Abstract
Samuel L. Adams (Associate Professor of Biblical Studies at Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond, VA) has authored a tidy, concise survey of “the socioeconomic landscape of Judah/Judea in the Second Temple period, from the end of the Babylonian exile to the destruction of the temple by the Romans (532 BCE to 70 CE)” (p. 2). This book is intended for those who desire a better understanding of the milieu of formative Judaism and Christianity. In it the author investigates a wide array of topics related to the day-to-day life of the average Judean, such as marriage and divorce, raising children, work, debt, taxation, and the ethics of how one acquires and uses wealth, to name a few.
The content is divided into five chapters. The first chapter (“Family Life and Marriage”) addresses matters such as the average household size, common living situations, the process of marriage (e.g., finding a partner, the gifts and dowry), and the socioeconomic implications of divorce. The second chapter (“The Status of Women and Children”) gives deserved attention to those who are often marginalized in our texts: women and children. The reader will learn about their responsibilities in the home, their role in food preparation and agriculture, and other tasks with which they would have been acquainted, such as textiles or wine-making. Although women were not prioritized in ancient Judah/Judea, the average woman’s role in society allowed for her to influence certain aspects of the community, notably some of the cultic activities (see pp. 49–50). Similarly, Adams discusses the different roles and responsibilities of children as pertains to their sex. There is also a helpful discussion regarding the unique challenges faced by widows as they did all they could to survive in a patriarchal world.
Chapter 3 (“Work and Financial Exchanges”) examines the common occupations of this era. Adams explains here how financial exchanges worked, how credit and debt arrangements were handled, and the function of bribery, amongst other things. For modern people this chapter is an important reminder that the economic world of the Bible is very different from our own and that we must avoid anachronistic readings of the texts.
In chapter 4 (“Taxation and the Role of the State”) Adams shifts from organizing his discussion by topic to doing so by chronology. Because each of the governments of this period had a different approach to their management of Judah/Judea, this chapter examines them separately beginning with the Persian period, moving through the Ptolemaic, Seleucid, and Hasmonean periods, before ending with Rome. One of the more important questions addressed in this chapter regards how taxes impacted a mostly agrarian society. As a culture became more “urbanized,” were the farmers increasingly marginalized and oppressed? Another important subject that receives attention in this chapter is the rise of the Judean High Priesthood—an office of importance to the authors of the canonical Gospels and many of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
The fifth chapter (“The Ethics of Wealth and Poverty”) may be the most relevant for those who read the Bible for personal guidance. As in modern society, there is often a tension between encouraging people to be good stewards of their finances, emphasizing wisdom in spending and savings, and the recognition that economic inequality is ever present and in need of being addressed. Adams’ division of the sapiential (wisdom) writings from the apocalyptic/eschatological writings in this chapter makes for a helpful contrast in ideologies. Books such as Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes, and Ben Sira tend to be written from the perspective of the more affluent, scribal elite, whereas the apocalyptic/eschatological literature seems to represent the economically marginalized and oppressed element of society—those who hope for a day of judgment and the redistribution of resources.
The end of the book consists of a conclusion, bibliography, an index of ancient sources, and an index of subjects. This work can serve as a textbook at the college or seminary level, especially if the course intends to investigate the “big picture” of the socioeconomic world of Judah/Judea during the Second Temple era. Yet it should not be limited to students. Pastors will benefit from knowing this information as a background to the texts they proclaim. More specifically, anyone who desires more depth to his or her reading of the Bible will glean from this book. It is one of those rare works that can inform both the expert and the novice in that it is thoroughly researched and documented with straightforward argumentation, yet clear enough to understand for those who may worry that they might not be familiar with the insider’s jargon.