COMMERCE AND COVENANT: A CRITICAL STUDY OF THE REGULATION OF COMMERCIAL TRANSACTIONS IN THE BIBLE

Abstract

Long before the emergence of modern commercial law, biblical texts provided comprehensive frameworks governing trade, contracts, lending, property rights, labour relations, and market ethics. Despite the Bible’s significant contribution to the historical development of commercial law, modern legal scholarship often marginalises its regulatory frameworks, treating them as theological or moral guidance rather than structured legal norms. This raises the question of the extent to which the Bible provides a coherent legal framework for regulating commercial transactions based on justice and equity. This study adopts a doctrinal and analytical methodology to examine biblical principles relating to commercial regulation. It finds that the Bible contains detailed provisions on property protection, fair trade, honest weights and measures, the prohibition of fraud, the regulation of debt and interest, labour protection, restitution for loss, and ethical market conduct. The paper concludes that biblical commercial regulation constitutes a foundational legal system that integrates divine justice with socio-economic order. It therefore recommends that modern legal systems draw on these principles by reinforcing ethical foundations in commercial law, strengthening protections against exploitation, and promoting restorative justice mechanisms in the resolution of commercial disputes.