God is an Economist Genesis 24:34-67
There is much to frown at in this story. A woman is being traded off like a commodity. A slave is sent to find the perfect wife for Isaac. That is hard enough to do if you do the job yourself. To do this for someone else is an impossible task! I am so glad my wife was won over rather than bought and I am so glad I chose her and not my servant ( I am also glad that I don’t have a servant).
But you know what? Broken systems never could keep God out. God enters our broken systems and does amazing things through people. Even thou there is much to frown at in this story, there is also much to emulate and celebrate. This slave actually did many things right and well. The way he went about it has much to teach us when it comes to our business dealings and thoughts on the economy. If one put aside the cultural conventions that appals us, there is much to learn. So, let’s discuss faith and the economy (or business) a little…
Some speak of Jesus as though he was a card-carrying member of some socialist party. Others speak of Him as though he was a very skilled businessman who taught his disciples the principles of the free market. Capitalism and socialism are the two main (and in many people’s mind the only) economic systems we know of. Very few if any country is solely capitalistic and very few if any countries are purely socialist. You will find some socialistic like government intervention in Canada even though it is considered a country with a capitalist economy and you will find some free market, capitalistic traits in Cuba and China considered by many to be more socialistic countries. It is rather senseless and meaningless to speculate whether Jesus was a socialist or a capitalist. It would be forced and highly speculative to apply these modern-day categories to Jesus.
But one thing we can say for sure is that Jesus was into economics. Money is one of the subjects He spoke most about in the gospel. Jesus was into economics because He was like his Father. And God, his Father is the Great Economist par excellence. You see the word “economy” is a word we get from the Greek word oikos which means “household”. Economy is about how goods are distributed in a household, by members of this household to members of this household. God’s household is Creation. There is abundance, beauty, joy, fairness in the world God created. There really is enough for everybody’s needs. Because of this there are peace, good relationships, friendships, and prosperity. We could say that this was God’s intent in the beginning, and this is God’s dream for the future.
We find ourselves in between this intent and this dreamed future. We are called to be stewards and participate in God’s economy. As consumers but also as producers or distributors. If we live in a world where the rich gets richer and the poor, poorer. If we live in a world where we deplete natural resources and some live in opulence while others barely survive, then it should bother us and it should move us to action. In stead of arguing whether capitalism or socialism is best, we should ask how a Godly economy would look like and how our policies and decisions when it comes to buying and selling, acquisition and distribution, can take us towards a more godly economy. Instead of critiquing capitalist practices from a socialist perspective or socialist practises from a capitalist mindset, we should critique and adjust both with from a godly perspective faithful to what God wants to see happen in His big household.
This thing we call the “Free market”. It sounds virtuous. Who would want a “unfree” or “imprisoned” market? So, we say in a free market system there should be as little as possible government interference. If there are corrections to be made, the invisible hand of the market forces should make it. We say a free market is free because everybody is allowed to get what they want, when they want it. They say that as long as any transaction is bi-laterally voluntary and informed, then it will be mutually beneficial.
In many cases people do know and want what is best for them. And when such people do transactions, they do enter it well informed and voluntary and the outcome is good. But often this does not happen. You see when economists and politicians use the term “Free Market” they work with a very narrow definition of freedom, a definition that states that freedom is to desire and get what you want. The Bible defines freedom differently. In the Bible freedom does have to do with being free from like when the Israelites were under Pharaoh and were not free. But freedom in a biblical sense also has to do with freedom to. God did not only want the Israelites to be free from Pharaoh but also free to live in community and on land that was theirs. Their freedom from Pharaoh would only be real freedom if it had a telos or an end purpose. The bible tells us that sin imprisons us even though many in this prison live under the illusion that they are free. Say a person was born in a prison and raised to be unaware that a world outside even exists. That person might think of himself as free to roam around the prison while he is actually imprisoned and not free at all. Likewise, because we are born in sin, we sometimes live under the illusion that we are free while we are the slaves of sinful and harmful desires.
So just because we want something, just because we think that something will be good for us doesn’t mean that desire is good for us. A desire can be sincerely felt and still be harmful. So what we need is some kind of objective standard by which we can scrutinize our desires. If we subjectively decide what is good and bad, we will see anything that serve our desires as good and anything that doesn’t as bad. That simply will not fly. It will make us live under the tyranny of the self. Study a young adult who as a kid, got everything he wanted. Usually not the most pleasant individual to deal with!
God and his word provides this objective standard for us. God tells us what telos or goal He has and we need to ask ourselves if what we want right now will take us and others further away from that goal or closer to it. Will what I want to buy isolate me from people or bring me closer to them? Will it bring good things to other people or just myself?
With all this in mind, let us ask ourselves what the servant did right in this passage…
Trust in God, enter with godly intent and rely on godly guidance
Both in Abraham and in this servant, we see that they keep God and what is important to Him in mind as they proceed in this transaction. The servant starts by explaining God’s promises and purpose with Abraham and how his desire from Rebecca as a wife for Isaac might serve that. Abraham trusts God to protect and bless the servant’s efforts. This is also important. When we go about business without trusting that God protects and provides for us, it makes us anxious and greedy. It makes deals go sour when we don’t trust God and it sometimes makes deals go smooth when we do trust him.
Recently I advertised a car I wanted to sell. My price was fair but one after the other low ball offers came in. I was getting scared that I won’t be able to sell the vehicle. And then I thought, there is no rush. Maybe I need to keep it. I am not going to accept what I feel is not a fair price. The vehicle sold on Thursday for a fair price.
This servant enters his business with godly intent, with trust in God and reliant on the guidance of God. When you want to buy something or when you consider selling something, when you have a business opportunity and wonder if you should take it, make God and what is important to Him part of your decision making process. Ask yourself if this product offered will somehow serve a good purpose like connecting you with people, fill you with gratitude etc.
In my first congregation I had quite a few congregants that worked for an arms manufacturer. Those who struggled with the decision and researched and came up with a just-war theory that enabled them to say yes didn’t bother me, even when I disagreed with them. But those who simplistically reasoned that because it puts food on their families table, it is necessarily a right and godly thing to do-with their decision I struggled. We must think wider than our self interests when we make decisions. We must ask ourselves always: What end will this serve, and will that end glorify God? If we don’t have peace that it would, we will be better off to let the opportunity pass by. God’s glory, seeking it, guides us. It helps us to have a standard higher than just our own self interest.
Sometimes what you desire is in accordance with what God desires. God then grants our desire. Desire is after all what motivates us to get up in the morning. But sometimes desires are distorted to serve not God’s glory but our own ego. Then the thing we want is not what we truly need but what our ego selfishly demands. And our ego is a greedy, selfish bastard.
Address the power imbalance: Allow interference of people affected by the decision
A woman in El Salvador gets paid 33 cents an hour to make a sweater. This sweater is sold under a brand name for 187 dollars in the US. Of that 100 dollars is pure profit for the company. She who made it under harsh conditions in a sweat shop gets 66 cents for it, whilst the company gets 100 dollars for it. On paper this was a voluntary mutually informed agreement she entered with the company but anyone looking into it will realize that there is a gross power imbalance between a woman desperate to feed her children and a multi national corporation that can outsource cheap labour and import expensive products. Just because a transaction doesn’t break any laws, just because it meets the standards of the reigning economic system doesn’t make it in accordance with God’s will and sense of fairness. We must address the power imbalances by giving those affected by a transaction an input into the affair.
The servant in this passage empowers Rebecca. I know it is awful to think that a woman was but a commodity in those days but in this broken system the servant does something good to empower Rebecca. He asks her for water. He is in that, vulnerable about his own needs and he empowers her by pointing out that she has a solution to offer. He then gives her expensive gifts. He deals with her personally before he discusses her with those who have authority over her. This all makes for the fact that the family eventually give her a voice and decision-making power. She chooses to go.
There are lovely stories of business owners that empowers their employees. They give them two things: a stake in the business and decision making power. Henry Ford was one of the first business owners who set out to pay his employees the kind of salaries that would enable them to buy the products they help producing. Where this is done well it raises the productivity levels, the sense of ownership and the sharing of new ideas that might take the business forward. It makes you a strong rather than a weak negotiator when you truly listen to stakeholders and let them have a say in matters. It is those utterly powerless and not listened to that turns to violence and destruction, not those listened to, included and respected. Try it. Buying fair trade coffee even though it is more expensive. Educating yourself about the conditions the animals are kept of the meat you buy, these all are important and simple ways to let have stake holders have a say in your dealings. Yes, for the government to interfere and overregulate will steal freedom. We don’t want that but to let God and people affected by your buying interfere, can actually enhance your own sense freedom.
Close the deal but renegotiate the relationship
This servant did a particularly good and God honoring job. I think he did find the woman God chose for Isaac. And yet you will read that this marriage wasn’t a very happy one. There was division and deceit between the husband and wife. They each played favourites. It could have been different. Maybe because Isaac didn’t do his own bidding when it came to finding a wife, he was too inexperienced when it came to negotiating the terms of his marriage with Rebecca. You see deals could be closed and then you can move on but good relationships makes for good and mutually beneficial deals. And relationships is something that needs to be negotiated continuously.
Rebecca was given a say entering this marriage but too little of a say once she was married. There was Lack of communication between the two. The relationship seemed one sided and even antagonistic.
Is your marriage still a win-win relationship? You will never know if you don’t discuss it with your partner. The same applies to the relationship with your son, daughter, friend or colleague. People change, their needs change as they move through experiences and life stages. Therefore, the terms of our relationships must constantly be updated to keep track of these needs and changes for the relationship to stay vibrant and healthy. When we regularly check in with each other and make time with each other, this happens informally. When we neglected it for a time, it needs to happen more formally and intentionally. We are currently entering a process where we renegotiate the nature of our church with our surrounding community. We are at a stage where humanity renegotiates its relationship with nature. Where black people renegotiate their relationship with society. Even as these things unsettle us they should also excite us. Good things some from such endeavours.
It is ever so easy to spend all our energy on deals and none on the relationships that is a key ingredient of those deals. Doing deals is no art. Building and maintaining relationships is the real art. Invest in relationships at least as much as you do in deals.
Close
You cannot solve all Canada’s economic woes. You cannot change the economic systems over night. But we can do many things. We can dream of the same economy God has in mind. One where there is inclusion and honesty and enough for everybody. We can take what is important to God into account when we do business and we and our employees will be better of when we do that. We can listen and sometimes we can empower people by giving them a voice and a say in matters that affects them.
God is neither a capitalist nor a socialist. But He is an economist and He want also how we wheel and deal to reflect something of his glory.
What this servant did, to woe Rebecca on someone else’s behalf and bring her to her destiny, is what Jesus did for his church. He intercedes for us with God the father. He wins us over to open our hearts for this Father who loves us dearly. May how we buy, sell and trade reflect something of His work in us.
Amen