Today’s passage is one of the clearest indictments of the way slavery was practiced in the Antebellum South. After all, Paul makes it clear that all ethnic and socio-economic distinctions have been dissolved within the Church (Galatians 3:28). Thus, those who share faith in Jesus are not only our countrymen but our brothers and sisters – indeed, part of the same Body of Christ (Romans 12:4).

Now, many of the enslaved people in the United States did become Christians. In fact, there was a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the enslaved community in Southwest Mississippi during the 1850’s, with the result that many of the Presbyterian churches actually had a majority of black members. So, according to verse 39, once they became their masters’ countrymen, their brothers and sisters, they should no longer have been treated as slaves – in fact, they and their children should have been set free after 6 years of service (Leviticus 25:41; see also Exodus 21:3).

But let’s face it – all slavery wasn’t abolished by the 13th Amendment. After the War Between the States, many Southern farmers, both black and white, soon found themselves in a different kind of bondage, as declining cotton prices made it impossible for them to settle their annual debts with the merchants who provided their seed and supplies. And this kind of debt slavery continues today, as payday loans and credit cards charge ruinous rates of interest, contrary to Moses’ instructions in verse 36. In fact, just before COVID hit, Americans owed $4.2 trillion in debt not related to housing, with the average credit card balance in Mississippi being $5,134.

So, what can we do about this? We should “sustain” poor people (verse 35), but with the goal of helping them gain economic independence (verse 41). Moreover, instead of looking down on the poor, we should consider them our countrymen, our equals (verse 36). After all, those who trust in Christ are not our servants, but the servants of God (verse 42) – so we must treat them with respect.

Now, Christians often differ on which sorts of public and economic policies can best advance these goals on the Federal or state level. But perhaps the more important question for each of us is this: how can we help the poor around us, in our own communities today? How can we help them come to faith in Christ, and get back on their feet? After all, this is not only a good way to show our love for one another, but to revere the Lord and Master of us all (v. 43).

Leviticus 25:35-46 (NASB)

35 ‘Now in case a countryman of yours becomes poor and his means with regard to you falter, then you are to sustain him, like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you.
36 ‘Do not take usurious interest from him, but revere your God, that your countryman may live with you.
37 ‘You shall not give him your silver at interest, nor your food for gain.
38 ‘I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.
39 ‘And if a countryman of yours becomes so poor with regard to you that he sells himself to you, you shall not subject him to a slave’s service.
40 ‘He shall be with you as a hired man, as if he were a sojourner; he shall serve with you until the year of jubilee.
41 ‘He shall then go out from you, he and his sons with him, and shall go back to his family, that he may return to the property of his forefathers.
42 ‘For they are My servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt; they are not to be sold in a slave sale.
43 ‘You shall not rule over him with severity, but are to revere your God.
44 ‘As for your male and female slaves whom you may have– you may acquire male and female slaves from the pagan nations that are around you.
45 ‘Then, too, it is out of the sons of the sojourners who live as aliens among you that you may gain acquisition, and out of their families who are with you, whom they will have produced in your land; they also may become your possession.
46 ‘You may even bequeath them to your sons after you, to receive as a possession; you can use them as permanent slaves. But in respect to your countrymen, the sons of Israel, you shall not rule with severity over one another.