Comments on: Redistribution of wealth in the Bible

By: Accurate

Accurate — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 18:15:36 +0000

To understand this parable we must observe that Jewish law in operation at the time of Jesus’ ministry made it a crime for Jews to lend money at interest to fellow Jews. (see Leviticus 25:36-37).

To help us weigh the character of the master in the parable, Jesus said that the servant with the least business ability (sufficient to be trusted with “one talent) says “Lord, I knew thee that thou art a hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not scattered. And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth; and lo, here is thy talent; take it from me as thou hast from thine other servants, for it is thine.” (Matt 25:24-25)

What sort of person harvests where he has NOT sown and demands MORE than what belongs to him ? Those who demand interest from poor farmers often take their land together with harvests that the moneylender did not himself sow. This goes on today as it has for thousands of years. The more we look at the behaviour of this master, the more we realise that Jesus is describing a very different kind of master compared what we have been taught to believe over the years.

This is a master who wants 100% interest on his money as the normal going rate, which was a criminal offense under Jewish law at that time (also see Nehemiah 5:10-11).

So the question is why did the servant with 1 talent bury that talent and disobey his master? It would have been easy for him to have deposited the money at the bank unless he was responding to a higher law than the word of a such a master to these servants. Letting the banker make money on his behalf would not have required more business acumen than he must have had to have been entrusted with so much money. This would have involved no more effort than burying it so we don’t have to accept the accusation that he buried it out of laziness. But he knew very well the character of the master who loaned him the talent. This implies that he was more afraid of breaking God’s law against usury (or interest) than of antagonising this hard and greedy master.

He was responding to Higher Law!
——
It is dangerous to use scripture in isolation to support an agenda unless you understand the context of the scripture and why the scripture was written. As Peter says in II Peter 3:16, those “who wrest the scriptures, do so do their destruction”

Reading this parable in conjunction with ALL scripture and in context with the time it was written gives it an entirely new perspective on the one placed on it by modern day conservative “prosperity” theologians.

(full disclosure: I am neither conservative, liberal or centrist in my political views)

By: Accurate

Accurate — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 17:39:17 +0000

Re Hev’s Comments: A Talent in the Jewish times was a system of measurement (as applicable to this parable) has nothing to do with talents mentioned elsewhere in scripture. A talent (weight) used in New Testament Times was about 58.9 kgs (130 lbs). A talent was used to measure the weight of precious metals – which was the subject of the parable.

By: Hev

Hev — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 05:06:35 +0000

A talent is an special God given ability and has little to do with finance. If one uses his/her talents for God then God will bless the person with more talents. Increasing one’s wealth without consideraton of those who have not is greed without compassion. Increasing one’s wealth by oppression is also Biblical. I suggest everyone read that verse!

By: Dr. Paul Anderson

Dr. Paul Anderson — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 21:59:51 +0000

From an intellectual standpoint, one can distort the intent of the mind of God, in regards to such things as re-distribution of wealth.
For the federal goverment to take (steal) from the rich, which have gained their wealth from discipline and hard work, and re-distribute to the poor, which often have chosen to enroll in wellfare programs, rather than work, is not the intent of the God of the Scriptures.
Proverbs 10:4 ” A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the dilligent makes rich ”
II Thessalonians 3:10 ” For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.”

Historically, what most fail to realize, re-distribution of wealth, is one of the 10 planks of Communism, and is used to bring about the control of the masses by controlling and re-distributing wealth.

The re-distribution of wealth is one of the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations in their efforts to establish “Global Governance” ie One World Goverment.

By: bobby copher

bobby copher — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 07:35:27 +0000

Any reference to scripture in comparrison to 21st century society is weak in my opinion. The bible was written in a time when man did not populate the earth in the same density as we have today. In a time when well intended actions were rewarded and a persons efforts and ingenuity reaped benefits in due proportion. We now have a world full of outside influences and hidden agendas. To ignore the fact that we can no longer take responsibility for everything that happens to us in our life is to blind ourselves of reality. Even the best of intentions and smartest of God’s children are blindsided by circumstances out of their control. It is the first lesson that I recommend counseling to those considering suicide. You can’t take responsibility for everything in your life and blame your circumstances on only yourself. Once they realize that in many cases they are victim to the evils that prey on us in this world even though they have done everything exactly right, they begin to find new hope. So in my opinion, this message, more so than most in religious texts, has very little application in the 21st century world.

By: A Reader

A Reader — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:06:07 +0000

How exactly the rich could get so rich by, ostensibly, ripping the poor who have hardly anything to be ripped of? A research done by a renowned economist and chairman of Economic Dept at U.C. Davis, Dr. Gregory Clark, reveals that in (post-) industrial societies these are the poor that are living off the rich and not the other way around.

Here is a link to an article that elaborates on this paradigm:

http://www.federalobserver.com/2009/10/22/dwyer-malthus-law-revisited/

By: Some Interesting Reading for Christian Men « Christian Marriage Cafe

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By: Paul Williams @ Provident Planning

Paul Williams @ Provident Planning — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 16:43:10 +0000

Happy Rock, I’ll have to disagree with your last paragraph. Wisely managing our money has nothing to do with fear of risks, not trusting God, or not doing His work. There are many places in the Bible, including the New Testament, where wisdom in dealing with material wealth is commended and encouraged.

What is not encouraged is hoarding and spending all your wealth on your own pleasures and wants. There’s a distinct difference between someone who saves for a retirement where their needs are met because they can no longer work and someone who saves for a retirement where they can live in luxury and recreation all the time.

By: The Happy Rock

The Happy Rock — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 15:00:57 +0000

I think we only need to look a few verses further to see the real redistribution of wealth that Jesus talks about. In a verse just a sentence or two after the talents parable we have:

“35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ ”

I really think the thrust of the parable of the talents is very different that the message in this post, even though the three points are excellent advice.

Yes, the talents are about stewardship, but to me the goal is not monetary profit but spiritual profit. Especially when you take that in conjunction with the surrounding message. Giving your money and time to the poor,those in prison, and orphans and widows, and giving your food and clothes away is not monetary profit yet is creates great amounts of spiritual profit.

You could try and argue that if you give your money away God will give you much more, but I am not sure that fits with the parable, which says work hard and create profit. If we give our money away which Jesus extols a few sentences later, it is impossible to create monetary profit. But it would create significant spiritual profit. The type of profit that the master would be trying to create for himself if he were here. Add to that passages about Jubilee, the rich young ruler, and many others and I think we might get a clearer picture of real wealth distribution.

With the previous arguments in mind, I would argue that saving for retirement and playing it safe by following ‘all the rules’ is probably more like the third servant who is scared to take risks, trust his master, and be about his master’s business than it is like the other two.