Boundaries and Dominion: An Economic Commentary on Leviticus, Volume 2

Leviticus is the Pentateuch's book of the law.

Part 3 (of Volume 1) deals with separation. Volume 2 is devoted mostly to this theme.

Chapter 11 deals with gleaning. Gleaning was part of the welfare system, and would be called workfare today. Owners of farms had to let the poor glean the leftovers after the first group of harvesters went through a field. This was hard work, and as such the program let farm owners identify hard workers.

Chapter 12 deals with verbal binds. It forbade swearing by God's name. This was a boundary; it paralleled the third commandment. This law made men responsible for their promises.

Chapter 13 is on protecting the weakest party in a transaction; it mandated payment at the end of the work day.

Chapter 14 is one of the most important chapters in the Bible: judicial impartiality (Lev. 19:15). The state is not to favor any economic group.

Chapter 15 is on another aspect of Leviticus 19:15. It decentralized civil government.

Chapter 16 is on the state's monopoly of vengeance.

Chapter 17 deals with the preservation of the seed -- family name -- in Israel. The actual law forbade the mixing of breeds or mixing linen and wool.

Chapter 18 deals with covenantal fruit: the requirement that fruit trees be allowed to grow until the fourth year before being picked.

Chapter 19 is on honest weights and measures as the mark of honest business in general and honesty in a society.

Chapter 20 is on inheritance by fire. It was illegal to pass infants through a supposedly sacred fire, exposing them to death.

Chapter 21 is on inheritance through separation: clean breasts and unclean.

Chapter 22 begins Part 4 of Leviticus: Covenantal Acts. It deals with mutual self-interest between the priests and the gleaners.

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