Sunday, April 11, 2021
...and forgive them their debts
by Michael Hudson
This is the first book I reviewed that I've actually failed to finish. (I got a slow start and, before I knew it, the book was due back at the library.) I'm not quite sure I should post this, but since I posted a book meme back in 2007, I suppose there is a precedent for straying from the norm.
The theory explored in this book is that the Year of Jubilee mentioned in the book of Leviticus was actually not a practice unique to the ancient Israelites, but rather was declared by a number of kings in the ancient cultures of the middle east. Back before the common era, kings and other powers that be relied on landowners to man their armies and provide labor for public building projects. Proclaiming debt amnesties when a new ruler assumed power or in times of natural disaster was a safety valve. It kept citizens who fell into debt from either enslavement or from fleeing to another land. Ancient rulers, Mr. Hudson demonstrates, strove to maintain the productivity of the society as a whole rather than accumulate wealth for a few.
I thought this an interesting idea, but not, it turns out, interesting enough to devour the book. I think my curiosity could have been sated by an article. That said, I do have to respect Mr. Hudson's diligence in scholarship.
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