What Would Jesus do? Progressives and Conservatives Would Both Be Surprised by Christ's Economic Teachings
The Good News is that the Good News also applies today.
Many conservative political parties may have strong connections and support from Christian denominations. In the U.S. and Canada, in particular, as well as in other countries around the world. In the U.S. Republican Party, they were once referred to as “Neocons and Theocons,” with neoconservatives being motivated by economic and military policy, and theoconservatives being “social conservatives”.
For whatever reason, this “social conservatism” is generally separate from the issue of poverty and economics. I find this interesting - especially since I don’t see the far-right economics of many modern conservatives conforming to Christian teachings about poverty.
There is also tradition in some denominations of the “social gospel”.
Ted Cruz, the Canadian-Born Texas Republican Senator who is an Evangelical Christian, had this to day about the “Social Gospel”":
“If we look at it more from a philosophical standpoint, these foundations of atheism and secular humanism believe that you are your own God. That leads us to something that unfortunately has crept into many churches across America, and it is what I call the Social Gospel. The social gospel, that could creep into something that is called Liberation Theology, which is a mixture of leftist, pseudo-Christianity with Marxism.
Cruz’s interpretation is completely wrong. Partly, because he drags Marxism into it, and the problem with understanding economics generally is that people don’t know the specific ways they work. It’s usually just a label that can be swapped in a debate to mean “bad person” without being at all specific about what they’ve done wrong.
Both Social Gospellers and Catholics are both concerned about the poor. Many Social Gospellers were actually Protestant Evangelical Christians like Ted Cruz - Methodists, Baptists.
There is a difference in attitude and approach to the poor, which is that some people want to save the poor, and others want to serve them.
In reading about economics, finance and economic history, I found out that the term “forgive us our trespasses” in the Lord’s Prayer was actually “forgive us our debts,” and that there was a powerful argument that Jesus was actually calling for a Jubilee year - a “year without oppression” when debts were forgiven, debt-prisoners released, and people could even have property they had lost restored.
There is a fascinating book, “...and forgive them their debts: Lending, Foreclosure and Redemption From Bronze Age Finance to the Jubilee Year,” by economist and expert in the history of the Babylonian near east Michael Hudson. The read is dense, but it puts a fascinating new historical context around the real events and lessons of the Bible as part of a tradition that was millennia old, and it was named the Financial Times of London’s book of the year when it came out.
Out of the Wilderness & Proclaiming the Year of Our Lord
It may be surprising, but when Jesus was preaching, it was in a time of upheaval and chaos not so different than today. The social and economic context is important.
When Christ returns from his time in the wilderness, he goes to his synagogue in Nazareth, he stands up and reads from a part of the Torah. Luke 4-16 –to 4:20 reads
“And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.
And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.”
Jesus shocked the congregation by reading from Esaias (or Isaiah) – by calling for a Jubilee year.
This is a return to the ancient law, where every 49 years, there would be a proclamation of debt relief, which provides relief to poor by freeing them from debt bondage, and to return to productive work. It is more than just money - when people couldn’t pay their debts, they would lose their land, or their personal liberty. They might be required to work as slaves, or hand over their family members as collateral, to be released when the debt was repaid.
A Jubilee year was designed to remedy that: not only would the poor be released from their financial debts, they would be released from slavery, and would be able to return to land that would be made available and be able to start working for themselves.
Now, it’s important to note, that when Jesus does this, he is calling for a return to the teachings of the Torah - to proclaim the Year of the Lord, and spread the good news that there would be a Jubilee year - a year without oppression, where personal debts would be forgiven, debt-slaves freed, and people would return to land that they had lost due to debt. That practice had been stopped by Hillel the Elder, who was born 110 BCE - only a few decades before. So Jesus was asking that they return to the tradition - as it was written in the old testament.
The congregation is stunned by his audacity – and because he is shaming them. He is challenging them to follow their own rules and live their beliefs. Clearly, they have not been, because otherwise, He would not have to ask.
That’s why he follows with two phrases that have endured for millennia -
“Physician, heal thyself,” because he expects them to take their own medicine, and follow their own rules and practice what they preach.
He also realizes why he is getting resistance: “No prophet is accepted in his own country. The reaction to Christ’s action is fierce. An angry mob gathers and threatens to throw him off a cliff, but he escapes.
He continues preaching in synagogues, spreading the “Good News.” In Norse, “good” is “God” and “spell” means “news” or “story.” The word gospel or godspell is from the Norse for “Good story.”
The “good news” is proclaiming the Jubilee year - declaring a Year of Our Lord. Arguably that is why he’s being called “King of the Jews” - he’s being mocked for having the temerity to demand that the ancient Biblical law be followed.
It’s important to understand this additional context. As spelled out in Proverbs 19:17, helping the poor is a way of repaying your debt to God,
“He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD; and that which he hath given will he pay him again.”
Another way of putting it is if you to do the right thing to get to heaven, you need to do a couple of things. If you are wealthy and successful, then God is asking you to be humble enough to admit that He played a bigger role in it than you may be willing to admit, and because God played a role in your success, you owe Him. And you pay Him back by giving relief to the poor.
After leaving his old synagogue behind him, Christ travels to Jerusalem and to the temple.
“And forgive us our debts”
He also delivers the Sermon on the Mount, including the Lord’s Prayer, where there is a key line that has two translations. The line “forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us” is also translated in Matthew 6:12 as “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.”
In a world where people sincerely believe they are following the word of God, and in the Truth of the Bible, there is no recognition that “forgive us our debts” is not a metaphor for forgiving sins. It literally means to forgive people’s money debts.
A typical explanation for what a “trespass” is that it applies to just about any kind of moral slight - violating a boundary or law.
The discussion here of what the word meant in the original Koine Greek makes it clear that:
“The Greek word is a form of ὀφείλημα (3783), which according to Strong's has been translated
that which is owed 1a) that which is justly or legally due, a debt 2) metaph. offence, sin
The word comes from ὀφείλω (3784):
to owe 1a) to owe money, be in debt for 1a1) that which is due, the debt 2) metaph. the goodwill due
Lexical sources
According to BDAG (and Moulton & Milligan), the primary meaning of ὀφείλημα is
that which is owed in a financial sense, debt, one’s due.1
It can also refer to an "obligation in a moral sense, debt" (and is used in a similar way to the Aramaic חוֹבָא in rabbinical literature).2”
Translators then go on to argue that it likely means “sin” but this may be begging the question. The other examples of the word’s use in the Bible include money-debt forgiveness.
Invoking Isaiah and the Gospel in the Parable of the Sower
The Parable of the Sower has several different accounts in the Bible, in the books of Matthew, Mark and Luke. It includes a reference that can be understood to be describing the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer:
Matthew 13:12 in the King James Version reads
For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.
Jesus is describing what happens when debts are allowed to keep building up - the rich get richer and the poor keep getting poorer. He follows up immediately by saying he is speaking in parables to share with the crowd what his disciples already know.
14 In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled:
The entire chapter of Matthew 13 takes on a different meaning if it is understood to be Jesus preaching the prophecy of Isaiah, and if the “gospel” or good news is that a Jubilee year is to be enacted. There’s a reason Matthew - the tax collector - understood Jesus’ message so well.
Jesus is telling parables about debt - about real value and waste. He makes the real point that for farmer, not all seeds will grow, and for the fisher that not all fish are worth keeping. These are real life losses - and the debt is like weeds, or catch that’s discarded, or that a tiny mustard seed will grow into a tree.
He’s talking about how the Good News of declaring a Jubilee - will lead to new growth and prosperity for all. The Kingdom of Heaven and the declaring year of the Lord is achieved by fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah.
The example He gives is of a farmer who has weeds in his field, but pulling them up will ruin his crop. So at the end of it, they will gather the wheat and weeds separately, and burn the weeds. The theme, over and over, is gathering and preserving real value, and casting aside waste - and of convincing people that they will be liberated by a Jubilee.
And there is also an another mistranslation, which is also incredibly important. The translated text refers to “the end of the world” which makes it sound like the Apcalypse. But it’s not the end of the world in the original Greek. It’s in “the end of this age.”
This is a critical difference, since the end of this age and the beginning of the new one is not the end of the world. It’s the new era made possible by the Jubilee.
The Book of James - Brother of Christ
This is nearly the entire book of James, whose statements dovetail with the call for Jubilee, offering words in defense of fairness and justice, along with a blistering condemnation of the wealthy oppressing the poor.
James, 1-9
Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position. But the rich should take pride in their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wild flower. For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich will fade away even while they go about their business.
In James 1-22:1-23, he insists that followers must act as well as listen. Here, the reference to the “word” being the “perfect law that gives freedom” describes a jubilee, and the religious obligation to “look after orphans and widows in their distress.”
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.
Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
As you read further, it’s clear that this is very likely the correct interpretation. He makes it absolutely clear you should treat the poor with dignity, and further goes on to say that unless you practice what you preach, you aren’t being a good Christian.
My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong?
If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.
Speak and act as those who are going to be judgedby the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
Faith and Deeds
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.
In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
James also warns people about behaving in a way that is also dignifed and respectful. He also has the humility to recognize that everyone makes mistakes, but he recognizes the harm and spiritual damage that comes with speech that is poisonous - that people can’t praise God with the same tongue they use to curse fellow human beings.
Taming the Tongue
Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.
When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs?Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.
Two Kinds of Wisdom
Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.
But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.
This section carries on with what is essentially advice on how to be a good and ethical person. Reminding people of the importance of humility - the acceptance in oneself that we all make mistakes, as well as not lying about people or slandering them.
Submit Yourselves to God
What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:
“God opposes the proud
but shows favor to the humble.”Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil,and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another.Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?
Boasting About Tomorrow
Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.
While there are repeated references to understanding and empathising with people who are worse off, James makes his opinion towards the wealthy very clear, in a blistering denunciation.
Sometimes people will suggest that Jesus was a “socialist” but as a matter of historical accuracy, we really shouldn’t use modern terms that came about in a very specific economic and political contect and apply them to periods of history well before they were conceived. It puts a modern frame on the events, which I think takes away from the immediate historical moment, because this is not about revolution and overthrowing the existing order and replacing it with a new system. It’s about how respecting an ancient tradition that was part of Judaism is the solution to the injustices and oppression that are taking place because the poor and workers can’t pay their debts.
Warning to Rich Oppressors
Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you.
It’s worth recalling for this next passage that the act of “proclaiming the Year of the Lord” is to proclaim a Jubilee year.
Patience in Suffering
Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!
Brothers and sisters, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.
Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. All you need to say is a simple “Yes” or “No.” Otherwise you will be condemned.
The Prayer of Faith
Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.
My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.
That brings us to the end of the Book of James.
Passover and the Ides of March
The time of year here is important as well. Jesus was going to Jerusalem at the time of passover, whose date often coincided with the Ides of March (around March 15th). At that time in the Roman Empire, the Ides of March was when taxes and debts were due - the end of the Roman Imperial fiscal year. Because it was when debts were due, it was also the time that debts were forgiven.
On the way to Jerusalem, Christ meets two men, who are both rich and who want to ensure they go heaven and are saved.
The first one says that he is doing all the right things – he’s following all the commandments. He wants to know that this will ensure him eternal life. Christ asks whether he gives to the poor, and the man balks.
This exchange is the source of one of the most famous biblical quotations, and mistranslations, of all time, when Christ is quoted as saying, “It’s easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the gates of heaven.”
Then Christ meets another man, who tells him he is giving half of his money to the poor, and Christ assures him that he will be saved.
Part of the point here is that the Jubilee is good for everyone - rich as well as poor.
During this time, Christ is aware of the danger of what he is going to do. He knows he could be killed, if the local Roman Authorities think that he is stirring up trouble or a Rebellion against the Empire. But Rome is not what Christ is focused on – he is focused on the fact that people of his own faith and temple are not following the teachings of the prophecy of Isaiah.
Christ arrives at the temple, where there are peasants gathered with animals, interacting with the moneychangers and moneylenders inside. At that time, temples were also often banks. It is could be a misunderstanding that the peasants are offering their animals as a sacrifice: they have no money and are selling their animals to pay their debts.
This is part of what enrages Christ, and we see the only time he committed violence.
In his eyes, and in his faith, Christ believed that the poor should be freed of their debt, so they wouldn’t have to drag their last few goats or a couple of handfuls of pigeons to their lender, because they had no money left of their own.
In his eyes, what was happening was the corruption of His faith. Instead of paying their debt to God by forgiving the debts of the poor, they were taking from the poor – turning the temple into a “den of thieves”.
That’s why He thrashed the moneylenders and flipped over their tables - to destroy their accounts. He is enraged at the both the dishonesty and the injustice of what is happening. Instead of paying their debt to God, by refusing debt relief, they are stealing from the poor.
In terms of spiritual law and the scripture, Christ is in the right. Immediately, the moneychangers turn on him – and try to trap Christ into incriminating himself with the Roman Authorities.
The trap they are setting for Jesus is a deadly one. They ask Jesus whether he also thinks that poor people shouldn’t have to pay their taxes to Rome? It’s a loaded question. While they’re suggesting he has a double standard, or that if he really wanted relief for the poor, why he’s not calling for a tax revolt. If he agrees, and says the poor shouldn’t pay their taxes, it can be seen as fomenting rebellion against Rome, for which he can be executed.
Instead, Christ pulls out a Roman coin – the currency in which taxes to Rome were paid – and asks whose face is on it. The answer, of course, is Caesar. And Christ stays true and consistent: “Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s.”
Christ expected adherence to the laws of faith and the laws of the civil authorities. You would be a responsible law-abiding citizen of Rome, and pay your taxes, and you would be paying your debt to God by either giving to the poor or reducing their debt, and in doing so would be to faithfully following the tenets of your faith.
Christ avoids being arrested, but the moneylenders aren’t done with him. They are the ones who give Judas the 30 pieces of silver to help identify Jesus so he can be arrested.
Marvin L. Krier writes
“Biblical scholars and preachers have a number of interpretations of Jesus' cleansing of the temple. A standard interpretation is that Jesus was angered over the cheating by the moneychangers. The people who came to offer sacrifice at the temple had to exchange their coinage to use temple money to buy their sacrifice.
An uneducated peasantry could easily be taken advantage of by the unscrupulous moneychangers.
“The action of Jesus is a spirited protest against injustice and the abuse of the temple system. There is no doubt that pilgrims were fleeced by the traders.”
While this is a fair interpretation of the text, Jesus is also challenging a deeper injustice.
William Herzog argues that we cannot appreciate the meaning of Jesus' charge against the temple without some understanding of the economic role played by the temple in Jerusalem.
“The temple cleansing cannot be divorced from the role of the temple as a bank.
In the time of Jesus the temple amassed great wealth because of the half-shekel temple tax assessed on each male. Historical evidence supports the fact that large amounts of money were stored in the temple. The temple then was able to make loans on behalf of the wealthy elites to the poor. If the poor were not able to pay their loans, they would lose their land. "The temple was, therefore, at the very heart of the system of economic exploitation made possible by monetizing the economy and the concentration of wealth made possible by investing the temple and its leaders with the powers and rewards of a collaborating aristocracy.”
As evidence of this role of the temple funds, Herzog notes,
“It was no accident that one of the first acts of the First Jewish Revolt in 66 C.E. was burning of the debt records in the archives in Jerusalem.”
That’s not even 40 years after Jesus was executed.
Though he was executed by Rome, Christ was not fighting Rome – he was fighting corruption in his own faith, for having forgotten, or suppressed, or ignored the rite of Jubilee, as a way of resetting the world, and the economy - and of doing so in a way that could be peaceful. It could even be democratic.
Yes, Biblical Jubilees actually happened
It is important to recognize that the Jubilee years of debt forgiveness, and a return to land were historical events. There is plentiful historical evidence that such jubilees did take place - and economist and historian Michael Hudson argues that some of the most important parts of the Bible, and Christ’s teachings, are often talking about the morality of handling debt contracts.
Hudson argues that in the Ten Commandments, “Thou Shalt Not Take the Lord’s Name in Vain,” is saying that it’s wrong to cheat someone by lying or swearing out a false oath – you shouldn’t be forging your signature or lying in a debt contract. When you sign it, you are swearing to God that it is true. This is telling people to be honest in their dealings, and not swear a false promise to God, or abuse people’s trust.
Likewise, Hudson argues that “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife” is not about adultery, it is about protecting women who are being held as collateral for debt. That is because, husbands in need of a loan might use their wives as collateral – they would be sent to live with the lender, essentially as a hostage, who would be released when the debt was repaid. The admonition was that the lender should keep their hands off the woman.
Because most debts were owed to the palace - or temple - it was possible to forgive them. They had to be forgiven because these ancient rulers and civilizations recognized something that we do not: that the interest on debt will always grow faster than the ability of economy to produce income to pay it back.
Those societies did not have our idea of time being a straight line, with things getting better with the “march of progress”. Rather, these societies, being agricultural, recognized the repetitive cycles of life. The jubilee year was an opportunity to reset and go back to the beginning. It was an opportunity for a clean slate - a literal one.
When people unearthed writing in the ancient near east, they discovered enormous numbers of clay tablets. When they translated them, they found that they were accounting books, tracking people’s purchases and debt. The clay was soft, so you could add to it and change it over time - but it was also possible to wet it and wash it clean - erasing the debt that was written there - hence, a “clean slate” or “wiping the slate clean.”
The Rosetta stone, which was a stone dating from 196 BC that had the same text carved in three different languages - two versions in Egyptian, and a third in Ancient Greek. It is currently in the British Museum in London. When it was discovered in 1799, it caused a sensation, because it offered the possibility of cracking the code of Egyptian hieroglyphs - and in fact did so. The term “Rosetta Stone” has come to mean a generic term to cracking a code or to translation.
Less attention has been paid to what was actually written on the Rosetta Stone. It was a decree - carved in stone, in three languages, proclaiming a new contract with the people of Egypt: debt forgiveness.
The Rosetta Stone is not the only stone of this type. The Hammurabi Code is a carved stone with a series of judgments and decrees, dating from 1762 BC.
“Hammurabi proclaimed the official cancellation of citizens’ debts owed to the government, high-ranking officials, and dignitaries. The so-called Hammurabi Code is thought to date back to 1762 BC. Its epilogue proclaims that “the powerful may not oppress the weak; the law must protect widows and orphans (…) in order to bring justice to the oppressed”
These debt jubilees were a regular feature of society in ancient Mesopotamia. They were recognized as a necessary reset because debt would polarize societies - a few rich getting richer while the many poor get poorer - driving people into to poverty and off their land.
The debts that were cancelled were personal in nature. Business debts - which were loans on productive enterprises - were not cancelled. And there were detailed rules to prevent people from gaming the system. For example - they would be back-dated, so people couldn’t rush out and take on more debt.
What changed? Michael Hudson argues that we were cut off from the Biblical tradition of debt forgiveness in two ways.
One was one of the famous decisions by Rabbi Hillel - who lived in the time of Herod. His Prozbul was a break from the tradition of the Jubilee, in that it allowed borrowers interest-free loans while also protecting creditors.
The other is that Christ’s teachings on debt and debt relief were overwritten by Roman laws and expectations that debts would always be repaid, or that land would be seized as a consequence.
Rome, too had a tradition of economy-wide debt restructuring: the reason Julius Caesar was assassinated by Senators on the Ides of March is that he was planning to provide debt relief. This was opposed by Senators, who were lenders who benefited from debt payments. As they say, history is written by the winners - in this case, the assassins. It marked the end of Rome as a Republic and its transformation into an Empire, because the the oligarchs were left in control.
Over time, rich landlords in the Roman Empire could grow ever-larger estates by foreclosing on poor peasants. There is little question from historical sources, that debt contributed to the fall of the Roman Empire.
There is a period that Hudson describes that sounds like our own:
“In addition to its military and debt problems, the ecological situation was worsening. Population growth led to over-cultivation and over-irrigation of the land, silting up of the canals and abandonment of alternate fallow seasons. An urban exodus ensued “toward the freedom of open and unpoliced regions,” concludes Oppenheim: “The concentration of capital within cities produced urban absentee landlords for whom tenant farmers worked; furthermore, it led to increased moneylending which, in turn, drove farmers and tenant farmers either to hire themselves out to work in the field or to join outcast groups seeking refuge from the burdens of taxation and the payment of interest.”
Wealth concentrated among a few in cities, absentee landlords, ecological problems, tenant farmers, tax avoidance and crushing debt. Does this describe the country where you live?
Because the passage refers to Babylon in the 17th century BC - 3700 years ago.
All of this is important, because Biblical debt jubilees were also not taken seriously by modern interpreters and economists.
Debt forgiveness is seen as impossible, or immoral, and someone who finds themselves in debt is often chastised for “living beyond their means,” or it is assumed that they were reckless or lavish. Since some people are diligent and either avoid debt, or pay them back conscientiously, it is considered unfair to forgive the debts of those who can’t pay some or all of it the debt, with interest back.
The perceived unfairness of debt restructuring - or of debt forgiveness - is that the person who lent the money in the first place will not get all of their money back, as if they lent $1,000 and got only got back $500, and suffered a loss. The entire principle of lending with interest is that you have to pay back more than you received - often twice as much.
That is because we underestimate how quickly debt can grow and double due to interest. The financial reality for most borrowers is that they are being “harvested” for debt payments when the principal and much of the interest is still being paid.
The rule of 72 is a rough way of calculating financial timelines:
"Years to double = 72 / Interest RateAt 6% interest, your money takes 72/6 or 12 years to double.
To double your money in 10 years, get an interest rate of 72/10 or 7.2%.”
The gains pile up - as interest on interest. At 10% interest, a dollar will be $1.10 at the end of the first year, then 10% on that $1.10, reaching $1.21 in the second year.
Notice how the dime we earned the first year starts earning money on its own (a penny). Next year we create another dime that starts making pennies for us, along with the small amount the first penny contributes. As Ben Franklin said: “The money that money earns, earns money”, or “The dime the dollar earned, earns a penny.” Cool, huh?
This deceptively small, cumulative growth makes compound interest extremely powerful – Einstein called it one of the most powerful forces in the universe.
What are we to make of this?
What are we to make of these lessons, and this interpretation?
The reason people tend to reject the interpretation is that they are choosing to read the scripture metaphorically, instead of literally.
This is the literal meaning of the words, expressed in a way that is straightforward and clear and repeated several times over:
Forgiving the debts of the poor is paying your debt to God.
Obey the civil authorities and pay your taxes. (Holding a coin with Caesar on it: “Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s.
To return to social harmony and harmony with the land, forgive debts and let people return to land or property they had lost.
These lessons mesh perfectly with Christ’s other teachings on peace and forgiveness. This is the peaceful alternative to conflict that is tearing societies apart with bitter hatred - forgiveness for the wrongs of the past - including all the wrongs driving the reasons the debt can’t be repaid.
These lessons are the core of His message - and are arguably among his most important lessons because he preached it knowing he would be killed for it.
The “forgive us our debts” in the Lord’s Prayer, the Rosetta Stone and the Code of Hammurabi are not the only examples of a call for a debt jubilee being hidden in plain sight. Isaiah is a prophet in all the Abrahamic religions - Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
The traditional way in which jubilees were proclaimed were by holding aloft a torch - or with bells - hence the phrase “let freedom ring.”
There are also prominent economists today who are arguing for better debt restructuring and private debt forgiveness in order to renew society. It’s not about equality - it’s about making sure that everyone is over the break-even line.
“Many Christians are bound to experience some discomfort upon reading Hudson’s conclusions that the Bible is more about debts than sins. Even strict Marxists and some contemporary progressives may be challenged by the notion that religion has not in fact been the opium of the people, but an avenue for their redemption and a bulwark for their freedom throughout history. Nonetheless, the author’s work is scholarly enough to force most such stances into genuine reflection.”
There will certainly be Christians and others who will dispute that the message is about something that seems so material, or so worldly.
However, I truly believe that the wordly interpretation of a real-life debt forgiveness can add to faith and not detract from it. Imagine if you will, that social harmony and peace is treated as the basis that we are well with God - and that when things collapse and there is division and hate as we see it today, it is because we are not doing what the Bible teaches - that rather than punish with debt, we can forgive it.
The reason we feel oppressed and suffocated and constrained, no matter who we are, is because we are all being drained by debt - as people, as countries and as a planet.
Jesus would tell us that everything that’s happening, right now, is because we are not good with God. The core teaching - the message that led to his execution and sacrifice was of forgiveness. Forgiveness of debt, and forgiveness of each other. As Christ, this is the issue where he split with his Synagogue and his Temple.
In fact, democracy began with a debt forgiveness. When Solon took over Athens, it was in an economic crisis, with terrible wealth inequality.
Solon, who is credited for building some of the foundations of ancient Greek democracy in the sixth century BC, used a partial debt jubilee as part of his solution to avoid catastrophic class conflict:
In the Athens of 594 B.C., according to Plutarch, ‘the disparity of fortune between the rich and the poor had reached its height, so that the city seemed to be in a dangerous condition, and no other means for freeing it from disturbances seemed possible but despotic power.’ The poor, finding their status worsened with each year- the government in the hands of their masters, and the corrupt courts deciding every issue against them- began to talk of violent revolt. The rich, angry at the challenge to their property, prepared to defend themselves by force. Good sense prevailed; moderate elements secured the election of Solon, a businessman of aristocratic lineage, to the supreme archonship. He devalued the currency, thereby easing the burden of all debtors (although he himself was a creditor); he reduced all personal debts, and ended imprisonment for debt; he cancelled arrears for taxes and mortgage interest, he established a graduated income tax that made the rich pay at a rate twelve times that required of the poor; he reorganized the courts on a more popular basis; he arranged that the sons of those who had died in war for Athens should be brought up and educated at the government’s expense. The rich protested that his measures were outright confiscation; the radicals complained that he had not redivided the land; but within a generation almost all agreed that his reforms had saved Athens from revolution.
–The Lessons of History, Will and Ariel Durant, 1968
I write and share this for several reasons. First, it’s because if you imagine Jesus as a historical figure, in this interpretation - ironically, a literal interpretation - everything made sense.
Second, I do believe that many Christians are people who want to be true to their faith, and I hope they would consider this interpretation and the impact it would have on their life and their community.
Third, from a practical point of view, I think this is the precise problem we have now - in the U.S. and around the world. Ordinary folks were persuaded to take out trillions of dollars in debt to boost the economy, and it went into driving up stocks, and real estate and quite a few scams, and now its breaking and lots of people are at the breaking point.
While there are many people who want to know what we can do to make the world more free, more prosperous, more hopeful - instead of everything else everyone is doing - why don’t we consider debt relief as a better way out. It’s what got us into trouble in the first place.
DFL
Hey there, friend.
I turned my theology degree on temporarily to address some holes in your article so you can patch 'em up for next time.
https://eventhestones.substack.com/p/a-response-to-dougald-lamont-in-hopes
Very interesting and unexpected that you would go to a literal interpretation of the bible (including the original Greek!) to look for the historical justification for debt forgiveness. Bravo!
Updating to today (and the need to keep EVERYONE on the ‘plus side of the ledger’) I strongly promote a Universal Basic Income. Almost no one anymore lives on a farm that produces income or goods directly and we are all captive of corporations, which owe their creation to the state. Corporations in turn take resources (ultimately from the state’s resources after paying a token royalty) and sell them back to us at a profit. The government then owes something to the citizens of the state for allowing all that to happen, and I would monetize it as a UBI.