The Way of Abundance

Economic Justice in Scripture and Society

Edith Rasell

• Publisher: Fortress Press
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9781506469829
• eBook ISBN: 9781506469836
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Economic History

Justice, even divine justice, is concrete. It addresses flesh-and-blood persons and the systems, structures, and conditions under which they live. God's vision of abundant human living is not restricted to the spiritual realm but extends even to our material circumstances. But in today's complex economy, what specific changes to public policies and institutions could lead to a just economy?

In The Way of Abundance, economist and minister Edith Rasell examines Old and New Testament teachings on economic justice in the context of the ancient economic systems and circumstances they addressed. Drawing on the biblical narrative and on research from the social sciences, Rasell examines three eras--the ancient Israelites' settlements in Canaan, the time of the monarchies, and first-century Palestine--and describes the transition from a non-monetized, subsistence-based economy to a commercial one with wage labor, product markets, and a surplus that benefited a tiny elite. But across this vast expanse of time and economic transition, the Bible called for a just economy. And its vision of economic justice can be a vision for justice seekers today. The book concludes with specific public policy proposals and personal practices that would move contemporary society closer to the Bible's economic vision.

Chapter 1

Ancient Israelites in Canaan

Our examination begins with the ancient Israelites, who, in the mid-thirteenth century BCE, settled in the highlands of Canaan, the land we today call Palestine and Israel.1 This society was foundational for much that came later, not only in terms of genealogy and geography, but also for the relationship the Israelites established with their God, Yahweh, and their ethos of justice.

Understanding the Old Testament

To understand the story of the ancient Israelites, we must first understand the origins of the Old Testament. This collection of ancient books does not contain the transcribed words of God written down by people who somehow heard or knew exactly what God was saying or thinking. The Bible is the inspired work of wise and insightful human beings, but it inevitably reflects the limitations of human understanding and the biases held by human societies and individuals.

The Old Testament narrative describes people who live in specific times and places and engage in particular activities, but for the most part, these accounts are not history as we use that term today. Historical accuracy was not the goal of the writers. They were concerned with what they considered much more important tasks: to understand their God called Yahweh and their relationship with Yahweh, to explore how Yahweh acted in history, and to learn what Yahweh wanted from them. The Old Testament is valued as sacred Scripture because it reveals truths about God. Truth can be conveyed through story and myth as much as through the recording and retelling of actual events.

There are historical elements in the Old Testament narrative, memories rooted in events and preserved through oral traditions over many generations until they were written down and included in the biblical story. But when we view the Old Testament as history, we find many contradictions and inconsistencies within the Old Testament itself and between the biblical accounts and the findings of archaeologists, anthropologists, historians, ethnographers, Bible scholars, and other social scientists who have studied this era. This is not surprising, since many of the stories and much of the apparently historical narrative describe a time that precedes the advent of writing in Israel. For the ancient Israelites, the truth of the biblical narrative rested not on historical accuracy but on the insights it provided.

The texts are thought to have been written down at various times spanning hundreds of years, possibly beginning as early as the ninth century BCE. Then they were repeatedly rewritten and reedited by many different authors and editors over additional centuries. During this very long writing and editing process, changes were made to the text in response to new insights and revelations from Yahweh and to speak to new conditions in society. According to Walter Brueggemann, “It is likely that the imaginative freedom of interpreting Israel was not greatly informed by or restrained by ‘what happened.’” Rather, the process was one of “interpretive imagination,” the creation of an “alternative narrative account of reality with YHWH as its Subject.”2 Nonetheless, the text tells how an ancient people, as early as the late second millennium BCE, was able to hear and embrace a call from God to be a society characterized by justice, including economic justice.

The Story in the Hebrew Bible

We begin by reviewing the biblical story of the origins of the Israelites. Our abbreviated account starts in Canaan with Joseph and his jealous brothers who sell him into slavery in Egypt. Some years later, a famine strikes Canaan, and some of Joseph’s eleven brothers go to buy grain in Egypt. There they encounter Joseph, who has become a high official working for the pharaoh. There is forgiveness and a family reunion, and soon Joseph’s whole family leaves Canaan to settle in Egypt. Generations pass. The foreigners “multipl[y] and gr[o]w exceedingly strong” until the pharaoh, afraid of the numerous and powerful Israelites, enslaves them “and [makes] their lives bitter with hard service . . . and in every kind of field labor” (Exod 1:7, 13–14).

The oppressed Israelites cry out to Yahweh, who resolves to free them. Under the leadership of Moses and due to Yahweh’s multiple interventions—plagues, afflictions, and ultimately the deaths of all the Egyptians’ firstborn children—Pharaoh finally releases the Israelites from slavery. But Pharaoh soon changes his mind and sends his army out to bring them back. So Yahweh intervenes again as the waters of the Reed Sea3 are parted just long enough to allow the Israelites to pass through on dry ground and then come flooding back to drown Pharaoh’s army as it pursues them on the same path. Thus some two million to three million Israelites (Num 1:20–47) begin a forty-year journey through the desert wilderness to their new life in the promised land, a land flowing with milk and honey, a place—unlike Egypt—where they may have abundant life.4

The Israelites have barely begun their long journey when they arrive at Mount Sinai and have a transformative encounter with Yahweh. Using Moses as a messenger, Yahweh proposes an agreement, a covenant, with the Israelites.5 If they will worship Yahweh before all other gods and follow Yahweh’s laws and commandments, then Yahweh will bless them, cause them to flourish, and establish them as a priestly kingdom and holy nation (Exod 19:3–6). The Israelites agree, establishing the covenant as they consent to follow Yahweh’s instructions, commandments, and laws (Exod 19:7–8; 24:3).

After journeying through the desert wilderness for forty years, the Israelites finally arrive at the promised land, the land of Canaan. But before settling down, they must first kill or expel the existing inhabitants. According to the book of Joshua, the Israelites engage in a series of brutal, bloody battles where whole towns of people are slaughtered in a campaign of terror. With Yahweh’s help, in less than five years, the Israelites conquer the whole territory of Canaan (Josh 10:40–42; 11:16–23; 21:43). Or maybe they didn’t. There are passages in Joshua and Judges that acknowledge that much of the land remained in the hands of the Canaanites despite many battles over many years (Josh 13:1). Joshua and Judges even offer contradictory accounts of which cities are conquered by the Israelites and which are not.6

Both Joshua and Judges report that the conquered lands are distributed among the tribes of Israel (Josh 13–19). A large tribe is given a large allotment, while a small tribe receives a small one, and within each tribe, a large clan receives a large portion of land and a small clan a small one. The exact parcel to be received is determined by lot, thus allowing Yahweh to determine the final, equitable distribution (Num 26:52–56; 33:54; Josh 14:2; 18:6, 8, 10; 19:51). This random apportionment by lot, outside human influence, was believed to be controlled by God, thus ensuring its fairness and responsiveness to divine purposes.

The Story According to the Social Sciences

We now take a second look at the origins of the Israelites and their arrival in Canaan, this time basing our story on the information gained from the work of scholars using the tools of the social sciences. We are exploring these origins in depth because they are key for understanding the covenantal relationship between the ancient Israelites and Yahweh, the significance of the laws they believed originated with Yahweh, and their commitment to a just society. We begin by identifying the portions of the biblical story that are confirmed or contradicted by the scientific evidence. But first a word of caution: there is still much scholarly debate about these matters. Few experts unquestioningly accept the biblical story, but there remains much debate about what replaces it.

The Bible tells us that Joseph’s extended family left Canaan during a famine and moved to Egypt. Scholars today confirm that ancient Canaanites did move to Egypt during times of famine, including during the second millennium BCE, the time period of the biblical story.7 During that time, there were Canaanites enslaved in Egypt and forced to work on building projects; small groups of them occasionally escaped into the Sinai desert on a route that could lead them to Canaan. So the basic elements of the Exodus story—the enslavement of Canaanites in Egypt and their escapes—are consistent with historical evidence.

Scholars believe that if there had been an exodus of Egyptian slaves who eventually became the Israelites living in Canaan, it would have happened during the thirteenth century BCE.8 For most of that century, Egypt was ruled by Rameses II, who engaged in a massive building program for which he used forced labor, especially from foreigners. Mudbricks made with straw were the standard building material, consistent with the biblical story.

But although there are extensive Egyptian records covering this period, there is no record of a large, highly noteworthy number of slaves ever leaving Egypt at any time. There is no mention of a leader named Moses, nor a time of plagues, the deaths of firstborns, or the defeat of the Egyptian army in the Reed Sea. Scholars have been unable to identify a sea with reeds that could be the body of water crossed by the fleeing Israelites. What we call today the Red Sea is too large and too wide and has no reeds.

Nonetheless, there is reason to think a parting of waters that permitted slaves to escape might have actually happened. This event is memorialized in one of the oldest texts in the Bible, the Song of the Sea (Exod 15:1–18), thought to date to the late twelfth or early eleventh century BCE, or within a few generations of when the event would have happened.9 So while the Reed Sea has never been identified and the accuracy of the story cannot be verified, the Song of the Sea is a very early testimony of an event in which Yahweh intervened to liberate and save people fleeing oppression.

Scholars doubt a group of two to three million people spent forty years traveling through the desert wilderness. There are no traces of a large number of travelers moving through the desert, where the very dry conditions would have preserved evidence of their passing.10 Scholars also doubt the Mount Sinai experience actually happened as described in Exodus and other books in the Pentateuch.11 A mountain in a location that fits the biblical story has never been identified.12 Some biblical descriptions of the forty-year journey do not even mention an encounter with God on Mount Sinai or any other mountain (Exod 15; Num 33; Deut 6:20–24; 26:5–9; Josh 24:2–13; Judg 11:12–23; Pss 78; 105; 106; 135; 136). This is a highly significant omission given this encounter’s central importance to Israelites’ formation as a people, their religious life, and their covenantal relationship ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1. Ancient Israelites in Canaan
• 2. The Time of the Monarchy
• 3. Jesus and Roman Palestine
• 4. Elements of a Just Economy
• 5. Biblical Economic Justice and Today’s Economy
• 6. Moving toward Economic Justice
• Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Index
• Scripture Index