[Sorry, due to technical difficulties, the audio recording for this lesson is not available. -MRW]
Highlights from previous lesson about Abigail and David
- David sends men ahead to ask Nabal for some help.
- They’re snubbed, David and lineage insulted.
- David determined to avenge the insult via mass capital punishment.
- Abigail finds out and intercedes, David relents
- Abigail tells Nabal the next day and he goes catatonic – dies 10 days later
- David takes Abigail as his wife
Discussion
- Don’t procrastinate
- Be honest and don’t hide things from husband, wife, family member, etc.
- Don’t seek vengeance, leave it to God – Deuteronomy 32:35; Romans 12:19; Hebrews 10:30
- Could David’s throne have been destroyed by his transgression just as Saul’s throne had been?
- Saul’s reaction to sin
- David’s reaction to sin
- It is good and right for a woman to be decisive
- Courage is facing real fear rather than running from it
- You can respond to a fool without dishonesty or manipulation
- Speaking diplomatically can work better than being brash
- You can do so respectfully rather than patronizingly
- Abigail did not rely on her beauty to bail herself out
- Got on her knees and put her face in the dirt
- Her gentle, humble, respectful honesty dissuaded a young, brash warrior from an ill-conceived fight
- When action was the right thing to do, she disregarded the danger
- Could have just run off
- Could have thrown Nabal under the bus
- Her mainstay appeal was God’s righteousness
- You can do right no matter your marital or familial situation
- A woman can function properly and righteously in any situation
- Her beauty is mentioned, but it does not play into any real part of the situation
Onesimus
- Philemon 1:1-25
- What we know:
- Has Roman (Latin) name – maybe given that name as a slave
- Philemon’s slave – who’s run away
- Maybe took something from Philemon or owes him (Philemon 1:18-19)
- Was converted in Rome by Paul
- Was Paul’s valued helper
- As for Paul:
- Makes no excuses for Onesimus – realizes he did wrong
- All things must be made right
- What to do is up to Philemon
- Onesimus is now much more than a slave
- Had become useless to Philemon
- His usefulness is by proxy now
- Paul defers from his authority to Philemon’s heart
What are the implications of Paul’s letter?
- Converted slave – new kind of servitude
- Service to Christ is better when unhindered
- At the same time, not impossible or wrong
- Slavery was very much a fact of life in Rome during the first century
How did one become a slave under Roman law?
- Being captured during warfare and sold
- Being captured by pirates and sold
- Selling oneself into servitude to pay a debt
- Being born into slavery
Once a slave, what was the job?
- Found in every endeavor – household, government, business
- Domestic help was the most common
- Educated slaves taught children
- Some were cooks – specialty
- Even hairdressers
- Some took civic positions (just as Jews in Babylon)
- Librarians
- Government Administrators
At the other end of the scale
- Some did hard manual labor
- Jobs around large estates (senatorial class)
- Ag work
- Mine workers – high “turnover”
- Construction workers – like Israelites in Egypt
- The most unfortunate were pressed into work as prostitutes
Roman law enforce slavery – favored the owner over the slave
- Masters – life and death
- Runaway – harsh punishments
- Assault or kill master
- Often, death
- Also, deaths of associated slaves
How were they treated?
- Made economic sense – treat fairly
- Many gained allowances (peculium)
- Marrying
- Even made wills
- Property holders
- Some became close to master’s family members
- Cicero and Tiro – personal secretary
- Cicero’s brother: “I am truly thankful for what you have done with regard to Tiro, in judging his former status to be below what he deserved and preferring us to have him as a friend rather than a slave.”
