Now, you may expect me to advocate a particular economic viewpoint from the Old Testament, but I am not. In fact, I may say something that will surprise you. There is no way, with certainty, to support either one economic system or one political system simply from reading the Old Testament, or even the New Testament. But, what one can get is a general sense of what is important to God in both the realm of governance and the realm of economics.
We often forget that the Old Testament covers several thousand years of human history spread over a large slice of the Middle East and Persia. Those systems ranged from nomadic family units through North African empires through clan and tribe oriented systems through theocratic governments through suzerainty absolutist governments through oligarchic government finally, heading into the New Testament with a conquering European empire. God worked with a variety of economic and political systems in a variety of cultures in a variety of ways. In each system, however, He worked to make sure that certain themes recurred.
But, what I can do is to show you what God was not against. Let me begin today with one example.
God is against poverty.
In Old Testament Israel, every seventh year was the Sabbath Year. It was a year in which all incurred debts were forgiven, even if one had just incurred it in the previous year. In Deutoronomy 15 it says:
At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release. And this is the manner of the release: every creditor shall release what he has lent to his neighbor. He shall not exact it of his neighbor, his brother, because the LORD’s release has been proclaimed. . . But there will be no poor among you; for the LORD will bless you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess—if only you will strictly obey the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do all this commandment that I command you today. If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart and you say, ‘The seventh year, the year of release is near,’ and your eye look grudgingly on your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he cry to the LORD against you, and you be guilty of sin. You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’
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. And when you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty-handed. You shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, out of your threshing floor, and out of your winepress.
If you look at this passage carefully, you will see two things. One (which I outlined in red) is that God’s intention is that there would be no poor. Thus, every seven years there is a release from debt proclaimed. There was no such thing in ancient Israel such as a 30 year mortgage. Six years was the maximum term for a loan, and, at the end of the seventh, what was left of the loan was forgiven. And, the intention of that release is to try to minimize poverty among the people of Israel. Even when someone falls into poverty so deeply that they must hire themselves out as an indentured servant, the term of that service is limited to six years. On the seventh year you are free (if you so wish), free from your master and free from debt. More than that, your previous master is to give you sufficient to let you safely start a new life. Your new chance is financed by the very person who bought you in order to let you work off your debt! (Shh, this is income redistribution from a rich master to a poor servant!)
In fact, the Law even says that you shall be guilty of sin if you refuse to lend to the poor because the seventh year is near and you fear that you will lose your loan. God’s answer is basically to be quiet and open your hand. And, if you lose your money you lose your money. Trying to keep people out of poverty is worth the chance that those who are richer lose some of their hard earned income.
Now, in blue I have outlined the recognition that there will always be poor. That is, there will always be people making bad decisions, or people who are not good at making money, or simply people who, through no fault of their own, find themselves poverty striken (say a sudden drought wipes you out, etc.). Nevertheless, the system is set up to make sure that the poor have the opportunity for a clean start, and that the extreme poor even finish their service out with some capital that will allow them a fresh start.
Now, I am not saying that the USA must imitate this type of system. However, I will point out that this means that mechanisms to minimize poverty and to try to give training and some start-up micro-capital to those who are poor are not automatically ungodly. Notice that the old easier USA bankruptcy laws allowed someone in debt to finally declare bankruptcy and start anew. Those laws provided for–guess what–a seven year period during which you could not declare bankruptcy again. Does this sound familiar? Yes, before they were made tougher, those laws were the USA echo of the Sabbath Year. But, then, they were made tougher with the backing of–guess who–some of the very people in that sub-set who equate laissez-faire capitalism with God’s economy. And, the argument was that the old bankruptcy laws made it too easy for people to be irresponsible and for bankers and companies to get “stuck” with the debt. Hmm, would any of you care to re-read up above what God’s view was?
===MORE TO COME===
Anxious to read what else you have to say. If you remember, would love for you to tag me in your notes so I don't miss them.
Father E writes:
“One (which I outlined in red) is that God’s intention is that there would be no poor.”
Yes, no poor. IN ISRAEL.
It is true, however, that God wants those who have been blessed to GIVE generously to the poor. It seems also true that we should not charge our brethren interest on loans. That we ought to give without expecting pay-back. In fact, I believe Jesus will hold us accountable for our generous hearts almost more than for any other attitude.
From St. Matthew’s gospel, chapter 6:
22 “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
A “good eye” is Hebraic idiom for generosity. If you are generous, you will have the light fully in you.
The problem with capitalists is that they are greedy to gain wealth. The problem with socialists is that they are greedy to gain others’ wealth. Both approaches will leave the poor where they are. And neither one represents “God’s approach.”
This is why I am simply trying to do some general outlines rather than trying to specify a particular economic system. However, the problem for Christians is that they have to make a decision. Either they are involved in the political system or they are not. If they are involved in the political system, then they have to struggle with the Scriptures and the Early Church Fathers as regards many economic issues. That struggle needs to be an informed struggle. And, I find that many in the Religious Right have assumed that a particular American system is the only possible system.
Since this is Judeo-Christian America, should we not have the same expectation of no poor here as Israel did? And, if we are not Judeo-Christian America, should not the Religious Right stop claiming it is? And if we wish to become a Judeo-Christian America, should not the Religious Right speak more to economic systems and the poor, other than saying that they should work and receive no aid?
We cannot claim the mantle of Christian country while saying that all those things only applied to Israel. That would mean that it would have been better to have been poor in Israel than it is to be poor in Christian America. Anytime you come to a conclusion where it would have been better to have been in the Old Testament than in the New Testament, then I would argue that you have exegeted something wrongly.
Or, Ernesto… immaturity results in socialist behavior; maturity brings economic freedom with mercy for the poor.
Amen!
My friend, Doug Bandow, once wrote a wonderful book, “Beyond Good Intentions” (edited by Marvin Olasky) where he remarks on the difficulty of “working out our salvation” (er, so to speak) in the political realm. As a libertarian Christian, Bandow often struggled with his friends who are co-belligerents on some issues (e.g., abortion), but opponents on others (American imperialism and neo-conservative globalism, to pick one example, or marijuana laws, to choose another incendiary).
He cites, among other offenders, the late Dr. D. James Kennedy’s infamous reference to Nehemiah’s rebuilding the Jerusalem Wall as our Heavenly Father’s justification (command?) for Reagan’s SDI (Star Wars missile defense for those too young). As if God had an official policy position on our defense.
We Americans often think that our American Way and our American Dream are Biblical or at least Biblically informed. And any who dares question this orthodoxy (What? Some of the founders may not have been Christian? The War on Terrorists may be immoral?) as not simply un-patriotic, but also somehow anti-Christian or anti-Biblical.
Thanks for being a Jeremiah, Father E.
And, when I get sawn in half as Jeremiah did? 😆
I’ll be right there, praying for you (from a safe distance, to be sure)… 🙂
“Nevertheless, the system is set up to make sure that the poor have the opportunity for a clean start, and that the extreme poor even finish their service out with some capital that will allow them a fresh start.”
Sounds very much like every state in the union.
God apparently had no problem with Christ, Paul and the Apostles being poor.
Christ even warned against the dangers of wealth.