Loans to the Poor – The Eighth Commandment

Loans to the Poor

The Eighth Commandment

Loans are an appropriate way to help the poor.

Deuteronomy 15:7, 8

“‘If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be.’”

Exodus 22:25

“If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be like a moneylender to him, and you shall not exact interest from him.”

Deuteronomy 23:19, 20

Help to the poor comes most profitably when it is in the form of a loan. Recall that, in ancient Israel, those making loans to others were not allowed to charge interest. Moreover, outstanding loans were cancelled at the Sabbath year, the approach of which might well influence how much a man might be willing to lend to his neighbor. If the need was great and the year was nigh, a man might prudently lend only part of what was needed. Other neighbors would have to be engaged, thus increasing community involvement in the relief of the poor.

At the same time, the poor man must expect to make a good faith effort to repay the loan, and we can imagine that some kind of schedule was used to ensure this was the case. Anyone making a loan in an irresponsible manner would mark himself as such by being in violation of a contract (the ninth commandment), thus inviting appropriate steps against him in order to return justice to the community.

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore, editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001, 2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.