May 23rd, 2007 Onesimus
I’m hoping someone out there can help me understand something. In light of this:
You shall not give up to his master a slave who has escaped from his master to you. He shall dwell with you, in your midst, in the place that he shall choose within one of your towns, wherever it suits him. You shall not wrong him.
Deuteronomy 23:15-16 [show]<div class="esv"><h2>Deuteronomy 23:15-16 <object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://www.esvapi.org/assets/play.swf?myUrl=hw%2F05023015-05023016" width="40" height="12" class="audio"><param name="movie" value="http://www.esvapi.org/assets/play.swf?myUrl=hw%2F05023015-05023016" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /></object></h2> <div class="esv-text"><h3 id="p05023015.01-1">Miscellaneous Laws</h3> <p id="p05023015.03-1"><span class="verse-num" id="v05023015-1">15 </span>“You shall not give up to his master a slave who has escaped from his master to you. <span class="verse-num" id="v05023016-1">16 </span>He shall dwell with you, in your midst, in the place that he shall choose within one of your towns, wherever it suits him. You shall not wrong him. (<a href="http://www.esv.org" class="copyright">ESV</a>)</p> </div> </div>
Why did Paul give up Onesimus to his master (see Philemon 8-16 [show]<div class="esv"><h2>Philemon 1:8-16 <object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://www.esvapi.org/assets/play.swf?myUrl=hw%2F57001008-57001016" width="40" height="12" class="audio"><param name="movie" value="http://www.esvapi.org/assets/play.swf?myUrl=hw%2F57001008-57001016" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /></object></h2>
<div class="esv-text"><h3 id="p57001008.01-1">Paul's Plea for Onesimus</h3>
<p id="p57001008.05-1"><span class="verse-num" id="v57001008-1">8 </span>Accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required, <span class="verse-num" id="v57001009-1">9 </span>yet for love's sake I prefer to appeal to you—I, Paul, an old man and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus— <span class="verse-num" id="v57001010-1">10 </span>I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus,<span class="footnote"> <a href="#f1" id="b1" title="'Onesimus' means 'useful' (see verse 11) or 'beneficial' (see verse 20)">[1]</a></span> whose father I became in my imprisonment. <span class="verse-num" id="v57001011-1">11 </span>(Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me.) <span class="verse-num" id="v57001012-1">12 </span>I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart. <span class="verse-num" id="v57001013-1">13 </span>I would have been glad to keep him with me, in order that he might serve me on your behalf during my imprisonment for the gospel, <span class="verse-num" id="v57001014-1">14 </span>but I preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion but of your own accord. <span class="verse-num" id="v57001015-1">15 </span>For this perhaps is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back forever, <span class="verse-num" id="v57001016-1">16 </span>no longer as a slave<span class="footnote"> <a href="#f2" id="b2" title="Greek 'bondservant'; twice in this verse">[2]</a></span> but more than a slave, as a beloved brother—especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord. (<a href="http://www.esv.org" class="copyright">ESV</a>)</p>
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<div class="footnotes">
<h3>Footnotes</h3>
<p><span class="footnote"><a href="#b1" id="f1">[1]</a></span> <span class="footnote-ref">1:10</span> <em>Onesimus</em> means <em>useful</em> (see verse 11) or <em>beneficial</em> (see verse 20)
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<span class="footnote"><a href="#b2" id="f2">[2]</a></span> <span class="footnote-ref">1:16</span> Greek <em>bondservant</em>; twice in this verse
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)? Was it to make restitution for the theft which appears to have taken place?
May 24th, 2007 at 7:10 am
Could it be that because Onesimus had stolen from Philemon, Paul knew restitution of some sort was necessary? (I’m assuming that Paul is talking about theft of something material, not just the value of a slave.) I’m reading through NTW’s treatment of Philemon in his Paul for Everyone series, but I don’t think he addresses your concern – I’ll look more carefully.
May 24th, 2007 at 7:45 am
A senior moment – Reading your entry again to the end I see you already suggested the answer I offered above, and using the same language. However, I would add that possibly Paul felt that reconciliation was needed because now master and run-away slave were now brothers in Christ.
May 24th, 2007 at 8:34 am
Mom, I wasn’t going to comment on your first comment, other than to say great minds think alike.
May 24th, 2007 at 2:30 pm
I was going to say that it doe seems to be the Gospel that leads Paul to “turn in” Onesimus. It also suggests that the Gospel affects social structures like slavery. The Gospel doesn’t do away with slavery here but it does affect it. Sure, Philemon and Onesimus can/will still be master-slave, respectively, but trumping that construct is the story of the Gospel.
May 24th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
You’re too kind!
May 24th, 2007 at 3:12 pm
Look at 1 Corinthians 7:21 [show]<div class="esv"><h2>1 Corinthians 7:21 <object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://www.esvapi.org/assets/play.swf?myUrl=hw%2F46007021" width="40" height="12" class="audio"><param name="movie" value="http://www.esvapi.org/assets/play.swf?myUrl=hw%2F46007021" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /></object></h2>
. Does this include escape? If so, it echoes the premise of the Deuteronomy passage. Yet we know slaves are commended to serve their masters as unto the Lord, and all the more if their masters are Christians. That doesn’t seem to be compatible with escaping.
<div class="esv-text"><p id="p46007021.01-1"><span class="verse-num" id="v46007021-1">21 </span>Were you a slave<span class="footnote"> <a href="#f1" id="b1" title="Greek 'bondservant'; also twice in verse 22 and once in verse 23 (plural)">[1]</a></span> when called? Do not be concerned about it. (But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.) (<a href="http://www.esv.org" class="copyright">ESV</a>)</p>
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<div class="footnotes">
<h3>Footnotes</h3>
<p><span class="footnote"><a href="#b1" id="f1">[1]</a></span> <span class="footnote-ref">7:21</span> Greek <em>bondservant</em>; also twice in verse 22 and once in verse 23 (plural)
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At the same time, I don’t understand how escaping was a good thing in the Old Testament either given the broader case law, so Deuteronomy 23 [show]<div class="esv"><h2>Deuteronomy 23 <object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://www.esvapi.org/assets/play.swf?myUrl=hw%2F05023001-05023025" width="40" height="12" class="audio"><param name="movie" value="http://www.esvapi.org/assets/play.swf?myUrl=hw%2F05023001-05023025" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /></object></h2>
really jumped out at me.
<div class="esv-text"><h3 id="p05023001.01-1">Those Excluded from the Assembly</h3>
<p id="p05023001.06-1"><span class="chapter-num" id="v05023001-1">23:1 </span>“No one whose testicles are crushed or whose male organ is cut off shall enter the assembly of the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span>.</p>
<p class="chapter-first" id="p05023002.01-1"><span class="verse-num" id="v05023002-1">2 </span>“No one born of a forbidden union may enter the assembly of the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span>. Even to the tenth generation, none of his descendants may enter the assembly of the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span>.</p>
<p id="p05023003.01-1"><span class="verse-num" id="v05023003-1">3 </span>“No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the assembly of the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span>. Even to the tenth generation, none of them may enter the assembly of the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span> forever, <span class="verse-num" id="v05023004-1">4 </span>because they did not meet you with bread and with water on the way, when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you. <span class="verse-num" id="v05023005-1">5 </span>But the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span> your God would not listen to Balaam; instead the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span> your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span> your God loved you. <span class="verse-num" id="v05023006-1">6 </span>You shall not seek their peace or their prosperity all your days forever.</p>
<p id="p05023007.01-1"><span class="verse-num" id="v05023007-1">7 </span>“You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother. You shall not abhor an Egyptian, because you were a sojourner in his land. <span class="verse-num" id="v05023008-1">8 </span>Children born to them in the third generation may enter the assembly of the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span>.</p>
<h3 id="p05023009.01-1">Uncleanness in the Camp</h3>
<p id="p05023009.05-1"><span class="verse-num" id="v05023009-1">9 </span>“When you are encamped against your enemies, then you shall keep yourself from every evil thing.</p>
<p id="p05023010.01-1"><span class="verse-num" id="v05023010-1">10 </span>“If any man among you becomes unclean because of a nocturnal emission, then he shall go outside the camp. He shall not come inside the camp, <span class="verse-num" id="v05023011-1">11 </span>but when evening comes, he shall bathe himself in water, and as the sun sets, he may come inside the camp.</p>
<p id="p05023012.01-1"><span class="verse-num" id="v05023012-1">12 </span>“You shall have a place outside the camp, and you shall go out to it. <span class="verse-num" id="v05023013-1">13 </span>And you shall have a trowel with your tools, and when you sit down outside, you shall dig a hole with it and turn back and cover up your excrement. <span class="verse-num" id="v05023014-1">14 </span>Because the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span> your God walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you and to give up your enemies before you, therefore your camp must be holy, so that he may not see anything indecent among you and turn away from you.</p>
<h3 id="p05023015.01-1">Miscellaneous Laws</h3>
<p id="p05023015.03-1"><span class="verse-num" id="v05023015-1">15 </span>“You shall not give up to his master a slave who has escaped from his master to you. <span class="verse-num" id="v05023016-1">16 </span>He shall dwell with you, in your midst, in the place that he shall choose within one of your towns, wherever it suits him. You shall not wrong him.</p>
<p id="p05023017.01-1"><span class="verse-num" id="v05023017-1">17 </span>“None of the daughters of Israel shall be a cult prostitute, and none of the sons of Israel shall be a cult prostitute. <span class="verse-num" id="v05023018-1">18 </span>You shall not bring the fee of a prostitute or the wages of a dog<span class="footnote"> <a href="#f1" id="b1" title="Or 'male prostitute'">[1]</a></span> into the house of the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span> your God in payment for any vow, for both of these are an abomination to the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span> your God.</p>
<p id="p05023019.01-1"><span class="verse-num" id="v05023019-1">19 </span>“You shall not charge interest on loans to your brother, interest on money, interest on food, interest on anything that is lent for interest. <span class="verse-num" id="v05023020-1">20 </span>You may charge a foreigner interest, but you may not charge your brother interest, that the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span> your God may bless you in all that you undertake in the land that you are entering to take possession of it.</p>
<p id="p05023021.01-1"><span class="verse-num" id="v05023021-1">21 </span>“If you make a vow to the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span> your God, you shall not delay fulfilling it, for the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span> your God will surely require it of you, and you will be guilty of sin. <span class="verse-num" id="v05023022-1">22 </span>But if you refrain from vowing, you will not be guilty of sin. <span class="verse-num" id="v05023023-1">23 </span>You shall be careful to do what has passed your lips, for you have voluntarily vowed to the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span> your God what you have promised with your mouth.</p>
<p id="p05023024.01-1"><span class="verse-num" id="v05023024-1">24 </span>“If you go into your neighbor's vineyard, you may eat your fill of grapes, as many as you wish, but you shall not put any in your bag. <span class="verse-num" id="v05023025-1">25 </span>If you go into your neighbor's standing grain, you may pluck the ears with your hand, but you shall not put a sickle to your neighbor's standing grain. (<a href="http://www.esv.org" class="copyright">ESV</a>)</p>
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<div class="footnotes">
<h3>Footnotes</h3>
<p><span class="footnote"><a href="#b1" id="f1">[1]</a></span> <span class="footnote-ref">23:18</span> Or <em>male prostitute</em>
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Which brings me to my next question: Was Paul obligating Philemon to free Onesimus? In Israel, Israelite slaves were to be freed every Sabbath year (every seventh year), and they were not to be sent out empty handed. Thus, when Onesimus returned to Philemon as a Christian brother, was Philemon now obligated to send him out a free man (and with provisions) at some point in the near future? Onesimus’ theft would stand in the way, but Paul very clearly wants that debt out of the way.
May 25th, 2007 at 8:06 pm
Could it be that the law of the land (Roman, right?) in Paul’s day was not in accord with Deuteronomy, and thus mandated returning a slave? Paul and Onesimus, subject to the authority of the civil authority, would have obeyed that mandate?
May 25th, 2007 at 9:22 pm
Rollin, that sounds right to me. Thanks!