The redemption of the first born (Pidyon Ha’ben) is an ancient Jewish tradition mandated by the Tanach. (Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers). It is a very happy ceremony since it concerns a baby-boy who is a couple’s first-born. In a nutshell the ecclesiastical authority has first call on the child. If the couple wish to keep their baby son they have to pay a sum of money, in silver, to a priest (Kohen) representing the ecclesiastical authority. The precise value of the silver is debatable.
A certain Kohen has adopted a relaxed attitude to his obligations in this respect. In view of the happy nature of the ceremony he takes the opportunity to add a few jokes. He argues that since the original sum was five silver shekels the modern sum should be much larger in order to secure the same purchasing power. The money is required to buy his personal jet aircraft. On one occasion, the event was conducted at a large family party and he “confiscated” every item of jewelry that the ladies possessed. The fun continued, since it all had to be returned to the rightful owners. On another occasion he managed to secure the paternal grandfather’s wedding ring.
At a more recent ceremony the parents had neglected to follow the tradition when the young lad was a baby and so, now that he was 15 the suggestion was that the sum should be fixed according to the boy’s weight.
This latest ceremony triggered an interesting thought which was that this was not a strictly religious event. It was the vestige of a secular and practical practice. It was simply tax collection. One might wonder what would stimulate such an explanation. The answer is in what Prof. Thomas Piketty has written.
Piketty is an internationally famous economist who is director of studies at L’Ecole des Haut Etudes en Sciences Sociales and a professor at the Paris School of Economics. He has conducted and published a large number of studies, with and without colleagues, into how societies develop and manage their economies and as a result he recognizes current problems and how they may be managed. This large body of work has been presented to the general reader in two major volumes – Capital in the Twenty-First Century and Capital and Ideology.
In the first his major anxiety is inequality and in the second he describes the history of human societies, and how their economies developed leading to the present day. Although he calls his work a historical investigation it could equally well be described as a study of the evolution of society. He investigated in great detail what he called premodern societies, and although he defines premodern as before the 18th century his studies go back much further. He observes that these premodern societies, including those in the remote past have a common structure which defines them as Trifunctional or Ternary Societies.
A trifunctional society is defined as “one whose structure comprises three functional groups: clergy, nobility, and workers (the third estate).” He frequently refers to each group as a class.
The clergy or priesthood is the ecclesiastical authority. Piketty’s studies show that this class is responsible for organizing civil society, that is to say the management of resources, medical services, education and the development and administration of the legal system. As such they must themselves be educated.
The nobility are the land owners and they originate in a warrior class. All societies require protection from hostile groups particularly when there is a shortage of natural resources required for physical survival. The nobility/ warriors provide that protection. They might also be called the soldier class.
The third class is the workers, that is the people who farm and create items such as tools and utensils. They are the people who provide all that a society needs to survive. Perhaps primary producers would be a better title.
Organizing a society is a full-time occupation for those concerned, so the clergy cannot contribute the additional labour power necessary to contribute to the body of practical commodities produced by the workers. The soldier class is in a similar situation so these classes become an elite whose daily requirements have to be provided by the workers. This too has to be organized and the needs of the elite are provided by a system of taxation. Since the planning and organization of such a system must be the province of the clergy, as defined by Piketty, the burden of material production, which is the product of the third estate alone, becomes unbalanced in favor of the elite. This is the origin of inequality which has been a feature of society through the ages.
For example a study by Timothy Kohler of Washington State University and colleagues, in 2017 using house sizes and burial goods as indicators traced inequality back to 8000 BCE, and over the millennia they traced its increase into the common era.
Piketty found the trifunctional society to be the pattern for all the societies he studied including the most ancient. While a great deal of his work is concerned with Europe and the USA he does not neglect Asia, particularly India and China. He relied heavily on written records.
It is not surprising that he found early societies to conform to a common pattern. The source of commodity production in them all was human labour power aided by domesticated animals. Of course, there were skilled metal-smiths but their precision could not match the precision of machinery needed to achieve advanced modern technology. And in all, non-industrial farming was the dominant economic activity.
The role of the priesthood in organizing society in ancient times is illustrated by Imhotep , High Priest of the sun-god Ra, chancellor to the Pharaoh Djoser and considered to be the architect for Djoser’s step pyramid.
One is also reminded of the story of Joseph in Genesis and his organizational ability. Of course, Joseph ante-dated kohanim and was not himself a priest but he had attributes which were priest like. It is significant that he introduced a tax system which ultimately placed all property in the hands of the current Pharaoh. These observations support Piketty’ s arguments although Piketty did not refer to ancient Israel and Judea probably because most of what is known about that society is biblical in origin and not amenable to his kind of investigation. But the biblical source could indicate a trifunctional society.
The priestly class is the Kohanim and they are defined in Tanach. A system of taxation or tithes is instituted in Numbers 23 and one might consider the gifts, which are mainly foodstuffs, mandated for the High Festivals in Leviticus as also a type of taxation. So, taxation for the priesthood begins at the earliest stage of the Jewish state.
The situation seems to be maintained up to the period before the destruction of the Second Temple. Civil government was the responsibility of the Sadducees who were mainly Kohanim. They were responsible for all religious obligations including the upkeep of the temple but they also had secular obligations which included the state’s domestic administration, foreign policy including relations with the Roman Empire , participation in the Sanhedrin, tax collection, equipping and leading the army, mediating domestic grievances.
It is reasonable to argue that a system introduced at the initial stages of the Jewish state and being substantially the same just before its destruction is likely to be continuous through the centuries between these two points in time.
The situation concerning the soldier class is less easy to define. But there are a number of indications which point in the same direction. The beginning of Numbers describes a census which is also the recruitment of a conscript army and the Israelite camp is laid out for defense. The defense was successful against the Amalekites but once the Israelites crossed the Jordan they were engaged in offensive as well as defensive war through the centuries. Joshua was, in effect, the general in command. The story of the twelve spies indicates that he was efficient in using intelligence. The story of Rahat is also an exercise in gathering military intelligence.
The tribes of Gad and Reuben together with half Manasseh did not cross the Jordan but in return provided the vanguard of the Israelite army. The subsequent history of the Jews indicates recurrent wars which include the suppression of Canaan, the internal war of Israel and Judea, recurrent defensive war against Assyria and Babylon, the Maccabean revolt leading to the Hasmonean monarchy and the final unsuccessful revolt against the Roman Empire.
David was a successful general before he became King and Josephus, although unsuccessful against the Romans followed the practice of many retired generals by becoming a military historian.
The nature of many of the Biblical battles have been analyzed by the late Chaim Herzog and he demonstrated that those in charge of the battles on the Israelite side utilized sophisticated tactics which indicates that they were professional soldiers. One must remember that although some battles were defeats this need not imply a bad command structure. It often meant imbalance in the availability of resources.
None of this proves the existence of a military class but it seems reasonable to draw that conclusion from the cumulative history even allowing for the inclusion of myth in the available record.
If this is correct Ancient Israel too was a trifunctional society in the Piketty pattern.
Does this matter? All societies before the 18th century Industrial Revolution depended on natural resources and manual labor assisted by domesticated animal power. If the nature of such societies is uniform one can argue that human behavior both as individuals and in groups is a result of environmental influences.
On the other hand if the structure of these societies is variable it would be useful to explain why and what factors were involved in determining human behavior.
Either way studies of this type increases our knowledge of ourselves and this is always desirable.
The ‘certain Kohen’ mentioned at the beginning of this article is your columnist, a retired physician who hails from Scotland and lives in Beersheba