The Economics of Exile: Reading Jeremiah and Ezekiel through the Lens of Boer’s Sacred Economy

The Babylonian march for empire in the period of Iron II stemmed from economic motives. As Roland Boer notes in his recent book, The Sacred Economy of Ancient Israel, the economic foundation for empire-building lies in the acquisition of plunder. Yet, at the same time, the economic life of non-elites still had a basis in both household economic structures and patronage. The fall of Jerusalem reconfigured these economic relationships not only within ancient Yehud, but also between Yehud and its neighbors. This paper will examine how these shifts in economic relationships are reflected in both Jeremiah and Ezekiel, collections that themselves center on two prophetic figures who represent different surviving communities with distinct economic locations.