In the Bible, a “manservant” refers to a male servant or slave who is often owned by a master and tasked with various responsibilities within the household (Exodus 21:2-6). This term reflects the social hierarchies and practices of ancient times, where such servants were integral to the functioning of a household.
Scripture
1 “Now these are the rules that you shall set before them.”
2 When you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free, for nothing.
3 If he comes in single, he shall go out single; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him.
4 If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out alone.
5 But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’
6 then his master shall bring him to God, and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his slave forever.
7 “When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do.”
8 If she does not please her master, who has designated her for himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has broken faith with her.
9 And if he designates her for his son, he shall deal with her as with a daughter.
10 If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, or her marital rights.
11 When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do.
Biblical Definition of Manservant
In the biblical context, the term “manservant” embodies more than just the role of a male servant or slave; it represents the complex social structures, economic realities, and moral considerations of ancient societies. According to Exodus 21:2-6, a manservant was typically a Hebrew slave who, after six years of service, was given the choice to remain with his master or go free. This provision reflects a balance of rights and obligations, illustrating a form of socio-economic justice that expects masters to treat their servants with respect and dignity. The biblical instructions regarding manservants establish an ethical framework that emphasizes care for the vulnerable and mitigates abuses associated with servitude, as seen in Leviticus 25:39-40, which admonishes against treating fellow Hebrews with harshness.
Furthermore, the notion of a manservant ties into the overarching biblical theme of servitude and stewardship, where the faithful are called to serve one another in love, as articulated in Galatians 5:13. The New Testament expands this concept, highlighting Jesus’ teachings on servanthood. In Mark 10:43-45, Christ declares that greatness in the Kingdom of God is marked by servitude rather than dominance, suggesting that all believers, regardless of status, are called to serve humbly. Thus, the biblical portrayal of manservants prompts deeper reflection on the Christian ethos of love, service, and equality, challenging contemporary readers to rethink their relationships with others and the structures of power in their own lives.
The biblical understanding of a manservant also intersects with deeper theological principles regarding human relationships and divine expectations. In the Hebrew Bible, the role of a manservant is often seen as a reflection of not only societal norms but also of God’s desire for community and mutual care among His people. The relationship between a master and a manservant is meant to transcend mere economic transactions, embodying an ethos of responsibility that is rooted in the idea that all individuals, regardless of their social standing, are created in the image of God. This theological perspective is crucial, as it elevates the status of servants and reminds masters of their moral obligations toward those who serve them.
Moreover, the concept of manservants can also be connected to the themes of redemption and hope found throughout scripture. The prophetic literature often speaks to the liberation of the oppressed, emphasizing God’s concern for the marginalized, including manservants. This is evident in the call for justice and the potential for new beginnings, highlighting that servitude is not the end of a person’s story but part of a larger narrative of restoration and divine intervention. Such themes challenge the cultural acceptance of servitude and compel a reevaluation of human dignity and worth, encouraging believers to advocate for systems that foster equity and freedom for all. This holistic view of manservanthood thus invites believers to see servanthood not only as a societal role but as a vital reflection of divine purpose and community ethics.
The Role of Service in Community
The biblical definition of a manservant extends beyond mere servitude; it embodies the concept of service within a community. In ancient times, manservants were often seen as integral members of a household, contributing to the well-being and functioning of the family unit. This role highlights the importance of mutual support and cooperation among individuals, emphasizing that service to others is a vital aspect of communal life. The idea of being a manservant reflects a commitment to the welfare of others, fostering a sense of belonging and shared responsibility.
The Reflection of Humility and Leadership
Another broader meaning of the term manservant is its association with humility and the nature of true leadership. In biblical contexts, the role of a manservant often required individuals to put the needs of others before their own, demonstrating a selfless attitude. This concept challenges conventional views of power and authority, suggesting that true leaders are those who serve rather than dominate. The manservant’s role serves as a model for humility, illustrating that greatness in the eyes of God is often found in acts of service and the willingness to uplift others.
The Spiritual Dimension of Servanthood
The biblical definition of a manservant also carries a spiritual dimension, representing a deeper relationship with God through the act of serving others. This perspective emphasizes that serving is not merely a physical act but a spiritual calling that aligns with divine principles. By embodying the qualities of a manservant, individuals can cultivate virtues such as compassion, kindness, and love, which are central to spiritual growth. This understanding encourages believers to view their service as an expression of their faith, reinforcing the idea that serving others is a pathway to fulfilling God’s purpose in their lives.
How to Embrace Servitude for a Christ-like Life
Embracing servitude in your journey as a Christian is truly about embodying the heart of Christ, who came not to be served but to serve (Mark 10:45). Start by shifting your perspective—view every interaction as an opportunity to reflect His love and grace. This could mean volunteering your time at a local shelter, offering a listening ear to a friend in need, or simply being present for your family. Remember, servitude isn’t just about grand gestures; it’s often found in the small, everyday acts of kindness and humility. Pray for a heart that seeks to serve, and ask God to open your eyes to the needs around you. As you step out in faith, you’ll find that serving others not only brings joy to their lives but also deepens your own relationship with Christ, transforming you into a vessel of His love in a world that desperately needs it.
Bible References to Manservants Explained:
Leviticus 25:39-55: 39 “If your brother becomes poor beside you and sells himself to you, you shall not make him serve as a slave.
40 They shall be with you as hired workers and sojourners. They shall serve you until the year of the jubilee.
41 then he shall go out from you, he and his children with him, and go back to his own clan and return to the possession of his fathers.
42 For they are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as slaves.
43 You shall not rule over him ruthlessly but shall fear your God.
44 As for your male and female slaves whom you may have: you may buy male and female slaves from among the nations that are around you.
45 You may also buy from among the strangers who sojourn with you and their clans that are with you, who have been born in your land, and they may be your property.
46 You may bequeath them to your sons after you to inherit as a possession forever. You may make slaves of them, but over your brothers the people of Israel you shall not rule, one over another ruthlessly.
47 “If a stranger or sojourner with you becomes rich, and your brother beside him becomes poor and sells himself to the stranger or sojourner with you or to a member of the stranger’s clan,
48 then after he is sold he may be redeemed. One of his brothers may redeem him,
49 or his uncle or his cousin may redeem him or, if he grows rich, he may redeem himself.
50 He shall calculate with his buyer from the year when he sold himself to him until the year of jubilee, and the price of his sale shall vary with the number of years.
51 If there are still many years left, he shall pay proportionately for his redemption some of his sale price.
52 If there remain but a few years until the year of jubilee, he shall calculate and pay for his redemption in proportion to his years.
53 He shall be with him as a yearly hired worker, and he shall not rule ruthlessly over him in your sight.
54 And if he is not redeemed by these means, then he and his children with him shall be released in the year of jubilee.
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.
Deuteronomy 15:12-18: 12 If your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you, he shall serve you six years, and in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you.
13 And when you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty-handed.
14 You shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, out of your threshing floor, and out of your winepress. As the Lord your God has blessed you, you shall give to him.
15 You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this today.
16 But if he says to you, ‘I will not go out from you,’ because he loves you and your household, since he is well-off with you,
17 then you shall take an awl, and put it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your slave forever. And to your female slave you shall do the same.
18 It shall not seem hard to you when you let him go free from you, for at half the cost of a hired worker he has served you six years. So the Lord your God will bless you in all that you do.
1 Kings 9:20-22: 20 All the people who were left of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of the people of Israel—
21 Their descendants who were left after them in the land, whom the people of Israel were unable to devote to destruction—these Solomon drafted to be slaves, and so they are to this day.
22 But of the people of Israel Solomon made no slaves. They were the soldiers, they were his officials, his commanders, his captains, his chariot commanders and his horsemen.
2 Chronicles 8:7-9: 7 All the people who were left of the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of Israel,
8 Their provisions were for all Solomon’s daily rate of 30 cors of fine flour and 60 cors of meal,
9 But of the people of Israel Solomon made no slaves for his work; they were soldiers, they were his officials, his commanders, his captains, his chariot commanders and his horsemen.
Nehemiah 5:1-13: 1 Now there arose a great outcry of the people and of their wives against their Jewish brothers.
2 For there were those who said, “With our sons and our daughters, we are many. So let us get grain, that we may eat and keep alive.”
3 There were also those who said, “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards, and our houses to get grain because of the famine.”
4 And there were those who said, “We have borrowed money for the king’s tax on our fields and our vineyards.
5 Now our flesh is as the flesh of our brothers, our children are as their children. Yet we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have already been enslaved, but it is not in our power to help it, for other men have our fields and our vineyards.
6 I was very angry when I heard their outcry and these words.
7 I took counsel with myself, and I brought charges against the nobles and the officials. I said to them, “You are exacting interest, each from his brother.” And I held a great assembly against them.
8 and said to them, “We, as far as we are able, have bought back our Jewish brothers who have been sold to the nations, but you even sell your brothers that they may be sold to us!” They were silent and could not find a word to say.
9 So I said, “The thing that you are doing is not good. Ought you not to walk in the fear of our God to prevent the taunts of the nations our enemies?
10 I also said, “The thing that you are doing is not good. Ought you not to walk in the fear of our God to prevent the taunts of the nations our enemies?
11 Return to them this very day their fields, their vineyards, their olive orchards, and their houses, and the percentage of money, grain, wine, and oil that you have been exacting from them.”
12 Then they said, “We will restore these and require nothing from them. We will do as you say.” And I called the priests and made them swear to do as they had promised.
13 I also shook out the fold of my garment and said, “So may God shake out every man from his house and from his labor who does not keep this promise. So may he be shaken out and emptied.” And all the assembly said “Amen” and praised the Lord. And the people did as they had promised.
Jeremiah 34:8-22: 8 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem to make a proclamation of liberty to them.
9 that everyone should set free his Hebrew slaves, male and female, so that no one should enslave a Jew, his brother.
10 They had set free their male servants and female servants, according to the word of the Lord, and had made a covenant in their presence in the house of the Lord, to set them free.
11 But afterward they turned around and took back the male and female slaves they had set free, and brought them into subjection as slaves.
12 Therefore the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah from the Lord:
13 “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I myself made a covenant with your fathers when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, saying,”
14 ‘At the end of seven years each of you must set free the fellow Hebrew who has been sold to you and has served you six years; you must set him free from your service.’ But your fathers did not listen to me or incline their ears to me.
15 You recently repented and did what was right in my eyes by proclaiming liberty, each to his neighbor, and you made a covenant before me in the house that is called by my name,
16 But you recently turned and did what was right in my eyes by proclaiming liberty, each to his neighbor, and you made a covenant before me in the house that is called by my name,
17 “Therefore, thus says the Lord: You have not obeyed me by proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother and to his neighbor; behold, I proclaim to you liberty to the sword, to pestilence, and to famine, declares the Lord. I will make you a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.”
18 And the men who transgressed my covenant and did not keep the terms of the covenant that they made before me, I will make them like the calf that they cut in two and passed between its parts—
19 the officials of Judah, the officials of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf.
20 I will give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their lives. Their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth.
21 Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials I will give into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their lives, into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon which has withdrawn from you.
22 Behold, I will command, declares the Lord, and will bring them back to this city. And they will fight against it and take it and burn it with fire. I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without inhabitant.”
Ephesians 6:5-9: 5 Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ,
6 not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart,
7 rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man,
8 knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free.
9 Masters, do the same to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him.
Colossians 3:22-25: 22 Bondservants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord.
23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,
24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.
25 For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.
1 Timothy 6:1-2: 1 Let all who are under a yoke as bondservants regard their own masters as worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and the teaching may not be reviled.
2 Those who have believing masters must not be disrespectful on the ground that they are brothers; rather they must serve all the better since those who benefit by their good service are believers and beloved.
Titus 2:9-10: 9 Bondservants are to be submissive to their own masters in everything; they are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative,
10 not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.
Philemon 1:8-21: 8 Accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required,
9 yet for love’s sake I prefer to appeal to you—I, Paul, an old man and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus—
10 I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment.
11 Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me.
12 I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart.
13 I would have been glad to keep him with me, in order that he might serve me on your behalf during my imprisonment for the gospel,
14 but I preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion but of your own accord.
15 For this perhaps is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back forever,
16 no longer as a bondservant but more than a bondservant, as a beloved brother—especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.
17 So if you consider me your partner, receive him as you would receive me.
18 If he has wronged you at all, or owes you anything, charge that to my account.
19 I, Paul, write this with my own hand: I will repay it—to say nothing of your owing me even your own self.
20 Yes, brother, I want some benefit from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ.
21 Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say.
Rev. François Dupont is a dedicated church minister with a wealth of experience in serving spiritual communities. With a calm and serene demeanor, he has been devoted to sharing the message of love, compassion, and tolerance for over two decades. Through his thoughtful sermons, compassionate counseling, and unwavering support, Rev. Dupont has touched the lives of countless individuals, allowing them to find solace and strength during difficult times. His serene presence and deep understanding of the human condition make him a trusted guide for those seeking spiritual nourishment and guidance.