Dec 17, 2007
Slavery & The Ten Commandments
I've just now started this book, the personal narratives of two ex-slaves, including teen aged Alabama slave Wallace Turnage, who escapes to Union ships in Mobile Bay. Author David W. Blight described Tunrage and John Washington as "quiet heroes of a war within the war to destroy slavery". I'll write a review after I've finished, but the subject matter and the Mobile connection has me thinking again about an issue I've raised in FTR interviews in the past. Perhaps this blog will be the place where I can get a satisfactory answer. When the Dead Sea Scroll exhibit was underway in Mobile, there was a placard above one tiny piece of parchment listing the Ten Commandments, including the 10Th, with the translation running something like this: "You shall not covet your neighbor's house, your neighbor's wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor"...
The question I've asked is this: how could a message directly from God not identify slavery as wrong...as opposed to only coveting your neighbor's slaves? Was slavery acceptable then but not now? Please leave comments!