In ancient times, all persons conquered in battle were liable to be put
to death by the national laws then existing. If the conqueror suffered
the captive to escape death, imposing on him only the cutting off his
thumbs, hands, or ears; or, without these personal deformations,
subjecting him to slavery, as was often the case, especially when the
captive was of low grade,—it was ever regarded as an act of mercy in the
conqueror.
In the 17th verse of the thirty-first chapter of Numbers, Moses
commanded that “every male among the little ones, and every woman who
had known a man,” should be killed, even after they had been taken to
the Israelitish camp; and that none should be reserved for slaves,
except female children, of whom, it appears, there were thirty-two
thousand. The booty taken in this war, was distributed by Moses, in
conformity to the especial direction of God himself, as follows:—(Verse
25,) “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, (verse 26,) Take the sum of
the prey that was taken, _both_ of man and of beast, thou, and Eleazar
the priest, and the chief fathers of the congregation, (verse 28,) and
levy a tribute unto the Lord of the men of war which went out to battle:
one soul of five hundred, _both_ of the PERSONS, and of the beeves, and
of the asses, and of the sheep: (verse 29,) Take it of their half, and
give it unto Eleazar the priest, _for_ a heave-offering of the Lord.
(Verse 30,) And of the children of Israel’s half, thou shalt take one
portion of fifty of the PERSONS, of the beeves, of the asses, and of the
flocks, of all manner of beasts, and give them to the Levites which keep
the charge of the tabernacle of the Lord. (Verse 31,) And Moses and
Eleazar did as the Lord commanded Moses.”
Houbigant, in his commentary upon this chapter, has given us the
following
_Table of the distribution of the booty of this war_:
Sheep 675,000 { To the Soldiers 337,500 To the Lord 675
{ ” People 337,500 ” Levites 6,750
Beeves 72,000 { ” Soldiers 36,000 ” Lord 72
{ ” People 36,000 ” Levites 720
Asses 61,000 { ” Soldiers 30,500 ” Lord 61
{ ” People 30,500 ” Levites 610
Persons 32,000 { ” Soldiers 16,000 ” Lord 32
{ ” People 16,000 ” Levites 320
This table has been adopted by Dr. Adam Clark in his Commentary, to
which he adds—
“In this table the booty is equally divided between the people and the
soldiers; a five-hundredth part being given to the Lord, and a fiftieth
part to the Levites.” And this learned divine, in his commentary on the
28th verse, says—“And levy a tribute unto the Lord, one soul of five
hundred, &c. * * * The _persons_ to be employed in the Lord’s service,
under the Levites: the _cattle_ either for sacrifice or for the use of
the Levites. (Verse 30.) Some monsters have supposed that _one_ out of
every _five hundred_ of the captives was offered in sacrifice to the
Lord! But this is abominable. When God chose to have the life of a man,
he took it in the way of _justice_, as in the case of the Midianites
above; but never in the way of _sacrifice_.”
In the 29th verse, we learn that the Lord’s portion was to be given to
Eleazar the priest, “for a heave-offering of the Lord.” The word
_heave-offering_ is rendered from the word תְּר֥ווּמַ֖ת _terūmath_, from
the root רוּם _rūm_, which means a lifting up, exalting, elevation of
rank, while the form here used means a gift, a contribution, associated
with the idea of being lifted up, exalted, elevated to a higher
condition. Hence, when the priest presented a heave-offering, he moved
his censer upwards, in a perpendicular line, with the view to intimate
the elevating tendency resulting from the relation of the person
offering, the thing offered, and the one to whom it is offered; whereas,
in a wave-offering, he moved his censer in a horizontal line, intimating
a relation of steadfastness and unchangeability. Because the cross is
represented by perpendicular and horizontal lines, some early
commentators have imagined that the heave and wave-offerings were
typical of the cross of Christ. The word “heave,” as here used, is
purely Saxon; _heafan_, to lift, to raise, to move upward. We may well
say _to heave up_; but it is bad Saxon to say _heave down_. From this
same Saxon word comes our word _heaven_, on account of the notion of its
lofty location, and the elevating influence of the acts of him who shall
reach it; each act which makes us nearer heaven may not inappropriately
be considered a heave-offering to the Lord. The corollary is, that if
God had regarded the making these children slaves a sin,—since sin
always deteriorates and degrades, the reverse of elevation or lifting
up,—he never could have ordered any of them to be given to him as a
_heave-offering_.
We trust to establish the point that the enslavement of such people as
we find the African hordes now to be, to those who have a more correct
knowledge of God and his laws,—of those most wicked Midianites, to those
to whom God had most especially revealed himself,—must, so long as the
laws of God operate, have an elevating influence upon those so enslaved.
Thus we shall perceive that the Hebrew word translated into our old
Saxon _heave-offering_ was the most appropriate, and significant of the
facts of the case, that could be expressed by language.
Our received version of this chapter, which is a good translation of the
original, contains no word by which we directly express the idea of
slavery: so is it in the original. But we trust the readers of either
will not be found so awry as not to perceive that the idea and facts are
as fully and substantially developed as though those terms were used in
each.
In the most of languages, an idea, and facts in relation to it, may be
and are often expressed without the use of the name of the idea, and
sometimes of the facts. The Greek is well deemed a most particular and
definite language. In Thucydides, liber vii. caput 87, this sentence
occurs: ἔπειτα πλην Αθὴναιῶν, καὶ εἴτινες Σικελιωτῶν ἤ Ἰταλιωτῶν
ξυνεστρατευσαν, τοὺς ἄλλους ἀπέδοντο. Here, there is no word expressing
the idea of slavery. Literally, it is: “Then, except the Athenians, and
some of the Sicilians or Italians, who had engaged in the war, all
others were sold.” Yet Dr. Smith, the rector of Holy Trinity Church, in
Chester, England, who lived at an age beyond the reach of prejudice or
argument on the subject of slavery, (he was born in 1711,) has correctly
translated the passage thus: “But, after this term, all but the
Athenians, and such of the Sicilians and Italians as had joined with
them in the invasion, were sold out for slaves.” _Smith’s Thucyd._ p.
285.
And permit us further to inquire how the assertion of Mr. Barnes, page
117, that, “in the laws of Moses there is but _one_ way mentioned by
which a foreigner could be made a slave; that is, by purchase, _Lev._
xxv. 44; and it is remarkable that the Hebrews were not permitted to
make slaves of the captives taken in the war”—will compare with _Deut._
xx. 10–16:
“And when thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then
proclaim peace unto it.” * * * “And it shall be, if it make answer of
peace, and open unto thee, then it shall be, _that_ all the people
_that_ is found therein, shall be tributaries unto thee, and _shall
serve thee_” (וַֽעֲבָדֽוּךָ _va abaduka_, _shall be slaves to thee_).
“And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee,
then thou shalt besiege it.” “And when the hand of thy God hath
delivered it into thy hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with
the edge of the sword.” “But the women, and the little ones, and the
cattle, and all that is within the city, _even_ all the spoil thereof,
shalt thou take unto thyself and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine
enemies, which the Lord thy God hath given thee.” “Thus shalt thou do
unto all the cities _which are_ very far off from thee, which _are_ not
of the cities of those nations.”
It is evident that the captives here allowed to be made were to be
slaves, from what follows on the same subject, in the same book, xxi.
10–15: When thou goest forth to war against thine enemies, and the Lord
thy God hath delivered them into thy hands, and thou hast taken them
captive, and seest among the captives a beautiful woman, and hast a
desire unto her, that thou wouldst have her to thy wife: then thou shalt
bring her home to thy house, and she shall shave her head and pare her
nails: and she shall put the raiment of her captivity from off her, and
shall remain in thy house, and bewail her father and her mother a full
month: and after that, thou shalt go in unto her, and be her husband,
and she shall be thy wife. And it shall be, if thou have no delight in
her, then thou shalt let her go whither she will; but thou shalt not
sell her at all for money: thou shalt not make merchandise of her,
because thou hast humbled her.”
Thus the fact is proved, that if he had not thus made her his wife, she
would have been his slave and an article of merchandise.
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