David Plotz has spent a serious amount of time reading the Old Testament and he has discovered strong connections betweeen God and real estate. Plotz says there’s a book to be written about this topic. I agree! It’s nice to know that the topic of property ownership is a major theme in the biblical narrative. Here’s a quote from Plotz:
The overarching theme of the Bible, particularly of Genesis, is real estate. God is Trump-like, constantly making land deals (and then remaking them, on different terms). When Sarah dies, for example, there are two verses about her death, and a whole chapter about Abraham negotiating to buy a burial site for her in Hebron. It’s not just land that the Bible is obsessed with, but also portable property: gold, silver, livestock.
There’s a great book to be written—not by me—about Biblical economics, and what all these transactions indicate about the nature of Judean society. I’m not sure what it tells us about the current housing crisis, except perhaps that the Israelites were just as maniacal about land ownership as we are. None of them wanted to rent in the Promised Land. They all wanted to own (and there wasn’t even a mortgage interest deduction).
City Positive 