Compulsory Service

Evidence of compulsory service (or, corvée) in the Near East dates back as far as the 18th century B.C.E. Administrative texts from the ancient Syrian city of Alalakh refer to corvée gangs conscripted by the government for personal service. In Ugarit, on the Syrian coast, tenant farmers were subject to similar duties unless granted immunity by the king.

Of course, conquered or subjugated peoples were frequently set to forced labor. Egyptian taskmasters obliged the Israelites to slave for them in making bricks. Later, the Israelites put Canaanite inhabitants of the Promised Land to slavish labor, and similar practices were continued by David and Solomon.​—Exodus 1:13, 14; 2 Samuel 12:31; 1 Kings 9:20, 21.

When the Israelites asked for a king, Samuel explained what the king’s rightful due would be. He would take his subjects to serve as charioteers and horsemen, to do plowing and harvesting, to make weapons, and so on. (1 Samuel 8:4-17) However, during the construction of Jehovah’s temple, while foreigners were subjected to slavish forced labor, “there were none of the sons of Israel that Solomon constituted slaves; for they were the warriors and his servants and his princes and his adjutants and chiefs of his charioteers and of his horsemen.”​—1 Kings 9:22.

As for the Israelites employed in building projects, 1 Kings 5:13, 14 says: “King Solomon kept bringing up those conscripted for forced labor out of all Israel; and those conscripted for forced labor amounted to thirty thousand men. And he would send them to Lebanon in shifts of ten thousand a month. For a month they would continue in Lebanon, for two months at their homes.” “There can be no doubt,” says one scholar, “that the Israelite and Judean kings made use of the corvée as a means of securing unpaid labor for their building activities as well as for work on the crown-lands.”

The burden was heavy under Solomon. So grievous was it that when Rehoboam threatened to increase such loads, all Israel revolted and stoned the official appointed over those conscripted for forced labor. (1 Kings 12:12-18) However, the institution was not abolished. Asa, Rehoboam’s grandson, summoned people of Judah to construct the cities of Geba and Mizpah, and “there was none exempt.”​—1 Kings 15:22.

Under Roman Domination

The Sermon on the Mount shows that first-century Jews were familiar with the possibility of being ‘impressed into service.’ The expression translates the Greek word ag·ga·reuʹo, which originally related to the activity of Persian couriers. They had authority to press into service men, horses, ships, or anything else needed to expedite public business.

In Jesus’ day, Israel was occupied by the Romans, who had adopted a comparable system. In the Oriental provinces, in addition to normal taxes, compulsory work could be demanded from the population on a regular or an exceptional basis. Such duties would be unpopular at best. Furthermore, unauthorized seizure of animals, drivers, or wagons for State transport was commonplace. According to historian Michael Rostovtzeff, administrators “tried to regulate and to systematize [the institution], but without success, for so long as the practice existed, it was bound to produce evil effects. Edict after edict was issued by the prefects, who honestly endeavoured to stop the arbitrariness and the oppression inherent in the system . . . But the institution remained oppressive.”

“Anyone could be impressed to carry the baggage of the army for a certain distance,” says one Greek scholar, and “anyone could be compelled to perform any service that the occupiers chose to lay upon him.” That happened to Simon of Cyrene, whom Roman soldiers “impressed into service” to carry Jesus’ torture stake.​—Matthew 27:32.

Rabbinic texts too refer to this unpopular institution. For example, one rabbi was seized to transport myrtles to a palace. Laborers could be taken from employers and set to other tasks, while employers still had to pay their wages. Pack animals or oxen could be commandeered. If they were returned at all, they were unlikely to be in a condition fit for further work. You can see why seizure was synonymous with confiscation. Thus, a Jewish proverb affirmed: “Angareia is like death.” Says one historian: “A village could be reduced to ruin by the seizure of ploughing oxen for angareia instead of authorized draught animals.”

You can just imagine how unpopular such services were, especially since they were often imposed with arrogance and injustice. Given the hatred they nurtured for the Gentile powers that dominated them, the Jews bitterly resented the humiliation of being forced into such vexatious labor. No extant law informs us just how far a citizen could be compelled to carry a load. It is likely that many would not be willing to go one step further than the law required.

Yet, this was the institution Jesus referred to when he said: “If someone under authority impresses you into service for a mile, go with him two miles.” (Matthew 5:41)

[Box on page 25]

ANCIENT MISUSE OF IMPRESSMENT

That impressment was often used as a pretext to extort services is seen from regulations to curb such abuses. In 118 B.C.E., Ptolemy Euergetes II of Egypt decreed that his officials “shall not impress any of the inhabitants of the country for private services, nor requisition (aggareuein) their cattle for any purpose of their own.” Additionally: “No one shall requisition . . . boats for his own use on any pretext whatsoever.” In an inscription dated 49 C.E., in the Temple of the Great Oasis, Egypt, Roman prefect Vergilius Capito acknowledged that soldiers had made illegal requisitions, and he established that “no one shall take or requisition . . . anything, unless he has a written authorization from me.”