169. But what is intended to be prohibited in Deut. 23 ch. 20 d. as the TAKING OF INTEREST is so very clearly forbidden, not alone in the foregoing passage, but also in Exodus 22 ch. 24 v. ? In this passage, it is forbidden to any Israelite, (according to the interpretation of the Talmudists and all other learned men,) who is obliged to borrow money, to give any interest therefore to any other Israelite. Thou shalt not pay any * לא תשיך לאחיך נשך כסף נשך אכל נשך כל דבר אשר ישך (אזהרה ללוה שלא יתן רבית למלוה). interest to thy brother, not on money, not on food, nor on any thing else, for which interest is demanded." 170. Can you give any reason, why it was prohibited to pay interest? Because the whole polity of the Israelitish people aims solely, at forming them into a nation of agriculturists, who were not to be engaged in trading, but to depend chiefly, for their maintenance, upon the cultivation of the soil, and the necessary arts and mechanical occupations. For this reason were the commandments relative to the sabbatic year, and the many other agrarian laws, instituted. It was therefore made obligatory upon the Israelites, not only to assist one another with loans, when any one was in distress, without receiving any interest; but it was also strictly prohibited to pay any interest for money advanced. For agriculture could never afford the means of paying it, and the country and community might perchance suffer in consequence. As the inability of complying with the terms of the loan, would invariably tend to transfer the land from its owner to the lender of the money; and this again would be the means of bringing large estates in the hands of the few, to the prejudice of the many; since it can be proved, by every day's experience, that, when a man has once acquired a large amount of property, it must of necessity increase; and thus the accumulation in the hands of one or a few of a large portion of the land or money of a country, will create a kind of aristocracy, capable of acquiring an undue degree of political influence, because the multitude must look up to them as masters or protectors; and this again would have been evidently against the tendency of the Mosaic code, whose institutions throughout are intended to form a state, in which each man should have an interest in the soil, and in which one man should be upon an equality, with his more opulent and learned neighbour. 171 What is then, according to the view just given, the intent of the 21st v. of the 23 ch. of Deut.? It is only a continuance of the preceding verse. -If the native will not loan thee with * לנכרי תשיך ולאחיך לא תשיך out interest thou mayest then give interest to the foreigner, but never to thy brother" (the Israelite). Some of our learned men add the following explanation: If thou hast promised interest to a foreigner, thou art bound to give it him; but if thou hast made such a contract with an Israelite, it is void, and thou art not at liberty to comply with its conditions. See Abarbanel and R. Abadya Sapurny. 172. But suppose the verse had another meaning, and should not refer to the BORROWER, but to the LENDER; and that its import be: "From a stranger thou mayest TAKE interest, but not from thy brother!" will this permit us to loan to those on USURY who are not of our faith? We can by no means give such a turn to this precept. For, in the first instance, this passage can not allude to usury, since we do not find a word of this import in the Holy Scriptures.* Secondly, all our fellow-citizens, no matter of what faith they may be, are our brothers, and we are accordingly obliged to assist them in their need without compensation. Have we not all one * הלוא אב אחד לכלנו הלוא אל אחד בראנו מדוע נבגד איש באחיו • father? has not one God created us all? why then should one brother act deceitfully towards the other?" (Mal. 2 ch. 10 v.) 173. What then is the difference, in relation to the taking of interest, between the Israelite and the stranger? If our fellow-man, who is not an Israelite, wants money towards the support of his family, or the prosecution of his agricultural or domestic occupation, we are forbidden by our religion, to demand any interest; for the consciousness of having done our duty as men, and acted as God commands, should of itself be sufficient reward for us. But if our neighbour, who is no Israelite, wants to employ the loan for a mercantile speculation or similar purposes, it is lawful for the lender to ask for himself a small share of the profits, or what is the same, to take as much interest, as the general custom, or the law of the land permits. But if the borrower be an Israelite, it is * All etymologists must agree in this respect with our doctors; for usury means more than legal interest; but no where in the Mosaic law is there any proportion given for lawful interest, according to which the relative import of the word usury, or the excess of interest, might be fixed; but every where all kinds of interest, without reference to the amount, are strictly prohibited. And as no kind of interest is allowed by law; it is evident, that there can be no word, which signifies usury. Author. unlawful to take any interest at all, unless the lender assume a greater share of the loss, (if any there be,) than he receives profit, in case the speculation should turn out profitably. For instance, if he contracts to receive a third part of the profit, he must suffer half the loss, and so on, for a greater or smaller share of profit; so that the lender should not have too great an advantage over the borrower, and that the latter should be considered more in the light of an agent, than as the sole proprietor of the loaned money. But the lender of the money or merchandise has this advantage; in case the agent dies, and he can identify the goods, or prove any money found to be the sum he left with him, or the proceeds of the goods he entrusted to him, he can claim them, no matter how many other creditors the deceased may have besides; since the goods or the money were always his property. And whereas the lender is always considered as the proprietor, he is bound to pay the agent for his trouble, in case there be neither profit nor loss, if they have originally agreed for half profit and loss. But if the lender has consented, to assume two thirds of the loss against the chance of receiving one third of the profits, the agent cannot claim any remuneration, if there be neither profit nor loss.* 174. Can you point me out a Psalm, in which the chief duties towards our neighbours are laid down in the sublime language of sacred poetry? מי ישכן בהר קדשך "Who can sojourn in thy tabernacle? O Lord! Who can dwell on thy holy mountain? *The greater part of this paragraph is not in the original, but has been extracted from the from the Section on Interest (Chap. 177), where the other laws relative to this subject are laid down more at large. Translator. He, who walks uprightly, and exercises הולך תמים ופעל צדק ודבר אמת בלבבו לא רגל על לשנן לא עשה לרעהו רעה וחרפה לא נשא על קרבו נבזה בעיניו נמאס ואת יראי ה' יכנר נשבע להרע ולא ימיר כספו לא נתן בנשך ושחד על נקי לא לקח עשה אלה לא ימוט לעולם • righteousness, And speaks truth in his heart; Who calumniates no one with his tongue, And never reviles those near to him; And honours those, who fear the Eternal; Who never loans his money on interest,* * In explanation of this passage, it is asked in the Talmud (Tractate Macoth, Folio 24): To whom? .Even to the stranger, to the pagan » אפילו רבית נכרי • In the same place we also read the following: Moses taught us our religion in 613 precepts: David (Psalm 15) comprehended them in eleven, as enumerated above; Isaiah (33 ch. 15 v.) comprised them in the following six: 66 The pious man) walks) הלך צדקות ודבר מישרים מאס בבצע מעשקות in righteousness ; speaks honestly the נער כפיו מתמך בשחד אטם אזנו משמע דמים ועצם עיניו מראות ברע * truth; despises unjust advantages; withdraws his hands from the touching of bribes; closes his ear against blood-thirsty calumny, and his eyes-not to behold the evil done." Micah (6 ch. 8 v.) taught us all the precepts in three articles: "To do justice, to love mercy and benevolence, and to walk in silent meekness before thy God." |