In Land We Trust: A Georgist Commentary on the Holy Scriptures Concerning Land, Justice, and Rent

 I am not a practising Christian, though I attended church in my very early years. Nevertheless, my moral framework and values are deeply Christian, and I endeavour to live in accordance with them.

As I have grown older, I have become increasingly aware of philosophy and of the nature of metaphysical wisdom contained within religious teachings. These are truths we neglect at our personal and societal peril. Such wisdom goes beyond simple moral instruction or advice on how a community ought to behave in order to flourish.

The Bible—like other religious traditions—offers something far more profound: a deep understanding of how society, and indeed the economy, should be organised. These lessons have largely been forgotten, and as a consequence, we now face rising poverty, widening inequality, and the prospect of another cyclical economic collapse, likely to strike later this year.

Let us therefore return to the Scriptures and examine what they have to say about economics, land, and justice, and consider how these ancient insights might help us build a better world—one marked by peace, stability, and prosperity for all.

This piece examines selected passages of the Bible through a Georgist perspective. It is based on the principle that the earth—especially land—is a shared inheritance given to humanity under God; that the private capture of land value is unjust; and that the costs of running a society are most fairly met through the value of land, rather than through taxes on people’s labour.

This is not to say that the Scriptures teach modern political economy in form, but that they declare enduring moral truths concerning land, stewardship, and justice, which find a natural expression in the doctrine of the land value tax.

Thanks to Dan Sullivan for curating this list:

https://savingcommunities.org/

Leviticus 25:23 — God’s Ownership of the Land

“The land shall not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you reside in my land as foreigners and strangers.”

This verse appears in the context of the Jubilee laws. God makes it clear that absolute ownership of land is not permitted. People may live on the land and use it, but they do not own it outright.

The principle is simple: land is not created by human labour but given by God. For that reason, no one can justly claim its full value as their own. Georgism reflects this by allowing private use of land while requiring that the land’s unearned value—created by the surrounding community—be returned to society as a whole.

Deuteronomy 28:15, 30, 33 — The Curse of Dispossession

“If you do not obey the Lord your God… all these curses will come on you.”

“You will build a house, but you will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will not enjoy its fruit.”

“A people that you do not know will eat what your land and labour produce.”

These verses describe a society where people work hard but do not benefit from their work. The problem is not laziness or lack of productivity; it is that others take what they have produced.

From a Georgist point of view, this is exactly what happens when land and its value are monopolised. People labour, but rising land values and rents transfer the reward of that labour to others. Land value taxation is designed to prevent this by returning land value to the community instead of allowing it to be privately extracted.

Isaiah 5:8 — Condemnation of Land Accumulation

“Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field until there is no space left and you live alone in the land.”

Isaiah condemns the accumulation of land that forces others out. The issue is not ordinary wealth or hard work, but the control of land in a way that denies others access to homes and livelihoods.

This passage closely matches the modern problem of land speculation and housing scarcity. A tax on land value discourages hoarding and makes it less profitable to hold land unused while others are excluded.

Isaiah 65:21–23 — Secure Enjoyment of Labour

“They will build houses and live in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit… they will not labour in vain.”

Here we see a picture of a just society in which people are able to enjoy what they themselves have built and grown, without fear of losing it to others.

Georgism aims at the same outcome: labour and enterprise are left untaxed, while the unearned value of land is shared. This allows people to keep the full reward of their work.

Micah 2:1–3 — Land Theft as Systemic Injustice

“They covet fields and seize them, and houses, and take them away… Therefore the Lord says: I am planning disaster against this people.”

Micah condemns not just individual acts of theft, but systems that allow land to be taken through power and legal manipulation. The crime is structural as much as personal.

A system that collects land value for public use removes the incentive for this kind of behaviour, as land can no longer be used primarily as a tool for unearned enrichment.

Matthew 5:18 — The Continuing Moral Force of the Law

“Until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter will disappear from the Law.”

Jesus affirms that the moral substance of the Law remains valid. While ceremonial rules may change, principles of justice do not.

This supports the idea that biblical teachings about land, stewardship, and preventing permanent dispossession still matter. Georgism can be understood as a modern way of applying these principles.

Matthew 8:20 — The Landless Messiah

“Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”

Jesus identifies himself with those who have no secure place to live. In a land-based economy, landlessness means vulnerability and dependence.

This verse challenges any system that produces homelessness in the midst of plenty. Treating land value as a shared resource is one practical way of addressing this injustice.

Tithes: Taken from Land, Not Wages

Under the Law of Moses, tithes were applied mainly to:

  • crops and agricultural produce

  • vineyards and orchards

  • livestock increase

There is no general tithe on wages or on labour disconnected from land. Craftsmen and workers were not taxed on their effort as such. The burden fell on land-based surplus.

This closely parallels the Georgist principle: do not tax labour or productivity; fund public needs from the value that arises from land itself.

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