3 ms·
>According to Graeber, the jubilee year was introduced by Nehemiah (who had just returned from exile in Babylon, where he learned about it) not out benevolence,
by HideousKojima 3y ago
>According to Graeber, the jubilee year was introduced by Nehemiah (who had just returned from exile in Babylon, where he learned about it) not out benevolence, but because too many slaves meant the state had too few taxpaying farmers.
Given the paucity of surviving texts from that place and era, that sounds like a chain of unsupported assumptions worthy of an evo psych paper.
- alejohausner 3y agoHe's got several references at the back of his book "Debt", on the topic of the jubilee. But you have a point: there's lots of room for interpretation. Still, the idea just seemed too delicious to pass up: debt cancellation does not arise from benevolence but from fiscal necessity.