Every time I go to the doctor I must pass a place that gives Pay Day Loans. I understand that some of these places charge over 1,000% interest on their loans. Right next door to this place is a tax preparation business that opened two weeks ago promoting loans on tax refunds. Again, they will do this if a person is willing to pay the exorbitant interest. Many years ago I remember pawning my wedding ring and paying weekly payments (interest only) which within a matter of a few weeks was more than the ring cost to begin with.

The world is full of corrupt people who make their living charging interest rates which turn a person into nothing more than a slave. That is the danger with owing money with any interest attached to it. Loaning/borrowing is NOT forbidden in the Bible, but charging interest on such money IS.

In Exodus 22:25 it plainly states in the NKJV:

“If you lend money to any of My people who are poor among you, you shall not be like a moneylender to him; you shall not charge him interest.”

The Bible is crystal clear when it comes to the subject of charging interest on debt. Unlike today’s moneychangers who seem to have no problem saddling people with upwards of 54% interest on credit cards in the UK and even excellent customers in the USA with rates pushing 25%; the Bible presents an entirely different view on this topic.

Today, usury is defined as; the lending of money at an exorbitant rate of interest. Where this may be the usage today, in the Bible it is referring to the lending of money WITH ANY INTEREST. The charging of interest in the lending of money is not allowed by God. “Well how is a bank to make a profit?” some may ask. My response would be to show me any Biblical basis for a bank to begin with.

Everybody likes the notion of “investing” in a bank and having them pay you to “park” your money there. Whether savings accounts, money market accounts, CDs or other means; banks have been paying people interest to hold their money for many years. The idea was that the bank would then use that money to lend to those needing to buy a house or start a business. Invariably, the amount charged in interest on loans was always higher than the amount paid in interest on investments. That is how the bank made money.

Please look closely at this section from Leviticus 25:35-37:

“If one of your brethren becomes poor, and falls into poverty among you, then you shall help him, like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you.

Take no usury or interest from him; but fear your God, that your brother may live with you.

You shall not lend him your money for usury, nor lend him your food for profit.”

I fail to see how God could make this any plainer. God’s people are absolutely forbidden from charging interest on money lent to other believers.

To make this whole thing crystal clear, please look at Deuteronomy 23:19 and 20:

“You shall not charge interest to your brother—interest on money or food or anything that is lent out at interest.

To a foreigner you may charge interest, but to your brother you shall not charge interest, that the Lord your God may bless you in all to which you set your hand in the land which you are entering to possess.”

The charging of interest to those outside the household of faith, so to speak, was allowed and implied to be done in order to make money; but the charging of interest to fellow believers was strictly forbidden.

In the prophet Ezekiel’s time, Jerusalem had turned into a cesspool of every kind of evil imaginable. In Ezekiel chapter 22, the prophet is told to blow the lid on all the horrible things being done in the city. In Ezekiel 22:1-11 one abomination after another is detailed, some of which (such as verses 10 and 11) are pure filth. By the time we get to verses 12 and 13, we are dealing with the topic we are discussing:

“In you they take bribes to shed blood; you take usury and increase; you have made profit from your neighbors by extortion, and have forgotten Me, says the Lord God.

Behold, therefore, I beat My fists at the dishonest profit which you have made, and at the bloodshed which has been in your midst.”

God does not take highly to people getting wealthy by charging interest on debts owed by His people. This amounts to extortion as far as God is concerned. This is nothing different than the “thugs” who break the legs of those who fail to pay back money to loan sharks.

In Nehemiah’s time, there was a famine. Many Jewish families mortgaged their lands and vineyards and houses to buy grain. They then had to borrow money to pay the king’s tax on their lands and vineyards (today’s property tax). It got so bad they had to sell their own children into slavery to pay on their debts. When Nehemiah heard of all this he became very angry and according to Nehemiah 5:7 he says:

“After serious thought, I rebuked the nobles and rulers, and said to them, ‘Each of you is exacting usury from his brother.’ So I called a great assembly against them.”

You can read in Nehemiah 5:8-13 what transpires, and it is a great example of what can happen when a man of God stands up for the truth and demands obedience to God’s Word. Needless to say the problem was resolved.

There is a crisis of monumental proportions gripping this country even as I type these words. The banks and other financial institutions are failing due to unsound lending practices. No amount of Federal money infusions is helping. As the banks panic they are seeking to raise money by doubling, tripling and sometimes quadrupling the interest rates they are charging even their good customers on credit card balances.

The resulting burden being placed on borrowers is causing a wave of defaults which force the banks to charge even higher interest. It is a vicious cycle which seems to have no end in sight. Soon the banks will be charging higher and higher fees for everything as they search out new ways to find money. This is a very pertinent subject which needs further posts which I am planning to do.