Galatians 2020

There is a story behind this letter from Paul to Philemon. Philemon lived in Colossae which was a great city in Paul's day. Today it is just ruins. We don't really know if Paul visited Colossae, but this letter leaves many with the impression that he did. Philemon was a very rich man in Colossae and he owned many slaves. Slavery was very common in the Roman Empire in that day. It is estimated by some that one-half of the population of the Roman Empire (about 120 million total) were slaves. Slaves were held in very low esteem and were treated like cattle. They were on a lower scale than even captured enemies. Paul gave instructions on the relationship between master and slave. Eph 6:5-9 Keep in mind that Scripture used slavery as a form of recompense for transgression against an individual or as a means of repaying debt. Pauls instructions held true to that legal system of Elohim. The slave is to respect his master and work hard in order to repay him. Lev 25:39-43 Psalm 123:2 There was a slave of Philemon's by the name of Onesimus, who had fled from Colossae. It is normally taught that Onesimus ran and hid among the huge population of Rome in hopes of getting lost in the crowd. And after spending some time there and probably sleeping in the streets and eating garbage, Onesimus heard a man talking in the streets. This man was chained up and had a huge crowd gathered around him. Onesimus waited until the crowd thinned out and wanted to know more about what this man Paul was saying. Paul took the opportunity to lead Onesimus to Jesus... and the rest is history. To say that the runaway Onisemus escaped from slavery into the huge world and accidentally ran into the imprisoned Paul in a huge city and then heard his words and then loved Jesus sounds too ridiculous to actually be the case. A slave in that day did have rights. It appears that instead, Onesimus the slave had a dispute with his master, Philemon, and was now exercising his legal option to seek out a third party (in this case, Paul) who could serve as an advocate for the slave. According to this position, Onesimus left the town of Colossae with Philemon's knowledge. And, Onesimus fully intended to return to his home under new, better conditions and without punishment. There was a researcher by the name of S. Scott Bartchy who researched the ancient laws and discovered the following writings from ancient Rome: A slave is not a fugitive "who, having in mind that his master wished physically to chastise him, left to seek a friend whom he persuaded to plead on his behalf. " --Proculus, a prominent Roman jurist of the early first century A.D. "If a slave leaves his master and comes back to his mother, the question whether he be a fugitive is one for consideration; if he so fled to conceal himself and not to return to his master, he is a fugitive; but he is no fugitive if he seeks that some wrongdoing of his may be better extenuated by his mother's entreaties." --Vivianus, Roman jurist of the late 1st and early 2nd century A.D. Paul was not Onesimus' mother, but he does refer to Onesimus as his "son" more than once in this little letter. "A slave who takes himself off to a friend of his master to seek his intercession is not a fugitive." --Paulus, Roman jurist of the late 2nd century A.D. It is most likely that Onesimus had some kind of conflict with Philemon and sought Paul to be his intercessor on his behalf. Onesimus was apparantly one who was obedient to Torah and embraced Yeshua as Messiah. He had heard Paul previously and knew that Philemon loved Paul. For Onesimus to leave Philemon and seek out Paul as an intercessor was legal according to Roman law and Onesimus was not considered a fugitive. And, as an intercessor for onesimus, Paul wrote this letter...