Biblical narratives about ostensibly “local” barter (Abraham’s purchase of the cave at Machpelah), protection of battle spoils (Achan’s theft and subsequent execution), and commodification of labor and bodies (Ruth gleaning for hours and offering herself to Boaz) reveal much about ideologies of economic control operative in ancient Israel. The materialist analysis of Roland Boer provides a richly detailed study of Israelite agrarian and tributary practices, offering a salutary corrective to naive views of Israelite economic relations. Highlighting labor as the most ruthlessly exploited resource in the ancient Near East, Boer examines the class-specific benefits and sustained violence of economic formations from kinship-household relations to militarized extraction. Boer’s erudite study will compel readers to look afresh at the subjugation of the poor and plundering of the powerless as constitutive features of diverse economic practices throughout the history of ancient Israel.

中文翻译：

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田野和强迫劳动

关于表面上“本地”易货交易（亚伯拉罕购买麦比拉的洞穴）、保护战利品（亚干的盗窃和随后的处决）以及劳动和身体商品化（露丝收集数小时并将自己献给波阿斯）的圣经叙述揭示了很多关于在古代以色列运作的经济控制意识形态。Roland Boer 的唯物主义分析提供了对以色列农业和朝贡实践的丰富详细的研究，对以色列经济关系的幼稚观点提供了有益的纠正。布尔强调劳动力是古代近东最无情剥削的资源，他考察了从亲属家庭关系到军事化采掘的经济形态的特定阶级利益和持续暴力。