Texts in Conversation
Deuteronomy 23 forbids returning a runaway slave to his master and grants him refuge. Paul’s letter to Philemon ignores this command, sending Onesimus back to his slaveholder and asking only that he be welcomed as a brother.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Deuteronomy 23:15
Hebrew Bible
14 For the Lord your God walks about in the middle of your camp to deliver you and defeat your enemies for you. Therefore your camp should be holy, so that he does not see anything indecent among you and turn away from you. 15 You must not return an escaped slave to his master when he has run away to you. 16 Indeed, he may live among you in any place he chooses, in whichever of your villages he prefers; you must not oppress him.
Philemon 1:12
New Testament
10 I am appealing to you concerning my child, whose spiritual father I have become during my imprisonment, that is, Onesimus, 11 who was formerly useless to you, but is now useful to you and me. 12 I have sent him (who is my very heart) back to you. 13 I wanted to keep him with me so that he could serve me in your place during my imprisonment for the sake of the gospel.
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Notes and References
... The Deuteronomic law runs as follows: ‘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 which he shall choose within one of your towns, where it pleases him best; you shall not oppress him’ (Deuteronomy 23:15-16). This is unparalleled in the legislation of the ancient Near East, where severe sanctions (even the death penalty, as in Law 16 of Hammurabi’s code) were imposed on anyone harbouring a runaway slave. The Israelites had good reason to know that God cared for runaway slaves. To Paul this enactment carried divine authority; even so, he would not invoke it without Philemon’s consent, preferring Philemon to act like a Christian of his own free will ...
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