We also approach wealth from a modern, Western view. Bruce Malina and Richard Rohrbaugh (Social-Science Commentary on the Synoptic Gospels) suggest that there was a “limited good” understanding in the first-century Mediterranean world. They write concerning this parable in Matthew 25:14-30:
Because the pie was “limited” and already distributed, an increase in the share of one person automatically meant a loss for someone else. Honorable people, therefore, did not try to get more, and those who did were automatically considered thieves. Noblemen avoided such accusations of getting rich at the expense of others by having their affairs handled by slaves. Such behavior could be condoned in slaves, since slaves were without honor anyway.
The third slave buried his master’s money to ensure that it remained intact. This, of course, was the honorable thing for a freeman to do; was it honorable behavior for a slave? Later rabbinic customary law provided that since burying a pledge or deposit was the safest way to care for someone else’s money, if a loss occurred the one burying money had no responsibility. [p. 149]
They have further thoughts on the “limited good” in an earlier section:
An honorable man would thus be interested only in what was rightfully his and would have no desire to gain anything more, that is, to take what was another’s. Acquisition was, by its very nature, understood as stealing. The ancient Mediterranean attitude was that every rich person is either unjust or the heir of an unjust person (Jerome, In Heiremiam 2.5.2; Corpus Cristianorum Series Latina, LXXIX, 61). Profit making and the acquisition of wealth were automatically assumed to be the result of extortion or fraud. The notion of an honest rich man was a first-century oxymoron. [p. 48]
In contrast to thinking that the man was wealthy because God blessed him, the common thinking in the 1st century Mediterranean world was that he was a crook.
I believe that there is some truth to the limited wealth idea. When a Walmart comes into an area, it's likely that some smaller shops will close. They can't compete. The $500,000-$1,000,000 being spent each week at the Walmart is money that isn't available for the mom and pop store. There is a limited amount of money that is available to spend in each community. When a business takes more of it, there's less for others.
