The Bible and Economics

Eastern Tailed-Blue Butterfly
Originally uploaded by paynehollow

Part of an ongoing series looking at all the many passages in the Bible that deal with wealth and poverty issues. You can see the links to the other passages in the series under the heading "The Bible and Economics" below.

Today, I thought I'd try to tackle a book that has a different sort of "feel" to it than many of the other passages: Genesis. In Genesis you will find "heroes" who happen to be wealthy - such as Abraham...

So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, he and his wife and all that belonged to him, and Lot with him. Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver and in gold.

He went on his journeys from the Negev as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, to the place of the altar which he had made there formerly; and there Abram called on the name of the LORD.

Now Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents.

And the land could not sustain them while dwelling together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to remain together.

~Genesis 13: 1-6

They also took Lot [that is, Lot was kidnapped], Abram's nephew, and his possessions and departed, for he was living in Sodom.

Then a fugitive came and told Abram the Hebrew. Now, he was living by the oaks of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and brother of Aner, and these were allies with Abram.

When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he led out his trained men, born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and went in pursuit as far as Dan.

He divided his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and defeated them, and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus.

He brought back all the goods, and also brought back his relative Lot with his possessions, and also the women, and the people.

~Genesis 14: 12-16

Abram/Abraham's stories show Abraham to be a rich man - as shown above - but I don't believe the Bible makes the case that this was necessarily a good or bad thing, just that it was the case. There are verses like Genesis 26: 4, that say, "I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give your descendants all these lands; and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed" - indicating that God is giving Abraham and his descendents land and blessing Abraham, but that isn't to say that material wealth is what Abraham was blessed with...

There are also passages like this:

"When you take a census of the sons of Israel to number them, then each one of them shall give a ransom for himself to the LORD, when you number them, so that there will be no plague among them when you number them.

"This is what everyone who is numbered shall give: half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary, half a shekel as a contribution to the LORD.

"Everyone who is numbered, from twenty years old and over, shall give the contribution to the LORD.

"The rich shall not pay more and the poor shall not pay less than the half shekel, when you give the contribution to the LORD to make atonement for yourselves."

~Genesis 30: 12-15

Sort of the "flat tax" approach to paying tithes/tributes. Which is interesting, because elsewhere in the Bible, you have more progressive-sounding ideas, like in the story of the Manna ("And when they measured it by the omer, he who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little.") or with the Jerusalem church collection ("The disciples, each according to his ability, decided to provide help for the brothers living in Judea." and "Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality.")

Anyway, I'm including these passages in here for what they're worth, as they are part of what the Bible says about wealth and poverty issues. Thoughts?