The practices of lending and borrowing in ancient Israel were to be set up in such a way that a person would not put himself in long term debt or bankruptcy. This was accomplished by having a system in which a person's debts had to be canceled at the end of every seventh year.
I don't know if you've ever found yourself in a position of needing a financial debt canceled but I found myself in that position once. About eleven years ago someone close to me accessed personal financial information of mine that allowed them to pretend to be me to obtain a large cash transfer from one of my credit cards. The money had been used by the time I was made aware of what had happened, I was unable to prove to my credit card company that fraud had taken place, and my household was in bad financial shape at the time due to my husband being out of work. There was no way we could pay the money back. My credit card company agreed to waive two thirds of the amount if I agreed to paying the other third back within a certain number of payments. When I received the letter from my credit card company showing the amount of debt they were waiving with the word "forgiven" typed next to it, I was overwhelmed by the grace of God when I thought about how I owed an enormous penalty due to all my sins but that He had written "forgiven" next to the list of my many sins. A time of hardship was turned into a time of rejoicing because, though financially I was in a rough spot, all was well with my soul thanks to the love and mercy of my God! This is how gracious the Lord is that He can use even a bad time to make us feel like jumping up and down and shouting for joy!
The example above was a financial situation that wasn't my fault, but we can also be faced with the temptation to borrow or spend more money than is wise, so the Lord gave the Israelites guidelines to follow to keep them from borrowing unwise amounts of money. These guidelines also helped to prevent people from making unwise lending decisions. "At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts. Every creditor shall cancel any loan they have made to a fellow Israelite. They shall not require payment from anyone among their own people, because the Lord's time for canceling debts has been proclaimed." (Deuteronomy 15:1-2) A person had to think about whether he could reasonably pay back the money within seven years so he wouldn't be defrauding his lender and so he wouldn't dishonor his own reputation. Unforeseen circumstances could crop up, of course, such as several bad crop years or personal sickness, but otherwise the person had to consider whether his income would support the payback of the loan. The person lending the money would need to think about whether the person asking for the loan would be able to pay the money back within the allotted time. If not, the lender would have to consider whether he would be able to withstand the loss if he ended up having to cancel the debt after the seventh year. This helped both borrower and lender from getting themselves in financial trouble. The Lord loves His people and, like any good father, He wants his children to make wise financial decisions.
The rule about canceling debts after the seventh year did not apply to contracts in which an Israelite made a loan to a non-Israelite. "You may require payment from a foreigner, but you must cancel any debt your fellow Israelite owes you." (Deuteronomy 15:3) I am sure the Lord wanted everyone to make wise financial decisions whether they were believers in Him or not, but unbelievers make a lot of unwise choices in life and He knew sometimes those unwise choices might include borrowing money they would try to get out of repaying. They may have tried to take advantage of the seven-year rule if it had applied to them. To avoid this, if a non-Israelite borrowed money from an Israelite, he would still owe the remainder of the debt after seven years. He would have to work out some type of terms for repaying the loan, even if that meant losing his home and his possessions or becoming what we'd call an "indentured servant" to work off the money owed.
The Israelites were to try to avoid borrowing money at all because the land the Lord will give them will be so good for crops and livestock that anyone willing to do their part in making a living will not lack anything they need. "However, there need be no poor people among you, for in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, He will richly bless you, if only you fully obey the Lord your God and are careful to follow all these commands I am giving you today. For the Lord your God will bless you as He has promised, and you will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. You will rule over many nations but none will rule over you." (Deuteronomy 15:4-6)
For the most part, the Israelites would not need to borrow from each other, but the Lord instituted the seven-year rule because He knew there would be occasions when a person might need borrow a sum of money up front Some examples I can think of would be to go into business for their trade of occupation, or to build a house because they're going to get married, or to put up barns or storehouses because they plan to work with livestock or crops. The person was to carefully consider whether the amount he's borrowing can be paid back and the lender was to carefully consider whether the loan is a good risk.
Based on our text it appears that an Israelite who wanted to borrow money could only borrow from a fellow Israelite. He wasn't to become indebted to a foreigner. Just as the seven-year cancellation of debts did not apply when an Israelite lent money to a foreigner, I believe it would not apply when an Israelite borrowed money from a foreigner. Not borrowing from foreigners meant the citizens of Israel would not have to fear having their homes and land seized by foreigners (Israel's land was to remain with Israel's citizens always) or having themselves and their family members seized and enslaved by foreigners.
The Lord wants us all to be responsible with our finances. He wants us to spend wisely and invest wisely and borrow wisely. We must give wisely too; it's important to check out the reputation of any charity or cause to which we'd like to donate money. We want to make sure the money is actually going to benefit the people or animals we want to help. The Lord loves us and wants us to use what He's blessed us with in ways that honor Him and in ways that are helpful to us and our families and to those in need. We may not be able to control things such as job layoffs or sicknesses that cause us to be unable to work, but if we are careful to consult the Lord on big decisions and if we carefully consider how we're using every dollar He's blessed us with, we'll find ourselves in far fewer financial predicaments than we would otherwise.
No comments:
Post a Comment