In the Jewish Bible as well as in the Christian Old Testament books agriculture was the mainstay of the Israelite economy both in villages and cities. Working the land and herding was an anthropological given; nevertheless it was conceived on the one hand as a very positive value, in so far as it was imitation of the Divine work of creation; on the other hand, for its difficulties and risks, it was thought of as a sort of punishment for the transgression of the first human couple. The Books of Moses approach the many fatigues on the fields in a quite pragmatic way, fixing social rules and ethical norms, e.g.: a severe law concerning the payment of the workers’ salary, without any delay. Other books such as Psalms, Proverbs, Qohelet, and Ben Sira are full of more traditional sentences and moralistic admonitions about human working; overall, despite of the pessimistic tune of Qohelet, their attitudes remain positive and appreciative regarding the value of human effort, although through pain, to make a living out the struggle with nature.
University of Trento, Italy - ORCID: 0000-0002-4523-8261
Chapter Title
Le concezioni del lavoro nel Tanakh e nell’Antico Testamento
Authors
Massimo Giuliani
Language
Italian
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0319-7.19
Peer Reviewed
Publication Year
2024
Copyright Information
© 2024 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Book Title
Idee di lavoro e di ozio per la nostra civiltà
Editors
Giovanni Mari, Francesco Ammannati, Stefano Brogi, Tiziana Faitini, Arianna Fermani, Francesco Seghezzi, Annalisa Tonarelli
Peer Reviewed
Number of Pages
1894
Publication Year
2024
Copyright Information
© 2024 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Publisher Name
Firenze University Press
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0319-7
ISBN Print
979-12-215-0245-9
eISBN (pdf)
979-12-215-0319-7
eISBN (epub)
979-12-215-0320-3
Series Title
Studi e saggi
Series ISSN
2704-6478
Series E-ISSN
2704-5919