February marks the national observance of Black History. A lot of events come to mind when I  think of Black History: from the Middle Passage, to Jim Crow, to the Emancipation Proclamation, to the many black slaves whose blood forged this nation and their indomitable spirits that fought against the odds that their bodies might be free.

It is true that the Bible speaks of slavery, but what the Israelites came out of in Egypt and what the slaves in America went through was never condoned by the Bible, although “seemingly” devout men and women used the Bible to justify this brutality.

This is what the Bible says about slavery: “In the Torah, kidnappers face the death penalty (Exodus 21:20). If a man seriously hurts his slave, the slave is to be immediately released (Exodus 21:26-27). If a slave is killed by his owner, the man faces the death penalty (Exodus 21:16).” [First Fruits of Zion]

“If you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve for six years; but on the seventh he shall go out as a free man without payment.” (Exodus 21:2)

God knew that once the Israelites reached the Promised Land that there would be the  poor, those captured by war,  and probably those who would have to sell themselves into bondage just to survive. He made stipulations for them in the Torah so that they would be protected.

It wasn’t until “seemingly” devout men and women minimized the validity of the Old Testament and tried to understand the New Testament apart from the Old. The result was obviously error. The result was Slavery in America.

The Egyptians did not know the God of the Old Testament. The “seemingly” devout men and women who justified slavery supposedly did know Him.

If we got the idea behind slavery wrong because we tried to interpret the New Testament by discrediting the Old (calling it useless and outdated and obsolete) what other principles/ideas/concepts have we gotten wrong?

It’s time to get back to the Source — to the document that first spoke of a coming Messiah — to the Document that the Messiah spoke of when He came — and to the Document that gives validity to the New. It’s time to get back to the Torah.