Next the Holy Spirit caused his
servant to turn his prophetic eye towards Gaza. You’re probably familiar with
the Philistines from the book of Judges (that’s who many of the Judges, like
Samson, fought), and Gaza was one of their main commercial centers. Ashdod,
Ashkelon, and Ekron were the other three main cities of Philistia.
Apparently some men made a business
out of raiding villages in southern Judah and selling their captives to
neighboring Edom. For this sin, the “one that broke the camel’s back,” the Lord
was going to do to them what he did to Damascus: He would set fire to their
walls and their fortresses, the military resources in which they placed their
trust. He'd destroy their king, the national symbol of their might.
We’ve discussed
slavery before, so I won’t go too much into the moral issues that are involved.
Let’s just go over a few of the basics: The Lord hates slavery, not least because it
degrades the image we all bear. To treat someone who bears the image of God
Almighty like an animal or a thing is to completely disregard this truth. His ultimate plan has never been for anyone to be held as slaves and thus be
treated as animals or things.
True, once again we have to face the
world as it was and is, not as we’d like it to be. Slavery has always been a
sad reality of human existence. However, most people in slavery back then were
captured as prisoners of war. It’s certainly far less than God’s ideal for
humanity, but if a nation went to war against a nation, what was it supposed to
do with the survivors? Much of the time the choice was to let them go (and see
them come back in the next battle), keep them as slaves of some sort, or kill
them.
But as bad as keeping slaves as
prisoners of war was, this was far far worse. These were slave raiders. They
invaded villages and kidnapped people to be sold into slavery, which actually
is a lot closer to American slavery than most of what you read about in the Old
Testament.
What about today? Slavery is
outlawed worldwide, thanks mostly to the Bible (the rallying text of
abolitionists for more than 200 years). Those countries which do practice it in
secret certainly don’t advertise that fact to the world. All of humanity
finally realizes—at least in theory—how wrong it is to buy, sell, and own
people like animals or things.
But have we really learned this
lesson? Have we really understood the impact of this radical statement: “Every
single person is created in God’s image and bears his mark, and thus is to be
treated with dignity and respect according to that truth.”?
What about a multi-billion dollar
industry of pornography which sees women and men as things to be bought and
sold? What about legalized prostitution which sees nothing wrong with selling a girl’s body? Trust me, the vast majority of women
and young girls who are prostitutes are not in this sick industry willingly.
Christians might legitimately disagree about the role of government regarding personal behavior. But even if we
disagree on the legality of things like prostitution and pornography, can we at
least agree on the degrading nature of it, that it treats precious creatures
who bear his image as things, something to be bought, sold, used, and
discarded?
Truth is painful, sometimes, isn’t
it?
Father God, I can’t claim total
innocence in this matter. I try, I really try to keep my thoughts pure before
you. May my thoughts and my eyes bring honor, glory, and pleasure to you.
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