As you can see from the comments to previous posts, there is a very strong reaction in America to posts having to do with economics. So, let’s keep going.
The Year of Jubilee
The biblical requirement is that the Jubilee year was to be treated like a Sabbatical year, with the land lying fallow, but also required the compulsory return of all property to its original owners or their heirs, except the houses of laymen within walled cities, in addition to the manumission of all Israelite indentured servants.
Now, I agree that there is no way that this measure could be implemented as written in modern America. Having said that, please note that this shows that God is not against the idea of land redistribution. Now, I mention this because there are some versions of land redistribution present in more than one country in the world, and, no, not communist countries.
For instance, in the Netherlands, formerly home of some of the world’s strongest Calvinists, squatters are allowed to legally take over empty and unused buildings. “In the Netherlands, if a building is empty and not in use for twelve months, and the owner has no pressing need to use it (such as a rental contract starting in the next month), then it can be legally squatted. The only illegal aspect would be forcing an entry, if that was necessary. When a building is squatted, it is normal to send the owner a letter and to invite the police to inspect the squat. The police check whether the place is indeed lived in by the squatter—in legal terms, this means there must be a bed, a chair, a table and a working lock on the door which the squatter can open and close.”
Though squatting is significantly more difficult in England, there is a legal process that permits squatters to legalize their position. “Squatters have a right to claim ownership of a dwelling after 12 years of having lived there if no one else claims it, by adverse possession under common law.” The earliest squatters in England can be traced to 1649
Many South American countries have squatting laws similar to the laws in the Netherlands and similar to the homesteading laws of the USA in the 1800’s. One difference, of course, is that the homesteading laws of the USA in the 1800’s only allowed the occupation of “unoccupied” lands. The fact that Native Americans had a claim on them was considered no claim, under law.
Now, I mention this because there is an assumption in much of laissez faire economic circles that ownership of the land is inviolable and land redistribution is socialism. Land cannot be taken away without the permission of the owner except under government condemnation procedures guided by very strict and limiting guidelines.
Nope, I am not suggesting massive land redistribution policies. But, I will argue that policies such as those in the Netherlands, South America, and other places might be an interesting way to work with some of the problems of the inner city. What is behind policies such as those in the Netherlands and England and South America is the conception of trying to find alternative ways to allow the poor to have a chance at house ownership, etc. Is this an ideal solution? No, there are problems with those solutions, as well. But, those solutions would not have been possible if the conception of land ownership had been that land ownership is inviolable.
Finally, let me point out that, yet again, we see in the Jubilee Year that God was willing to “take” money from some and pass it on to others. After all, if you had bought a piece of land, then in the Year of Jubilee that land reverted to the remaining family of the original owners, plus all debts you held against others were forgiven, plus all your indentured servants (even those that had agreed to stay with you during the Sabbath Year) were now free, and you were responsible to help in giving them a new start. Is that not a rather Robin Hood approach to wealth redistribution by God?
As I said at the beginning, there is no way to duplicate the Year of Jubilee in today’s modern America. But, I want you to catch the principle that, for God, neither wealth nor land redistribution were necessarily wrong. This is why, at the beginning of this series, I put the tease headline that in the Old Testament, God was a socialist. Today’s Religious Right claims that land and wealth redistribution are wrong and ungodly. I have just shown that neither is automatically wrong to God. As in most matters, it depends on how the policies are applied.
===MORE TO COME===
I thought a lot about The Year of Jubilee last Fall when the initial economic problems became known and Congress was initiating the bailout. As we see in so much of God’s Creation, certain principles are inherent to the structure whether they are in math, physics, chemistry, or music. Might there also be certain economic principles inherent in God’s Creation? and might a Year of Jubilee, (even a modern modification of one)…a necessary “reset” of the economy every 50 years…also be necessary for a sound and healthy first-world (much less third-world!) economy?
Debt forgiven…indentured servants (those drowning in indebtedness) set free… Might it be *necessary* for these things to be forgiven? Or the economic machine will simply reset itself through recession, depression, collapse, because the debt-load is unsustainable?
I often wonder if the ineffable wisdom of God is so profound and simultaneously so obvious that He speaks to Wall Street in language only Wall Street understands. Yet Wall Street’s only reply is to answer in it’s own strength, missing it’s opportunity to hear and turn to God; applying God’s principles to everyday life, even in the case of bankruptcy laws, welfare laws (if a man doesn’t work, a man doesn’t eat), land-ownership laws, eminent domain, and so on.
Thank you, Father, for this teaching.
As a missionary in South America, I met missionaries from Ireland, England, Singapore, New Zealand, and Australia. Every one of them was a strong committed Evangelical. One of my major surprises was finding out that each and every one of them was in favor of the forgiveness of Third World debts by First World countries. And, they justified it by using the principles of the Jubilee Year. It was only the American Evangelicals who argued that it was somehow wrong to freely forgive a debt in order to give a country a new start.
Mind you, in the case of quite a few of the countries, the debt had been incurred by a previous administration that had been overthrown. So, for instance, Argentina still owed debts from the period of the dictatorship of the Argentinian generals. But, even though those generals had been overthrown, only the American Evangelicals argued that those who had overthrown the dictators were still liable for the debts of the dictators.
American Evangelical leaders have consistently argued that, somehow, it would be a huge mistake to forgive the debts of a country that had won its freedom from oppression. Somehow this forgiveness would destroy our economic system and would be unfair. I have never been so ashamed as when I had to face my fellow Evangelicals from other countries (I was not Orthodox yet) and had to try to explain why we were so willing to saddle a country that had won its freedom from oppression with debts from the oppressive regime.
Sadly, that is still the American Evangelical attitude today. A debt is forever, to the children of the children of the children of those who incurred it, even if the great-grandparents were oppressors and the children had won free.
May God forgive American Evangelicals. May He bring them to a realization of that for which they are arguing.
As to Ms. Short’s comments I have not seen anyone or heard of anyone getting debt relief except for the same old crowd on Wall Street.
Where are the bills to stop foreclosures? Where is the relief for middle class Americans who do all the right things and find themselves drowning in debt and close to losing the only security that the middle class has, their homes?
As for the inner city problems, we have squatters now.
If you are referring to the homeless you know that many, not all, of the homeless are mentally ill, drug abusers or alcoholics or all three.
Giving that person a building to squat in would result in nothing.
If you are referring to the under-housed poor or homeless poor then adequate programs are in place now.
go by your nearest public housing and see what it looks like.
There are certainly people who wish and do get out of these pits of misery but someone is trashing the place.
I see a strong parallel between today’s bankruptcy and the Jubilee. But, many conservative Christians see bankruptcy as a horrible thing because, just as you claim, debt is forever to them. The seven year period of each is no coincidence.
We Americans have an upside down view of debt, slavery and freedom. The borrower becomes slave to the lender. In a loose way, one’s credit rating is one’s slave rating. When you file for bankruptcy (debt forgiveness=slave forgiveness) you become *free.* You can’t get credit anymore. What this means is you can’t become a slave easily. We look upon this as horrible, and don’t easily recognize freedom when we see it.
Then the question arises, if you’re free and everybody else is a slave who is forbidden by their masters to deal with people who are free, are you really free?
I have been trying to put my finger on the American Evangelical attitude toward the poor for a long time. They will readily quote scriptures regarding homosexuality, but seemingly ignore scriptures regarding the well being of the poor. For the rank and file evangelical, this position is somewhat understandable. In general, they are not so much students of God’s word as they are students of a particular set of teachings. In fact, many can’t even locate books in the bible without consulting their table of contents. I don’t mean that as an insult to evangelical’s in general, merely an observation. What I find more disturbing is the various teachers among the evangelical community who seem to enforce this borderline hatred of the poor. How often do they preach on the bible’s view of homosexuality, but seemingly ignore scriptures regarding poverty? In my own experience I have heard the scriptures regarding homosexuality hundreds of times, if not thousands, especially around election time. But I have rarely heard the scriptures regarding the year of Jubilee, and have never heard Dt. 15 in the various evangelical churches I have been a part of.