By Klaus Issler; part four of a series. Reprinted from the Oikonomia Network. Three main passages in the Torah address the topic of lending and interest: Exodus 22:25: If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor…you shall not exact interest from him. Leviticus 25:35 and 37: If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with…
By Klaus Issler; part three of a series. Reprinted from the Oikonomia Network. This series wrestles with the question: Does the Old Testament teach that charging interest on a loan is sinful? Deuteronomy 23:19 states: “You shall not charge interest on loans [nāšak II, verb] to your brother, interest [nešek, noun] on money, interest [nešek] on food, interest [nešek] on anything that…
By Klaus Issler; part two of a series. Reprinted from the Oikonomia Network. As we saw in part one of this series, for most of the history of the church, church leaders understood that the Old Testament taught a complete ban on any interest on money loans. The subject of this study is the matter of loans to fellow Israelites who had the potential…
By Klaus Issler; part one of a series. Reprinted from the Oikonomia Network. For much of church history, pastoral leaders believed the Old Testament taught that no interest should be charged on any loans. The care and protection for the Israelite working poor was the main rationale for such a prohibition that no interest should be charged on such loans.…
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