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 FOOD POLITICS
WHAT EVERYONE NEEDS TO KNOW
This page intentionally left blank
 FOOD POLITICS
WHAT EVERYONE NEEDS TO KNOW

ROBERT PAARLBERG

Second Edition

1
 1
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford.
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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
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Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above.
You must not circulate this work in any other form
and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Paarlberg, Robert L.
Food politics : what everyone needs to know / Robert Paarlberg.—Second
edition.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978–0–19–932238–1 (pbk. : alk. paper)—ISBN 978–0–19–932239–8
(hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Agriculture and state. 2. Food supply.
3. Food—Marketing. 4. Nutrition policy. I. Title.
HD1415.P12 2013
338.1′9—dc23
2013008726

1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
 CONTENTS

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION OF FOOD POLITICS xiii

1 An Overview of Food Politics 1

What is food politics? 1

Is food politics driven by material interests or by social values? 2
Is food politics a global or a local phenomenon? 4
Who are the most important actors in food politics? 6
Has the politics of food and agriculture recently been changing? 7

2 Food Production and Population Growth 9

Who was Thomas Malthus, and why did he see hunger as inevitable? 9
Was Malthus ever influential? 10
Are Malthusians still influential? 12
Can we feed a growing population without doing irreversible
damage to the environment? 13
Is Africa facing an eco-Malthusian food crisis today? 14
Do Malthusians try to reduce population growth? 15
Do Malthusians argue that we should reduce food consumption? 17
vi Contents

3 The Politics of High Food Prices 18

When did high food prices become a political issue? 18

What caused these spikes in international food prices? 19
How many people became hungry when prices spiked in 2007–2008? 21
Do international food price spikes cause violent conflict? 23
Have higher food prices triggered “land grabs” in Africa? 24
Have subsidies and mandates for biofuels contributed to higher
international food prices? 26
Have higher international prices become a permanent feature of
food politics? 28

4 The Politics of Chronic Hunger and Famine 31

How do we measure hunger? 31

How many people around the world remain chronically undernourished? 32
What causes chronic undernutrition? 34
Does chronic hunger trigger political unrest? 35
Is chronic undernutrition a problem in the United States? 36
Do developing countries have policy remedies for chronic
undernutrition? 39
What is the difference between undernutrition and famine? 41
When have famines taken place? 42
What causes famines? 42
How do famines end? 45
What has been the most successful international response to famine? 46
Can famine be prevented? 47

5 Food Aid and Agricultural Development

Assistance 49

What is international food aid? 49

Which countries get food aid? 50
 Contents vii

Do rich countries give food aid to dispose of their surplus production? 51

Why are America’s food aid policies so difficult to change? 52
Does food aid create dependence or hurt farmers in recipient
countries? 54
Do governments seek coercive power from food aid? 56
How is agricultural development assistance different from food aid? 57
How much international assistance do rich countries provide for
agricultural development? 59
Which agencies operate United States agricultural
development assistance? 60
Who benefits from agricultural development assistance? 61

6 The Green Revolution Controversy 64

What was the green revolution? 64

Why is the green revolution controversial? 65
Did the green revolution end hunger? 67
Did the green revolution lead to greater rural inequality? 69
Was the green revolution bad for the environment? 71
Why did the original green revolution not reach Africa? 73
What farming approaches do green revolution critics favor? 75
How have green revolution critics shaped international policy? 78

7 The Politics of Obesity 81

Is the world facing an obesity crisis? 81

How do we measure obesity? 81
What are the consequences of the obesity epidemic? 82
What is the cause of today’s obesity epidemic? 84
Does cheap food cause obesity? 85
Do fast foods and junk foods cause obesity? 87
Is the food industry to blame for the way we eat? 88
viii Contents

Do “food deserts” cause obesity? 91

What government actions are being taken to reverse the obesity crisis? 93
Who lobbies for and against stronger policies on obesity? 97

8 The Politics of Farm Subsidies and Trade 100

Do all governments give subsidies to farmers? 100

What explains the tendency of all rich countries to subsidize
farm income? 101
Do farmers in rich countries need subsidies to survive? 102
Why are farm subsidies hard to cut? 103
What is the “farm bill” and what is the “farm lobby”? 105
Is the use of corn for ethanol a subsidy to farmers? 107
What is the value of promoting corn-based ethanol in the
United States? 108
How do farm subsidies shape international agricultural trade? 110
Has the WTO been able to discipline farm subsidies? 111
Do trade agreements like NAFTA hurt farmers in
countries like Mexico? 113

9 Farming, the Environment, Climate Change,

and Water 116

Does agriculture always damage the environment? 116

What kind of farming is environmentally sustainable? 118
What is low-impact or “precision” farming? 121
Do fragile lands, population growth, and poverty make farming
unsustainable? 123
Do cash crops and export crops cause environmental harm? 125
Do farm subsidies promote environmental damage in agriculture? 126
How will climate change affect food production? 128
Does agriculture contribute to climate change? 131
 Contents ix

Is the world running out of water to irrigate crops? 133

What can be done to improve water management in farming? 134

10 Livestock, Meat, and Fish 137

How are farm animals different from crops? 137

Is meat consumption increasing, or not? 138
Is a vegetarian diet healthier? 140
If people in rich countries ate less meat, would hunger be reduced in
poor countries? 141
What are CAFOs? 142
Are CAFOs bad for animal welfare? 143
What else generates opposition to CAFOs? 145
How important are fish as a source of food? 148
Are wild fisheries collapsing? 149
Is fish farming a solution? 151

11 Agribusiness, Supermarkets, and Fast Food 153

What does the word “agribusiness” mean? 153

Why is agribusiness controversial? 154
Do agribusiness firms control farmers? 155
Do food companies and supermarkets control consumers? 159
Are supermarkets spreading into developing countries? 160
Is Wal-Mart taking over food retailing in Africa and India? 162
Are fast food restaurant chains spreading unhealthy eating
habits worldwide? 163

12 Organic and Local Food 166

What is organic food? 166

What is the history of organic food? 167
x Contents

How is organic food regulated in the United States? 168

Is most organic food grown on small farms? 169
Is organic food more nutritious and safe? 171
Is organic farming better for the environment? 173
Could today’s world be fed with organically grown food? 175
What is the local food movement? 176
What explains the growing market for local food? 177
What is urban agriculture? 180
Does local food help slow climate change? 181
What is the difference between local food and slow food? 182
What explains the loyalty of some groups to organic,
local, or slow food? 182

13 Food Safety and Genetically Engineered Foods 184

How safe is America’s food supply? 184

How do foods become contaminated? 186
Who regulates food contamination in the United States? 188
Is food safety an issue in international trade? 189
Does the industrialization of agriculture make food less safe? 191
Is irradiated food safe? 191
What is genetically modified food? 192
How are genetically engineered foods regulated? 193
How widespread are genetically engineered foods? 195
Why do some people resist GMOs? 196
Do genetically engineered crops strengthen corporate control? 198
Are GMO foods and crops safe? 200
Could genetically engineered crops provide benefits to small farmers
in developing countries? 202
 Contents xi

14 Who Governs the World Food System? 205

Is there a single world food system? 205

How do national governments exercise control? 206
Which are the most important international organizations in the
food and farming sector? 207
What has limited the influence of international organizations? 211
Do multinational corporations control the world food system? 214
How much power do non-governmental organizations have? 216
What is the role of private foundations? 218

15 The Future of Food Politics 220

In the future, will obesity continue to replace hunger as the

world’s most serious food problem? 220
In the future, will food and farming systems become more
localized or more globalized? 221
In the future, will the spread of affluent eating habits destroy
the natural environment? 223
In the future, will the politics of food remain contentious? 224

SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING 227

INDEX 237
This page intentionally left blank
 PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION OF
FOOD POLITICS

I am pleased that Oxford University Press is publishing this

second edition of Food Politics: What Everyone Needs to Know.
In the fast moving world of food politics, new initiatives and
controversies are continuously emerging, so readers will stand
to benefit from this updated version of the original 2010 book.
Those familiar with the first edition of Food Politics will
notice a number of important additions and changes here.
Prominent among these is a new chapter addressing the poli-
tics of meat consumption, livestock farming, and fisheries. In
the first edition, issues surrounding meat and livestock were
scattered throughout the book in a less organized fashion, and
the first edition said nothing about fish, a dietary resource of
rapidly growing importance. This second edition also provides
more discussion of agriculture’s link to both water and climate
change. I offer more about agriculture and the environment
in general, including the continuing evolution of agriculture
in rich countries toward “precision” systems that help lessen
environmental damage. These systems have emerged rapidly
in the commercial production sector, yet precision farming
remains underappreciated in political debates. In this second
edition I have also added a short concluding chapter on the
future of food politics.
xiv Preface

It was interesting that the first edition of this book produced

some heated food politics of its own. Academic reviewers
offered praise for the book, but one predicted that it would
“drive food activists half-nuts” because it challenged some of
their deepest orthodoxies. In fulfillment of this prediction, one
activist went so far as to organize a prolonged public campaign
against the book. No significant factual errors had been found
in the first edition, but my critics did find plenty of arguments
and conclusions to disagree with. For those interested in my
one public response to this campaign, a short letter I published
in the Chronicle of Higher Education in April 2012 can be found
online. Respectful engagement with critics is part of the duty
of scholars, even when a final reconciliation of differences will
remain impossible. My approach here is to present the facts,
trying at the same time not to ignore or misrepresent the per-
spective of those who hold different beliefs or draw different
conclusions.
Political perspectives are invariably shaped by personal
experience. In the first edition of this book I explained that my
father was raised on a farm in Indiana, passing along to me an
agrarian heritage that I proudly retain. I also mentioned that
my concern for rural poverty and undernutrition dates from
an early visit I made to India and Nepal, where my brother
was serving as a Peace Corps volunteer. I have returned to
study and record the evolution of farming in Asia and Africa
numerous times since. In this book I try to keep my own per-
sonal perspectives in their place, but I cannot pretend they are
absent. I take pride in my independence; in my long career
as a university-based academic, I have never been funded or
employed by any private company. My research has some-
times been funded by private foundations, and sometimes
by governmental or intergovernmental agencies, but most
often I have turned for research support to the generosity of
my home institution, Wellesley College. In my role as a policy
expert, I have had occasion to meet with corporate executives,
 Preface xv

and a decade ago I did agree to participate, alongside other

academics and NGO leaders, in a series of external “sound-
ing board” meetings with scientists and executives from the
Monsanto Company, a controversial actor on the food politics
landscape, but I asked not to be paid. As for my political lean-
ings, I have always been a registered Democrat. Yet my views
on food and farming do not fall neatly into partisan categories.
The sections of this book that address food markets and sci-
ence-based farming are likely to irritate the political Left and
please the political Right, but the sections that address food
companies, development assistance, climate change, and ani-
mal welfare will do the opposite.
In modern societies where few people still work the land
as full-time farmers, and where markets offer an ever wider
range of choices about what to eat, how to eat, and how much
to eat, the politics of food has come to extend far beyond mate-
rial questions of who gets what, or even Left versus Right. Nor
is there a unified academic perspective. Biologists and econo-
mists routinely disagree with philosophers, ecologists, and
sociologists. Originally trained as a political scientist, I try to
remain open to multiple perspectives.
I share with food activists considerable dissatisfaction with
today’s world of food and farming. Too much of our food is
unhealthy, too much of our farming is still unsustainable, and
too many of our rural societies remain unjust. Our world of
more than 7 billion food consumers (heading toward 10 bil-
lion) is still not being adequately or properly fed. I may be less
scolding toward the present than some, and less pessimistic
about the future, but I concede the value of pessimism, for
motivating political systems to act. I offer this updated and
revised edition of Food Politics: What Everyone Needs to Know
as a new starting point for problem solvers of every stripe, in
hopes that it can motivate action as well.
This page intentionally left blank
 FOOD POLITICS
WHAT EVERYONE NEEDS TO KNOW
This page intentionally left blank
 1
AN OVERVIEW OF FOOD
POLITICS

What is food politics?

Since biblical times, the policies of governments have shaped
food and farming. The book of Genesis (47:24) records that in
Egypt the pharaoh took 20 percent of all food production from
his farmers as a tax. Governments in Africa today often burden
farmers with taxes nearly as large, usually imposed indirectly
through price manipulations by state-monopoly marketing
agencies, or through overvalued currencies that implicitly
tax the producers of all tradable goods. Meanwhile, govern-
ments in wealthy industrial countries usually provide direct
and indirect subsidies to farmers, typically at the expense of
both taxpayers and consumers. Understanding the dynamics
behind such differences in agricultural societies versus post-
agricultural societies is one of the goals of this book.
The food and farming sectors of all states, ancient and mod-
ern, foster considerable political activity. Rural food producers
and urban food consumers have divergent short-term inter-
ests, so they will naturally compete to use the far-reaching
powers of the state (e.g., collecting taxes, providing subsidies,
managing exchange rates, regulating markets) to pursue a
self-serving advantage. We describe such struggles over how
2 FOOD POLITICS

the risks and gains from state action are allocated within the
food and farming sector as “food politics.” The distinctive fea-
ture of food politics is not just social contestation about food,
but political competition to shape the actions of government.
If you and I have a personal disagreement over the wisdom
of eating junk food, that is not food politics, but if you and
your allies organize to advocate new government regulations
on junk food (for example, restricting what can be served in
public school cafeterias), the disagreement then becomes food
politics.

Is food politics driven by material interests or by social values?

Food politics is driven by both. In poor countries where a pre-
ponderance of all citizens still work in the farming sector and
where large numbers of citizens still find it difficult to afford
enough food, material interests will tend to dominate. In these
societies, food and farming are still a large part of material
welfare for all. In wealthy post-agricultural societies, however,
farmers have become few in number, and most consumers are
easily able to afford an adequate diet. In these societies, mate-
rial conflicts around food and farming will persist, but social
values—such as values regarding the natural environment, or
toward animal welfare, or toward the preservation of tradi-
tional culture—will begin to play a larger role.
Country by country, food politics is often similar to other
kinds of politics. In democratic societies, it revolves around
the actions of elected government officials who confront pres-
sures from organized non-governmental groups in society. In
authoritarian or one-party states, it emerges from official rul-
ings issued by political elites who are less accountable to soci-
ety. Yet food politics does exhibit a consistent pattern across
all countries, linked to the larger process of industrial devel-
opment. Industrialization brings rapid productivity growth
to farming as well as manufacturing, but it also results in a
rapid loss of farm jobs, as fewer people are needed to produce
 An Overview 3

food. In the United States, the share of farmers in the work-

force fell from 50 percent in 1870 to only 3 percent by 1990,
and only 1 percent today. Meanwhile, urban population and
income growth boosts the demand for food and brings a rapid
expansion of food-processing companies, private food trans-
port and distribution systems, supermarkets, and food service
restaurants. At every step in this process, politically motivated
groups of farmers and non-farmers, private companies, and
non-governmental organizations struggle to shape govern-
ment policy in a manner consistent with their preferences.
As the farming sector loses numerical strength, organized
groups of farmers will begin to take some of the strongest
political actions. In the United States, Europe, and Japan dur-
ing the peak decades of industrialization in the mid-twentieth
century, farmers organized to demand escalating subsidies
from the state, and they prevailed. Farm lobbies were strong,
and by the 1980s, farmers in Japan were getting $23 billion
worth of farm program benefits from their government, farm-
ers in the United States were getting $26 billion, and farmers in
the European Community were getting $33 billion.
These wealthy societies have now moved into a post-indus-
trial stage, and the subsidy policies originally set in place to
benefit conventional farmers are being criticized by consumer
advocates who want food to be nutritious as well as cheap,
by environmentalists who oppose conventional farming meth-
ods, and also by a new generation of alternative farmers pro-
moting production systems that are small-scale, diversified,
local, and organic. In this setting, a new political dynamic
emerges: “food movement” advocates push hard to bring their
alternative preferences into the mainstream.
Political struggles over food and farm policy within these
democratic societies are divisive and polarizing because the
opposing positions incorporate conflicting social values,
which always makes compromise difficult. Debates over con-
ventional versus organic farming, or over industrial versus
small-scale livestock production, or over supermarkets versus
4 FOOD POLITICS

farmers’ markets provide little space for policy agreement.

Yet the policies that emerge in democratic states are typically
more successful than those within authoritarian or one-party
systems. In authoritarian states, where individuals and groups
in society lack any institutionalized political voice, serious
food policy errors are frequently made. In fact, serious fam-
ines have only taken place in non-democratic societies. The
worst famine ever recorded took place in China in 1959–1961,
during the so-called Great Leap Forward, when radical policy
decisions made by the unchallenged ruler Mao Zedong caused
an estimated 30 million people to die of hunger. The world’s
most recent famines have also taken place in non-democratic
states: in North Korea after 1996, and in southern Somalia
in 2011.

Is food politics a global or a local phenomenon?

According to one widely quoted legislative leader in the
United States, Representative Tip O’Neill, “All politics is
local.” This holds true for much of food politics. Analysts like
to talk about the “world food system,” but to a large extent the
world remains divided into many separate and highly diverse
national or even local food systems.
Despite the growth of international food markets, roughly
90 percent of all food never enters international trade. It is still
consumed within the same country where it was produced.
In poor agricultural countries, a great deal of the food supply
is still consumed within the same community that produced
it, or even by the same individual who produced it. In South
Asia today, international markets for agricultural commodities
play only a small role in personal food outcomes. Only 6 per-
cent of wheat consumption in South Asia is supplied through
imports, and only 1 percent of rice consumption is imported.
When understanding the food politics of such regions, it will
be local weather, local markets, local social conditions, and the
actions of local leaders that will matter most.
 An Overview 5

The heaviest users of world food markets are today’s rich

overfed countries, not poor underfed countries, and much of
what the rich import is feed for animals, not food for direct
human consumption. For example, the world’s biggest corn
importer by far is Japan, which uses this grain to produce
beef, pork, poultry, milk, and eggs. Japan is willing to import
corn for animal feed, but its government maintains tight
restrictions on the import of rice, the traditional food staple.
Governments in South Korea, India, China, and many poor
countries use similar border control measures to avoid depen-
dence on imports of staple foods. These policies frustrate
food-exporting countries such as the United States, and they
violate the pro-trade advice of international bodies such as the
World Trade Organization (WTO), but international food mar-
kets have only as much room to operate as separate national
governments will allow.
In addition to being highly compartmentalized, the world’s
food system is one in which nutrition outcomes diverge dra-
matically country by country, and also person by person within
countries. When it comes to food and agriculture, the world is
not flat. The wealthy regions of Europe, North America, and
Northeast Asia are agriculturally productive and well fed
(increasingly, they are overfed), while the less wealthy regions
of South Asia and tropical Africa are still home to hundreds
of millions of farmers who are not yet highly productive and
large numbers of people who are not adequately nourished. In
Sub-Saharan Africa today, about 60 percent of all citizens are
farmers or herdsmen living in the countryside, and one out
of three is chronically undernourished. In South Asia, roughly
400 million farmers earn less than $1 a day, and approximately
25 percent are undernourished. The needs of these people
remain unmet in part because their national governments con-
tinue to underinvest in the rural roads, water, power, schools,
and clinics needed to escape poverty. The rural poor have scant
political power (many are women who cannot read or write),
so they can be easy for governments to ignore.
6 FOOD POLITICS

In some institutional settings, the politics of food and farm-

ing is being addressed within a global frame of reference. For
example, agricultural trade restrictions are the subject of peri-
odic global negotiations at the WTO, and global food assis-
tance needs are addressed by the United Nations World Food
Programme (WFP). Yet national and local food and farming
systems remain significantly separate and divided, thanks to
geographic distance, weak transport infrastructures, divergent
cultural and dietary traditions, and large gaps in purchasing
power. These diverse and largely separate food systems are
shaped by the policies of separate national governments, many
of which have different characteristics and divergent priorities.
As a result, most policy success or failure in food and farming
takes place nationally or locally, rather than globally. Thinking
globally is good advice when working on problems such as
climate change, telecommunications policy, or international
finance, but when considering the politics of food and agricul-
ture, it is often more useful to think nationally, or even locally.

Who are the most important actors in food politics?

In every setting where food politics takes place, organiza-
tions with divergent preferences will compete for influence.
Organizations representing consumers will usually want food
prices to be low, while advocates for farmers usually want
high prices (except livestock producers, who will want cheap
grain to feed to animals). In addition, farmers’ organizations
will typically join shoulder to shoulder to resist tight environ-
mental regulations in their sector, and will be supported by
the powerful industries that supply them with inputs such as
fertilizer and pesticides. Groups claiming to speak for consum-
ers will line up against food and beverage companies when the
issue is taxes on junk food or nutrition labeling requirements.
In countries with democratic political systems, each of these
groups will cultivate its own special friends and supporters
inside government, especially within elected legislatures. In
 An Overview 7

the United States, the organizations seeking benefits for com-

mercial farmers are known as “farm lobbies,” and they make
generous campaign contributions to members of the agricul-
tural committees of Congress, ensuring that once every five
years those members will propose new legislation (a new
“farm bill”) renewing the costly entitlement programs that
provide income subsidies to farmers. To guarantee a major-
ity vote for the bill, provisions will be added to win support
from potential critics such as urban consumers, humanitarian
organizations, and environmentalists, in a standard legislative
tactic known as a “committee-based logroll.” Taxpayers will
usually be the biggest losers when the logs start to roll.

Has the politics of food and agriculture recently been changing?

In today’s advanced industrial and post-industrial societies,
especially in Europe and North America, the politics of food
and agriculture is undergoing significant change. There was
a time when food consumers in these societies wanted just
four things: foods that were safe, plentiful in variety, more
convenient to purchase and prepare, and lower in cost. Now
consumers in these countries are beginning to demand other
things as well, such as foods with greater freshness and nutri-
tional value, foods grown with fewer synthetic chemicals,
foods grown with a smaller carbon footprint, foods that are
locally grown, and foods produced without harm to farm ani-
mals. Emerging tastes of this kind among increasingly affluent
and aware consumers have not driven low-cost convenience
foods off the market by any means, but niche markets are
now growing rapidly for foods that are local, organic, “sus-
tainable,” or “humanely produced.” These alternatives have
recently risen to dominate social debates, and in the United
States, advocates for these alternative approaches are now call-
ing for a new social movement—a “food movement”—capable
of exercising hard political power, not just soft cultural influ-
ence. In 2013, New York Times food columnist Mark Bittman
8 FOOD POLITICS

likened the emergence of such a movement to several other

historic struggles for change, such as the battle to abolish slav-
ery and the long struggle to extend voting rights to women.
Within the political arena, however, lobbyists working on
behalf of conventional food industries and large commercial
farmers continue to retain the upper hand. Much to the frus-
tration of food and nutrition activists, food writers, advocates
for farm animal welfare, and proponents of organic or local
farms, the food and farming sector continues moving toward
greater consolidation, greater automation, more industrializa-
tion, and more rather than less globalization. But in cultural
terms, the battle lines have been drawn, and the conventional
food and farming industry knows that it is under attack.
Political leaders, caught in the middle, find it impossible to
satisfy both camps.
These new political battles over food and farming are also
being projected outward, beyond today’s post-industrial
societies into middle-income transitional countries and even
into poor countries that are still mostly agrarian in character.
Through trade and foreign assistance policies, through foreign
investment actions by multinational food companies, super-
markets, and restaurant chains, and also through the counter-
vailing advocacy of non-governmental organizations opposed
to conventional food and agriculture, rich post-industrial soci-
eties are exporting their new debates over food and farming to
the rest of the world. In commercial terms, the food systems of
the world remain imperfectly integrated; the terms of our food
politics discussions and debates, however, have been global-
ized at a surprising pace.
 2
FOOD PRODUCTION AND
POPULATION GROWTH

Who was Thomas Malthus, and why did he see hunger as inevitable?
Thomas Robert Malthus was an English economist who
authored in 1798 a highly influential treatise, An Essay on the
Principle of Population. In this essay, Malthus argued that food
production could never stay ahead of population growth
because it would be constrained by farm land assets that can
expand only slowly, while human population tends to grow
exponentially. Malthus concluded, “The power of population
is so superior to the power of the earth to produce subsistence
for man, that premature death must in some shape or other
visit the human race.” By this, Malthus meant premature death
from war, plague, illness, or widespread famine.
It was nothing new in 1798 to predict the occurrence of war,
plague, and famine, as these had been recurring tragedies
throughout human history. Yet it was entirely new to predict—
as Malthus did—that these tragedies were sure to worsen in
the future due to the inability of agriculture to keep pace with
human fertility.
Was Malthus right? In 1798, when he wrote his treatise, the
earth had a population only one-sixth as large as today, so the
number of people has increased exponentially, just as Malthus
10 FOOD POLITICS

foresaw. The frequency of premature death from hunger and

famine has not increased, however. The much larger numbers
of people living today tend to live longer and to be far bet-
ter fed than they were in Malthus’s time. In England, where
Malthus wrote, life expectancy at birth doubled over the past
200 years, from 40 years to more than 80 years. Up to the pres-
ent, then, Malthus has been spectacularly wrong.
Yet what about the next 200 years? The earth’s population
is still increasing, and determined Malthusians insist that his
prediction may yet come true. Dramatic food production gains
over the past two centuries allowed the human population to
grow from 1 billion up to 7 billion without any increased fre-
quency of premature death, but these gains may not be envi-
ronmentally sustainable. If the earth’s population increases to
10 billion, as is probable by 2100, a Malthusian limit of some
kind may finally be reached.
Most suspect not. One study done at Rockefeller University
in 2012 concluded that agricultural innovations worldwide
had already halted the global expansion of agricultural crop-
land, even though both population and food consumption per
capita were continuing to rise. This study projected that over
the coming 50 years, 146 million hectares of land would actu-
ally be released from farming globally, an area two and a half
times the size of France. If so, this would mark a decisive end
to the cropland constraint that most worried Malthus.

Was Malthus ever influential?

Malthus was clearly wrong for the first two centuries after
he made his prediction, but this did not prevent him from
being highly influential, particularly among political elites in
England in the nineteenth century. This led to damaging conse-
quences, particularly in England’s colonial territories. Thomas
Malthus himself was at one point employed as a professor
at the British East India Company training college, and his
fatalistic views regarding hunger came to influence England’s
 Food Production and Population Growth 11

official policies under the Raj, enabling an indifferent attitude

toward the “inevitable” famines that ravaged India during
colonial rule. Malthusian thinking also worsened the horrible
tragedy of the 1845–1849 Irish famine, when a potato blight
decimated Ireland’s principal food crop. England controlled
Ireland at the time, and political elites in London did little to
provide relief, in part because they judged the famine to be an
inevitable Malthusian consequence of Irish parents producing
too many children. In this case it was only because England’s
political elites embraced Malthusian fatalism that the tragic
prediction came true.
Fortunately, the Malthusian prediction was failing else-
where at this time because the assumption that food produc-
tion would remain tightly constrained by the limited land
area on earth had proved badly flawed. The land constraint
was progressively lifted beginning in the nineteenth cen-
tury, thanks to the application of modern science to farming.
A cascade of new farming technologies emerged over the two
centuries after Malthus wrote his Essay—especially synthetic
nitrogen fertilizer and improved seed varieties—allowing crop
production on existing farmland to skyrocket. An acre of land
today can produce 10 times as much food as it could when
Malthus wrote in 1798.
These science-based crop-yield gains were particularly dra-
matic during the second half of the twentieth century. In the
United States, average corn yields increased from 34 bushels
an acre in the 1940s to 121 bushels per acre by the 1990s and
then to 147 bushels per acre by 2011. Yields of corn greater than
200 bushels an acre are now common among farmers using the
best new seeds and the most sophisticated practices. Farm pro-
ductivity increased so rapidly in the twentieth century that the
price of food declined (the “real” price, discounting for infla-
tion), even though population and food demand were both
steeply on the rise. The real price of farm commodities paid
by consumers fell by more than 50 percent in the United States
between 1900 and 2000, despite unprecedented consumption
Exploring the Variety of Random
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here and there from imminent destruction. Yet a more Bib.
conception keeps clear of all this. The material forces of the world —
apart from certain massive physical necessities (e.g. earthquakes,
storms, floods, whirlwinds, fires, etc), whose presence floes more to
furnish the conditions of moral growth than to discourage that
growth — are what men cause them to be. Social forces are nothing
apart from the men who are themselves the
 2801 THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE
ENCYCLOPAEDIA Sin forces. No one oan deny that evil men can use
physical forces for evil purposes, and that evil men can make bad
social forces, but both these forces, can be used for good as well as
for evil. "The whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain" waiting
for the redemption at the hands of the sons of God (Rom 8 19-23).
In the thought of Jesus, righteousness is life. Jesus came that men
might have life (Jn 10 10). It must follow therefore that in His 11.
Re- thought sin is death, or rather it is demption the positive course
of transgression which makes toward death (Jn 5 24). But man is to
cease to do evil and to learn to do well. He is to face about and walk
in a different direction; he is to be born from above (Jn 3 3), and
surrender himself to the forces which beat upon him from above
rather than to those which surge upon him from below (Rom 12 2).
From the reahzation of the positiveness both of sin and of
righteousness, we see the need of a positive force which is to bring
men from sin to righteousness (Jn 3 3-8). Of course, in what we
have said of the positive nature of sin we would not deny that there
are multitudes of men whose evil consists in their passive
acquiescence in a low moral state. Multitudes of men may not be
lost, in the sense that they are breaking the more obvious of the
commandments. They are lost, in the sense that they are drifting
about, or that they are existing in a condition of inertness with no
great interest in high spiritual ideals. But the problem even here is to
find a force strong enough and positive enough to bring such
persons to themselves and to God. In any case the Scriptures lay
stress upon the seriousness of the problem constituted by sin. The
Bible is centered on redemption. Redemption from sin is thought of
as carrying with it redemption from all other calamities. If the
kingdom of God and of His righteousness can be seized, all other
things will follow with the seizure (Mt 6 33). The work of Christ is set
before us as chiefly a work of redemption from sin. A keen student
once observed that almost aU failures to take an adequate view of
the person of Christ can be traced to a failure to realize adequately
the seriousness of sin. The problem of changing the course of
something so positive as a life set toward sin is a problem which
may well tax the resources of the Almighty. Lives cannot be
transformed merely by precept. The only effective force is the force
of a Divine life which will reach and save human lives (see
Redemption). _ We are thus in a position to see something of the
positiveness of the life that must be in Christ if He is to be a Saviour
from sin. That 12. Life in positiveness must be powerful enough
Christ to make men feel that in some real sense God Himself has
come to their rescue (Rom 8 32-39). For the problem of salvation
from sin is manifold. Sm long persisted m begets evil habits, and the
habits must be broken. Sin lays the conscience under a load of
distress, for which the only rehef is a sense of forgiveness. Sm
blights and paralyzes the faculties to such a degree that only the
mightiest of tonic forces can bring back health and strength. And the
problem is often more serious than this. The presence of evi in the
world is so serious in the sight of a Holy God that He Himself,
because of His very hohness, must be under stupendous obligation
to aid us to the utmost for the redemption of men. Out of the
thought of the disturbance which sin makes even in the heart of
God, we see something of the reason for the doctrine that in the -
cross of Christ God was discharging a debt to Himself and to the
whole world; for the insistence also that m the cross there is opened
up a fountain of life, which, if accepted by sinful men, will heal and
restore them. It is with thLs seriousness of sin before us that we
must think ef forgiveness from sin. We can understand very readily
that sin can be for13. Repent- given only on condition that men seek
ance forgiveness in the name of the highest manifestation of
holiness which they have known. For those who have heard the
preaching of the cross and have seen something of the real meaning
of that preaching, the way to forgiveness is in the name of the cross.
In the name of a holiness which men would make their own, if they
could; in the name of an ideal of holy love which men of themselves
cannot reach, but which they forever strive after, they seek
forgiveness. But the forgiveness is to be taken seriously. In both the
OT and NT repentance is not merely a changed attitude of mind. It
is an attitude which shows its sincerity by willingness to do
everything possible to undo the evil which the sinner has wrought
(Lk 19 8). If there is any consequence of the sinner's own sin which
the sinner can himself make right, the sinner must in himself
genuinely repent and make that consequence right. In one sense
repentance is not altogether something done once for all. The
seductiveness of sin is so great that there is need of humble and
continuous watching. While anything like a morbid introspection is
unscriptural, constant alertness to keep to the straight and narrow
path is everywhere enjoined as an obUgation (Gal 6 1). There is
nothing in the Scriptures which will warrant the idea that forgiveness
is to be conceived of in such fashion as would teach that 14. For- the
consequences of sin can be easily giveness and quickly eliminated.
Change in the attitude of a sinner necessarily means change in the
attitude of God. The sinner and God, however, are persons, and the
Scriptures always speak of the problem of sin after a completely
personal fashion. The changed attitude affects the personal standing
of the sinner in the sight of God. But God is the person who creates
and carries on a moral universe. In carrying on that universe He
must keep moral considerations in their proper place as the
constitutional principles of the universe. While the father welcomes
back the prodigal to the restored personal relations with himself, he
cannot, in the full sense, blot out the fact that the prodigal has been
a prodigal. The personal forgiveness may be complete, but the
elimination of the consequences of the evil life is possible only
through the long lines of healing set at work. The man who has
sinned against his body can find restoration from the consequences
of the sin only in the forces which make for bodily healing. So also
with the mind and will. The mind which has thought evil must be
cured of its tendency to think evil. To be sure the curative processes
may come almost instantly through the upheaval of a great
experience, but on the other hand, the curative processes may have
to work through long years (see Sanctification). The will which has
been given to sin may feel the stirrings of sin after the life of
forgiveness has begun. All this is a manifestation, not only of the
power of sin, but of the constitutional morality of the universe.
Forgiveness must not be interpreted in such terms as to make the
transgression of the Law of God in any sense a light or trivial
offence. But, on the other hand, we must not set limits to the
curative powers of the cross of God. With the removal of the power
which makes for evil the possibility of development in real human
experience is before the life (see Forgiveness). The word of the
Master is that He "came that they may have life, and may have it
 Sin Sinai THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE
ENCYCLOPAEDIA 2802 abundantly" (Jn 10 10). Sin is serious,
because it thwarts life. Sin is given so large a place in the thought of
the Bib. writers simply because it blocks the channel of that
movement toward the fullest life which the Scriptures teach is the
aim of God in placing men in the world. God is conceived of as the
Father in Heaven. Sin has a deeply disturbing effect in restraining
the relations between the Father and the sons and of preventing the
proper development of the life of the sons. See further, Ethics, I, 3,
(2); Ethics of Jesus, I, 2; Guilt; JoHANNiNE Theology, V, 1; Paul the
Apostle; Pauline Theology; Redemption, etc. LiTERATTTRE. —
Tennant, Origin and Propagation of Sin; Hyde, .Sin and Its
Forgiveness; chapter On "Incarnation and Atonement" in Bowne's
Studies in Christianity; Stevens Christian Doctrine of Salvation;
Clarke, Christian Doctrine of God; various treatises on Systematic
Theology. , , , ^ Francis J. McConnell SIN, sin (T'P, sin, "day or
mud"; ^vl]v
The text on this page is estimated to be only 2.71%
accurate

3oHOOod
 2803 THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE
ENCYCLOPAEDIA Sin Sinai (Nu 22 4.7; 25, 31), and when he
wandered with his flocks to Horeb (Ex 3 1) he is said to have
reached the west side of the desert. In another note (Dt 1 2) we
read that the distance was eleven days' journey from Horeb by the
way of Mount Seir unto Kadesh-barnea" or Petra (see Wanderings of
Israel), the distance being about 145 miles, or 14 miles of daily
march, though Israel— with its flocks, women and children — made
16 marches between these points. Sinai again is described as being
distant from Egypt "three days' journey into the wilderness" (Ex 5
3), the actual route being 117 miles, which Israel accomplished m 10
journeys. But, for Arabs not encumbered with families and herds,
this distance could still Jehcl Kdtarin (so named from a legend of St.
Catherine of Egypt), rising 8,550 ft. above the sea. N.E. of this is
Jebel Mum (7,370 ft.), which, though less high, is more conspicuous
because of the open plain called er Rdhah ("the wide") to its N.W.
This plain is about 4 miles long and has a width of over a mile, so
that it forms, as Dr. E. Robinson {Bib. Res., 1838, 1, 89)
seemstohavebeen thefir.st tonote, a natural camp at the foot of the
mountain, large enough for the probable numbers (see Exodds, 3) of
Israel. Jebel MiXsa has two main tops, that to the S.E. being
crowned by a chapel. The other, divided by gorges into three
precipitous crags, has the Convent to its N., and is called Rds-es-
Saj^dfeh, or "the R^ s-es-f^afadfeh. be covered by an average
march of 39 miles daily, on riding camels, or even, if necessary, on
foot. These distances will not, however, allow of our placing Sinai
farther E. than Jebel M-dsa. Lofty mountains, in all parts of the
world, 3. Identifi- have always been sacred and recation with garded
as the mysterious abode of Jebel Musa God; and Jos says that Sinai
is "the highest of all the mountains thereabout," and again is "the
highest of all the mountains that are m that country, and is not only
very difficult to be ascended by men, on account of its vast altitude,
but because of the sharpness of its precipices: nay, indeed, it cannot
be looked at without pain of the eyes, and besides this it was terrible
and inaccessible, on account of the rumor that passed about, that
God dwelt there" {Ant, II, xii, 1; III, V, 1). Evidently in his time Sinai
was supposed to be one of the peaks of the great granitic block
called et TAr — a term applying to any lofi;y mountain. This block
has its highest peak in willow top." N. of the Convent is the lower
top of Jebel ed Deir ("mountain of the monastery"). These heights
were accurately deter4. Descrip- mined by Royal Engineer surveyors
in tion of ^ 1868 (Sir C. Wilson, Ordnance Survey Jebel Musa of
Sinai) ; and, though it is impossible to say which of the peaks Moses
ascended, yet they are all much higher than any mountains in the
Sinaitic desert, or in Midian. The highest tops in the Tih desert to the
N. are not much over 4,000 ft. Tho.se in Midian, E. of Elath, rise only
to 4,200 ft. Even Jebel Serbdl, 20 miles W. of Sinai — a ridge with
many crags, running 3 miles in length — is at its highest only 6,730
ft. above the sea. Horeb is not recorded to have been visited by any
of the Hebrews after Moses, excepting by Elijah (1 K 19 8) in a time
of storm. In favor of the traditional site it may also be observed that
clouds suddenly formed, or lasting for days (Ex 24 15 f), are apt to
cap very lofty mountains. The Hebrews reached Sinai about the end
of May (Ex 19 1)
 Sinai Sinlessness THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE
ENCYCLOPAEDIA 2804 and, on the 3d day, "there were thunders
and hghtnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount" (ver 16). Such
storrns occur as a rule in the Sinaitic desert only in December and
January, but thunderstorms are not unknown in Pal even in May. A
constant tradition fixing the site is traceable back to the 4th cent.
AD. Eusebius and Jerome {Onom, s.v. "Choreb") place Horeb 5.
Patristic near Paran, which in their time was Evidence placed {Onom,
s.v. "Raphidim") in Wady Feirdn. Anchorites Uved at Paran, and at
Sinai at least as early as 365 AD, and Convent Garden, Sinai. are
noticed in 373 AD, and often later (Robinson, Bib. Res., 1838, I, 122-
28); the monastery was first built for them by Justinian in 527 AD
and his chapel still exists. Cosmas (Topogr. Christ.), in the same
reign, says that Rephidim was then called Pharan, and
(distinguishing Horeb from Sinai, as Eusebius also does) he places it
"about 6 miles from Pharan," and "near Sinai." These various
considerations may suffice to show that the tradition as to Horeb is
at least as old as the time of Jos, and that it agrees with all the
indications given in the OT. Lepsius, it is true (Letters from Egypt,
1842-44), denying the existence of any unbroken tradition, and
relying on his understanding of 6. Lepsius' Cosmas, supposed Sinai
to be the Jebel Theory Serbdl above mentioned, which lies
immediately S. of Wddy Feirdn. His main argument was that, visiting
Sinai in March, he considered that the vicinity did not present
sufficient water for Israel (Appendix B, 303-18). But, on this point, it
is sufficient to give the opinion of the late Rev. F. W. Holland, based
on the experience of four visits, in 1861, 1865, 1867-68. He says
(Recovery of Jerus, 524) : "With regard to water-supply there is no
other spot In the whole Peninsula which is nearly so well supplied as
the neighborhood of Jebel M-Hsa. Four streams of running water are
found there: one in IFddi/ Leja: a second in Wdd^ et Tl'ah which
waters a succession of gardens extending more than .3 miles in
length, and forms pools in whicii I have often had a swim; a third
stream rises to the N. of the watershed of the plain of er Rdhah and
runs W. into Wddy et Tl'ah; and a fourth is formed by the drainage
from the mountains of Urmn ' Alawy. to the E. of W&dfj Sebaitjefi
and finds itsway into that valley by a narrow ravine opposite Jebel
ed Deir. In addition to tliese streams there are numerous wells and
springs, alfording excellent water throughout the whole of the
granitic district, I have seldom found it necessary to carry water
when maldng a mountain excursion, and the intermediate
neighborhood of Jebel Misa would. I think, bear comparison with
many mountain districts in Scotland with regard to its supply of
water. There is also no other district in the Peninsula which affords
such excellent pastinage," This is important, as Israel encamped
near Sinai from the end of May till April of the next year. There is
also a well on the lower slope of Jebel MiXsa itself, where the ascent
begins. Another theory, put forward by Mr. Balier Greene (The Heb
Migration from Egypt), though accepted by Dr. Sayce {Higlier
Cricitism. 1894. 268), 7 OrppTip'Q appears like^vise to be entirely
untenable. I. vjiccuc s j^^ Greene supposed Elim (Ex 15 27) to
llieory be Elath (Dt 2 8), now ' Ailah at the head of the Gulf of '
AkAbah; and that Sinai therefore was some tinknown mountain in
Midian. But in this case Israel would in 4 days (see Ex 15 22.23.27)
have traveled a distance of 200 miles to reach Elim, which cannot
but be regarded as quite impossil3le for the Hebrews when
accompanied by women, children, floclis and herds. C, R. CONDEB
SINCERE, sin-ser', SINCERITY, sin-ser'i-ti (D"'T2ri , tdmitn; d9ap
 2805 THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE
ENCYCLOPAEDIA Sinai Sinlessness able character to be heard
making "sweet melody," singing songs along the streets and
highways of Judaea. Nor was the worship of the temple left to the
usually incompetent and inconstant leadership of amateur choristers.
The elaborate regulations drawn up for the constitution of the
temple orchestra and chorus are referred to under Music (q.v.). It
has been inferred from Ezr 2 65 that women were included among
the temple singers, but this is erroneous, as the musicians there
mentioned were of the class employed at banquets, festivals, etc.
The temple choir consisted exclusively of Levites, one essential
qualification of an active member of that order being a good voice.
Of the vocal method of the Hebrews we know nothing. WeUhausen
imagines that he can detect one of the singers, in the portrayal of an
Assyr band, compressing his throat in order to produce a vibrato;
and it is quite possible that in other respects as well as thi.s ancient
and modem oriental vocahzation resembled each other. But that is
about all that can be said. On the other hand, we cannot repeat too
often that we are quite unable to identify any intervals, scales, or
tunes as having been used in ancient Israel. Even those who hold
that the early church took the Gregorian "tones" from the
sjmagogue, confess that it was "certainly not without considerable
modifications." And, of course, there was not the slightest affinity
between the Heb and the Anghcan chant. See Music; Praise; Song;
Temple. James Millar SINGLE, sin'g'l, EYE: Mt 6 22 f |1 Lk 11 34: "If
therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of hght.
But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness.
"Single" and "evil" here represent airXois, haplous, and TTovripbs,
ponerds. Poneros elsewhere in the NT means "wicked"; haplous
occurs only here in the NT, but is very common in ordinary Gr and
always has the meaning "simple." But in view of the context, most
commentators take haplous here as meaning "normal," "healthy,"
and poneros as "diseased," so rendering "Just as physical
enlightenment depends on the condition of the eye, so does spiritual
enlightenment depend on the condition of the heart." This is natural
enough, but it is not satisfactory, as it gives to haplous a unique
sense and to poneros a sense unique in the 73 NT examples of the
word. Moreover, the same expression, "evil eye," is found also in Mt
20 15; Mk 7 22, where it means "jealousy" or "covetousneas." With
poneros = "covetous," haplovs would = "generous" ; and this
rendition gives excellent sense in Mt, where the further context deals
with love of money. Yet in Lk it is meaningless, where the context is
of a different sort, a fact perhaps indicating that Lk has placed the
saying in a bad context. Or the Gr tr of Christ's words used by
Matthew and Luke may have taken the moral terms haplous^ and
poneros to translate physical terms ("healthy" and "diseased"?)
employed in the original Aramaic. The Sinaitic Syr version of Lk 11
36 may perhaps contain a trace of an older rendering. See Julicher,
Die Gleichnisreden Jesu, II, 98-108. Burton Scott Easton SINGULAR,
sin'gll-lar: "Pertaining to the single person " "individual," and so
sometimes "unusual, "remarkable." So Wisd 14 18, AV "the singular
dihgence of the artificer" ((piXoniila, philohmia, love of honor " RV
"ambition"). In Lev 27 2 by "when a man shall make a singular vow"
AV seems to have understood a "personal" or "private" vow. RV has
"accomplish a vow," with m "make a special vo w . " Cf the same
phrase (yaphW [y'phalle ] nedher) used of the Nazirite vow in Nu 6
2. SINIM, si'nim, sin'im, LAND OF (n^rP fl^? , 'ereg ijlnlm; -yf)
Ilepo-oiv, gi Person) : The name occurs in Isaiah's prophecy of the
return of the people from distant lands: "Lo, these shall come from
far; and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from
the land of Sinim" (49 12). The land is clearly far off, and it must be
sought either in the S. or in the E. LXX points to an eastern country.
Many scholars have favored identification with China, the classical
Sinae. It seems improbable that Jews had already found their way to
China; but from very early times trade relations were established
with the Far East by way of Arabia and the Pers Gulf; and the name
may have been used by the prophet simply as suggesting extreme
remoteness. Against this view are Dillmann (Comm. on Isa), Duhm,
Cheyne and others. Some have suggested places in the S.: e.g. Sin
(Pelusium, Ezk 30 15) and Syene (Cheyne, Intro to Isa, 275). But
these seem to be too near. In harmony with his reconstruction of
Bib. history, Cheyne finally concludes that the reference here is to
the return from a captivity in North Arabia {EB, S.V.). While no
certain decision is possible, probability points to the E., and China
cannot be quite ruled out. See art. "China," Enc Bril^'^, 188b. W.
EwiNG SINITES, si'nits (TP , ?lni): A Canaanite people mentioned in
Gen 10 17; 1 Ch 1 15. The identification is uncertain. Jerome
mentions a ruined city Sin, near Arka, at the foot of Lebanon.
SINLESSNESS, sin'les-nes: The 15th Anglican article ("Of Christ
Alone without Sin") may be quoted as a true summary of Scripture
teaching on sinlessness: "Christ in the truth of our nature was made
like unto us in all things, sin only excepted, from which He was
clearly [prorsji-s] void, both in His flesh and in His spirit Sin, as Saint
John saith, was not in Him. But all we the rest, though baptized, and
born again in Christ, yet offend in many things; and, if we say we
have no sin, we deceive ourselves." Here the sinlessness of the
Incarnate Son is affirmed. It needs no elaborate argument to show
that this is the affirmation of 1. Christ Scripture. It is not only, as we
are Sinless reminded above, definitely taught there. Yet more is it
implied in the mysterious (and morally miraculous) phenomenon of
the Lord's evidently total immunity from the sense of sin, His
freedom from inward discord or imperfection, from the slightest
discontent with self. It is not too much to say that this
representation is self-evidential of its truth to fact. Had it been the
invention of worshipping disciples, w« may say with confidence that
they (supposed thus capable of "free handling") would have been
certain to betray some moral aberrations in their portraiture of their
Master. They must have failed to put before us the profound ethical
paradox of a person who, on the one hand, enjoins penitence and
(with a tenderness infinitely deep) loves the penitent, and, on the
other hand, is never for a moment penitent Himself, and who all the
while has proved, from the first, a supreme moral and spiritual
magnet, "drawing all men to him." Meanwhile the Scripture
represents the sinlessness of the Incarnate Lord as no mere
automatic or effortless condition. He is sensitive to temptation, to a
degree which makes it agony. His sinlessness, as to actual
experience (we are not here considering the matter sub specie
aeternitatis) , lies in the perfect fidelity to the Father of a will,
exercised under human conditions, filled absolutely with the Holy
Spirit, willingly received.
 Sinner Sirach, Book of THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD
BIBLE ENCYCLOPAEDIA 2806 On the other hand, "we the rest,"
contemplated as true beHevers, arc warned hy the general teaching
of Scripture never to affirm sinlessness 2. Saints as our condition.
There are passages Not Sinless (e.g. 1 Jn 3 9; 5 1 f) which affirm of
the regenerate man that he "sinneth not." But it seems obvious to
remark that such words, taken without context and balance, would
prove too much; they would make the smallest sense of sin a
tremendous evidence against the person's regeneration at all. It
would seem that such words practically mean that sin and the
regenerate character are diametrical opposites, so that sinning is out
of character, not in the man as such, but in the Christian as such.
And the practical result is an unconquerable aversion and opposition
in the regenerate will toward all known sin, and a readiness as
sensitive as possible for confession of failure. Meanwhile such
passages as 1 Jn are, to the unbiased reader, an urgent warning of
the peril of affirming our perfect purity of will and character. But
then, on the other hand. Scripture abounds in both precepts and
promises bearing on the fact that in Christ and by the power of His
Spirit, received by faith into a watchful soul, our weakness can be so
Kfted and transformed that a moral purification and emancipation is
possible for the weakest Christian which, compared with the best
efforts of unregenerate nature, is a "more than conquest" over evil
(see e.g. 2 Cor 12 9.10; Gal 2 20; Eph 6 16; Judever24). See further
Flesh; Spirit. HaNDLEY DtlNELM SINNER, sin'er (t?tpn , hatta';
ajiapTuXos, hamartolos, "devoted to sin," "erring one"): In the NT, in
addition to its ordinary significance of one that sins (Lk 5 8; 13 2;
Rom 5 8.19; 1 Tim 1 15; He 7 26), the term is applied to those who
lived in disregard of ceremonial prescription (Mt 9 10.11; Mk 2 15 ff;
Lk 5 30; Gal 2 15); to those stained with certain definite vices or
crimes, as the publicans (Lk 15 2; 18 13; 19 7); to the heathen (Mt
26 45 Gal 2 15; cf Tob 13 6; 1 Mace 1 34; 2 Mace 2 48 62); to the
preeminently sinful (Mk 8 38; Jn 9 24 31; Gal 2 17; 1 Tim 1 9; Jude
ver 15). It was the Jewish term for a woman of ill-fame (Lk 7 37 cf
Mt 21 32, where it is stated that such had come even to John's
baptism also). For the general Bib. conception of the term, see Sin.
M, O. Evans SIGN, si'un nii5"^iS , sl'on; ^r^iiv, Seon): (1) A name
given to Mt. Hermon in Dt 4 48. The name may mean
"protuberance" or "peak," "and may have denoted the lofty snow-
covered horn of the mountain as seen from the S. It may, however,
be a scribal error for Sirion, the name by which the mountain was
known to the Zidonians. Syr takes it in this sense, which, however,
may be a correction of the Heb. It is possible that this name, like
Senir, may have applied to some distinct part of the Hermon Range.
(2) Mt. Sion; see ZioN. SIPHMOTH, sif'moth, sif'moth (ni)3SiC ,
siphmoth [Ginsburg], rTl)3SlB , s/up/ta»jo(/i [Baer]; 2a6t, Saphel) :
One of the cities to which David sent presents from Ziklag (1 S 30
28). It occurs between Aroer and Eshtemoa, so it mu.st have been
somewhere in Southern Judah. The site has not been recovered.
Zabdi theShiphmite (1 Ch 27 27) may quite probably have been a
native of this place. SIPPAI, sip'i, si-pa'i. See Saph. SIR, sdr: In the
OT this word in Gen 43 20 AV i'adhdn) is changed in RV into "my
lord." In the NT the word sometimes represents avrip, antr, as in
Acts 7 26; 14 15; 19 25, etc; more frequently Kvpios,kdrios. "lord,"
as in Mt 13 27; 21 30; 27 3(i; Jn 4 11.15.19.49 (RVm "lord"); 20 15.
In Rev 7 14, RV renders "my lord." SIRACH, si'rak (BOOK OF), or
The Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach: I. Name II. Canonicity III.
Contents IV. Teaching 1. Religion 2. Morals 3. Manners 4. Counsels
of Prudence V. Literary Form VI. Author 1. Jesus, Son of Sirach 2.
Other Views VII. Unity and Integrity VIII. Date 1 . Most Probable
Views 2. Other Views IX. Original Languages 1. Composed in
Hebrew 2. Margoliouth's View X. Versions 1. Greek 2. Syriac 3. Latin
4. English Literature Sirach is the largest and most comprehensive
example of Wisdom Literature (see Wisdom Literature), and it has
also the distinction of being the oldest book in the Apoc, being
indeed older than at least two books (Dnl, Est) which have found a
place in the Canon alilce of the Eastern and Western churches. /.
Name. — The Heb copy of the book which Jerome knew bore,
according to his explicit testimony (see his preface to his version of
Libri Sol.), the same title as the canonical Prov, i.e. D''512Jp ,
m'shalim, "Proverbs" (Faro6oZae is Jerome's word). It is quoted in
rabbinical lit. by the sing, of this name, '1?P , masAai = Aram. S?
briT2 , mathla' , but in the Talm it is cited by the author's name,
"Ben Sira" (5
 2807 THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE
ENCYCLOPAEDIA Sinner Sirach, Book of attempt to represent in
writing tiie guttural sound ol the flnalletter 'aleph in the Heb name as
in the Gr 'AKeASanix. Akddamdch, for the Aram. X12T bpn , hdkal
dcmd' (Acts 1 19), Dalraan, however (/I ram. Gr'amm., 161, n. 6),
followed by Ryssel, holds that the final ch is simply a sign that the
word is indeclinable; of 'Iiu loatch (Lk 3 26), for Heb loi"! ■ vose. II.
Canonicity. — Though older than both Dnl and Est, this book was
never admitted into the Jewish Canon. There are numerous
quotations from it, however, in Talmudie and rabbinic lit. (see a list
in Zunz, D-ie Gollesdiensllichen Vorlrage^, 101 f ; Dclitzsch, Zur
Geschichle der jild. Poesie, 204 f; Schechter, JQR, III, 682-706;
Cowley and Neubauer, The Original Heb of a Portion of Ecdus, xix-
xxx) . ^ It is not referred to explicitly in Scripture, yet it is always
cited by Jewish and Christian writers with respect and perhaps
sometimes as Scripture. It forms a part of the Vulg of the Tridentine
Council and therefore of the Romanist Canon, but the Protestant
churches have never recognized it as canonical, though the bulk of
modem Protestant scholars set a much higher value upon it than
they do upon many books in the Protestant Canon (Ch, Est, etc). It
was accepted as of canonical rank by Augustine and by the Councils
of Hippo (393) and Carthage (397, 419), yet it is omitted from the
lists of accepted books given by Melito (c 180 AD), Origen, in the
Aposl. Canons and in the list of the Councils of Laodicea (341 and
381). Jerome writes in Lihri, Sol.: "Let the church read these two
books [Wisd and Sir] for the instruction of the people, not for
establishing the authority of the dogmas of the church." It suffered
in the respect of many because it was not usually connected with a
great name; cf the so-called "Proverbs of Solomon." Sir is cited or
referred to frequently in the Ep. of Jas (Jas 1 2-4 — cf Sir 2 1-5; Jas
1 5— cf Sir 1 26; 41 22; 51 13 f; Jas 1 8 ["double minded"]— cf Sir
1 28, etc). The book is often cited in the works of the Fathers (Clem.
Alex., Origen, Augustine, etc) and also in the Apos Const with the
formula that introduces Scripture passages: "The Scripture says,"
etc. TheReformers valued Sir highly, and parts of it have been
incorporated into the Anglican Prayer-book. ///. Contents. — It is
quite impossible in the book as it stands to trace any one scheme of
thought, for the author's mind moves lightly from topic to topic,
recurring frequently to the same theme and repeating not seldom
the same idea. It is, however, too much to say with Sonntag (De
Jesu Siracidae, etc) that the book is a farrago of sayings with no
connection, or with Berthold that the "work is but a rhapsody," for
the whole is informed and controlled by one master thought, the
supreme value to everyone of Wisdom. By this la.st the writer means
the Jewish religion as conceived by enlightened Jews toward the
beginning of the 2d cent. BC, and as reflected in the Law of IVIoses
(see 24 23-34), and in a less degree in the books of the Prophets
and in the other writings (see Prologue) . The book follows the Unes
of the canonical Book of Prov, and is made up of short pithy sayings
with occasional longer discussions, largely collected but in part
composed, and all informed and governed by the dominant note of
the book: true Wisdom, the chief end of man. Most of the book is
poetical in form, and even in the prose parts the parallelism of Heb
poetry is found. Many unsuccessful attempts have been_ made to
trace a definite continuous line of reasoning m the book, but the
vital differences in the schemes propounded suggest what an
examination of the book itself confirms, that the compiler and author
put his materials together with little or no regard to logical
connection, though he never loses sight of his main theme —
Wisdom the chief thing. Eichhorn (Einleilung, 50 IT) divides the book
into three parts (ciis 1-23; 21—42 14; 42 15 — 50 24), and
maintains that at first each of these was a separate work, united
subsequently by the author. Julian divides the work into three,
Scholz into twelve, Fritzsche (Einleiturtfj, xxxii) and Ryssel (op. cit. ,
240) into seven, Edersheim (op. cit., 19 f) and R. G. Moulton
(Modern Reader's Bible: Eccius, xvi If) into five portions, and many
other arrangements have been proposed and defended as by Pjwald,
Holzmann, Bissell, Zcickler, etc. That there are small independent
sections, essayettes, poems, etc, was seen by the early scribes to
whom the LXX in its present form was largely due, for they have
prefixed headings to the sections beginning with the following
verses: 18 30 ("Temperance of Soul"); 20 27 ("Proverbs"); 23 7
("Discipline of the Mouth"); 24 1 ("The Praise of Wisdom"); 30 1
("Concerning Children"); 30 14 ("Concerning Health"); 30 16
("Concerning Foods"; this is absent from many MSS, though retained
by Swete who, however, omits the preceding heading) ; 30 24 (BV33
24, "Concerning Servants"); 35 (EV32 1, "Concerning Rulers"); 44 1
("Praise of the Fathers"); 51 1 ("The Prayer of Jesus, Son of Sirach").
Probably the whole book possessed such headings at one time, and
it is quite possible that they originated in the need to guide readers
after the book had become one of the chief church reading-books
(so W. J. Deane in Expos, II, vi. 327). These headings are given in
Eng. in AV proper (in the margin), though in modern reprints, as
also in RV, they are unfortunately omitted. The whole book has been
arranged in headed sections by H. J. Holzmann (Bunsen's Bibelwerk,
IX, 392 ff) and by R. G. Moulton (op. cit.). IV. Teaching. — In
general it may be said that the principles enunciated in this book
agree with those of the Wisdom school of Palestinian Judaism about
200 BC, though there is not a word in the book about a Messianic
hope or the setting up of a Messianic kingdom. None of the views
characteristic of Alexandrian Judaism and absent from the teaching
of Palestinian Judaism are to be found in this book, though some of
them at least are represented in Wisd (see Wisdom of Solomon, VI;
Teaching). Gfrorer {Milo und die jiid.-alex. Philo., II, 18 ff) and
Dahne (Gesch. der jiid.-alex. rel. Phil., II, 141 ff) hold that the book
contains many Alexandrian expressions and numerous statements
peculiar to the Alexandrian philosophy. But apart from some late
interpolations, mostly Christian, what these Ger. scholars say is
untrue, as Drummond (Philo Judaeus, I, 144 ff), Deane {Expos, II,
V, 334 ff) and others have shown. The outstanding features of
Alexandrianism are the allegorical interpretation of the Scriptures, its
conception of the ecstatic vision of God, its doctrine of mediating
powers between man and God and its adoption of purely Gr ideas.
None of these can be traced in Sir. The Hebrews never developed a
theoretical or speculative theology or philosophy: all their thinking
gathered about life and conduct; the duties that men owed to God
and to one another; the hopes that they cherished and the fears by
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