Wise Master Builder #15 | Usury

Introduction 

A wonderful meal prepared with finesse will be useless if E. coli has infected all the dishes. A strong wall is useless if the people within it turn into zombies. Nehemiah finds that while some aspect of the efforts to restore Jerusalem were glorious, there was a moral contagion that would damn the whole project.

The Text

And there was a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brethren the Jews.  For there were that said, We, our sons, and our daughters, [are] many: therefore we take up corn for them, that we may eat, and live. Some also there were that said, We have mortgaged our lands, vineyards, and houses, that we might buy corn, because of the dearth. […]
Nehemiah 5:1ff

Summary of the Text

The previous chapter detailed a courageous effort to thwart the threats of attack launched by the Jews’ enemies. But while their vigilance had been successful in driving away external enemies, we find a parasite within. The effort to restore Jerusalem had likely drawn people away from their primary vocations; couple this with the various enemies, robbers, and environmental difficulties and you find that the Jews were in a true time of economic hardship. This brought to light a new danger for God’s people in their work of restoration. A cry comes to Nehemiah, principally from a group of wives, accusing their brother Jews of exploiting their fellow Jews (vv1-5). These poorer Jews had mortgaged their ancestral lands to richer Jews in order to simply buy food. But as debt often does, they kept digging a deeper hole and ended up selling themselves to their brethren, who then sold them to the Gentiles, and just to make matters even worse some of those Jewish slaves were now being sold back to wealthy Jews (vv5,8).

When this all is brought to Nehemiah, he is understandably angry (v6), and the heat of his anger motivates him to devote that energy to a righteous resolution in rebuking the wealthy in front of a gathered assembly (vv7-8). The exploitation of these wealthy men revealed a lack of fearing the Lord and left the community in danger of being reproached by their enemies (v9). Nehemiah could have used his position for this, but he hadn’t done so and compels these men to do the same by refraining from this usury (v10). He then insists that they make things right, which they agreed to by solemn oaths administered by the priests (vv11-12). Nehemiah uses the imagery of shaking out his robes to symbolize what ought to happen to any who did not follow through on this promise of restoring what they had robbed from their poorer brothers, to which the entire congregation replied, “Amen” (v13)!

Nehemiah then divulges that during his tenure as governor of Jerusalem he refrained from taking advantage of the perks of his position (vv14-18). Though he could make a lawful claim on such tribute and taxation to provide for the needs of his household of 150 (plus frequent guests), he instead used his own wealth to pay for it all. He explains his rationale for not making use of his power of taxation: the bondage was heavy upon the people (v18). He then closes this episode with an appeal to God to remember his righteous deeds, something he will do several more times in this book (v19).

Blame the Bankers

From ancient times there has been a tendency to blame the bankers for all the financial woes of a culture. The Romans and Greeks despised the bankers. Plato, Aristotle, and Cato did as well. Well into the Medieval period this total ban on usury persisted. Envy of the wealth of the bankers was persistently behind this. In our own day this pagan habit of blaming the bankers has reared its head, and, because Jews have found themselves quite successful in banking, this resentment has been particularly spiteful towards the Jews. Wicked wealthy men have a bad habit of exploiting the poor, and the poor have a bad habit of getting themselves up to their ears in debt and this leads to seething bitterness.

However, Calvin came along and argued, quite effectively, that this resentment towards bankers and the accompanying kibosh on charging interest had been fundamentally misread and misapplied. The problem, as Calvin shows, is not usury itself. The Israelites were to be the sort of productive workers that they would obtain the capital to lend to the nations (Deu. 15:6, 28:12 &44). Think of usury as a chainsaw. It’s a useful tool when used for its proper function, but is horror movie fodder when misused. That is what Calvin argues.

Look closely at Moses’ original injunction regarding usury: If thou lend money to [any of] my people [that is] poor by thee, thou shalt not be to him as an usurer, neither shalt thou lay upon him usury (Ex. 22:25). The restriction is not on charging interest on a loan. There is a qualifier with two parts to it 1) any of my people that is poor and is 2) by thee. You could not charge usury of a member of the covenant community who was poor, and more specifically who was “by thee”. What could that qualification mean? Look at the verses which immediately follow, which prohibit keeping a worker’s garment (salma). This was often their only garment which would be cast off during work in the hot sun, but would be needed for warmth when night fell. So this is referring to your hired hands. You were to lend generously and without exploitative terms to your people. This doesn’t lay the obligation on us to lend to any Christian brother who asks, for there would be no limitation, and we, being finite, would quickly be bankrupt. The situation Moses is addressing is quite different from the total ban on charging interest that the pagan philosophers and even the church for a time taught. 

Consume or Produce

If you lend to a brother in poverty for his daily bread, exacting interest on something he will consume you are asking him to do what only God can do: make something out of nothing.  Consider a simple example: if you lend a poor brother 10 handfuls of corn for him to feed his family that night, but demand that he return the next day with 11 handfuls of corn will he be able to? No! But this is different from lending a modest amount to a poor brother who is trying to get a promising business started. Say you lend $10,000 in order for him to buy some lawn equipment to start a landscaping business that promises to bring in $100,000 profit per year. It would be reasonable to negotiate for you to share in some of that profit because your poor brother has not consumed but produced. But you need to be ready to forgive the debt and the interest if things go badly. The poor brother ought to be eager to repay. Also, it’s noteworthy that even that debt could only have 6-year terms.

Further, there’s another temptation that is lying in the weeds here. It is easy to loan to your rich friends who can easily and quickly repay (Lk. 6:34-35); God is summoning His people to a more radical generosity, and to commend them to not overlook the poor brother. The goal for God’s people is fruitfulness. This cannot be done through foolish financial dealings (the guilt of the poor), but neither can it be brought about by this biting interest and exploitation (the guilt of the rich). As Solomon pointed out: There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty (Pro. 11:24).

True Paternity

Paul said, to owe no man anything, but to love one another (Rom. 13:8). As Nehemiah was laboring to restore the walls this grievous selfishness and foolishness appeared and showed that external progress must never be done to the neglect of true love and obedience. We must remember that the walls of the Kingdom of God are made of stones that are people.

There is a poignant lesson here regarding godly leadership. These men who were exploiting their brethren were in positions of authority, power, and prestige. They used that power to exploit, discourage, and bring repudiation upon the whole community. This is a warning for those of you who find yourself in power over others. Kings, husbands, fathers, parents, business owners, older brothers, pastors, and team captains need to get this sort of sacrificial generosity into their bones, and mortify the temptation to exploitation of those in your care. This is worlds apart from the Marxist approach to power dynamics which wants to strip the powerful of their power and redistribute their wealth. Biblical power and authority is not to be stripped away but is to be wielded for the good of those under your power. Kingly largess is to be the defining feature of biblical authority. You want to be powerful? Then be generous.

This gets quite practical when we consider household government. For instance, husbands can be generous with everyone but their wife, and then complain that she is cold and distant. He is stingy towards her because he doesn’t trust her to use the household finances competently. He withholds financial means from her, and then is surprised when she responds with being prickly. Parents can devote their attention to all sorts of “very important things”. Then they lose their cool when the toddler is acting out wanting the attention they’ve not been afforded. When you have wealth in your hand, you can very easily be tempted to suspect that if you give that wealth to others they are only going to squander it. But what if, in loving generosity, you gave generously to those “by thee”. Outdo one another in love. According to your own means, give generously to those under your care and command, and if there are deficiencies in their habits correct them in love, not with stinginess. Being stingy with your money, time, or attention and expecting love and respect in return is like trying to hold onto a fistful of beach sand by gripping tightly.

The Father’s Generosity

Your Heavenly Father sent His Son to die like a seed in the ground in order to bear a harvest of saints. You didn’t deserve that charity. But this is how the love of God was manifested unto us. God gave.

Charge and Benediction

Find a way this week to give generously to someone under your care. Splurge on them. Just because. 

Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work. Amen.
2 Thessalonians 2:16-17