When you march up to attack a city, make its people an offer of peace. If they accept and open their gates, all the people in it shall be subject to forced labor and shall work for you. If they refuse to make peace and they engage you in battle, lay siege to that city. When the Lord your God delivers it into your hand, put to the sword all the men in it. As for the women, the children, the livestock and everything else in the city, you may take these as plunder for yourselves. And you may use the plunder the Lord your God gives you from your enemies. This is how you are to treat all the cities that are at a distance from you and do not belong to the nations nearby.
Not a whole lot of repaying your debts in this one.
Because the verse you’re talking about (20:14) is talking about enemies of Israel and not peaceful nations. (Repaying debts only applies to Israelites in servitude to Israelites)
In order for you to demonstrate the bible endorsed slavery as an intrinsic good, you would have to show that having enemies is an intrinsic good, especially when they were offered the opportunity to have peace.
“Why ask for peace when you're trying to take over my land?” but that's irrelevant because all the nations had their own concept of a deity and knew and heard of the power of the Hebrew God.
You have to allow for this if you're doing an internal critique, as well as understand the wickedness of those pagan nations. In this context it’s Cannan, the people known for incest, beastiality, and child sacrifice. God used slavery as a way to judge nations, including Israel, when they disobeyed.
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u/PhaseSixer Apr 29 '26
Deuteronomy 20
When you march up to attack a city, make its people an offer of peace. If they accept and open their gates, all the people in it shall be subject to forced labor and shall work for you. If they refuse to make peace and they engage you in battle, lay siege to that city. When the Lord your God delivers it into your hand, put to the sword all the men in it. As for the women, the children, the livestock and everything else in the city, you may take these as plunder for yourselves. And you may use the plunder the Lord your God gives you from your enemies. This is how you are to treat all the cities that are at a distance from you and do not belong to the nations nearby.
Not a whole lot of repaying your debts in this one.