GOOD Conference, Sept 2002, Kappel/Switzerland
The Phoenician city of Tyre, with its two ports
on the Eastern rim of the Mediterranean was one of the major trade centres in
Old Testament (OT) times. The main period of long-distance trade lasted from
the second half of the 8th century to the first half of the 6th century BC.
From Tyre, trade routes led deep into the Arabian heartland and as far as
China, North Africa, Spain and the Mediterranean islands. Even in the ancient
Orient, long-distance trade produced prosperity and growth. The prophet Ezekiel
worked in exile in Babylon from about 597 to 571 BC. He interpreted Tyre's
trade in theological terms. The Book of Ezekiel (27.3-28,19) in the OT details
the goods and trade routes and praises them in all their splendour. In 585-573
BC, the city had to capitulate before Nebuchadnezzar II, and in 332 BC, it was
conquered and razed by Alexander the Great. Ezek. 27f. bemoans the sinking of
the grand ship of Tyre and names two causes for the decline of flourishing
trade. First, the king, owing to his trade successes, turned himself into God:
"your heart has become proud in your wealth. [...] you compare your mind
with the mind of a god" (28.5-6). Second, the king abuses his trading
power for the purpose of exploitation: "In the abundance of your trade you
were filled with violence and you sinned" (28.16).
King Solomon, too, was a trader. He partially
owed his power to his policy of occupying significant trade routes and
controlling them by military means (II Kings, 10.15). This confirms the natural
affirmation of world trade, i.e. long-distance trade that goes beyond domestic
trade; yet it also indicates Solomon's dangerous proximity to pure power
politics. Trade agreements were a matter of course even in OT times, for
instance between Israel's King Ahab and Damascus (I Kings 20.34). The slave
trade, an offshoot of trade proper, particularly from Tyre, was heavily
criticised in the prophetic tradition: "For you [Tyre] have taken my
silver and my gold […]. You have sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the
Greeks" (Joel 3.5-6). Tyre "delivered entire communities over to
Edom" (Amos 1.9). Moreover, there is criticism in the OT that profits are
made particularly from trade and do not sufficiently accrue to producers. The
merchants of Tyre's neighbouring trading city, Sidon, also brought home riches:
"your revenue was the grain of Shihor, the harvest of the Nile" (Isa.
23.3).
Trade brought wealth and an increase in
economy, but it also brought oppression.
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The
“wise” king Salomo forced the non-Irsraelite men to work for him to build his
temple and serve on his fleet of ships (I King 9, 21– forced labor
without sufficient payment. We can imagine that the women have been left
alone at home to do the agricultural work and to guarantee food security.
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the farmers
in Egypt were exploited, their food production was sold too cheap.
International Trade of agricultural goods was the reason for the wealth in Tyre
and the poverty in Egypt.
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Wealth
inequality also led
to extreme forms of polygamy. It’s reported that King Salomo had 700 wifes and
300 concubines (I King 11,3) whereas poor farmers could not afford to have one
wife and to feed a family.
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Unfair
trade leads to war and oppressive security systems.
After the destruction of the trade metropolis
of Tyre – thus according to the prophet Isaiah – there will be opportunity for
fairer trade.
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Tyre's
"merchandise and her wages will be dedicated to the Lord; her profits
will not be stored or hoarded, but her merchandise will supply abundant food
and fine clothing for those who live in the presence of the Lord" (Isa.
23.18).
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After
the fall of Tyre the farmers in Tharsis in Spain were encouraged by the prophet
Isaia to replant their land, to overflow the land like the Nile in Egypt
(Isaiah 23,10) instead of producing beaten silver and iron for the traders in
Tyre (Jeremiah 10,9). “Food security first” was the slogan of the
prophet 750 years before Christ! He showed a way where just trade can
contribute to food security and gender justice.
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Most
important for this new trade policy was to accept the limits of human action.
Traders are not like God’s! They have to accept to be democratically
controlled. Fair trade is rooted in the faith in God as the enabling creator,
the liberating and limiting power and the reconciling Christ. In this point the
gender perspective means that men and women are called to strengthen together
their faith in this liberating God.
This faith is also the basis of the trade
vision in the New Testament (NT). Trade is regarded as a matter of course as
much as in the OT. The NT's appeal to change our ways means turning towards God
and to the justice of His kingdom. It is in this spiritual perspective – in the sense of a perspective that oriented
towards God and thus towards fellow human beings in a new manner – that Jesus's
casting out of the money-changers from the Temple, which is reported in all
four gospels (Matt. 21.12 par), may well have to be seen. In this manner, Jesus
directs trade back to its justified but also limited position on the way
towards liberation and salvation. Once the view of God and His kingdom of
justice is no longer obstructed by the merchants' tables, trade can again be an
instrument in the service of justice.
The prophetic
call for fair trade is renewed in the Epistle of James: "Listen! The wages
of the labourers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out.
[...] You have condemned and murdered the righteous one" (James 5.4-6).
Then again, trade is always seen in the eschatological perspective – i.e. the
perspective that takes into account the final things – of the coming kingdom of
God. The parable of the money placed in trust until the return of the king
(Luke 19.11-27) makes this appeal: "Do business with these until I come
back." (13). The natural activities of this world are supposed to be
continued, yet not in one's self-interest but in the service of God. This
eschatological perspective casts doubt on putting one's trust in possessions
(which are the result of trade) and so relativises the importance of trade for
a life full of meaning and hope. Thus the Epistle of James warns: "Come
now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town
and spend a year there, doing business and making money." Yet you do not
even know what tomorrow will bring." (James 4, 13f.). In the individualised view of the virtues
catalogued in the NT, the "sanctification of life" does not only
extend to relations with the family, with husband or wife, but also to
professional ethics, for instance "that no one wrong or exploit a brother
or sister" (I. Thess. 4, 6).
In Revelations, there is a drastic description
of the merchants' despair and the futility of the magnificent trade ships as a
result of the decline of Babylon (Rev. 18, 9-19).
1. Trade, both as domestic and
long-distance (international) trade is regarded as natural and affirmed as a
matter-of-course reality in the Bible. Long-distance trade was an important
motor for growth/ prosperity even in the times of the ancient Orient.
2. Then again, the texts reveal the
transitoriness of trade relations – flourishing world trade centres have always
come and gone – and the various dangers arising from their abuse. The prophets
reveal the tightrope walk of trade: it is judged as favourable, but at the same
time criticised if it is associated with expectation of salvation. The prophet
revealed the limits of global trade
3. In Biblical terms, trade is fair
if
- it is not abused for purposes of power
politics (Ezek. 28.,6),
- it does not oppress and exploit anyone (Ezek.
28.16). Especially women are victims of this exploitation,
- it deals in goods, but not in people, i.e.
slaves (Joel 3.6; Amos 1.9),
- grants producers a fair wage (Isaiah 23.3),
- admits of redistribution, and of fair and
widespread profit participation (Isaiah 23.18).
4. The NT texts place trade, like
any other activity in life, into the perspective of the kingdom of God and His
justice. This is also the yardstick against which trade must be measured.
5. Unjust and unfair trade kills
lives. Just and fair trade enhances life. So direct and simple – despite all
the detailed differentiation – is Biblical trade ethics.
Further reflection in: Christoph Stückelberger: Global Trade
Ethics, WCC, Geneva 2002, 260pp.