Commerce Is Less Worthy than Agriculture

3rd or 4th Century

And no alien god is bound to him (Deuteronomy 32:12)—there shall not be among you any who engage in commerce of any sort.

For it is stated: Let there be hands-full of grain in the Land (Psalm 72:16)—that is, let the wheat yield loaves that fill the hand’s entire span!

Let its fruit crackle, like Lebanon (Psalm 72:16)—that is, let the wheat berries rub against each other, shedding their semolina upon the Land, so that you can come and take from it a handful to support yourself.

Translated by Martin Jaffee.
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Credits

Sifre Deuteronomy 315, from Sifre Devarim: A New Translation of the 4th-century Rabbinic Oral Commentaries on Deuteronomy, trans. Marty Jaffee (Seattle, Wash.: Stroum Center for Jewish Studies, 2016), https://jewishstudies.washington.edu/book/sifre-devarim/. Used with permission of the publisher.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 2: Emerging Judaism.

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Commerce, Markets, and Finance in the Economy of Ancient Judea

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