Tag Archives: Year of Jubilee

Bread for My Neighbor

“Bread for myself is a material question: bread for my neighbor is a spiritual question.” (Nicolas Berdyaev; The Fate of Man in the Modern World,; translated by Donald A. Lowrie (London: SCM Press, 1935)

We all have certain material needs in common, such as water, food, and basic shelter. In most industrial nations, these basic necessities could be provided for all, whether the economic system is a form of capitalism or socialism or a combination.

The economic system is not a barrier to meeting basic needs of a people. The barrier is an unconditional acceptance of accumulating wealth without a corresponding concern for the left out.

Who are the left out? Any child who does not have adequate food and shelter and access to basic education. Also: those struggling with conditions not of their own making: the handicapped, those affected by natural disasters, and those who lose jobs because of changes in technology.

The Old Testament championed a “year of jubilee.” Those with the ability to earn wealth were not condemned, but every so often, they were asked to return their excess accumulation back to the original families.

Wealth is not a sin. Unrestrained wealth may be.

“Openhanded to the Poor?”

“. . . there should be no poor among you . . . ” the Hebrew leader Moses states in the Christian Old Testament scriptures. (Deuteronomy 15:4 (NIV)).

But, Moses acknowledges, “There will always be poor people in the land.”

That being the case, he says: “Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land.”

How were the Hebrews to carry out this command?

One way was debt forgiveness. In Old Testament times, land was the primary means of wealth. You grew crops for your family and sometimes to sell. If you accumulated extra money, you might buy the land of your neighbor and use it to obtain more wealth.

None of this was condemned in itself. However, it was understood that too much wealth could lead to unhealthy power for the wealthy. Ordinary citizens would become completely landless and at the mercy of the rich.

The answer was a year of debt forgiveness after every forty-nine years—the “Year of Jubilee.” Land was to be restored to the original families. The wealthy could accumulate more wealth for a time, but then the means of wealth was to be restored to all.

What are equivalents in modern times?

Suppose a financial recession, caused by dubious mortgage lending practices, wipes out the chief means of savings for many in the middle and working classes, the value of their homes? Lenders could be required to renegotiate mortgages into affordable payments for those affected.

When the price of higher education rises beyond the ability of ordinary families to send their children to college, state and federal governments could tax the more wealthy. The tax would subsidize the cost of higher education. After all, the owners of capital benefit from an educated work force.

When an unexpected medical emergency can send an ordinary family into debt for the rest of their lives, the government might consider an affordable health delivery system in which the chief object is healthy citizens, not millions for big pharma.

Unfortunately the ancient Hebrews failed to follow the practices laid on them. The wealthy began to “trample on the poor,” (Amos 5:11), God sent prophets calling them to change: “But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!” (Amos 5:24)

When the Hebrews did not heed the warnings of Amos and other prophets, they were conquered by an enemy and went into exile for a season. They lost the land they would not share.

Income Redistribution or a Year of Jubilee?

 Income redistribution is a hot button issue. Is it communist? Something that would destroy capitalism? Or is it like those taxes we pay for public schools, paid even by those who have no children?

What about an updated Year of Jubilee? The Biblical passage of Leviticus 25 called for a “Year of Jubilee” every fiftieth year in the ancient Hebrew nation. Simply stated, land bought from others (and presumably used to increase the wealth of the buyer) would be returned to the original owner that year.

Obviously, such a practice would be difficult to carry out in modern society. What it suggests is the principle of sharing the means of producing wealth with those who have lost out in society’s economic scramble. They get another chance to compete.

The Year of Jubilee didn’t condemn wealth, nor the creation of wealth. But the chance to produce wealth is to be shared with the less fortunate for the good of all. Rather than direct payment, it meant giving them the means to make their own wealth. Today, it could mean investment in a superior education for every child or an economic system which rewards honest labor with honest wages It’s one solution for the tendency of money to accumulate more and more in the hands of a few. Pay it ahead.