-- If thou lend money to my people, the poor with thee, thou shalt not be to him as a usurer ye shall charge him no interest.
Among the case laws of Exodus 22 sits a rule about money: a loan to a poor member of God's people must never turn a profit. It raises two questions — what is banned, and why does God tie His own name to a private loan?
The older translations use a word that has since narrowed in meaning. A dictionary of Bible terms sets it straight, and also marks out who the law protects:
In Scripture this word does not mean, as it does now, excessive interest, but simply interest of any kind. The Israelites were forbidden to charge interest to their brothers. The law always assumed the borrower was poor; otherwise he would not need to borrow. To strangers, however, they could lend at interest. Exodus 22:25; Leviticus 25:35-38; Deuteronomy 23:19-20. When the Jews returned, Nehemiah sharply rebuked the nobles and rulers for taking interest from their poorer brothers. Nehemiah 5:3-13. Scripture strictly commands the rich to help the poor. The only time the New Testament mentions usury is in the parables of the talents and the pounds. There the master blamed the servant for not putting the gifts to use, so that he might have received his own back with interest, or increase. Matthew 25:27; Luke 19:23.
The verse turns on one condition: the borrower is poor. One writer marks the difference between a bank loan and a neighbour in need:
Exodus 22:25 explicitly warns Israelites against charging interest when lending money to the poor. Of course, it is only proper business to expect interest from a bank, as Luke 19:23 tells us. But if someone is poor and needs financial help, it is certainly cruelty to charge him interest. By faith a believer would gladly lend without such a condition. He may in fact gladly give without conditions (2 Corinthians 9:7), expecting nothing in return.
This command sits beside protections for the foreigner, the widow and the orphan. One writer reads the whole cluster as a window into what God is like:
The two directions that follow concern the poor. The first saves him from extortion and stops the rich from making gain out of his poverty. The second keeps him from destitution and nakedness. The children of Israel were now governed from Sinai, yet these laws let us see into the depths of the heart of God.
The section ends with God saying of Himself, "I am gracious." That statement is not decoration; it explains the whole run of commands:
Verses 21-27 safeguard the rights of the less important and more defenceless people: strangers, widows, the fatherless and the poor. Fallen mankind tends to take advantage of these, oppressing and defrauding them. Such conduct is detestable to God, and His kindness shines out even as He gives His law. He will be their Defender. As He thinks of them His word is, "I am gracious."
The command was broken in Nehemiah's day, when hunger drove families to borrow from their own people:
Now, who had taken advantage of them when, in their hunger, they needed bread? It was their brothers — and yet the law of Moses forbade them to do this. The Israelite could lend to the nations, but he could not charge his brother interest (Deuteronomy 23:19-20; Exodus 22:25). So the love of money led them into this great sin.
God gave this command under law, so some may think Christians are free of it. One writer presses the opposite conclusion:
The Jews under law were forbidden to charge interest when lending to another poor Israelite. Now that we are under grace, should we ignore such instruction? Rather, under grace we might go much further, by giving instead of lending.
- Brother, not customer. "Usury" here means interest of any kind. The line the law draws is the relationship: no interest from a poor brother, though Israel could lend to outsiders at interest.
- Brother in need. The trigger is poverty, not borrowing itself. A commercial loan is a different matter; charging a man for his hunger is cruelty.
- Brother defended. God Himself shields the stranger, widow, orphan and poor. He will be their Defender, and His word over them is "I am gracious."
- Brother betrayed. In Nehemiah 5 the rich charged their own brothers interest. Commentators trace it to the love of money and call it plain disobedience to this verse.
- Brother given to. Under grace the standard rises. The believer may go past interest-free lending to giving outright, expecting nothing back.
-- If thou at all take thy neighbour's garment in pledge, thou shalt return it to him before the sun goes down;
One line of Israel's law protects the one thing a poor man could offer as security and could not do without: the coat he slept in. Why would God make a law about a borrower's bedding?
The pledge in view was not a spare item of clothing. It was the wide outer cloak that doubled as a blanket, so taking it overnight left a man exposed.
The other main garment was the simlah, a cloak or wide outer mantle. Men and women wore it, and they wrapped themselves in it at night. If a lender took this garment in pledge, he had to give it back in the evening, for without it 'what shall he sleep in?'
Taking security for a loan was an old and accepted practice; what the law did was fence it in.
People took articles as security for loans very early on. The law set limits on this, so that no one could take unfair advantage.
The law does not forbid the lender to take a pledge. It limits what his claim may cost the borrower.
If a borrower were to give his garment as security, the lender must not keep it even overnight. My righteous demands must in no way take precedence over proper compassion (vv. 26-27).
Another writer draws out two more limits: how the lender may collect the pledge, and when he must hand it back.
Here again the law limits the pledge. The creditor must not push into the debtor's house to get it. And if it is something the debtor can spare only for the day, the creditor must give it back by nightfall.
This chapter is full of penalties and repayment. Yet the way Israelites were to treat each other under those rules has a different flavour. And God backs this rule with a word about Himself.
These "judgments" show the true character of the law: unbending righteousness, demanding repayment for loss and punishment for wrong. No one could escape that responsibility. Yet the way the children of Israel dealt with each other under these instructions from God showed the beautiful features of grace and compassion... They were not to charge interest to a poor man who borrowed money (Ex. 22:25), and they were not to keep a neighbour's pledged garment overnight (Ex. 22:26-27). To this last God adds these beautiful words, "for I am gracious."
A rule about a coat shows what God Himself feels.
The children of Israel were now governed from Sinai. Even so, these laws let us see into the depths of the heart of God. What deep tenderness there is in the rule that a pledged garment must be handed back "by the time the sun goes down: for that is his covering only, it is his clothing for his skin: what shall he sleep in? And when he cries to Me, I will hear; for I am gracious." His people must show the heart of God. And He is touched by the sight of a man who has nothing to cover his body when he lies down to sleep!
Notice the scale of God's care here: one man's bedding.
Touches of this kind go far to remind us of how detailed God's regard is, and of the depth of His gracious consideration for the details of our life.
Later, a prophet describes Israel doing exactly what this rule forbids — at the altar itself.
They care nothing for the sufferings of the poor. Yet even at the altar — which is supposed to be the Lord's — they lie down on garments pledged because of poverty. And they make merry with the fines imposed for wrongdoing.
One writer turns the returned cloak into a picture of the believer's hope.
If a Jew had pawned his bedclothes, God in His mercy required them back before night. "For," He says, "that is his covering; what shall he sleep in?" (Ex. 22:27). Hope is the believer's covering. He wraps himself in it when he lays his body down to sleep in the grave: "My flesh," says David, "shall rest in hope" (Ps. 16:9). The man who has no hope of a resurrection to life goes sadly to the bed of the grave.
- Covering. The pledge was the poor man's outer cloak, his blanket at night — which is why it had to be back in his hands by sunset.
- Limit. A lender could take security, but he could not force his way into the house, and he had to hand back by nightfall what the man could not spare.
- Order. A lender's righteous claim never outranks compassion.
- Reason. God grounds the command in His own character — "for I am gracious" — and His people were to express His heart.
- Warning. A prophet later shows the law reversed: men lying down at the altar on garments taken from the poor.
for that is his only covering, his garment for his skin on what shall he lie down? And it shall come to pass, when he crieth unto me, that I will hear; for I am gracious.
A poor man hands his cloak to a lender as security, and God sets a deadline for its return: sundown. The reason He gives is not what the borrower deserves, but who He Himself is.
The cloak here is one specific garment. It was a wide outer mantle that also served as a man's bedding.
The other main garment was the simlah, a cloak or wide outer mantle, worn by men and women, and in which they wrapped themselves at night. This might be of any material according to the season, and according to the wearer's position in life. The peasants often wear such a garment, called an "abba," of camel's or goat's hair. If a lender took this garment as security, he had to return it in the evening, for without it "in what else shall he sleep?"
One writer pictures the night for a man whose only covering sits in a creditor's house.
The sun has gone down; the chill of midnight creeps over his sleeping form. It disturbs the rest he needs and endangers his health. His skin needs a covering and warmth. Where can he find this if he has pledged his garment and the lender keeps it? Nowhere.
The lender has a real right to the security. God sets a limit on how far he may press it.
If a borrower were to give his garment as security, the lender must not keep it even overnight. My righteous demands must in no way take precedence over proper compassion.
The laws around this verse are strict. They demand restitution and penalty, and no one could escape them. Yet this rule runs the other way, and the verse ends with God's reason. Where the ESV says "I am compassionate," the older wording quoted below reads "I am gracious."
These "judgments" reveal the true character of the law: inflexible righteousness, with its inescapable demands of restitution and penalty. There could be no evading that responsibility. Yet the children of Israel dealt with each other in a spirit that expressed the beautiful features of grace and compassion, following these divine instructions... no one was to keep a neighbour's pledged garment overnight. To this last God adds this beautiful expression, "for I am gracious."
Another writer finds the same heart in the rule, and a duty for God's people to show it.
Even though God now governed the children of Israel from Sinai, these laws let us see into the depths of the heart of God. What indescribable tenderness in the rule that a lender must hand back a pledged garment before the sun went down. His people must express the heart of God, and He is touched by the sight of a man who has nothing to cover his body when he lies down to sleep!
This verse sits in a run of laws about strangers, widows, orphans and the poor. They are the easiest people to exploit, and their cry goes straight to God.
Verses 21-27 protect the rights of the less important and more defenceless people — strangers, widows, the fatherless and the poor. The tendency of fallen mankind is to take advantage of these, oppressing and defrauding them. Such conduct is hateful to God, and His kindness shines out even as He gives His law. He will be their Defender. As He thinks of them His word is, "I am gracious."
God makes a law about one man's blanket. That detail is the lesson.
Touches of this kind go far to remind us how detailed God's regard is, and how deep His gracious consideration for the details of our life. He clothes the lily, He numbers the hairs of the head, and takes note of the falling sparrow. He tells us to be anxious for nothing. In everything we are to make our requests known to Him by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, and to cast all our care on Him, for He cares for us.
- Cloak. The pledge was a wide outer mantle. A poor man wrapped himself in it at night, so it was his bed as well as his coat. Hence the sundown deadline.
- Limit. The creditor's claim was genuine, but it could not outrank compassion. You may hold a right and still not press it.
- Defender. These verses guard strangers, widows, orphans and the poor. God hears their cry and stands on their side as their Defender.
- Grace. This rule sits among laws of strict restitution and penalty. It still breathes grace and compassion, and lets us see into the heart of God.
- Reason. The motive is not the borrower's worth but God's own nature: "I am compassionate." This is the God who notices the sparrow and counts the hairs of your head.