The economic aspects of the historical theocratic kingdom of Israel make for a fascinating study. The protocols and principles that God Himself put in place were designed to strike the balance between economic liberty and economic security.
Nations of the world today are still struggling with these same issues. I am not here suggesting that any nation today should be a Theocratic Kingdom (There will be a theocratic kingdom in the future under the leadership of Jesus Christ Himself at his second coming). However, I am suggesting that leaders of all nations would be wise to examine the economic protections that God put in place in ancient Israel.
Look at this post from Ben Shapiro that presents a reflection on the current problem.
"President Joe Biden’s entire economic agenda is built around the notion of economic mediocrity rooted in a self-proclaimed higher justice. Paul Waldman of The Washington Post posited this week that Biden had launched an 'economic policy revolution' rooted in fighting 'inequality.' This would require 'more active government intervention in the economy.'
And we will all learn to love such intervention, because it will be done in the name of a higher value: equality. Not equality of rights, but equality of outcome; not equality of value, but equality of resources. The problem with this philosophy is that it removes the incentive for all that creates prosperity: work, creativity, thrift, responsibility. And removing that incentive means more misery for everyone. Read my entire essay on the Left's inane notion of equality and what it means for all of us here: https://bit.ly/3GkRvd9
There were at least 6 primary provisions to Ancient Israel's economic platform. Let's consider just two of them. These thoughts are taken from the Book "The Greatness of the Kingdom" by Alva J Mclain.
Debt Release Every 7 years
"Since men could not be left wholly free and at the same time be fully protected from their own economic follies, certain provisions were established to safeguard them in the exercise of their economic rights and also to ameliorate some of the inequalities arising therefrom.
"There was a further provision in the case of impoverishment because of debt. This was a 'release' which came automatically to debtors every seven years (Deut. 15:1-3). The best Biblical authorities are agreed that this release was not a complete cancellation of the debt, but rather a whole year of 'grace' (Keil and Delitzsch, op. cit., on Deuteronomy 15:1-3). During this seventh year the creditor could not legally press his claim. The logic of this becomes clear if we remember that the land itself was to be given 'rest' in the seventh year, and hence the debtors would have less opportunity to earn wages in that year. In the case of the 'foreigner,' there was no need for such relief because his ability to pay would not be lessened by the law of the Sabbatic year, which he probably would not observe, and therefore the payment could be required of him."
Consider also
The Year of Jubilee
"The greatest safeguard against the permanent impoverishment of a family in Israel was the law of the Jubilee Year (Lev. 25). According to this novel and remarkable provision, when seven sabbatic years had passed (i.e., 49 years), the nation was commanded to 'hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants; it shall be a jubilee' (vss. 8-10).
Then every slave went free, all debts incurred in connection with real property were canceled, and every man could freely reclaim his original allotment of land which might have been lost by debt of sale. Dwelling houses in walled cities were excepted, probably because such property represented the products of the builder's own labor and were not an original free grant as in the case of the land. Houses outside the cities were evidently counted as part of the land and therefore included in the jubilee year reversion. Furthermore, both the fiftieth and forty-ninth years were sabbaths of rest for the land; there was to be no sowing or reaping of the fields. To supply the needs of the people during these two years, and also for the following year when new crops were being sowed, God promised to bless the increase of the fields in the forty-eighth year sufficiently to provide for the entire three-year period: 'It shall bring forth fruit for three years' (Lev. 25:21). Thus it appears that the 'liberty' proclaimed in the jubilee year was fourfold in nature:
first, liberty from personal bondage;
second, liberty from debt;
third, liberty from hunger; and
fourth, liberty from arduous toil.
"It should be carefully noted that no communistic principle was involved in this redistribution of wealth at the jubilee year.
There was to be no confiscation of private property for the purpose of indiscriminate public distribution, but simply a restoration of all real property to its original private owners. Moreover, once the restoration had taken place, the interplay of the normal economic process with its ordinary hazards was resumed immediately. In other words, the te-established liberty from debt and poverty was not something to be guaranteed by a monolithic state regardless of human action, but rather a precious gift which had to be kept for each individual by his own efforts. If he chose the path of indolence and reckless imprudence, he could lose his land and liberty just as quickly and easily as he had regained them. The law of the jubilee year only guaranteed a fresh start for the individual, not economic security irrespective of human folly. Although there may be found traces of plans for land redistribution in other nations, there seems to be nothing precisely comparable to the Mosaic law of the jubilee. It was a notable contribution toward a solution to the age-long problem, how to strike a proper balance between economic liberty and economic security. It allowed, on the one hand, considerable room for the play of individual initiative and energy with their proper rewards. But, at the same time, it guarded against the evils of great concentrations of real wealth in the hands of a few, with the consequent hopeless impoverishment of many others."
Mcclain, Alva J. 1959. The Greatness of the Kingdom : An Inductive Study of the Kingdom of God. Winona Lake, Indiana: Bmh Books, 76, 78-79.
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