HAS BIBI PUT A RELIGIOUS NUTJOB IN CHARGE OF ISRAEL'S ECONOMY?

Bible, Not Capitalism, Will Bring Prosperity, Says Israeli Minister

It’s time to bring the Bible back into the economic equation, insists Israel’s incoming Finance Minister.

 

By Ryan Jones 

 

Israel Today  

December 8, 2022 

 

 

Can obedience to God's Word bring economic prosperity to Israel, as it did in ancient times? Incoming Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich says it can and will.

 

One of the repeated promises of God to those who lovingly obey His commandments is prosperity. The man tasked by Benjamin Netanyahu to oversee Israel’s economy says it’s time to let the Bible set the agenda.

Bezalel Smotrich, head of the Religious Zionism Party, was panned by his secular colleagues for saying in an interview with religious media this week that scripture will dictate Israel’s economic policies during his tenure as minister of finance.

“They’ve tried many different economic systems, right? They tried capitalism, neo-socialism, but there’s one thing they didn’t try — an economic approach called ‘So if you faithfully obey,’” Smotrich told the ultra-Orthodox weekly magazine Mishpacha.

Smotritch was referencing Deuteronomy 11:13-14 (KJV), which reads:

And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, that I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil.

He went on to explain the obvious: “If we follow the Torah, we’ll be rewarded with financial abundance and a great blessing. That will be my economic approach.”

Now, before the more secular-minded start howling that a religious nut job is going to ruin the country by ignoring the science of economics, Smotrich stressed that he will approach economic policy in an entirely professional manner.

But also that it’s time to stop leaving the Bible out of the equation.

“You can’t wear a kippa, go to synagogue and then behave as if you’re secular,” he noted. “If we believe in God, then we believe. We believe that Israel needs to promote more Torah and Judaism, and more of the commandment to settle the land, and more acts of lovingkindness and more solidarity.”

“And then God will reward us with great abundance,” Smotrich concluded.

 

What does the Bible say about prosperity?

The Bible speaks of wealth and economic prosperity no fewer than 219 times across the Tanakh (so-called “Old” Testament) and the New Testament. Many of those prosperity Bible verses relate to national economies, primarily Israel’s, but also Egypt and others.

God blessed the entire nation of Egypt in response to the obedience and righteousness of one man – Joseph.

And the seven years of plenty, that was in the land of Egypt, were ended. And the seven years of famine began to come, according as Joseph had said: and the famine was in all lands; but in all the land of Egypt there was bread.

And when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread: and Pharaoh said unto all the Egyptians, Go unto Joseph; what he saith to you, do. And the famine was over all the face of the earth: And Joseph opened all the storehouses, and sold unto the Egyptians; and the famine waxed sore in the land of Egypt.

And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph for to buy corn; because that the famine was so sore in all lands. (Genesis 41:53-57)

Ancient Israel enjoyed long stretches of national prosperity due to the righteous behavior of her rulers. And conversely suffered from lack under the reign of more nefarious figures.

The reign of King Solomon is most well known as a time of unprecedented prosperity, both because of his own dedication to God’s Word, as well as God’s promises to his faithful father, King David.

But the passage that is most direct among the many prosperity Bible verses has to be Joshua 1:8, in which Moses’ successor instructs the nation of Israel:

This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

Could this simple concept still hold true in our day? Bezalel Smotrich is counting on it.