And if thy brother grow poor, and he be fallen into decay beside thee, then thou shalt relieve him, [be he] stranger or sojourner, that he may live beside thee.
Leviticus 25 returns again and again to one case: a brother growing poor. Here he has not just sold land. His own hand has failed, and the law tells his neighbour to hold him up so he can keep living beside him.
Earlier verses allowed rescue by a relative, or by the man's own recovery. This case is different.
Here we read a new statute about the poor brother who has fallen into decay. It is not about what his nearest relative might do, or about his own recovery, as in verses 25-28. It is about loving help where no such help existed, either from outside or from within. For Jehovah encouraged compassion in His people, since they had been so richly the objects of it from Himself. The nations are proud of a spirit of independence, in their self-sufficient ignorance of God. Nothing is more foreign to His mind, among His own people and even toward strangers.
Israel had received mercy from God. The law bound them to show it.
Israel had to represent Jehovah and do His will as those given to dwell in His land. The strange gods gave licence to every passion of sinful man, through the working of the great enemy of God and man. The Jew, by contrast, was called to practise mercy, as one who belonged to and confessed the One who delights in mercy... Mercy obtained is a valid ground for expecting mercy to be shown; and the law bound this on the Jew as we see here.
The next verses forbid "usury" and "increase." Older translations used that first word in a wider sense than we do.
This word does not in Scripture mean, as it does now, excessive interest, but simply interest of any kind. Israelites could not charge interest to fellow Israelites. The rule always assumed the borrower was poor; otherwise he would not need to borrow. With strangers, however, they were allowed to lend on interest.
One writer applies the rule to us, and points past lending to something better.
If someone needs help because of poverty, it is unseemly that we should charge him interest. Dealing on the basis of business is a different matter. Better still than lending to those in poverty is the grace of giving to them, as 2 Corinthians 9:7 assures us.
Hope shapes every rule in this chapter. The lender was to look ahead to the jubilee, and let it loosen his grip on his money now.
But there was also the powerful influence of hope, which governs the regulations of all this chapter. The Jew was called to act in view of the jubilee, and was inexcusable if he put it out of sight in his conduct. When a brother was in decay, he was to remember the deliverance that would surely come before long. That hope strengthened him to help the need. He was not to turn it into an occasion for selfish greed, through interest on a loan, or a return of food to increase his own store.
Commentators read the ruined Israelite as a picture of every person before God. One writer finds the same condition in Naomi.
The Israelite knew he was poor. He might try again and again to put himself right, but it came to nothing. He could not meet his obligations. He made promises only to break them. Such is man's position morally before God. He is bankrupt. He may form vows and resolutions, but he never carries them out. "His hand fails," as the margin reads; he is "without strength" (Romans 5:6, older translation)... It was the position of Naomi returned to Bethlehem. Death had robbed her of every natural help and protector. A widow, and childless, her inheritance gone as well.
The rest of the chapter walks through Israel's troubles one case at a time. One commentator sees God's compassion in that, and then turns to Christ.
It is deeply interesting to notice God's compassion in the rest of the chapter (verses 25-55). He dwells on every possible trouble of Israel in distress. One case is the brother grown poor, whose hand is lowered and needs strengthening or relief (verse 35 onward)... May we never forget the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though He was rich, for our sake He became poor, so that we by His poverty might become rich! If we follow in His steps like this, we shall have joy and refreshment in the Lord now. And He will repay in that day.
- Received — Israel had been the object of God's compassion. Mercy obtained is the ground for mercy shown.
- Recognised — this brother has no relative to redeem him and no strength to recover. His hand has failed.
- Relieved — help must be real support, not a deal. Interest of any kind was out where need drove the loan, and giving is better still.
- Rehearsed — the coming jubilee steadied the lender's hand. Need became a chance to give, not to gain.
- Redeemed — the bankrupt Israelite pictures man before God. The answer is the One who was rich and became poor, so that we might become rich.
Thou shalt take no usury nor increase of him; and thou shalt fear thy God; that thy brother may live beside thee.
Leviticus 25 protects people who have lost their footing — land sold, money gone, freedom at risk. Verse 36 takes one such moment: a neighbour is in trouble, you have money, and God forbids you to profit from it.
Older translations use the word "usury" here, where the ESV has "interest". It does not carry the modern sense of a cruel or excessive rate:
In Scripture this word does not mean undue interest, as it does now, but any interest at all. The Israelites were not to take interest from their fellow Israelites. This always assumes the borrower was poor, since otherwise he would not need to borrow. To strangers, however, they could lend at interest.
So the ban was not a verdict on interest itself, but on interest between brothers:
The Israelites were not to charge interest to one another. It was not a thing wrong in itself. It did not fit their exceptional standing, or their relation as brothers by birth.
This law is not general economic theory. It has one man in view, and he has run out of other options:
Here we read a new rule about the poor brother who has fallen on hard times. It does not deal with what his nearest relative might do, or with his own recovery, as verses 25-28 do. It deals with loving help when there was no such resource from outside or from within. For Jehovah encouraged compassion in His people. They had received so much of it from Him. The spirit of independence is completely foreign to His mind, among His own and even toward strangers. The Gentiles are proud of it in their self-sufficient ignorance of God.
Israel could charge a foreigner. So the difference lies in why the loan is made, and in what Israel was meant to be:
Next comes the need of the poor. The law had commanded generosity toward them, so taking interest from them is forbidden. They could take interest from a stranger, who probably borrowed for trade. But Israel was not meant to be a trading people, and certainly not to grow rich on the needs of their brothers.
No court could police this command, because a lender's motives are invisible. So the verse rests the duty on the fear of God — a phrase that keeps returning through the chapter:
It is not in this chapter (as it is in Deuteronomy 26) a question of worship, but of guarding against oppression, and of acting in the fear of God. "You shall fear your God, for I am the LORD your God" (verses 17, 36, 38, 43, 55).
Israel later showed what happens when that fear goes. One writer sets Nehemiah's conduct against that of the men who profited from their brothers' need:
Nehemiah loved his brothers, and he grieved at the dishonour their condition brought on Jehovah's name. So he spent his own money to redeem them. They loved themselves and wanted to increase in riches. So they used the needs of their brothers to fasten the yoke of bondage on their necks.
The verse bars two gains: interest on a loan, and profit on food. One writer traces both back to the hope of the jubilee:
But there was also the powerful influence of hope, which governs the regulations of all this chapter. The Jew was called to act in view of the jubilee, and had no excuse if he put it out of sight in his conduct. When a brother fell into poverty, he was to keep in mind the deliverance that would surely come before long. That hope would strengthen him to help the need. He was not to make it an occasion for selfish greed, by charging interest on a loan, or taking a return on food to increase his own store.
Commentators do not turn this into a ban on all lending at interest. The dividing line they draw is the borrower's condition:
In cases of poverty in Israel, neighbours were to be of help, lending money, but not charging interest (vv. 36-37)... If someone needs help because of poverty, it is unfitting that we should charge him interest. Dealing on a business basis is a different matter. Still better than lending to those in poverty is the grace of giving to them.
- Need. The law is about a brother who has run out of options — not a trader raising money, but a man with nowhere else to turn.
- Restraint. "Interest" here means interest of any kind. God bars it not as evil in itself, but as unfitting between brothers.
- Reason. No law could see a lender's motive, so God set the fear of Himself as the guard — the refrain of the whole chapter.
- Hope. The coming jubilee was to steady the lender's hand. Another man's need became an occasion for help, not gain.
- Result. The verse names the aim: that your brother may live beside you. Better than lending to the poor is giving to them.
Thy money shalt thou not give him upon usury, nor lend him thy victuals for increase.
God tells the Israelite not to profit from a neighbour's collapse: no interest on the loan, no mark-up on the food. The rule sits inside the chapter of the jubilee. Two questions follow: what frees a lender to give up gain, and how far does this reach today?
Older translations call this "usury." The word does not mean harsh rates. One reference work sets out the ban, its limits, and the one time the New Testament mentions interest:
This word does not mean in Scripture, as it does now, excessive interest, but simply interest of any kind. The law forbade the Israelites to charge interest to their brothers. The assumption is always that the borrower was poor, since otherwise he would not need to borrow. They were allowed to lend to strangers on interest. Exodus 22:25; Leviticus 25:35-38; Deuteronomy 23:19-20. The only mention of usury in the New Testament 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 command is not free-floating morality. It rests on what God had already done for the people He was addressing:
God gave Israel His land to live in, and they had to represent Jehovah and do His will… God called the Jew to practise mercy. He belonged to Him who delights in mercy, and confessed Him. How could He keep a people in His land, the good land flowing with milk and honey, which His eyes never left, if they treated His will as nothing and abandoned Him?… Mercy received is a fair ground for expecting mercy to be shown. The law bound this on the Jew, as we see here.
The whole chapter looks ahead to the jubilee, a deliverance that was certain to come. That hope was meant to shape how a lender acted in the meantime:
There was also the powerful influence of hope, which governs the regulations of all this chapter. The Jew was called to act in view of the jubilee, and was inexcusable if he put it out of his sight in his conduct. When a brother sank into poverty, he was to keep in mind the deliverance that would soon come. That hope was to strengthen him to help the need. He was not to turn it into an occasion for selfish greed, charging interest on a loan, or a return of food to increase his own store.
Why could an Israelite charge a foreigner but not a brother?
Next comes the need of the poor. God had commanded generosity toward them, and He forbids taking interest from them. The stranger, whom they were allowed to charge, probably borrowed for trade. But Israel was not meant to be a trading people, and certainly not to grow rich on the needs of their brothers.
The law was clear, and Israel still broke it. One writer points to who was profiting when people went hungry:
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… So the love of money caused them to commit this great sin.
Does this reach past Israel? One writer applies it directly to us:
This is surely a good lesson for us too. If someone needs help because of poverty, it is unfitting that we should charge him interest. Dealing on the basis of business is a different matter. Still better than lending to those in poverty is the grace of giving to them, as 2 Corinthians 9:7 assures us.
The same writer contrasts the world's way of lending with the conduct that suits God's children:
Set against this is the way of the world. The world is quite capable of returning love for love, of doing good to those who do good to them, and of lending in the hope of getting back as much. But to love, to do good, and to lend without hope of return — that is conduct suited to the sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and the evil.
- Mercy defined. "Usury" means interest of any kind, not just a harsh rate. The ban guards the poor borrower, not trade itself.
- Mercy received. Israel lived in God's land as a people who had received mercy, and those who obtain mercy are bound to show it.
- Mercy lent. The jubilee was coming, so a lender could help now without squeezing gain out of a brother's collapse.
- Mercy failed. When people went hungry, their own brothers profited from them — the love of money at work.
- Mercy surpassed. Business is another matter. But where there is real need, giving beats lending, and lending with no hope of return marks the children of the Most High.
I am Jehovah your God, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan, to be your God.
These words close the law on lending to a poor neighbour without interest. They are God's signature on it: His name, the rescue from Egypt, the gift of Canaan, and His promise to be their God.
Israel existed only by God's grace. That history shaped how a prospering Israelite had to treat a failing one.
It is His grace which gives prosperity to anyone. Only unbelief is blind to His overruling. He counts the hairs of our head, and without Him not a sparrow falls unnoticed… It was grace that sent Moses to plague Egypt, which oppressed the sons of Israel. Grace brought them out of that furnace of slavery, across the Red Sea that covered their enslavers. The same power then destroyed the Amorite, the Canaanite, and the rest who lived in the promised land. Israel was bound to remember that all of it was His grace. He called for that same grace, in due measure, from those who prospered, on behalf of their ruined brothers. It was no small grace that brought His people into being. He led them out of the land of Egypt to receive the land of Canaan. And the LORD — their saviour, guide and ruler — was to be their God.
Another writer traces the same principle where Deuteronomy repeats it. Kindness, he says, needs a deeper source than feeling.
They were to remember the Lord's grace in redeeming them out of Egypt. That memory was to be the constant and all-powerful motive behind all they did for the poor brother. This principle never fails, and nothing lower than it will ever stand… Kind feelings alone will not last. They may bubble up in our own hearts, or the sorrows, distresses and needs of others may draw them out. It is only in the living God Himself that we can find springs that never run dry.
The verse opens with "I am the LORD your God." That name set the standard for how Israel had to live.
Israel's conduct was to take its character from one fact: the LORD was their God. God called them to live in a way worthy of so high and holy a position. He had the right to set the character and way of life that suited a people He gladly linked His name with.
Israel could lend to a poor neighbour, but never at a profit. One word in these laws is often misread.
In Scripture the word "usury" does not mean excessive interest, as it does now. It means interest of any kind. The Israelites were not to take interest from their brothers. The rule always assumes the borrower was poor; otherwise he would not need to borrow. They could, however, lend to strangers at interest.
One writer applies this now, and then points past lending to something better.
If someone needs help because of poverty, it is not fitting that we should charge him interest. Dealing on a business basis is a different matter. Better still than lending to those in poverty is the grace of giving to them.
Memory was not the only motive. The chapter is built around the jubilee, the coming year of deliverance. Looking ahead to it was meant to loosen a man's grip on his money.
But there was also the powerful influence of hope. Hope governs the regulations of this whole chapter. The Jew was to act with the jubilee in view, and he had no excuse if he shut his eyes to it in his conduct. When a brother was ruined, the Jew was to keep in mind the deliverance that was sure to come before long. That hope would strengthen him to meet the need. He was not to turn it into an occasion for selfish greed by charging interest on a loan, or by demanding extra food back to build up his own store.
The same words appear elsewhere in the law. One writer asks what they mean for a Christian now.
The Christian is glad to follow such instruction, not because it is law, but because he knows and loves the Lord. So the passage adds, "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt." Grace has brought us out of a worse bondage than Egypt. We have greater reason to respond to the Lord in love and obedience.
- Grace first. Every good thing Israel had — rescue from Egypt, the land, God Himself — came as grace, never as earnings.
- Grace flows. The mercy you have received sets the measure of the mercy you owe a brother who has fallen behind.
- Grace names. The command carries God's own name. So even money matters must match the God who owns the people.
- Grace releases. No interest, because the jubilee was coming. Hope for your neighbour's future kills greed in the present.
- Grace reaches us. Grace has brought us out of a worse bondage than Egypt. So the claim on us is stronger, not weaker — and giving beats lending.