Bible addresses the issues surrounding slavery, Christians take whatever it says to be true and right. It is because of this blind faith that Christianity had such a vast impact on the institution of slavery, especially through the Bible, which has provided mankind with the guidelines for slavery both within Christian societies and beyond.

In the very beginning of the Old Testament, in Genesis, one of the primary tenets of slavery is introduced: that the status of slave shall be passed down from parent to offspring. Indeed, dictate eventually meant that enslavement became prolific in most countries by the time of emancipation.

In Genesis 9:18-27, there is an account of Noah and his four sons. Noah passes out naked in his tent after a night of drinking. One of his sons, Ham, enters this tent and sees his father uncovered. Ham tells his two brothers, Shem and Japheth, what he has seen. Shem and Japheth then take a garment and cover their father, while diverting their gaze from seeing his nakedness.

Upon awakening, Noah "knew" what his younger son Ham had seen. He cursed Canaan, Ham's son, saying, "...a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren." Noah went on to praise both Shem and Japheth, and again asserts that Canaan and his generations of children shall be their servants.

An interesting aspect of this account is that Noah curses Ham's son and not Ham himself. Canaan clearly had nothing to do with the incident, and yet he and his progeny are condemned to serve as slaves for eternity, while Ham is not punished. This could be seen as paralleling the situation of many slaves who are innocent of any misdeed, yet forced into slavery nonetheless. Kidnapped slaves fall into this category, as do slaves spared from death in a war and abandoned children. To a certain extent, one could easily argue that children who are born into slavery are innocent and are therefore unjustly made to be slaves.

In Exodus, the second book of the Old Testament, there is another reference to slavery. Exodus 21: 2-11 deals with many aspects of slavery. It touches on the length a "Hebrew servant" would have to serve, stating that the slave would serve a term six years before being let go in the seventh year.

The subsequent verses

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>