The purpose of this book is to help postmodern Westerners understand what the Bible has to say about wealth and possessions, its acquisition and protection, deprivation and slavery, corruption and hedonism, and even relations between management and labor. Focusing on Torah (the Pentateuch), it interprets this "great text" against other "great texts" in its literary-historical environment, including some epic poems from Mesopotamia, some Jewish texts from Syro-Palestine, and some Nazarene parables from the Greek New Testament.