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.