Exodus and the Ethics of Labor

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Oppression is something that has been repeated throughout history all over the world. Whether it was the oppression of Black Americans during the Jim Crow period or the oppression of Jews in Nazi Germany during World War II, oppression is an unethical act that humanity has not yet moved past. Looking to the Bible as a source of Christian ethics in terms of how to fight oppression and promote equality brings to attention how God intended His people to be treated, especially the poor and the helpless. The book of Exodus is a primary guide for what the ethics of labor ought to be in the work force to avoid oppression. One might reference the story of the Israelites in the book of Exodus. The Israelites are under the thumb of the Pharaoh and the Egyptians that force them into slave labor. The grueling and overly strenuous labor conditions in which the Israelites are put under is comparable to the labor conditions that the employees of slaughterhouses are forced to endure today, as illustrated by Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser. By comparing these two labor conditions, the reader is able to apply the Biblical ethics found in Exodus to modern times.

“Knocker, Sticker, Shackler, Rumper, First Legger, Knuckle Dropper,” these are just a few of the positions the workers at a slaughterhouse get assigned to. Simply reading the names of the above job positions induces a sense of nausea and hints at the inherent brutality that these positions demand (Schlosser, 172). Because the weight and size of cows is unpredictable, most of the labor in the slaughterhouse must be done by hand. On the kill floor of a slaughterhouse, workers are forced to slice cattle into halves with a power saw “as though they were two-by-fours,” (Schlosser, 170). Wo...

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...is people to be free and live and work under ethical and just conditions. Jesus preaches that as long as the Israelites follow his commandments, they will be “treasured among all people” and that they will live in a “land of milk and honey,” (Exodus 3:8). Unlike the unethical laws that the Pharaoh forced upon the Israelites, Jesus’s commandments are moral and promote the common good of the whole community.

The Bible says in Exodus 1:12, “But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread.” This provides hope the workers in the slaughterhouses whom are still forced to work under unsafe conditions today. The workers must become collectively active and speak up and fight for their right to an ethical work environment. Ultimately, the minorities and immigrants will become the majority, and the “dictators” of the world will be forced to step down.

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