| Easton's Bible Dictionary The Mosaic law required that when an Israelite needed to borrow, what he asked was to be freely lent to him, and no interest was to be charged, although interest might be taken of a foreigner (Exodus 22:25; Deuteronomy 23:19, 20; Leviticus 25:35-38). At the end of seven years all debts were remitted. Of a foreigner the loan might, however, be exacted. At a later period of the Hebrew commonwealth, when commerce increased, the practice of exacting usury or interest on loans, and of suretiship in the commercial sense, grew up. Yet the exaction of it from a Hebrew was regarded as discreditable (Psalm 15:5; Proverbs 6:1, 4; 11:15; 17:18; 20:16; 27:13; Jeremiah 15:10). Limitations are prescribed by the law to the taking of a pledge from the borrower. The outer garment in which a man slept at night, if taken in pledge, was to be returned before sunset (Exodus 22:26, 27; Deuteronomy 24:12, 13). A widow's garment (Deuteronomy 24:17) and a millstone (6) could not be taken. A creditor could not enter the house to reclaim a pledge, but must remain outside till the borrower brought it (10, 11). The Hebrew debtor could not be retained in bondage longer than the seventh year, or at farthest the year of jubilee (Exodus 21:2; Leviticus 25:39, 42), but foreign sojourners were to be "bondmen for ever" (Leviticus 25:44-54). Noah Webster's Dictionary 1. (n.) A loaning. 2. (n.) The act of lending; a lending; permission to use; as, the loan of a book, money, services. 3. (n.) That which one lends or borrows, esp. a sum of money lent at interest; as, he repaid the loan. 4. (n. t.) To lend; -- sometimes with out. Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia LEND, LOAN lon: The translation of 7 Hebrew and 2 Greek vbs.:
1. Lexical Usages:
In the Old Testament: lawah, "to join," "cause to join," "lend" (Exodus 22:25 Deuteronomy 28:12, 44 Psalm 37:26 Proverbs 19:17); nashah, "to bite," "lend" (Deuteronomy 24:11 Jeremiah 15:10); nashah (same root as last, though different verb stem, Hiphil), "to cause to bite," "lend on usury" (Deuteronomy 15:2; Deuteronomy 24:10); nashakh, "to bite," "lend" "(cause to lend) on usury" (Deuteronomy 23:19, 20); nathan, "to give" (Leviticus 25:37, the Revised Version (British and American) "to give"); `abhat (Hiphil), "to cause to borrow," "to lend" (Deuteronomy 15:6, 8); sha'al (Hiphil), "to cause to ask," "to lend" (Exodus 12:36, the Revised Version (British and American) "ask"; 1 Samuel 1:27). In Septuagint daneizo, danizo, "to lend," translates lawah, and `abaT in above passages and in Nehemiah 5:4 Proverbs 22:7, and Isaiah 24:2; kichrao, also translations lawah and sha'al (Psalm 112:5 Proverbs 13:11); daneion(-ion), "loan," occurs in Deuteronomy 15:8, 10; Deuteronomy 24:11; Deuteronomy 4 Maccabees 2:8. In the New Testament "lend" translations two Greek verbs, daneizo, "to lend money" (Luke 6:34, 35, usually in commercial sense); kichremi, "to lend (as a friendly act)" (Luke 11:5).The substantive "loan," she'elah, occurs only once in the Old Testament (1 Samuel 2:20 the King James Version and the English Revised Version), not at all in the New Testament.
2. History of Lending in the Bible and Apocrypha:
(1) Lending on interest to the poor is prohibited in the code in Exodus 22:25. (2) In the code in Deuteronomy 15:1-6; Deuteronomy 23:19, 20; 24:10, 11; 28:12, 44, borrowing and lending are taken for granted as existing in Israel, but the creditor is required to release his Hebrew brother as debtor in the 7th year (either the cancellation of the loan (so in Jewish literature and early Christian scholars) or suspension of payment that year (so most modern scholars)), though he may exact payment from a foreigner. Israel may lend, and will be able to lend, because of Yahweh's blessing, to other nations, but must not borrow from them. A pledge, or security, must not be taken in person by the creditor from the house of the debtor, nor kept overnight, if the debtor be poor. (3) The code in Leviticus 25:35-38 requires that the Israelite receive no interest from his poor brother, because of the goodness of Yahweh to Israel. (4) Notwithstanding the prohibition of the early laws against lending on interest or usury, the same seems to have become common in Israel before the exile (Isaiah 24:2 Jeremiah 15:10), was practiced on the return, and was an evil to be corrected by Nehemiah (Nehemiah 5:7, 10). (5) According to Psalm 37:26; Psalm 112:5 Proverbs 19:17, lending to the needy was regarded as a mark of the pious Hebrew, but no interest is to be charged. (6) According to Apocrypha (The Wisdom of Solomon 15:16; Sirach 8:12; 18:33; 20:15, 29; 4 Maccabees 2:8), borrowing is discouraged, and lending is exalted as a mark of the merciful man. (7) Jesus teaches that His followers should lend, even to enemies, to men from whom they have no reasonable hope of expecting anything in return, because thus to do is to be like the Most High (Luke 6:34, 35). He did not discuss lending for commercial purposes, and so does not necessarily forbid it.
LITERATURE.
See Driver on Deuteronomy 15:1-6; Benzinger, Hebrew Archaeology, (1894), 350 f; Oehler, Old Testament Theology, 150, 10; Plummer on Luke 6:34, 35.
Charles B. Williams |  | Multi-Version Concordance Loan (9 Occurrences) Matthew 18:27 And the lord of that bondman, being moved with compassion, loosed him and forgave him the loan. (DBY) Deuteronomy 15:2 and this is the manner of the release: Every creditor shall relax his hand from the loan which he hath lent unto his neighbour; he shall not demand it of his neighbour, or of his brother; for a release to Jehovah hath been proclaimed. (DBY YLT NAS NIV( Deuteronomy 24:10 When you do lend your neighbor any manner of loan, you shall not go into his house to get his pledge. (WEB JPS ASV NAS RSV NIV) Deuteronomy 24:11 Thou shalt stand outside, and the man to whom thou hast made a loan shall bring out the pledge to thee without. (DBY NAS RSV NIV) 1 Samuel 2:20 And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said, The LORD give thee seed of this woman for the loan which is lent to the LORD. And they went unto their own home. (KJV JPS DBY WBS RSV) 2 Kings 4:7 And she cometh and declareth to the man of God, and he saith, 'Go, sell the oil, and repay thy loan; and thou 'and' thy sons do live of the rest.' (YLT) Ezekiel 18:7 and has not wronged any, but has restored to the debtor his pledge, has taken nothing by robbery, has given his bread to the hungry, and has covered the naked with a garment; (See NIV) Ezekiel 18:16 neither has wronged any, has not taken anything to pledge, neither has taken by robbery, but has given his bread to the hungry, and has covered the naked with a garment; (See NIV) Ezekiel 33:15 if the wicked restore the pledge, give again that which he had taken by robbery, walk in the statutes of life, committing no iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die. (See NIV) |
