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What the Bible says about Right to Own Property
(From Forerunner Commentary)

Genesis 9:27

Shem's tents have names. Here are a few of them.

1. Most prominent of all is the sovereign nation state, "a European innovation that replaced feudalism and established the rule of law." This tent took years to erect, but a good benchmark date is 1648, when the Treaty of Westphalia ended Europe's Thirty Years' War and created a state-centered international order, which very slowly grew in power and popularity.

The Treaty was the death knell of feudalism, an economic system where the king owns all the land. For a fee (or fief), he parcels out the land to vassals, who in return owe him a part of the land's wealth, as well as military muscle and loyalty if the king should be attacked. The vassals could subdivide their fiefdoms, giving land to lesser nobles, and those nobles to yet more inferior nobles, and so on. Feudalism is government by loyalty oath.

Europe's development of a nation-state system "contrasts sharply with Asia's." The great potential of Japheth remained untapped by her leaders for centuries because they refused to set feudalism aside. Consider that as early as the 13th century, the Mongol Genghis Khan could project enough power to threaten Eastern Europe. Even then, Japheth had a greater population than Europe and a greater economic potential by virtue of her large market. Asia, furthermore, enjoyed technological superiority over Europe, having "pioneered the development of clocks, the printing press, gunpowder, and iron." However, because of Asia's refusal to set aside her feudal system, her manpower and technology advantages were never able to serve her internationally. It was not until 1948, centuries after Europe put aside feudalism, that China followed suit. That happened when Mao Zedong consolidated his control over a number of Chinese warlords and proclaimed himself chairman of what later became the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). As we will see, in 1948 China stepped into one of Shem's tents—Marxism.

Japan, likewise, did not abandon her feudal system until the mid-19th century, after American Commodore Matthew Perry steamed into Tokyo Bay, demonstrating to the Japanese leadership the extent to which she had fallen behind the rest of the world during three centuries of strict isolationist policy. Japan, as well, subsequently set about to step into Shem's tents.

2. A second tent of Shem is the institution of private property, which the nation states established gradually and with varied success. While some peoples in antiquity enjoyed private property (notably those in ancient Israel), such rights were virtually nonexistent under feudalism. The right of common individuals to own property spurs entrepreneurial activities by permitting people to keep the fruits of their labors. It also encourages the clearing of land which otherwise would remain unused. An important spin-off of private property is the creation of a universally valued asset that serves as collateral for loans. Private property provided the "grubstake" upon which modern credit banking is based.

3. Democracy, a system of government accountable to the people, is another tent of Shem. It received its European start in the parliaments that developed in the tenth century to "advise" kings, and it took a major, if somewhat abortive, step forward in the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215, which limited the powers of the king.

European states developed the notion that the sovereign (whether a monarch or a parliament) had a duty to protect subject and property in return for taxes and service in the army. Rulers in the Qing, Mughal, and Ottoman Empires, in contrast, never recognized a comparable responsibility to their subjects.

4. The separation of church and state is yet another of Shem's tents. The same treaty that established an incipient nation-state system in Europe, the Peace of Westphalia, also prompted the idea that man's government works best when civil and "sacred" power structures remain separate. The Catholic Church's hegemony eclipsed soon thereafter.

5. Capitalism is yet another tent of Shem. It arose in the power vacuum that resulted from the eclipse of the Catholic Church. The "creative destruction" characterizing capitalism could never operate until "organized religion lost its power to execute as heretics those entrepreneurs who would upset the status quo."

Max Weber, focusing less on Catholicism, traced capitalism's rise to the "Protestant work ethic" that was an unintended consequence of the "reformed" theology peddled by John Calvin (1509-1564). More realistically, we can trace the roots of capitalism back to a nexus of a weakened church hierarchy, the cool climate of northern Europe, the rise of technology, and the opportunity of millions to emigrate to the New World in search of a better life. All these factors—and others—combined to facilitate capital markets and mercantilism.

Much later in history, neo-mercantilist "export-promotion regimes were adopted by Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan. . . . Almost all of the East Asian success stories, China included, are modern versions of the export-oriented form of mercantilism." Another economist claims that the economic success of China is a result of "European economics, commercial law, science and technology." These "Western institutions" interplaying with certain Asian values, "brought about successful development."

6. Finally, some of Shem's tents are so undesirable as to be downright disgusting. Of such are Marxist-communism, fascism, and nazism. For all their differences, each of these three totalitarian systems deny democracy and the rule of law. They all—though fascism to a lesser extent—get their intellectual underpinnings from Karl Marx. It is interesting to note that China, when she finally cast aside feudalism in the late 1940s, adopted communism as a culturally acceptable substitute for authoritarianism. She is only slowly and fitfully moving from this tent of Shem into somewhat more respectable digs.

Charles Whitaker
Globalism (Part Two): The Tents of Shem

Exodus 20:15

By itself, the command seems clear enough, but it has important ramifications to life. It affirms God's mind regarding a right Americans may take for granted because we live with this right without thinking about it very much—until someone steals from us. This commandment is God's affirmation that every human being has the right to private property and that others have no right granted by God to take that property from them without lawful permission.

In contrast, communists tell the world that owning property is theft. In other words, everything belongs to everybody! Not so by a long shot. The earth is the Lord's and all its fullness (Psalm 24:1), and He gives it to whoever He pleases. In addition, He extends the right to all men to work lawfully to pursue ownership of their own private property. Once we understand this commandment, it removes all doubt that communism, in which all property is actually owned collectively by the state, is a form of government that does not have God's approval.

In addition to affirming the right to own property, this commandment, in its spirit, also covers the principle of generosity more directly than any other, and it does this by condemning its opposite. From this commandment therefore arises the principles of the give and get ways of living life. Which will we follow in our lives?

This commandment covers much more than mere thievery. It includes deliberate and accidental damage done to another's property, as well as fraudulent retention of it through carelessness or indifference. It also delves into the questions of whether wealth was acquired fairly in business and whether people are getting a fair share of the good things of life. In addition, it poses the question: Is the rich man wealthy due to merit, or have the rules of the game been cleverly, avariciously, and unlawfully tilted in his favor so that the few privileged can continuously steal from the powerless? This latter principle is a central theme of the book of Amos, showing that abuse of this commandment is a major reason God's wrath is falling on the people of Israel.

John W. Ritenbaugh
The Eighth Commandment

Micah 4:3-4

It is not hard to see that man has not been a good steward of the gift and responsibility God gave him to "tend and keep" the earth (Genesis 2:15). He has polluted the air, land, and water he needs to live. In his greed, he has misused the precious resources at his disposal. God promises that there will be a reckoning for this (Revelation 11:18).

What could the earth be like if man worked in harmony with God's instructions on this matter? What will the earth look like, say, fifty years into the Kingdom of God, when the hearts of men are on God's ways and love of neighbor is a way of life? The Bible indicates people will be back on the farm. Micah 4:4 tells us that every man will sit under his own vine and fig tree, meaning that everyone will have the opportunity to own his own land. Jeremiah 31:12 says that the goodness of God will result in "wheat and new wine and oil, . . . the young of the flock and the herd." Amos 9:13-14 predicts:

"Behold, the days are coming," says the LORD, "when the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him who sows seed; the mountains shall drip with sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it . . .. They shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them; they shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them."

Micah 4:3 is the famous verse about beating swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks. This means that people will be able to look forward to enjoying the crops they plant, secure in the knowledge that no one or no invading army will steal or destroy them. In the longer term, a farmer will be able to build up the soil of his farm over many years, bequeathing a productive, prosperous inheritance to his children and grandchildren.

How might life be lived at that time? Perhaps 80% of people will live on the land, farming, ranching, or producing fruit. Towns will be small, perhaps most composed of less than a thousand people, and everyone will know everyone else. Necessary services will be within a short distance, many within walking distance. Industry and retail will be smaller and more localized. Most farms will be about twenty acres or so, depending on what it is used to grow. As little as four acres of well-cared-for land can supply food for a large family and then some. Crops will vary, along with some livestock and chickens for meat and fertilizer, as well as some fruit trees.

Long, hot days in the sun will be a thing of the past, as families will not be in a mad rush to grow crops for cash. Four hours of labor each day will be the normal workday, excepting planting and harvest times, leaving time for other interests. Because the acreage will be smaller, farmers will not have to reap fifty acres of peaches that have all ripened at the same time or pick a hundred-acre crop of cotton in two days. A farmer at the time will likely put about 10% or so of his acreage into a cash crop for needed purchases, and the rest will be for his family's food.

Crops will be rotated to build up the soil, as the roots of different crops grow to varying depths, use different nutrients, and add differing elements to the soil when they decompose. This practice will help with pesky insects too. People will learn to live in harmony even with insects, as 90% of them are helpful to the growing cycle. The other 10% will be controlled naturally, not with indiscriminate and hazardous pesticides.

Each seventh year, there will be no planting, letting the soil rest (Leviticus 25:4). How pleasant it will be, as families will take the time to travel, work on family projects, study a subject intently, or spend the year helping others in their need. Besides this, every seventh day, the whole farm - family and animals - will rest as God has commanded. With everyone pitching in, the Sabbath milking would take only about a half-hour - and then all will get cleaned up and be on their way to Sabbath services to learn God's ways.

This is just a glimpse at how wonderful life will be on a farm in God's Kingdom. Pray that that day will not be long in coming. The way things are going now, it should not be too far away. Nevertheless, we have something to look forward to, a time when we will live at peace with God and His law, with our neighbors, and with the land, working with nature, giving not just taking. Then, farming will be an honorable profession.

James Kelley
The Farm


 




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