Grace Economics (1) (6)
“You shall not charge interest to your brother—interest on money or food or anything that is lent out at interest. To a foreigner you may charge interest, but to your brother you shall not charge interest, that the LORD your God may bless you in all to which you set your hand in the land which you are entering to possess.” Deuteronomy 23.19, 20
The necessity of credit
One important component of a free-market economy is its ability to function on a credit basis. This is an aspect of the trust component of free economies; without trust, lending and credit would be impossible.
From the beginning, therefore, the American economy sought ways of increasing the amount of credit that could be extended to worthy borrowers, to allow them to bring their economic dreams to fruition. The lending of money has become a major industry in the American economy, so powerful, in fact, that when money-lenders compromised sound judgment and began to look for ways of making a quick return on money, the finance industry plunged the nation into its worst recession since the Great Depression.
Credit, which was a means in the early years of the Republic, has become an end—a business and industry for making money. And advertising continues to sell the idea that every consumer deserves credit and should seek the best credit values he can to get the most credit in order to satisfy his materialistic desires. As credit increases, debt rises, currency becomes devalued, uncertainty shadows an economy, and anxiety and fear loom.
Love in lending
This is precisely the kind of situation which the Law of God foresaw and sought to forestall.
Knowing the human propensity toward idolatry and self-love, the Law of God strictly hedged the way that goods or money could be lent from one member of the community to another. A general rule was that one could not make money lending money. Scholars are still out on whether “charging interest” relates to any interest whatsoever or to usury, taking of interest for the purpose of gaining wealth. It seems likely that some interest was allowed, if only to make up for the opportunity cost of goods or money being taken out of circulation for the use of a borrower.
But the people of ancient Israel were not to take advantage of one another in lending and borrowing. For example, if you lent someone some money and took his cloak as a pledge of repayment, you could not keep the pledge overnight, but had to return it to the owner so that he could keep warm in the cold (Ex. 22.26, 27).
Further, if you lent something to someone and came to his house to collect his pledge, you had to wait outside for him to bring the pledge out to you, thus preserving his privacy and dignity (Deut. 24.10-13). By no means could you take as a pledge anything that jeopardized the borrower’s ability to make a living (Deut. 24.6).
Interest from foreigners
At the same time, as we see in our text, Israelites were free to exact interest from foreigners. This would have served to discourage foreign involvement—and with it, control—in the economy of Israel in two ways.
First, it would have discouraged borrowers from abroad, who would probably have looked elsewhere for needed revenues rather than agree to paying back substantially more than they had borrowed. Second, it would have discouraged Hebrews from lending to strangers, or, at the very least, it would have made them very circumspect in determining whom they should trust with their loans, given the fact that non-neighbors can be difficult to collect on, especially when interest is a factor.
Each of these would have helped to keep the economy of Israel free from too many foreign entanglements, a policy that would have set well with George Washington.
A need for some sanity
In our day, when credit and debt are big business, credit card debt is submerging many households, people are simply walking away from mortgage debt, and the nation is threatening to drown in a sea of red ink, we should look beyond our own experience for sound policies and principles to return some sanity and, yes, neighbor love, to the uses we make of this aspect of our capitalist economy.
These laws that govern the economy of ancient Israel are still valid today, especially, as the Westminster Confession of Faith puts it, with respect to the “general equity” they encode. We need to cherish and study them, to discover all the ways they open up paths of blessing for our lives and communities. The Law of God provides a framework of grace to guide all our economic activity, including our use of credit and debt, to direct our steps for loving God and our neighbors. Jesus said that, where lawlessness abounds, love grows cold (Matt. 24.12). And that only makes sense, for the Law of God speaks the Word of God to bring the grace of God to bear in our world.
And if those laws can lead us to stop and think about the role of credit and debt, and the long-term needs of our neighbors and our nation, then taking the time to review and reflect on them will be well worthwhile.
For reflection
1. Should churches teach people Biblical principles of grace economics? Explain.
2. How can you see that greed is the driving force in the credit industry in our day?
3. How can Christians encourage one another to a more responsible use of debt and credit?
Next steps: Continue praying through the Ten Commandments. Review your own use of credit and debt before the Lord in prayer. Do you need to amend any of your practices?
T. M. Moore
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If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
Other columns of interest this week: Our Read Moore podcast continues our readings from the book, What in Heaven Is Jesus Doing on Earth? Our new Crosfigell series studies the life of Brigit, another of the great 6th-century saints of the Celtic Revival. Why not start your day with our worship devotional, The Scriptorium? We’re barely two chapters into this daily guide for the book of Ephesians, so it’s not too late to jump on board. Click here to see all the other columns and writers available to you.
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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.
