Having covered the early chapters of Genesis and Job, virtually the entirety of what remains of the Old Testament is concerned with the history of God’s chosen people, the Israelites. Therefore, this is an appropriate juncture to set out a very brief and overarching economic history of this nation, which will hopefully provide a helpful context for some of the more in-depth analysis to come in my future posts.
The birth of this nation, Israel, can be traced back to Genesis 12:1-3 when the LORD reveals himself to Abraham and tells him that he will be the father of a great nation. Abraham becomes very wealthy (Gen 13:2) but surrenders the opportunity to attain even more wealth as a reward for helping the king of Sodom defeat his enemies (Gen 14:21-24). However, Genesis 20 tells the story of how Abraham effectively adds to his riches through deceiving Abimelech, the king of the Philistines.
Abraham’s son, Isaac, inherits all of his father’s fortune (Gen 25:5) and becomes even more prosperous while settled in the land of the Philistines (Gen 26:12-14), again deceiving Abimilech to gain his favour (Gen 26:7-11).
Isaac’s son, Jacob, receives his father’s blessing (by deception – a common theme is emerging here!) but not his inheritance. After fleeing from his brother, Jacob at one point is destitute (Gen 28:20-22) but, through hard work and shrewd livestock management, he becomes prosperous in his own right (Gen 30:27-43).
The story then passes to Joseph (Jacob’s second youngest son) who, while his father believes him to be dead, rises from being a slave to effectively ruling Egypt. After becoming reconciled to his father and brothers, Joseph brings his family to Egypt where they again prosper (Gen 47:5-12).
Several generations later, however, the descendants of Jacob (the Israelites) find themselves enslaved in Egypt and only the great plagues administered by Moses and Aaron can secure them their freedom. Even as they flee Egypt during the night of Passover, the Egyptians give the Israelites treasure (Exodus 12:35-36). Somewhat ironically, they find themselves wandering in the desert with a hoard of precious metal but no one to buy food from. So the LORD sustains them with manna and quail and water from the rock (Ex 16-17) while the treasure gets used to construct the tabernacle and its accessories.
After forty years in the desert, the Israelites finally reach the promised land, the land flowing with “milk and honey” (Numbers 13:27). It takes many years of military struggle to occupy the land and many more years to defend it against competing nations. However, eventually the nation of Israel reaches a zenith whereby it can truly claim to be a political and economic powerhouse. When the Queen of Sheba visits Solomon in his grand palace, she is “overwhelmed” by what she sees (1 Kings 10:5).
Unfortunately, it is all downhill from there for the Jewish people, with the most of the remainder of their history characterised by the Diaspora (forced exile or occupation).
On the face of it, the story of Israel is little different to the story of any economic power at any point in history. Key factors such as natural resources, entrepreneurship, good governance and military power drove the economic progress that we read about in the Old Testament. But the biblical account gives little regard to these factors in favour of a much more spiritual narrative. Israel’s success (or lack of it) was founded upon a covenant.
This covenant took the form of what appears to be an unconditional promise when the LORD first spoke to Abraham (Gen 12:1-3), although when the promise was repeated to Isaac (Gen 26:3-5), it appears that Abraham’s obedience was an important element in keeping the covenant alive. This covenant is repeated time and time again through Genesis and beyond, first to individuals then to the nation as a whole through prophets. See for example Deuteronomy chapters 28 to 30. It is clear that Israel’s political, economic and military success was dependent on God alone and his decision as to whether to bless or curse the nation was based on the people’s obedience.
So what does this mean today? Christians believe that we now live in a time of the “new covenant”, where the blessings of God are available to all of humanity through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and a kingdom is being built across national, cultural and geographical boundaries. Does this mean that God is no longer concerned about earthly nations? Can we read anything spiritual into the fact that some nations are wealthier and more powerful than others?
I’m not sure about the answers to these questions. However, I do believe that we are still in a covenant relationship and that this is very much a two-way relationship. Obedience is our part of the deal and I believe that means following the guidance set out in the Bible, although we also need wisdom to correctly apply that guidance to our own setting. I also believe that obedience is a corporate as well as an individual responsibility and therefore it is important to challenge each other, even if this goes against our individualistic and liberal culture.
As for God’s part of the deal, does obedience guarantee wealth and happiness? My reading of the Old Testament (so far) suggests that there is at least an element of truth in that. In the New Testament, however, Jesus seems to take us to another level and suggests that obedience actually produces suffering but greater, albeit less tangible, blessings such as joy, peace and the hope of heaven more than make up for this.
Anyway, I am getting ahead of myself. Next time I will be discussing Joseph’s handling of the famine in Egypt.
A fantastic synopsis of Israel's history from the perspective of economics. Regarding Israel's zenith under Solomon's rule and subsequent decline (and what that means for the new covenant), check out the Mars Hill teaching series New Exodus.
ReplyDeleteWhat really challenged me was your emphasis on corporate obedience. Applying that to an opinion piece I read in today's Independent has got me thinking...
The article was looking at the UK's role in supporting Murbarak's administration in Egypt (by selling arms to and buying oil from Egypt). An MP was quoted as saying 'public opinion does not influence foreign policy in Britain. Foreign policy is an elite issue'. I don't think that active support for Murbarak - or any dictator would get widespread support from the public at large. But while there is a disconnect between what people think is the right thing to do, and what our government does, our attempts towards corporate obedience are severly hampered. In response, as people who love the people and planet God has made, we need to raise the focus beyond individual obedience (while emphasising its importance)and explore creative ways to disciple our nation in corporate obedience. Any ideas?
Thanks for this Andy, I'm particularly intrigued about the theme of deception that you highlighted early on, I wonder what god actually thought about that; was it just wrong or were they being " as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves?"
ReplyDeleteAlso, I take your point about the emphasis the bible puts on obedience to the covenant being the source or condition for Gods blessing and therefore their wealth. However, I'd be reluctant to label it "spiritual". I think our christian culture has a tendency to overemphasise the difference between spiritual and unspiritual, secular and sacred. I think in some ways, this is not a "spiritual" issue in the way that term is used today. Afterall, God said "I desire mercy not sacrifice" and there is a clear message from the Prophets that (one of) the reasons for Gods judgement on the Israelites is their injustice to the weak and disenfranchised.
Nathan, you are right that we all need to take more responsibility for the actions of our nation and our leaders. In Old Testament times, when democracy was unheard of, being a national prophet was a sure way to get yourself killed. Think of Joseph, Moses, Elijah or Esther. All right, none of those people actually got killed but they all entered the king's presence in fear and trembling to pass on an unpalatable message from God.
ReplyDeleteThese days we have less of an excuse not to be prophets to the nations. Democracy has opened up the way to get our voices heard at a political level, so we need to be asking God what he wants to say through us to our leaders. This reminds me, I have yet to write to my new MP since the last election, so that's something I will put right soon.
Stephen, you make a good point. On reflection, I think that the word "spiritual" was not the right word to use in this context. I was trying to highlight the fact that the Bible portrays God and his covenant as being at the centre of Israel's history. It would be quite possible to write a history of Israel without mention of the LORD (Jehovah), except in the chapter about religion. One might conventionally call this a "secular" text.
But the Bible paints a picture of a God who is as much involved in government, business and health as he is in ecclesiastical affairs. Debunking the myth of a secular/sacred divide is a big part of what we're trying to do on this blog!
As for the various instances of deception among the patriarchs, the commentaries that I've read suggest that their actions were wrong in the eyes of God. This goes to show that:
a) While we should think of our material wealth as a blessing from God, it is not necessarily an indicator of obedience or righteousness. It is possible to acquire wealth dishonestly or unjustly and get away with it.
b) God's covenant is strong enough to survive numerous acts of disobedience. While it is a two-way deal in the sense that we can break the covenant, it is also one-way in the sense that God is continually willing to forgive and forget and start again with a clean slate.