25If you lend money to one of My people among you who is poor, you must not act as a creditor to him; you are not to charge him any interest.
26If you take your neighbor’s cloak as collateral, return it to him by sunset, 27because his cloak is the only covering he has for his body. What else will he sleep in? And if he cries out to Me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.
Lending and borrowing, we’ve all done it but here we see several laws the Israelites and judges are to follow concerning the poor.
How would loans be with 0% interest?
“The reason for the prohibition is presumably that the poor man borrows in his need. The loan is seen as assistance to a neighbor, and to make money from his need would be immoral.” (Cole)
“Retaining one’s outer garment (used as temporary collateral) overnight was strictly forbidden, for even an interest-free loan apparently required some type of pledge or security.” (Kaiser)
Do you know a poor family that has trouble making ends meet with food and clothing?
Are you helping them? You could do it anonymously.
Blessings, David
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