Luther on economics
"I do not see that many good customs have ever come to a land through commerce, and in ancient times God made his people Israel dwell away from the sea on account of this and did not let them engage in much commerce."
The reaction from whatever passed at the time for the Wittenberg Chamber of Commerce is not recorded.
Of course, there may have been another reason that Israel dwelt away from the sea - the Philistines and Phoenician slave traders. Maybe the desert dwellers didn't want to be part of that commerce.
ReplyDeleteIt's more like the Israelites would have loved to dwell by the coast but they were not strong enough to defeat the Philistines in open warfare so they had to settle for living in the mountains. It was easier to defend themselves in mountain terrain, and the Philistines really didn't want to waste their time attacking them anyway because who the hell wants the mountains anyway when you already own the fertile coastland?
ReplyDeleteIt seems the Philistine's god was stronger than Yahweh. No surprise. For all their bragging about Yahweh, Israel was one of the weakest nations around.
If I understand correctly, Samaria (what we call Israel) was a rich olive-growing region dependent on Egypt and Assyria for trade wealth.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what Luther expected, anyway. The Bible was written by and for people living in Yehud and Samaria, not on the coast. You might as well posit a theological reason that the Israelites weren't Eskimos.
But! But! But!
ReplyDeletePaul!
The Israelites weren't Eskimos?!??!
How do we know this?
Isn't it possible with British Israelism that they were? After all, they are a part of the United States which descended from a tribe of Israel and therefore cursed by God for not keeping... keeping... oh, phooey! Nobody can quite agree, but they did something bad in ignorance, let me assure you!!!
And the Assyrians, a Semitic race, evolved (overnight) into the Germans, an Aryan race. Race? What race?
ReplyDelete