Moses & Pharaoh: Dominion Religion vs. Power Religion

An Economic Commentary on the Bible #3

by Gary North

This is Part Two of Gary North's commentary on Exodus. It is a discussion of the Ten Commandments from the point of view of economic theory. Gary's discussion of the sabbath in this book supersedes everything he has written in the past, and nobody who wants to deal with the sabbath issue can afford to ignore the questions he raises in this book. So far, there has been no detailed response from strict sabbatarians, although the book was published in 1986.

Genres: Theology, Politics, Economics

426 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1985

About the author

Gary North received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Riverside. He served on the Senior Staff of the Foundation for Economic Education, in Irvington-on-Hudson, New York, and was the president of the Institute for Christian Economics. Dr. North’s essays and reviews have appeared in three dozen magazines and journals, including The Wall Street Journal, National Review, The American Spectator, and others.

Reviews

[Joshua Jenkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

As always, Gary North, through meticulous research and theological acumen delivers superior ethical, biblical, theological, cultural, and economic insights. Dense but not without its treasures. Not your typical commentary in the slightest.

[stormhawk · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've been reading Moses and Pharaoh for about the last year and a half. It's a book that lends itself well to consumption of little bits and then allowing time for consideration. Gary North spends a lot of time establishing his argument of the superiority of dominion religion (Judaism, and later Christianity) over power religion (Ancient Egyptian polytheism), and illustrates his position through examinations of political systems, law, economics, social mores, etc.

It's interesting reading, but not something that I would approach at one sitting. It has a plethora of footnotes, both information and referential, and I expect that if someone were so inclined, they could follow the trail North followed leading to his conclusions.

The writing is clear, with North taking time to guide the reader through sometimes abstract concepts.

[Steven H · Rating 2 out of 5]

THE SECOND VOLUME OF NORTH’S ECONOMIC COMMENTARY ON THE BIBLE

Gary Kilgore North (1942-2022) was head of the Institute for Christian Economics, and a prominent Christian Reconstructionist, who wrote widely on many topics (including postmillennial eschatology).

He wrote in the Preface to this 1985 book, “This book is the first section of volume 2 of my series, ‘An Economic Commentary On the Bible.’… The focus of this commentary is on those aspects of the Book of Exodus that relate to economics… I can only restate my original position: … there is ONLY Christian economics. All non-Christian approaches are simply crude imitations of the truth… that cannot be logically supported, given their own first principles concerning God, man, law, and knowledge. Biblical economics is therefore at war with all other economic systems.” (Pg. ix)

He states in the Introduction, “This book is about a clash between two religions, with believers in a third religion standing on the sidelines, waiting to see the outcome of the clash… This confrontation has been going on since the garden of Eden… The first of the conflicting religions was power religion, the religion of Pharaoh, who was Satan’s representative in the battle. The second was dominion religion, the religion of Moses, God’s representative in this mighty battle. The testimony of the Book of Exodus is clear: first, those who seek power apart from God are doomed to comprehensive, total defeat. Second, those who seek God are called to exercise dominion, and they shall be victorious over the enemies of God. But this victory takes time… The third form of religion is what I call escapist religion. It is a religion which proclaims the inevitability of external defeat for the people of God… This religion was dominant in the lives of the Hebrew slaves.” (Pg. 1)

He states, “It is difficult to understand how so valuable an economic resource as human labor might be wasted in a slave system, yet economics informs us that excessive waste is characteristic of any slave economy which is not closely linked to a free market. It is the institution of a competitive market which enables slave owners to assess the productivity of the slaves. The South's slave system ... prior to the Civil War ... appears to have been a profitable institutional arrangement for the slave-owning planters, but they operated within a free market…” (Pg. 51)

He asserts, “Anyone who argues for a thirteenth-century date of the Exodus has sold out the case for biblical inerrancy by denying the truth of 1 Kings 6:1. This is far more serious than making yourself look serious by arguing for the doubtful proposition that the Exodus really did take place in the fifteenth century, but somehow it left no trace… in the records of the Eighteenth Dynasty… It is the initial assumption which must be rejected---the fifteenth-century dating of the Eighteenth Dynasty---because 1 Kings 6:1 makes it impossible to date the Exodus in any other century except the fifteenth.” (Pg. 61)

He argues, “God’s revelation of His permanent law structure is an imperative concept for the very existence of truly logical economics. Without such a permanent standard… economics is logically impossible. In a subjective universe without an authoritative God who reveals Himself to man, who in turn is made in God’s image and can therefore understand God’s revelation to man, there can be no permanent objective standards that are relevant or meaningful for human action, including economics.” (Pg. 100)

He recounts Jesus’ parable of the vineyard, and comments, “Private ownership, not State ownership, is the foundation of the parable. To challenge the legitimacy of God’s delegated sovereignty of private ownership of the means of production is to challenge the original sovereignty of God. Socialism is therefore an innately demonic and evil doctrine.” (Pg. 119)

He acknowledges, “I argued in the first edition of ‘The Dominion Covenant: Genesis’ that this firstfruits offering was made on the eighth day… and it covered the sin of Adam, who probably rebelled on the eighth day… I have been persuaded by James Jordan that … Adam probably rebelled on the first full day of life, the sabbath. God covered him with the skins of animals on that day, which meant that blood was shed.” (Pg. 251)

He concludes, “the only possible source of man’s long-term but limited power is biblical ethics. Adherence to biblical law, by grace through faith, is the only means of fulfilling the terms of the dominion covenant. Thus, there is no need for Christians to become adherents of the escapist religion in order to avoid becoming adherents of the power religion. The dominion religion is God’s alternative… Egypt is the archetype of covenant-breaking society… The Hebrews had this example behind them… the Passover… was an institutional testimony to the futility of seeking power apart from biblical law. It is therefore futile to seek to fulfill the terms of the dominion covenant apart from God. It is equally futile to attempt to escape from the burdens of this covenant. Such an escape leads directly to historical impotence and slavery under some temporarily successful group of power religionists…” (Pg. 296-298)

In an Appendix, he criticizes Ronald Sider’s book, ‘Rich Christians In an Age of Hunger,’ which he says “points to the deterioration of evangelical theology in the latter decades of the twentieth century… there is nothing scholarly about it…” (Pg. 336-337)

This book will appeal to those studying Christian Reconstruction, and related areas.

[Scott Kennedy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really interesting information on the problem of chronology of the Exodus, summarising Courville's reconstruction of the Egyptian timeline.

[Douglas Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good.