Too Short for a Blog, Too Long for a Tweet XXXV

Here's an excerpt from a book I am reading, "The Evolution of God," by Robert Wright:

Why would prophetic diatribes against the wealthy coincide with prophetic diatribes against the worship of gods other than Yahweh? Maybe because of the natural connection between resentment of Israel’s upper class and opposition to the internationalism that, as we’ve seen, was linked to alien gods. Archaeological excavations show Hosea’s era to be a time of great economic inequality among Israelites. It was also a time of expanding international trade, and it could not have escaped the attention of the poor that the rich were closely tied to that trade—not just because they controlled it and profited from it, but because so many pricey imports wound up in their homes.