Inheritance and Dominion: An Economic Commentary on Deuteronomy

Cover......Page 1
Books by Gary North......Page 3
Dedication......Page 6
Table of Contents......Page 8
A Transcendent Yet Present God......Page 54
A Delayed Inheritance......Page 59
Delegated Authority and Social Order......Page 72
The Face of Man......Page 80
Bureaucratic Counsel......Page 88
The Skills of Foreign Trade......Page 99
Transferring the Inheritance......Page 106
Evangelism Through Law......Page 113
Hear, Fear, and Testify......Page 125
Removing the Inheritance......Page 137
Judicial Continuity......Page 149
Sabbath and Liberation......Page 157
Law and Sanctions......Page 166
Intergenerational Covenant-Keeping......Page 173
Law and Inheritance......Page 185
Genocide and Inheritance......Page 200
By Law or By Promise?......Page 221
Miracles, Entropy, and Social Theory......Page 230
Chastening and Inheritance......Page 248
Overcoming Poverty......Page 254
The Covenantal Ideal of Economic Growth......Page 262
Disinheriting the Heirs......Page 286
Overcoming the Visible Odds......Page 298
Moses as the Replacement Patriarch......Page 318
Sonship, Inheritance, and Immigration......Page 326
Fullled Promises......Page 341
Rain and Inheritance......Page 348
Law, Sanctions, and Inheritance......Page 358
Common Grace and Legitimate Inheritance......Page 370
Disinheriting Canaan’s Gods......Page 399
The Prophet’s Judicial Role......Page 414
Commerce and Covenant......Page 427
Tithes of Celebration......Page 439
The Charitable Loan......Page 459
Consuming Capital in Good Faith......Page 471
Individual Blessing and National Feasting......Page 479
Casuistry and Inheritance......Page 486
Israel’s Supreme Court......Page 501
Boundaries on Kingship......Page 518
Levitical Inheritance Through Separation......Page 535
Landmarks and Social Cooperation......Page 545
The Penalty for Perjury......Page 555
A Hierarchy of Commitments......Page 570
God’s Holy Army......Page 578
Limits to Empire......Page 586
Fruit Trees as Covenantal Testimonies......Page 604
Double Portion, Double Burden......Page 615
Executing a Rebellious Son......Page 628
Lost and Found......Page 649
Nature’s Roots and Fruits......Page 663
The Rooftop Railing Law......Page 670
Leviticus and Boundaries......Page 679
The Fugitive Slave Law......Page 690
Usury Authorized......Page 699
Vows, Contracts, and Productivity......Page 711
Free for the Picking......Page 723
The Dominion Covenant and Social Hierarchy......Page 744
Withholding Wages......Page 761
Gleaning: Charitable Ineciency......Page 770
Unmuzzling the Working Ox......Page 786
Levirate Marriage and Family Name......Page 798
Just Weights and Justice......Page 815
THE FIRSTFRUITS OFFERING: A TOKEN PAYMENT......Page 849
POSITIVE CONFESSION AND CORPORATE SANCTIONS......Page 855
Landmark and Curse......Page 861
Objective Wealth and Historical Progress......Page 865
The Covenant of Prosperity......Page 882
Captivity and Restoration......Page 887
Life and Dominion......Page 893
Courage and Dominion......Page 899
Law and Liberty......Page 906
A Song of Near-Disinheritance......Page 915
Modern Economics as a Form of Magic......Page 932
Individualism, Holism, and Covenantalism......Page 950
Syncretism, Pluralism, and Empire......Page 963
Demographics of American Judaism:Study in Disinheritance......Page 978
Free Market Capitalism......Page 997
The Economic Re-Education of Ronald J. Sider......Page 1034
Foreward......Page 12
The Economics of the Pentateuch......Page 13
Time for a Change......Page 15
A Weak Reed......Page 16
Clinton, Yes; Rushdoony, No......Page 17
Faking It Academically......Page 18
“Moses Was a Tyrant”......Page 20
When Establishments Fall......Page 22
Conclusion......Page 23
Preface......Page 24
Scarcity......Page 25
Scarcity Is a Covenantal Sanction......Page 26
Original Sovereignty......Page 27
The Structure of the Pentateuch......Page 28
Eschatology and Inheritance......Page 29
The Fourth Generation......Page 30
The Doctrine of Predestination......Page 31
The Three-Fold Theme of Grace......Page 34
Imputation......Page 35
The Imputation of Righteous Works......Page 36
The Hatred of God’s Law......Page 38
Conclusion......Page 41
Introduction......Page 42
Higher Critics and Their Baptized Agents......Page 43
Sanctions and Inheritance/Disinheritance......Page 46
Social Theory and Eschatology......Page 48
Dispensationalism......Page 49
Conclusion......Page 52
Moses the Mediator......Page 55
Mediation......Page 56
Four Decades......Page 57
Conclusion......Page 58
Israel’s Refusal to Fight......Page 60
Compound Growth......Page 62
Common Grace and Inheritance......Page 64
Covenantal Limits to Growth......Page 65
Cutting OGrowth......Page 69
Conclusion......Page 70
The Decision to Delegate......Page 73
Multiplication and Authority......Page 74
Conclusion......Page 78
Fear: An Inescapable Concept......Page 81
Time Perspective and Sanctions......Page 82
Capital Punishment......Page 83
Liberty and Justice......Page 84
Conclusion......Page 86
A Matter of Strategy......Page 89
Rule by Committee......Page 91
To Veto God......Page 93
Sovereign Counsellors......Page 94
Consumer Sovereignty......Page 95
Conclusion......Page 97
Voluntary Trade......Page 100
A Matter of Positioning......Page 102
Conclusion......Page 105
Heirs and Inheritance......Page 107
Courage Through Obedience......Page 109
Conclusion......Page 111
Justice Is a Universal Goal......Page 114
Increased Trade, Increased Evangelism......Page 116
The Extent of World Trade......Page 117
* * * * * * * * *......Page 118
Conclusion......Page 124
Hearing Is Believing......Page 126
Hearing and Obeying......Page 127
Obedience and Inheritance......Page 128
Bastardy and Culture......Page 129
Restoring the Testimony......Page 130
Conclusion......Page 136
The Prophet’s Job......Page 138
Prophecy, Promise, and Conditions......Page 139
Invoking Covenantal Witnesses......Page 141
Removing the Inheritors......Page 143
Counting the Cost of Rebellion......Page 145
Discounting the Cost of Rebellion......Page 146
Conclusion......Page 147
Face to Face......Page 150
“Not With Our Fathers”......Page 151
To Maintain the Grant......Page 154
Grace, Law, Grace......Page 155
Conclusion......Page 156
A Nation of Former Servants......Page 158
The Day of Liberation......Page 160
Literal Texts for Less Literal Purposes......Page 161
A Question of Covenantal Purpose......Page 163
Conclusion......Page 164
The New Testament Sabbath......Page 165
Ethical Cause and Eect......Page 167
Straight and Narrow, Deep and Wide......Page 169
Deuteronomy and Inheritance......Page 171
Conclusion......Page 172
Population Growth......Page 176
Milk and Honey......Page 180
The Wealth Formula......Page 181
Conclusion......Page 183
The Feminization of Early Education......Page 186
The Myth of Religious Neutrality......Page 189
Solutions......Page 190
The Covenant Model......Page 191
Teaching the Next Generation......Page 193
New Gods for Old......Page 196
Covenant-Keeping and Worldly Success......Page 197
Conclusion......Page 198
Idol Speculation......Page 202
Localism or Cosmos......Page 206
Annihilation: Sanctions Applied......Page 208
Human Capital and Technology......Page 209
Economic Growth Through Imported Knowledge......Page 211
Universal God, Regional Capital......Page 213
Open Borders......Page 215
Conclusion......Page 219
Who Was a Lawful Heir?......Page 222
Maintaining the Kingdom Grant......Page 224
Covenantal Predictability and Social Theory......Page 226
Conclusion......Page 228
The Second Law of Thermodynamics......Page 231
In the Garden of Eden......Page 234
Continuity and Discontinuity......Page 236
Is the Social World Running Down?......Page 239
Pessimillennialism and Social Theory......Page 243
Conclusion......Page 245
Israel as God’s Son......Page 249
Suering and Imposing Negative Sanctions......Page 251
Conclusion......Page 252
Biblical Scarceness vs. Economic Scarcity......Page 255
The Ultimate Resource......Page 256
Land and Labor......Page 257
The Wealth Formula......Page 259
What the Land Might Lack......Page 260
Conclusion......Page 261
Miracles as Welfare......Page 263
The Power to Get Wealth......Page 265
Economic Growth......Page 267
The Idea of Progress and Inheritance......Page 269
The Realm of the Quantum......Page 274
Population Growth Consumes Space......Page 276
The Zero-Growth Movement......Page 277
Idolatry, Autonomy, and Power......Page 279
Autonomy as Power Over Nature......Page 281
The Curse on the Quest for Autonomy......Page 283
Conclusion......Page 284
To Perish......Page 287
The Prophesied Seed......Page 288
Predictable Corporate Sanctions......Page 290
Political Theory......Page 291
Sanctions and Sovereignty......Page 295
Conclusion......Page 296
The Day of the Lord......Page 299
The Bigger They Are......Page 303
Counting the Costs......Page 304
Judicial Blindness and Deafness......Page 306
Comparative Degrees of Moral Rebellion......Page 307
Canaanites Were Worse......Page 308
The Adamic Covenant......Page 310
Natural Law and Common Grace......Page 312
Which Side Is God On?......Page 315
Conclusion......Page 317
God’s Name Was on Israel......Page 320
From Servitude to Sonship......Page 322
Conclusion......Page 324
Sonship and Inheritance......Page 327
Circumcised Sons......Page 328
Sons and Strangers......Page 329
Sacrosanct Land......Page 331
Visible Economic Evidence of Civil Justice......Page 333
The Open Invitation......Page 336
Immigration and Membership Oaths......Page 337
Adoption in Family, Church, and State......Page 338
Conclusion......Page 340
Eschatological Inheritance......Page 342
Promise and Continuity......Page 343
Continuity and Conquest......Page 345
Conclusion......Page 346
Bureaucracy and Waterworks......Page 349
Linear Time, Eschatological Time......Page 351
The Biblical Doctrine of Economic Growth......Page 353
Conclusion......Page 357
Teaching One’s Children......Page 360
Van Til’s Childhood Experience......Page 361
The Christian School......Page 362
Enjoying the Inheritance......Page 364
Inheritance and Disinheritance......Page 365
Conclusion......Page 368
Smashing Idols......Page 371
God, Stars, and History......Page 373
Genocide as Deicide......Page 376
The Spoils of War and Common Grace......Page 377
The Rejection of Christendom......Page 380
The Kingdom of God, Sort Of......Page 382
Kingdom Oath......Page 385
Genocide and Economic Inheritance......Page 386
Conclusion......Page 387
An Anti-Polytheistic Land Law......Page 389
Lawful Administrators......Page 391
Local and National Incorporation......Page 393
Intermediating Authorities......Page 394
Conclusion......Page 397
Disinheritance in History......Page 400
Comparative Religion......Page 403
Theology and the Visible Kingdom of God......Page 406
Eschatology......Page 408
Conclusion......Page 412
Boundaries and Prophecy......Page 416
Boundaries and Magic......Page 417
Something for Nothing......Page 418
The Annulment of the Oce of Prophet......Page 421
The Bible’s Prophetic Monopoly......Page 422
Civil Law......Page 423
Conclusion......Page 424
Sacred and Profane......Page 428
Commerce and Purity......Page 432
The Annulment of the Mosaic Land Laws......Page 434
The Annulment of the Mosaic Food Laws......Page 435
Conclusion......Page 437
National and Local Festivals......Page 440
Celebration in Jerusalem......Page 441
The Second Tithe......Page 442
The Third Tithe......Page 444
The Levites’ Lawful Inheritance......Page 446
Alien Leaseholders......Page 449
Legal Discrimination?......Page 450
Who Enforced the Third-Year Tithe?......Page 451
Dicult Choices......Page 452
Old Wineskins......Page 453
New Testament Annulment......Page 455
Conclusion......Page 456
Loans to the Poor......Page 460
Lending and Dominion......Page 462
The Israelite Bondservant......Page 464
An Interest-Free Loan......Page 465
New Testament Applications......Page 467
The Limits on Debt......Page 468
Conclusion......Page 470
Sacrices Mandated an Immediate Loss......Page 472
A Statement of Faith......Page 475
The Future-Orientation of Biblical Covenantalism......Page 476
Economic Class and Future-Orientation......Page 477
Conclusion......Page 478
Covenantal Participation......Page 480
Expensive Celebrations......Page 482
Keeping Trim......Page 483
Conclusion......Page 485
Stoning and Hierarchy......Page 487
Hierarchy, Casuistry, and Economic Growth......Page 488
Legal Predictability......Page 490
Sanctions and Inheritance......Page 493
Justice and Positive Sanctions......Page 495
The Issue Is Inheritance......Page 497
Health and Wealth......Page 498
Conclusion......Page 499
A Question of Jurisdiction......Page 502
Costs of Production......Page 505
Separation and Inheritance......Page 507
New Testament Applications......Page 509
The Protestant Solution: Abdication......Page 510
A Royal Priesthood......Page 514
Conclusion......Page 517
Kingship as Imitation......Page 520
The Origin of the Modern Welfare State......Page 521
Decentralized Civil Government......Page 522
Covenantal Boundaries......Page 524
Military Boundaries......Page 526
Marital Boundaries......Page 528
Treasury Boundaries......Page 529
Judicial Boundaries......Page 530
Taxes and Control......Page 532
Conclusion......Page 533
The Geography of Mosaic Inheritance......Page 537
Geographical Separation......Page 538
The Levites’ Occupational Separation......Page 539
The Prophet’s Separation......Page 541
Conclusion......Page 544
Permanent External Boundaries......Page 546
The Civil Sanction......Page 548
Graves and Boundaries......Page 549
Social Peace and Cooperation......Page 552
Conclusion......Page 554
Witness for the Defense......Page 556
Eye for Eye......Page 558
The Cost of Obtaining Accurate Information......Page 560
The Economics of Conspiracy......Page 561
Perjury Sanctions Threaten Both Parties......Page 562
Priests and Judges......Page 563
Federalism: Mosaic vs. Enlightenment......Page 564
Conclusion......Page 567
The Economics of the Firstfruits Oering......Page 571
Inheritance and Battle......Page 572
No Conscription......Page 573
An Army of Holy Warriors......Page 574
Conclusion......Page 576
Thinning the Ranks in Advance......Page 579
Rational Calculation and Cowardice......Page 581
Israel’s Motivation......Page 584
Conclusion......Page 585
Disinheritance......Page 587
The Whole Burnt Oering and Disinheritance......Page 588
Mosaic Law vs. Theocratic Empire......Page 590
Survival Through Circumcision......Page 592
Public Theology......Page 594
Women and Children......Page 596
Immigration and Assimilation......Page 598
Evangelism After the Captivity......Page 600
Conclusion......Page 601
Laying Siege......Page 605
The Imagery of the Siege......Page 607
Hope in the Future......Page 608
Inheritance and Foreign Policy......Page 609
Ecology and Inheritance......Page 610
New Testament Applications......Page 612
Conclusion......Page 613
Legitimate Disinheritance: Full or Partial......Page 616
The Two Adams......Page 620
Modern Times......Page 621
New Testament Applications......Page 623
Disinheritance by the State......Page 625
Conclusion......Page 626
A Matter of Disinheritance......Page 630
What Was the Son’s Crime?......Page 631
Covenantal Authorities......Page 634
A Double Witness......Page 635
Preserving the Family Name......Page 636
Supporting Family Authority......Page 637
Another Heir......Page 638
Family, Society, and State......Page 639
Rushdoony’s Interpretation: Juvenile Delinquency......Page 640
Adult Contumacy......Page 642
Illegal Drugs and the Messianic State......Page 644
Conclusion......Page 646
Owner’s Rights......Page 651
The Right of Disposal......Page 652
Dominion Through Judgment......Page 653
Marks of Ownership and Reduced Search Costs......Page 655
Not a Case of State-Enforced Charity......Page 656
Treasure Hidden in a Field......Page 658
Idle Resources and Entrepreneurship......Page 660
Conclusion......Page 661
Preserving Nature’s Organic Productivity......Page 664
The Tragedy of the Commons......Page 665
Conclusion......Page 668
New Homes......Page 671
Self-Government Under God’s Law......Page 672
The Spirit of Biblical Law......Page 674
The Price of Perfect Safety......Page 675
Conclusion......Page 678
Hermeneutics......Page 680
Boundary of Blood: Seed and Land......Page 682
Covenantal Separation......Page 684
Clothing......Page 686
The Question of Jurisdiction......Page 687
Conclusion......Page 688
Slaves from Abroad......Page 691
Oppression......Page 694
Conclusion......Page 696
Two Kinds of Loans......Page 700
Two Kinds of Aliens......Page 702
Not Restricted to Money Loans......Page 704
The Deciding Factor Is Not Material......Page 706
Compensation for Risk......Page 707
Uncertainty vs. Risk......Page 708
Conclusion......Page 710
Productive Words......Page 712
Analogous Words and Deeds......Page 713
The Judicially Binding Authority of the Oath......Page 714
Invoking God’s Name......Page 717
A Contract......Page 719
Conclusion......Page 720
Exclusion by Conquest......Page 724
Jesus and the Corn......Page 726
A Foretaste of Bread and Wine......Page 729
Neighborhood and Neighborliness......Page 730
The Neighbor......Page 731
Seed Laws and Land Laws......Page 733
The Farmer and the Grocer......Page 734
A Shared Environment......Page 736
Community and Economy......Page 738
Has This Law Been Annulled?......Page 741
Conclusion......Page 742
The Pledge......Page 746
The Social Division of Labor......Page 748
No Tool, Low Output......Page 749
The Good Life......Page 750
Our Daily Bread......Page 751
Sanctions......Page 752
The Boundaries of a Man’s Home......Page 754
Burdensome Collateral......Page 755
Fractional Reserve Banking......Page 756
Conclusion......Page 759
A Position of Weakness......Page 762
Debt and Credit: Inescapable Concepts......Page 763
Worker vs. Worker......Page 765
Weaker Parties......Page 766
Conclusion......Page 768
Inefficiency: Yes and No......Page 771
Sanctions......Page 773
Gleaning as a Model......Page 774
A Lawful Claim: Moral or Legal?......Page 775
The Economics of Gleaning: Who Paid, Who Beneted?......Page 776
Benets for the Land Owner......Page 777
Hard Work......Page 778
Subsidizing Localism......Page 779
No Subsidy for Evil......Page 780
Conditional Charity: Moral Boundaries......Page 781
Conclusion......Page 783
Judicial Hermeneutics......Page 787
From Minimal to Maximal Application......Page 788
From Minimal to Zero Application......Page 789
Wiser Than God......Page 791
Still in Force......Page 794
How Much More!......Page 796
Conclusion......Page 797
Major Problems for Bible Commentators......Page 799
Seed and Name......Page 800
The Kinsman Redeemer......Page 801
A Matter of Inheritance......Page 802
The Story of Ruth......Page 803
Name Above Biology......Page 806
The Imputation of a Man’s Name......Page 808
The Mosaic Family as a Tribal Unit......Page 809
What About Polygamy?......Page 810
Conclusion......Page 813
Just Measures and a Just Society......Page 816
The Representative Case......Page 818
Intuition and Measurement......Page 820
Objective Facts Interpreted Subjectively......Page 822
Intuition and Creation......Page 823
Objective Standards......Page 824
Specialized Knowledge......Page 826
Competition and the Margins of Cheating......Page 828
The Scales of Justice......Page 830
The Forces of Competition......Page 833
Gresham’s Law......Page 834
A Final Sovereign......Page 835
Justice in Flux......Page 836
Open Entry vs. Open Access......Page 838
Victim’s Rights and Restitution......Page 839
Evangelical Antinomianism and Humanism’s Myth of Neutrality......Page 840
Geisler’s Norm......Page 842
Fractional Reserve Banking......Page 844
Conclusion......Page 847
A Liturgy of Thanksgiving......Page 850
Token Payments for Blessings Received......Page 851
Job’s Dilemma......Page 852
A Token Payment......Page 853
Conclusion......Page 854
Confession and Sanctions......Page 856
Historical Sanctions......Page 857
God’s Sanctions and Pagan Confession......Page 858
Conclusion......Page 860
Boundaries and Sanctions......Page 862
Conclusion......Page 863
Visible Testimony Under the Mosaic Covenant......Page 866
Capital and Covenant......Page 868
The Tendency Toward the Middle......Page 869
Visible Testimony Under the New Covenant......Page 872
Social Theory......Page 873
The Covenantal Structure of History......Page 875
Epistemological Self-Consciousness......Page 877
Conclusion......Page 880
God’s Call to Prosperity......Page 883
Future-Orientation......Page 884
Conclusion......Page 886
Outside the Land......Page 888
Cursing and Blessing......Page 890
Conclusion......Page 892
Long Life in the Promised Land......Page 894
Compound Economic Growth......Page 895
Conclusion......Page 897
“Forward . . . March!”......Page 900
Narrow Is the Way......Page 902
Optimism and Victory......Page 903
Conclusion......Page 905
One Nation Under God......Page 907
The Rule of Specially Revealed Law......Page 909
Natural Law vs. Theocracy......Page 910
Biblical Economics......Page 913
Conclusion......Page 914
Singing God’s Five-Point Covenant Lawsuit......Page 916
Conclusion......Page 917
Conclusion......Page 918
Promise and Conditions......Page 919
Compound Growth and National Covenant Renewal......Page 922
Eschatology......Page 925
The Structure of Theonomy......Page 927
Conclusion......Page 929
The Economist’s Worldview......Page 933
Economics and Agnosticism......Page 934
Equilibrium as Conceptual Magic......Page 935
Lange vs. Mises......Page 938
Theory and Reality......Page 939
Economic Theory vs. Ethical Value......Page 942
Value Theory at an Epistemological Impasse......Page 943
The Trinity and Imputation of Value......Page 945
Conclusion......Page 946
Welfare Economics, Ethics, and Subjectivism......Page 952
Kirzner on Welfare Economics......Page 954
Dualism: Objective vs. Subjective Economics......Page 958
Resolution: Methodological Covenantalism......Page 961
Conclusion......Page 962
A Common Pantheon......Page 964
Tertullian’s......Page 966
Julian the Apostate......Page 969
Modernism’s Gods......Page 972
Pietism and Politics......Page 974
Conclusion......Page 976
The Sociology of Seduction......Page 979
The Ghetto and Cultural Identity......Page 982
Jews and the Gods of Modernism......Page 986
The Disappearance of Non-Observant Jews......Page 990
Conclusion......Page 995
The Paradox of Deuteronomy 8......Page 1001
Ethics and Economic Analysis......Page 1002
Biblical Law and Exploitation......Page 1006
Predictable Law......Page 1010
Compulsory Wealth Redistribution......Page 1014
Foreign Aid: State to State......Page 1015
“We Eat; They Starve”......Page 1017
Cultures Are “Package Deals”......Page 1020
Cultural Transformation......Page 1023
A Zero-Sum Economy?......Page 1027
Land Reform......Page 1029
Conclusion......Page 1032
Sider Led an Ideological Exodus......Page 1036
Revisions......Page 1037
Harbinger and Fad......Page 1040
The Echo Eect: Neo-evangelicalism......Page 1042
The New, Improved Version......Page 1043
Who Is the Targeted Audience?......Page 1048
Conclusion......Page 1050
INDEX......Page 1052