Baker, Tight Fists or Open Hands

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David L. Baker, Tight Fists or Open Hands: Wealth and Poverty in the Old Testament. Eerdmans, 2009.

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LifeandLeadership.com Summary

This is a substantive (440 pages) development of the Old Testament teaching on the subject of poverty and wealth. Baker compares the Old Testament law to other ancient texts among the Sumerians, Babylonians, Hittites, and Assyrians. He then looks at specific issues, still continuing in each case to compare the Old Testament to contemporary perspectives in the Ancient Near East. The section on property and land covers topic such as property rights, property responsibilities, and ancestral land. The next section on marginal and vulnerable populations looks at slaves, semi-slaves, resident aliens, widows and orphans. A section on justice and generosity discusses lawsuits (witnesses, impartiality, bribery), shared harvests (sabbatical year, gleaning, triennial tithes, “scrumping”), lending practices, and fair trade.

The book is weighty, but is written in a very accessible style with a clear table of contents, sub-headings, chapter summaries, a full book summary at the end, and five extensive indices. It is not likely that a minister will want or need to read this entire text, but it could serve as a very helpful reference tool. Given today’s climate of heightened social consciousness and the popular revisits of practices such as sabbath year and jubilee, this thorough encyclopedic reference is helpful.

Also, be sure and consult other theological resources, some that cover the teachings of Jesus and the New Testament, in the “Theological and Spiritual Foundations” section of the resource guide on Giving and Financial Stewardship.

From the Publisher

Any Christian response to today’s ever-growing problem of poverty around the globe must be firmly rooted in biblical teaching. While books on various aspects of wealth and poverty in the Old and New Testaments have been published, so far there has been no thorough study of Old Testament law on the topic. David Baker argues here that an understanding of that law is not only fundamental for interpreting the entire Old Testament, but it is also assumed by the writers of the New Testament. Tight Fists or Open Hands? fills this gap in Old Testament scholarship and lays a foundation for considering the relevance of these laws to everyday life in the twenty-first century.

The heart of this book is a study of all the biblical laws concerned with wealth and poverty. Baker groups these laws together by topic, considering the similarities and differences between the Decalogue, Book of the Covenant, Holiness Code, and Deuteronomic laws. He then places these in the context of ancient Near Eastern law in order to make clear which attitudes are distinctly biblical and which are held in common with other civilized peoples.

Each section of Tight Fists or Open Hands? includes an extended conclusion that summarizes the main ideas, considers relationships with other biblical texts, and points to the significance of the laws for today’s world. Such thorough exegesis and modern application make this book relevant to pastors, scholars, and students in a variety of courses.

About the Author

David L. Baker is senior lecturer in Old Testament at Trinity Theological College in Perth, Western Australia. His other books include Two Testaments, One Bible (forthcoming) and several works in Indonesian.

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