ABSTRACT
Land, Credit and Crisis presents a new understanding of the financial culture of the Bible. Biblical Palestine was characterized by an over-abundance of arable land combined with a chronic lack of manpower and agricultural credit - circumstances which lead to much prophetic fulminating against merchants and the rich. The book reveals how the financial instruments and institutions of the time reflected a tough economic realism and argues that the image of the biblical prophet as a champion of social justice must be revised.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
chapter |6 pages
Introduction
part I|102 pages
Land
chapter Chapter 1|19 pages
Land Tenure
chapter Chapter 2|28 pages
Communal Land
chapter Chapter 3|11 pages
The Myth of the Helpless Peasant
chapter Chapter 4|42 pages
New Perspectives on Land Passages
part II|116 pages
Credit
chapter Chapter 5|39 pages
Agricultural Credit
chapter Chapter 6|16 pages
Debt and Patronage
chapter Chapter 7|59 pages
Debt in the Bible
part III|25 pages
No Crisis in Yehud