Sin: A History by Gary Anderson, Professor of Old Testament/Hebrew Bible in the Notre Dame Department of Theology presents a very compelling description of God’s economy.

For a book that spends a good deal of time looking at the historical development of Hebrew words, it was hard to put down.

The book begins by showing the development of sin, as a word and as a tangible evil, and the consequences, need for atonement and lingering effects that sin generates. It takes this discussion into the historical shift in the Biblical language of sin from sin as a weight or stain in the first temple period to language where sin is described as a debt following the exile to Babylon.

One of the key shifts in this language change is that a weight or stain has no corresponding credit metaphor for virtue. A debt, on the other hand, does provide for the accumulation of credit by virtuous activities. Anderson makes a Biblical case that the primary “credit” for virtue is generosity toward the poor. He doesn’t stop there, but addresses the obvious questions regarding works righteousness that arise when we start to speak of earning credit on our sin debt.

Sin: A History provides a Biblical foundation for attempting good works, especially giving to the poor without diminishing the work of Christ on the cross. It brings in the importance of almsgiving and generosity to the Jews and Christians and deals with a number of difficult passages throughout the Bible with a good support into how these are linked together and how they relate to the Biblical language of sin.

And if you ‘ve ever wondered about Esau moving away from Jacob after they reconcile (Genesis 36), Anderson has a very interesting explanation for that….

But I don’t want to give too much away. Read this book!