Justice and Righteousness in the Old Testament : Reflecting on Slavery in the Hebrew Bible

Abstract

This book combines two closely related research interests that have not yet received sufficient recognition: The investigation of justice in the Hebrew Bible and the position of male and female slaves within it. Justice in the ancient Near East and in the Old Testament is of a transcendent quality that precedes God and humans alike. In this worldview, the link between act and consequence is constitutive, but slaves are excluded as mere property.