Usury

NLT Exodus 22-25

If you lend money to any of my people who are in need, do not charge interest as a money lender would.

 NLT Deuteronomy 23:20

You may charge interest to foreigners, but you may not charge interest to Israelites, so that the Lord your God may bless you in everything you do in the land you are about to enter and occupy.

 

Photo by Ehud Neuhaus on Unsplash 

 

Why is this ponderable?

Lending money and charging interest was a financial transaction long before the Exodus. What is ponderable here is that Moses forbade charging interest to his people in need. That must have seemed as counter intuitive to the people of that time as it would be for us today. Why put your own wealth at risk by lending it to someone who had already lost theirs?

Part of that answer is contained in the phrase, "to any of my people." Although Moses did not proscribe charging interest to those outside the Jewish community, there were no outsiders needing loans during the 40 years it took to reach the Promised Land.  These interest-free loans were actually the earliest form of insurance. As they traversed the dessert there were many ways a family could fall into need through no fault of their own. Livestock might be attacked and eaten by prey, wagons and carts might break apart, or illness might strike. Even though these interest free loans were expected to be repaid, there were no terms spelled out in Exodus. Therefore, we can assume these loans would be repaid whenever the recipient was able to do so or they were forgiven by the lender.

Once the Jewish community entered the Promised Land, there were many foreigners needing loans. They were more than willing to pay interest. So it was time to define the rules for doing so. Deuteronomy 23:20 reaffirms the no interest rule but opens the door to lending for gain in transactions with foreigners. 

This business practice came into prominence in the Middle Ages when the Christian Church emulated it. Christian bankers were not allowed to charge interest to fellow Christians. That was considered usury. However, they were allowed to charge interest to non-Christians. At that time most non-Christians were Jews. So Christian bankers could profit by lending money to Jews and Jewish bankers could profit by lending money to Christians without violating the usury laws of their respective religions.