Reference: Loan
Easton
The Mosaic law required that when an Israelite needed to borrow, what he asked was to be freely lent to him, and no interest was to be charged, although interest might be taken of a foreigner (Ex 22:25; De 23:19-20; Le 25:35-38). At the end of seven years all debts were remitted. Of a foreigner the loan might, however, be exacted. At a later period of the Hebrew commonwealth, when commerce increased, the practice of exacting usury or interest on loans, and of suretiship in the commercial sense, grew up. Yet the exaction of it from a Hebrew was regarded as discreditable (Ps 15:5; Pr 6:1,4; 11:15; 17:18; 20:16; 27:13; Jer 15:10).
Limitations are prescribed by the law to the taking of a pledge from the borrower. The outer garment in which a man slept at night, if taken in pledge, was to be returned before sunset (Ex 22:26-27; De 24:12-13). A widow's garment (De 24:17) and a millstone (6) could not be taken. A creditor could not enter the house to reclaim a pledge, but must remain outside till the borrower brought it (De 24:10-11). The Hebrew debtor could not be retained in bondage longer than the seventh year, or at farthest the year of jubilee (Ex 21:2; Le 25:39,42), but foreign sojourners were to be "bondmen for ever" (Le 25:44-54).
See Verses Found in Dictionary
"If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years and in the seventh he shall go out free without paying anything.
"If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be to him as a creditor; neither shall you charge him interest. If you take your neighbor's garment as collateral, you shall restore it to him before the sun goes down, read more. for that is his only covering, it is his garment for his skin. What would he sleep in? It will happen, when he cries to me, that I will hear, for I am gracious.
"'If your brother has become poor, and his hand can't support him among you; then you shall uphold him. As a stranger and a sojourner he shall live with you. Take no interest from him or profit, but fear your God; that your brother may live among you. read more. You shall not lend him your money at interest, nor give him your food for profit. I am the LORD your God, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan, and to be your God. "'If your brother has grown poor among you, and sells himself to you; you shall not make him to serve as a slave.
For they are my servants, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt. They shall not be sold as slaves.
"'As for your male and your female slaves, whom you may have; of the nations that are around you, from them you may buy male and female slaves. Moreover of the children of the strangers who sojourn among you, of them you may buy, and of their families who are with you, which they have conceived in your land; and they will be your property. read more. You may make them an inheritance for your children after you, to hold for a possession; of them may you take your slaves forever: but over your brothers the children of Israel you shall not rule, one over another, with harshness. "'If a stranger or sojourner with you becomes rich, and your brother beside him has grown poor, and sells himself to the stranger or foreigner living among you, or to a member of the stranger's family; after he is sold he may be redeemed. One of his brothers may redeem him; or his uncle, or his uncle's son, may redeem him, or any who is a close relative to him of his family may redeem him; or if he has grown rich, he may redeem himself. He shall reckon with him who bought him from the year that he sold himself to him to the Year of Jubilee: and the price of his sale shall be according to the number of years; according to the time of a hired servant shall he be with him. If there are yet many years, according to them he shall give back the price of his redemption out of the money that he was bought for. If there remain but a few years to the year of jubilee, then he shall reckon with him; according to his years of service he shall give back the price of his redemption. As a servant hired year by year shall he be with him: he shall not rule with harshness over him in your sight. If he isn't redeemed by these means, then he shall be released in the Year of Jubilee, he, and his children with him.
You shall not lend on interest to your brother; interest of money, interest of food, interest of anything that is lent on interest: to a foreigner you may lend on interest; but to your brother you shall not lend on interest, that the LORD your God may bless you in all that you put your hand to, in the land where you go in to possess it.
When you do lend your neighbor any kind of loan, you shall not go into his house to get his pledge. You shall stand outside, and the man to whom you do lend shall bring forth the pledge outside to you. read more. If he be a poor man, you shall not sleep with his pledge; you shall surely restore to him the pledge when the sun goes down, that he may sleep in his garment, and bless you: and it shall be righteousness to you before the LORD your God.
You shall not deprive the foreigner, or the fatherless of justice, nor take a widow's clothing in pledge;
he who doesn't lend out his money for usury, nor take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be shaken.
My son, if you have become collateral for your neighbor, if you have struck your hands in pledge for a stranger;
He who is collateral for a stranger will suffer for it, but he who refuses pledges of collateral is secure.
A man void of understanding strikes hands, and becomes collateral in the presence of his neighbor.
Take the garment of one who puts up collateral for a stranger; and hold him in pledge for a wayward woman.
Take his garment when he puts up collateral for a stranger. Hold it for a wayward woman.
"Woe is me, my mother, that you have borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth. I have not lent, neither have men lent to me; yet everyone of them curses me."
Fausets
(See USURY.) The merciful character of Moses' law appears in the command not to keep the poor man's outer garment, his covering by night as well as day, after sunset (Ex 22:26-27; De 24:6,10-13,17; compare, however, Pr 22:27). The millstone, including all instruments necessary to life, and a widow's garment, were forbidden to be taken. The creditor must not enter the debtor's house to seize the pledge, but wait for the debtor to bring out an adequate security for payment.
The debtor could be held as a bondman only until the seventh year, i.e. for six years, and not beyond the Jubilee year, whatever his period of service might be (Ex 21:2). Then he must be sent away with a liberal supply of provisions, the prospect of such a gift doubtless stimulating zeal in service (De 15:12-18; Le 25:39-55); his land was to be restored. But foreign slaves might be held in continual servitude (2Ki 4:1; Isa 50:1; 52:3). The Roman or else the oriental law detaining the debtor in prison until he paid the uttermost farthing, and even giving him over to torturers, is alluded to in Mt 5:26; 18:34.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
"If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years and in the seventh he shall go out free without paying anything.
If you take your neighbor's garment as collateral, you shall restore it to him before the sun goes down, for that is his only covering, it is his garment for his skin. What would he sleep in? It will happen, when he cries to me, that I will hear, for I am gracious.
"'If your brother has grown poor among you, and sells himself to you; you shall not make him to serve as a slave. As a hired servant, and as a sojourner, he shall be with you; he shall serve with you until the Year of Jubilee: read more. then he shall go out from you, he and his children with him, and shall return to his own family, and to the possession of his fathers. For they are my servants, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt. They shall not be sold as slaves. You shall not rule over him with harshness, but shall fear your God. "'As for your male and your female slaves, whom you may have; of the nations that are around you, from them you may buy male and female slaves. Moreover of the children of the strangers who sojourn among you, of them you may buy, and of their families who are with you, which they have conceived in your land; and they will be your property. You may make them an inheritance for your children after you, to hold for a possession; of them may you take your slaves forever: but over your brothers the children of Israel you shall not rule, one over another, with harshness. "'If a stranger or sojourner with you becomes rich, and your brother beside him has grown poor, and sells himself to the stranger or foreigner living among you, or to a member of the stranger's family; after he is sold he may be redeemed. One of his brothers may redeem him; or his uncle, or his uncle's son, may redeem him, or any who is a close relative to him of his family may redeem him; or if he has grown rich, he may redeem himself. He shall reckon with him who bought him from the year that he sold himself to him to the Year of Jubilee: and the price of his sale shall be according to the number of years; according to the time of a hired servant shall he be with him. If there are yet many years, according to them he shall give back the price of his redemption out of the money that he was bought for. If there remain but a few years to the year of jubilee, then he shall reckon with him; according to his years of service he shall give back the price of his redemption. As a servant hired year by year shall he be with him: he shall not rule with harshness over him in your sight. If he isn't redeemed by these means, then he shall be released in the Year of Jubilee, he, and his children with him. For to me the children of Israel are servants; they are my servants whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.
If your brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you, and serves you six years; then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. When you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty: read more. you shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, and out of your threshing floor, and out of your winepress; as the LORD your God has blessed you, you shall give to him. You shall remember that you were a bondservant in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you: therefore I command you this thing today. It shall be, if he tells you, "I will not go out from you"; because he loves you and your house, because he is well with you; then you shall take an awl, and thrust it through his ear to the door, and he shall be your servant forever. Also to your female servant you shall do likewise. It shall not seem hard to you, when you let him go free from you; for to the double of the hire of a hireling has he served you six years: and the LORD your God will bless you in all that you do.
No man shall take the mill or the upper millstone to pledge; for he takes a life in pledge.
When you do lend your neighbor any kind of loan, you shall not go into his house to get his pledge. You shall stand outside, and the man to whom you do lend shall bring forth the pledge outside to you. read more. If he be a poor man, you shall not sleep with his pledge; you shall surely restore to him the pledge when the sun goes down, that he may sleep in his garment, and bless you: and it shall be righteousness to you before the LORD your God.
You shall not deprive the foreigner, or the fatherless of justice, nor take a widow's clothing in pledge;
Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets to Elisha, saying, "Your servant my husband is dead. You know that your servant feared the LORD. Now the creditor has come to take for himself my two children to be slaves."
If you do not have means to pay, why should he take away your bed from under you?
Thus says the LORD, "Where is the bill of your mother's divorce, with which I have put her away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities were you sold, and for your transgressions was your mother put away.
For thus says the LORD, "You were sold for nothing; and you shall be redeemed without money."
Truly I tell you, you shall by no means get out of there, until you have paid the last penny.
His lord was angry, and delivered him to the tormentors, until he should pay all that was due.
Hastings
Smith
Loan.
The law strictly forbade any interest to be taken for a loan to any poor person, and at first, as it seems, even in the case of a foreigner; but this prohibition was afterward limited to Hebrews only, from whom, of whatever rank, not only was no usury on any pretence to be exacted, but relief to the poor by way of loan was enjoined, and excuses for evading this duty were forbidden.
As commerce increased, the practice of usury, and so also of suretyship, grew up; but the exaction of it from a Hebrew appears to have been regarded to a late period as discreditable.
Ps 15:5; Pr 6:1,4; 11:15; 17:18; 20:16; 22:26; Jer 15:10; Eze 18:13
Systematic breach of the law in this respect was corrected by Nehemiah after the return from captivity.
The money-changers, who had seats and tables in the temple, where traders whose profits arose chiefly from the exchange of money with those who came to pay their annual half-shekel. The Jewish law did not forbid temporary bondage in the case of debtors, but it forbade a Hebrew debtor to be detained as a bondman longer than the seventh year, or at farthest the year of jubilee.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
"If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years and in the seventh he shall go out free without paying anything.
"If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be to him as a creditor; neither shall you charge him interest.
"'If your brother has become poor, and his hand can't support him among you; then you shall uphold him. As a stranger and a sojourner he shall live with you.
You shall not lend him your money at interest, nor give him your food for profit.
"'If your brother has grown poor among you, and sells himself to you; you shall not make him to serve as a slave.
For they are my servants, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt. They shall not be sold as slaves.
Beware that there not be a base thought in your heart, saying, "The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand"; and your eye be evil against your poor brother, and you give him nothing; and he cry to the LORD against you, and it be sin to you.
Then there arose a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brothers the Jews.
Also I shook out my lap, and said, "So may God shake out every man from his house, and from his labor, that doesn't perform this promise; even thus be he shaken out, and emptied." All the assembly said, "Amen," and praised the LORD. The people did according to this promise.
he who doesn't lend out his money for usury, nor take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be shaken.
My son, if you have become collateral for your neighbor, if you have struck your hands in pledge for a stranger;
He who is collateral for a stranger will suffer for it, but he who refuses pledges of collateral is secure.
A man void of understanding strikes hands, and becomes collateral in the presence of his neighbor.
Take the garment of one who puts up collateral for a stranger; and hold him in pledge for a wayward woman.
"Woe is me, my mother, that you have borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth. I have not lent, neither have men lent to me; yet everyone of them curses me."