Day 083, Saturday, Nov. 2
Leviticus 24:10 – 25:55 Click here to read
The economic rules in Leviticus are foreign to us.
Presented here, before the people have settled in the new land, they are probably foreign to the people as well, and it’s not clear how much these rules were ever followed in practice.
One important thing we can take away from this and similar passages is the realization that the systems we see in our day are not the only economic options. What is described in Leviticus doesn’t align especially well with any of our current approaches; people may try to say their preferred system is the “biblical” system, but it would be difficult to say these rules line up exactly with capitalism, socialism, communism or any of their variants.
Some principles seem to shine through.
Periods of rest and restoration are important. The weekly Sabbath is a reminder that work and acquisition aren’t the only business of life. The less frequent Sabbath year and the year of Jubilee are like super-Sabbaths. They are time where equilibrium is restored and both the economy and the society are reset. Both accumulated wealth and accumulated debt get wiped away.
There are second chances. People who have to sell themselves for debt have the opportunity to be redeemed. “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors” isn’t just a metaphor for sin.
In 25:53 we read that someone hired year to year is not to be ruled over “ruthlessly.” While this is the only such mention in today’s reading, we often see scripture concerned with the treatment of workers.
In 25:35-38, Leviticus reminds the reader that they were themselves redeemed from slavery in Egypt. They are not to take unfair advantage of those who find themselves in hard times. It’s interesting to note that the standard of protection for a poor countryman is to “help him as you would an alien or a temporary resident.” Care for those outsiders is the starting point.
Though painful from our modern perspective, we have to note that Leviticus does not broadly condemn the practice of slavery. Through the arc of the Bible story we will see slavery seem to become more undesirable and greater concern for enslaved people, but it will only be completely rejected by believers much later.