Monopoly

The umbrella gathers texts in which one party concentrates control of land, food, or both — sometimes condemned, sometimes narrated as the working of state power in famine.

Monopoly of Land

The prophets pronounce woe on those who absorb their neighbors' fields and homes until they alone possess the country: "Woe to those who join house to house, who lay field to field, until there is no room, and you⁺ are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land!" (Is 5:8). Micah names the same pattern as outright seizure: "And they covet fields, and seize them; and houses, and take them away: and they oppress a [noble] man and his house, even a man and his heritage" (Mic 2:2).

The Egyptian Land Monopoly Under Pharaoh

In the Joseph narrative, the famine drives the Egyptians to surrender both selves and lands to Pharaoh through Joseph's grain administration: "why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be slaves to Pharaoh: and give us seed, that we may live, and not die, and that the land not be desolate" (Ge 47:19). The transaction follows: "So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for the Egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine was intense on them: and the land became Pharaoh's. And as for the people, he made them slaves from one end of the border of Egypt even to its other end. Only the land of the priests he didn't buy: for the priests had a portion from Pharaoh, and ate their portion which Pharaoh gave them; therefore they didn't sell their land" (Ge 47:20–22). Joseph then institutes the new tenancy and a fifth-tax: "Then Joseph said to the people, Look, I have bought you⁺ this day and your⁺ land for Pharaoh: look, here is seed for you⁺, and you⁺ will sow the land. And it will come to pass at the ingatherings, that you⁺ will give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four parts will be your⁺ own, for seed of the field, and for your⁺ food, and for them of your⁺ households, and for food for your⁺ little ones" (Ge 47:23–24). The people accept the terms: "And they said, You have saved our lives: let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's slaves. And Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt to this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth; only the land of the priests alone didn't become Pharaoh's" (Ge 47:25–26).

Withholding Food

Withholding grain in a market is condemned as drawing public curse, while releasing it brings blessing: "He who withholds grain, the people will curse him; But blessing will be on the head of him who sells it" (Pr 11:26).