Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1852-04-07
FOR THE spEcrAToR.
Letters TO Northern UniOnists on
tile Scripture View of Slavery.
LETTER NO. I2.

WEST VIRGINIA, March, lo0I'
.Slarery in The Heb'ew COmmon~eahh.-
.Mid;anites enslarcd.-INe Gibeonites.-
Treatment Of ihe subject by Samue1.-Sla
perv and fugii,ves in The time Of David.-
Inst siruciion of Solomon Three ansarer'
TO the objection, that The argument couln
justify polygamy.
RESPECTED FRIENDs,-Having examin.
ed the provisions of the Mosaic law re-
specting slavery, we now proceed TO take
some notice of the institution as it existed
under ihe operation ofthat law. But short
period elapsed between the giving of he law
upon Sinai,& the acquisition Of slaves by the
Israel tes,in accordance with the explicit di-
rections of God himself. By his command
they made war upon the Midianites and
took large amount of booty, consisting OF
sheep beeves, asses and persons, Mum. 81:
1-35. Booty, spoil or prey is property ia.
ken IN war; this is the proper meaning OF
The Hebrew terms used in verses II, II, 26,
3d. as we'll as of the English words by which
they are translated. The persons then, 80,
600 in number, were considered as property;
they were cap:ivated in order to be enslav-
ed. The whole booty was distributed a.
mong the people, IN conformity with the ex-
press Injunction of Cod VS.. 25-47 In this
distribution, 80 slaves were given TO Flea
zer the high priest, probably TO be divided
among the whole body of priests and 800
slaves were given to. "the Levites, which
kept the charge of the tabernacle of the
Lord" Thus we see, that not only were
tie ministers of religion allowed by law to
hold slaves, but God provided, in special
manner, that they should be furnished with
this species of property. This took place
before the death of Moses.
Before the conquest of Canaan was COM
pleted under the direction of Joshua, the
Gibeonites were reduced to state OF abb
iect bondage, which was TO be perpetual
Joshua says to them, Josh. 8: %; "There
shall none of you be freed from being bond
men, and hcwers of wood and drawers of
water" Now if slavery be inconsistent
with the 'unalienable rights Of man, on
what principle of justice could the Hebrews
be authorized to hold in that state both them
and their children' 1t is probable that a.
bout this time the Israelites acquired
many more bondmen, from "the heather
that were round about" them, in accordance
with the provision Of their law. Tine best
men in the nation, in the time Of the Jud-
ges, were shareholders. Gideon is an ex-
ample, the term amah being applied TO one
of his domestics, Judg. 9: IS. Boaz, a
pattern of everything which is good, IS a.
mother example. The words shiphchah, na-
ar and naarah are applied 10 his servants,
Ruth 2: S, 6, 8, g. 13, %, %.
In the time of Samuel, when the people
wished to make king, the prophet endeav-
ored to dissuade them from their purpose; |;
and in telling them what would bethe man.
ner of the king, he said, l Sam, 8: 10.
"And he will take your men-servants and
your maid-servants, s. your goodiest young
men. and your asses and put them to his
work." The original words applied to SER
wants in this text are ebed and shiphchah-
1t hence appears that slavery was then COM
mon; and that Samuel considered the fear
of losing their slave property fit motive
to be addressed, to induce the people to re-
linquish their design of making king
But had the possession of slaves been in
itself sinful, it would have i'll become a
prophet of the Lord to appeal to the desire
of continuing n the sin, as an induccmcnt
to any particular course of conduct.
When David sent to Nabal, requesting
supplies for himself and his followers, he
received the abusive answer-'Who is Da-
vid? and who is the son of Jesse? There
be many servants nowadays that break a.
way every man from his MASTER SAM,
25 10. Nabal was bad man. but he could
have no motive to falsify as to the fact that
fugitive slaves were numerous. He certain
ly intended no compliment to David when
he compared him to one. The language
shows that such fugitiyes we're regarded as
mean and desricable class of people, as
they are now regarded at the South. Nei-
ther the law nor public sentiment intcrpo-
sed any obstacle in the way of their recov-
cry by their masters !; for we are informed,
that soon after the death Of David, "two OF
the servants OF Shimei ran away unto A
chish king of Gath, "and Sinner went and
brought his servants from Gath" Kings
9: SO, 40. David himself became an own
er of slaves by his marriage with Abigail;
if he was not such before, which he very
probably was. The terms naar and nadrah
are applied to her servants Sam. 25: 49,,
AZ. When David took Mephlbosheth the
son of Jonathan under his special care, he
directed Ziba with his twenty servants
ebedim to take his land for him, 2 Sam.
g: 10. It is indeed true, that the man of
whom God said, 81 have found David a
man after mine own heart, did commit
some great sins. But it should be observed
that he confessed those sins, and mourned
over them in bitterness of soul: but We
never hear of his weeping any penitental
tears over the sin of slavery. For further
proof of the prevalence of slavery in his
time, see Sam. 6 90, 22 in both ofwhlch
verses, the term amah is used.
Solomon says, Eccl. 2:7, [according TO
the Hebrew Il got me bondmen and bond
women. and had home born slaves" He
levied "a tribute of bond-service" upon the
Canaanites I. Kings 9: 81. He speaks of
slave property as desirable, Prov. 10: g.
"He that is despised, and hath servant
Gebed1 is better than he that honoreth him.
self and lacketh bread" This could not
be true if slaveholding we're sinful, or if
slaves were held only for their own benefit.
He gives some very wise and useful direct
ions for the management of slaves, Prov.
%: 2l. "He that delicately bringeth up
his servant, [ebed, from child, shall have
him become his son at the length" If SER
wants are TOO much indulged. they will "get
above themselves" they will not "know
their place" Again, v. 10, "a servant will
not be corrected BY words: for though he