In this video listen to Exodus 21 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer.

In Exodus 21 we start the second half of Exodus now getting into a lot of laws. In the last chapter we saw the moral law, the ten commandments, and now a lot of civil and criminal law is going to follow. Later in Leviticus we will see Ceremonial law.

The first set of laws seem to be about slavery, and some people condemn the Bible for seeming to be pro-slavery. Does God condone slavery?

Actually the entire book of Exodus is about freeing slaves from Pharaoh. Plus, the entire Bible picutre is about Christ freeing people from slavery to sin. What must be understood is the culture of the day, and the Bible’s intent, not God’s overall position.

The slavery here is temporary indenturerd servitude, a type of forerunner to our mo ...