Leviticus 25:35-55 details how Israel was to think about hired hands and slavery between Israelites. The principle is in 25:39-40, "If your brother becomes poor beside you and sells himself to you, you shall not make him serve as a slave: he shall be with you as a hired servant and as a sojourner. He shall serve with you until the year of jubilee."
Why? Not because humanness requires autonomy. Precisely opposite, to be human is to be dependent. However, slavery is a false dependence. God holds the right to our servitude. He is Sustainer and Lord. 25:55, "For it is to me that the people of Israel are servants. They are my servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God."
Jesus picks up on this in Matthew 23:8-11, "But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called teachers, for you have one teacher, the Christ. The greatest among you shall be your servant."
Paul, too, teaches Philemon that brotherhood trumps ownership. He is to receive Onesimus "no longer as a slave but more than a slave, as a beloved brother" (v. 16).
The Lord knows how easily we are influenced by our circumstances. Accordingly, he desires that our circumstances would accord with eternal reality. Slavery is a false reality. Consider how American Slavery influenced American thought. Black people were viewed (and often viewed themselves) less than human, property like cattle, not persons created in the image of God. This is one among myriad reasons societal and family oppression, even peaceful oppression, should be put down. The wicked lordship of wicked men eclipses the ultimate and true (and good) Lordship of Jesus Christ. Society's structures are to image God not obstruct him.
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