Rest and Release, God's Economic Plan

This is a time in America, and in the world, when people who don’t usually give any thought to economics have economics on the forefront of their minds. We are in a time of economic instability and uncertainty the likes of which we haven’t seen since the Great Depression. Our political leaders dicker and debate on exactly what to do but no one really seems to have any idea on how to fix our problems. The Bible hasn’t left us without guidance on this issue. God’s Word reveals to us an economic system that is both equitable and sustainable if we would implement it.

The first five books of the Bible, the books of Moses or Torah, contain laws of righteousness, those that instruct people in good morals and good conduct common to all men. They contain laws of sanctification that set the people apart for serving the One True God. They contain laws for individual conduct; for the worship of God both individually and ceremonially and laws to guide the nation including national economic laws. A nation that institutes Gods law is a righteous nation. One that does not is guilty of national sin. While it is unclear if ancient Israel ever consistently practiced these laws one thing is certain, they will be put into practice in the Millennium or World Tomorrow. So the reader can consider this: ‘Millennial Economics 101’.

The number seven is quite signifiant in God’s word. We are to rest on the seventh day of the week. We are to observe seven annual Holy Days. The nation is to observe a seven-year cycle. And the year after the end of seven times seven years, the fiftieth year, there is to be a Jubilee year. All of these laws affect the national economic system.

The Ten Commandments, or Decalogue, are the primary laws directing individual conduct. They are the only part of the Bible actually written by the hand of God...in stone.  They are intended for all men in all ages. The forth commandment admonishes us to “Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy”. It could begin: Thou shalt not work on the seventh day, but God chose to make it a positive command instead of a negative. We are to abstain from our usual labor both for our own physical and spiritual health and as a part of our national labor system. The seventh day is to be a day in which no commerce is to be practiced. It re-focuses us on our Creator and His purposes for us.

The seven annual Holy Days are signposts to guide us into understanding God’s plan for mankind but they are also reminders of our annual labors. They remind us of the times of planting and harvest that affect all of us. They mandate times of vacation and rejoicing for rich and poor alike. They show us that all citizens are to be partakers in the national prosperity.

In a like manner there is to be a seven-year cycle observed throughout the land. The seventh year is to be a Sabbath year for the land and its workers. The land is to lie at rest. It is not to be tilled or planted in. It is not to be harvested. All debts are to be forgiven every seven years. All slaves, those who have either lost or traded their freedoms for security, are to be freed.

The year following seven times seven years, the fiftieth year, is to be a Jubilee year. All debts are forgiven. All slaves are to be freed. All lands that have been bought, or more correctly leased, are to be returned to the original family of ownership. The Jubilee year is somewhat akin to the Day of Pentecost. In a like manner Pentecost occurs the day after seven times seven weeks from the Wave Sheaf offering. The Day of Pentecost is the day God gave His commandments and laws from Mount Sinai thus freeing the people from the captivity of Egypt (a type of sin) and it’s pagan practices. In the New Testament it is the day God sent His Holy Spirit to dwell in the members of the first church thus freeing them from the captivity of sin. The Jubilee year too is a time of release and rejoicing. Together these observations of time serve as guideposts to remind God’s people of His economic system.

In the books of the law God forbids His people from charging interest to their countrymen on loaned money or other goods. The only taxation was the collection of tithes. The Levites, those who ran the physical government of Israel, were not allowed to own land but instead dwelt in cities, lived and ran the county and temple on the tithes of the rest of the nation. Gods taxation system never charged taxes on property. The tithes were only paid out of the increase or income of the people.

In addition to a tithe of ones increase paid to run the government, families were instructed to save a second tithe to use on whatever they desired during God's commanded festivals in the places He appointed. A third tithe, sometimes called a poor tithe, was to be collected during the third and sixth years out of a seven-year cycle. It was to be set aside to provide for the Levites and the needy among the people. This amounted to a taxation system of about 20 percent total of ones income.

The government always ran on the tithes the people paid because the government was instructed not to borrow from other nations. The government could lend money to other nations and interest could be charged on that money. There was no gold standard that the monetary system was tied to. Free enterprise and private property ownership were allowed but the poor and needy were always provided for.

There was no communal ownership in Gods system. The only place that can be found in the scriptures is in the early church. In that time and place communal ownership, where everyone sold what they had and distributed the money to those with need among them, served to make the people liquid and mobile for the coming fall of Jerusalem under the Romans. Beyond that particular instance the scriptures clearly advocate that every man could sit under his own vine and fig tree and none could make them afraid.

Private property could never be taken away from its owner. Land could be leased for a price that reflected the amount of time until the next Jubilee year. It was then returned to the family of ownership. There was never any kind of inheritance tax.

This is only the barest outline of God’s economic system.

There are many more laws and principles that flesh out Gods way of building a sound economy. God’s system is fair and equitable. It allows people to maintain their dignity and feel safe in their homes. It allows people to pass on to their descendants what they have worked for all their lives. God’s economic system allows free enterprise guided by His commandments and laws.

Because of greed the worldly systems of economics can work people seven days a week, 24 hours a day. They have literally worked untold numbers to death. Instead of debt being erased every seven years, the worlds systems enslave people by crushing interest rates and poverty. For delinquent property taxes worldly governments can take away private property that may have been in the same family for generations. The worlds way can produce the very rich but at the same time it produces the very poor. Instead of a Jubilee every fifty years, the worldly systems tend to go through a depression about every fifty years.

Gods’ economic plan is unlike any worldly system. It is unlike socialism wherein the government owns the means of production and forcibly redistributes wealth. It is unlike communism wherein there is no private ownership. The state owns everything and distributes resources as it sees fit. It is also unlike our capitalistic system where greed and “the bottom line” are the only guides. All the nations that ignore Gods economic laws are guilty of national sins and they all fail their citizens in some way.

In a world full of bountiful resources with plenty of food…people go hungry every day. That would never be so in God’s system. What’s more Gods way is sustainable. It can last for a thousand years and beyond. One day He’ll show us that.