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Full Idea
It is no accident that slavery among Jews disappeared with the rise of the Pharisees, as they insisted that all were equal before God in a court. Masters were no longer responsible for actions of slaves, so a slave had status, and slavery could not work.
Gist of Idea
The Pharisees undermined slavery, by giving slaves responsibility and status in law courts
Source
Paul Johnson (The History of the Jews [1987], Pt II)
Book Ref
Johnson,Paul: 'A History of the Jews' [Phoenix 1993], p.156
A Reaction
As in seventeenth century England, the rise of social freedom comes from religious sources, not social sources. A slave has status in the transcendent world of souls, despite being a nobody in the physical world.