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 slave, he will serve six years, and in the seventh he will go out as free for nothing.
" 'If you lend money [to] my people, [to] the needy with you, you will not be to him as a creditor; you will not {charge him interest}. If indeed you require the cloak of your neighbor as a pledge, you will return it to him at sundown, read more. because it is his only garment; it is his cloak for his skin. In what will he sleep? {And} when he cries out to me, I will hear, because I [am] gracious.
" 'And if your countryman becomes poor and {if he becomes dependent on you}, then you shall support him [like] an alien and [like] a temporary resident, and he shall live with you. You must not take interest or usury from him, but you shall revere your God, and your countryman shall live with you. read more. You must not give your money to him with interest or give your food for profit. I [am] Yahweh your God, who brought you out from the land of Egypt to give {you} the land of Canaan, to be as God for you. " 'And if your countryman [who is] with you becomes poor, and he is sold to you, {you shall not treat him as a slave}.
Because they [are] my servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt, they shall not be sold {as a slave}.
" 'As for your slave and your slave woman who are yours, from the nations that [are] all around you, from them you may buy a slave or a slave woman. And you may buy also from the children of the temporary residents who are dwelling with you as aliens and from their clan who are with you, who have children in your land; indeed, they may be as property for you. read more. And you may pass them on as an inheritance to your sons after you to take possession of as property {for all time}--you may let them work. But [as for] your countrymen, the {Israelites}, you shall not rule with ruthlessness over {one another}. " 'And if [the] alien or [the] temporary resident [who are] with you {prosper}, but your countryman [who is] with him becomes poor and he is sold to an alien, a temporary resident [who is] with you, or to a descendant of an alien's clan, after he is sold redemption shall be for him; one of his brothers may redeem him, or his uncle or his uncle's son may redeem him, or {one of} {his close relatives} from his clan may redeem him; or [if] {he prospers}, he may redeem himself. And he shall calculate with his buyer from the year of {his selling himself} until the Jubilee; and the value of his selling shall be according to the number of years--it shall be with him like a hired worker's days. If [there are] still many years, {in keeping with them} he shall restore his redemption {in proportion to his purchase price}. And if [there are] a few years left until the Year of Jubilee, then he shall calculate for himself; he shall restore his redemption {according to the number of his years}. He shall be with him {as a yearly hired worker}; he shall not rule over him with ruthlessness {in your sight}. And if he is not redeemed by [any of] these [ways], then he and his sons with him shall go out in the Year of Jubilee.
"{You shall not charge your brother interest on money}, interest on food, or interest on anything that one could lend on interest You may lend on interest to the foreigner, but to your countryman you may not lend on interest, so that Yahweh your God may bless you {in all your undertakings} in {the land where you are going}, {in order to take possession of it}.
"When you make a loan to your neighbor, a loan of any kind, you shall not go into his house {to take his pledge}. You shall wait outside, and the man [to] whom you [are] lending, he shall bring the pledge outside to you. read more. And if [he is] a needy man, you shall not sleep in his pledge. You shall certainly return the pledge to him {as the sun sets}, so that he may sleep in his cloak and may bless you, and it shall be [considered] righteousness {on your behalf} {before} Yahweh your God.
You shall not subvert the rights of an alien [or] an orphan, and you shall not take as pledge [the] garment of a widow.
He does not lend his money at interest, and does not take a bribe against [the] innocent. He who does these [things] will never be shaken.
My child, if you have pledged to your neighbor, [if] you have bound {yourself} to the stranger,
Do not give sleep to your eyes, or slumber to your eyelids.
He will suffer trouble when he loans to a stranger, but he who refuses a pledge is safe.
A person who lacks {sense} {pledges}; he becomes security before his neighbor.
Take his garment, for he has given security [to] a stranger, and on behalf of a foreigner--take it as pledge.
Take his garment, for he gives surety [to] a stranger, and to {an adulteress}--[so] take his pledge.
Woe to me, my mother, that you gave birth to me, a man of contention and quarreling {to the whole land}. I have not lent out and {I have not borrowed}. All of them [are] cursing 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 slave, he will serve six years, and in the seventh he will go out as free for nothing.
If indeed you require the cloak of your neighbor as a pledge, you will return it to him at sundown, because it is his only garment; it is his cloak for his skin. In what will he sleep? {And} when he cries out to me, I will hear, because I [am] gracious.
" 'And if your countryman [who is] with you becomes poor, and he is sold to you, {you shall not treat him as a slave}. He shall be with you like a hired worker, like a temporary resident; he shall work with you until the Year of Jubilee. read more. And he and his sons with him shall go out from you, and he shall return to his clan, and to the property of his ancestors he shall return. Because they [are] my servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt, they shall not be sold {as a slave}. You shall not rule over him with ruthlessness, but you shall revere your God. " 'As for your slave and your slave woman who are yours, from the nations that [are] all around you, from them you may buy a slave or a slave woman. And you may buy also from the children of the temporary residents who are dwelling with you as aliens and from their clan who are with you, who have children in your land; indeed, they may be as property for you. And you may pass them on as an inheritance to your sons after you to take possession of as property {for all time}--you may let them work. But [as for] your countrymen, the {Israelites}, you shall not rule with ruthlessness over {one another}. " 'And if [the] alien or [the] temporary resident [who are] with you {prosper}, but your countryman [who is] with him becomes poor and he is sold to an alien, a temporary resident [who is] with you, or to a descendant of an alien's clan, after he is sold redemption shall be for him; one of his brothers may redeem him, or his uncle or his uncle's son may redeem him, or {one of} {his close relatives} from his clan may redeem him; or [if] {he prospers}, he may redeem himself. And he shall calculate with his buyer from the year of {his selling himself} until the Jubilee; and the value of his selling shall be according to the number of years--it shall be with him like a hired worker's days. If [there are] still many years, {in keeping with them} he shall restore his redemption {in proportion to his purchase price}. And if [there are] a few years left until the Year of Jubilee, then he shall calculate for himself; he shall restore his redemption {according to the number of his years}. He shall be with him {as a yearly hired worker}; he shall not rule over him with ruthlessness {in your sight}. And if he is not redeemed by [any of] these [ways], then he and his sons with him shall go out in the Year of Jubilee. Indeed, the {Israelites} [are] servants for me; they [are] my servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt. I [am] Yahweh your God.'"
If your relative who is a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman is sold to you, and [he or she] has served you six years, then in the seventh year you shall send that person [out] {free}. And when you send him [out] free from you, you shall not send him [away] empty-handed. read more. You shall generously supply him from [among] your flocks and from your threshing floor and from your press; [according to] that [with which] Yahweh your God has blessed you, you shall give to him. And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and Yahweh your God redeemed you; therefore I [am] commanding you thus {today}. And then [if] it will happen [that] he says to you, '{I do not want to go out} from you,' because he loves you and your family, because it is good for him [to be] with you; then you shall take an awl, and you shall thrust [it] through his earlobe and into the door, and he shall be to you {a slave forever}; and you shall also do likewise for your slave woman. It shall not be hard in your eyes {when you send him forth free}, because for six years he has served you [worth] twice the wage of a hired worker; and Yahweh your God will bless you {in whatever you will do}.
"A person shall not take a pair of millstones or an upper millstone, for {he is taking necessities of life as a pledge}.
"When you make a loan to your neighbor, a loan of any kind, you shall not go into his house {to take his pledge}. You shall wait outside, and the man [to] whom you [are] lending, he shall bring the pledge outside to you. read more. And if [he is] a needy man, you shall not sleep in his pledge. You shall certainly return the pledge to him {as the sun sets}, so that he may sleep in his cloak and may bless you, and it shall be [considered] righteousness {on your behalf} {before} Yahweh your God.
You shall not subvert the rights of an alien [or] an orphan, and you shall not take as pledge [the] garment of a widow.
A certain woman from the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, "Your servant my husband is dead. Now you know that your servant was a fearer of Yahweh, but the creditor came to take two of my children for himself as slaves.
If there is nothing for you to pay, why will he take your bed from under you?
Thus says Yahweh: "Where [is] this divorce document of your mother's divorce, [with] which I dismissed her? or to whom of my creditors did I sell you? Look! you were sold because of your sin, and your mother was dismissed because of your transgressions.
For thus says Yahweh: "You were sold for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money."
Truly I say to you, you will never come out of there until you have paid back the last penny!
And [because he] was angry, his master handed him over to the merciless jailers until he would repay everything that was owed.
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 slave, he will serve six years, and in the seventh he will go out as free for nothing.
" 'If you lend money [to] my people, [to] the needy with you, you will not be to him as a creditor; you will not {charge him interest}.
" 'And if your countryman becomes poor and {if he becomes dependent on you}, then you shall support him [like] an alien and [like] a temporary resident, and he shall live with you.
You must not give your money to him with interest or give your food for profit.
" 'And if your countryman [who is] with you becomes poor, and he is sold to you, {you shall not treat him as a slave}.
Because they [are] my servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt, they shall not be sold {as a slave}.
{Take care} so that there will not be {a thought of wickedness} in your heart, {saying}, 'The seventh year, the year of the remission of debt is near,' {and you view your needy neighbor with hostility}, and [so] you [do] not give to him, and he might cry [out] against you to Yahweh, and {you would incur guilt against yourself}.
Now there was a great cry of distress of the people and of their wives [against] their Jewish brothers.
I also shook out my garment and said, "This is how God will shake out everyone from his house who will not keep this promise. So this is how his possessions will be shaken out and emptied." And all the assembly said, "Amen!" And they praised Yahweh, and the people kept this promise.
He does not lend his money at interest, and does not take a bribe against [the] innocent. He who does these [things] will never be shaken.
My child, if you have pledged to your neighbor, [if] you have bound {yourself} to the stranger,
Do not give sleep to your eyes, or slumber to your eyelids.
He will suffer trouble when he loans to a stranger, but he who refuses a pledge is safe.
A person who lacks {sense} {pledges}; he becomes security before his neighbor.
Take his garment, for he has given security [to] a stranger, and on behalf of a foreigner--take it as pledge.
Do not be with those who {give a pledge} {by becoming} surety.
Woe to me, my mother, that you gave birth to me, a man of contention and quarreling {to the whole land}. I have not lent out and {I have not borrowed}. All of them [are] cursing me.
{He charges interest} and takes usury. Then, shall he live? He shall not live, [for] he did all of these detestable things. Surely he will die! His blood will be on him.