-------------------------*Based on ESV.com's Chronological Bible In a Year schedule. If anyone would like to join in, this blog's comments sections would be a good forum in which to share insights from the text.
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My Best Shot, Based on Genesis (Genesis 47)The specifics of Joseph's economic deal in Genesis 47 are a little bit hazy: we do not know how Egypt collected taxes before this, or how Pharaoh applied these rules to his own people. So it is tough to characterize these sorts of laws as capitalist or socialist. With that said, Joseph seems to be practicing a sort of Keynesian economic model (as far as I can understand it) of overspending during bad times, saving during good times, and government intervention into business. As far as the Bible endorses Joseph's decisions, if that is really what Joseph is doing here, I guess the Bible supports Keynesian economics. This troubles me as I consider myself a fiscal conservative; I suppose I'll have to do more research, and I would appreciate any push back, but here is a small list of things in the text that I noticed re: economics:
- Good Times: Collected 1/5th of grain (Gen. 41.34,47-49)
- Good Times: Permanent 1/5th harvest tax (Gen. 47.23-24)
- Good Times: Stored a massive surplus (Gen. 41.49)
- Bad Times: Sold the surplus goods - stimulus (Gen. 42.1-2)*
- Intervention: Bought famine-ridden fields (Gen. 47.20)
We just do not have the details that we need to work everything out here. Also, as much as I would like to write a post on the Bible and economics, I do not know enough about economics to comment intelligently on the matter, and the post-per-day format that I have committed myself to leaves little room for in depth research between posts. So mostly I just comment on what I know. I am not well-versed in economic policy, but Joseph's methods tend to look a whole lot more like the United States of America (Democrat) than they do like Britain (Conservative). Different economic realities might have come into play for sure. I just thought that it would be interesting to point out.
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*The surplus crops might as well have been money - Joseph bought land with them. And he used them to trade with outside nations. The surplus crops were really a form of stimulus which kept the Egyptian people and economy going. Joseph did accept payment for food, but it is hard to believe that Egypt turned a profit on all of that grain.
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*The surplus crops might as well have been money - Joseph bought land with them. And he used them to trade with outside nations. The surplus crops were really a form of stimulus which kept the Egyptian people and economy going. Joseph did accept payment for food, but it is hard to believe that Egypt turned a profit on all of that grain.
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