◄ Deuteronomy 23:19 ►
Do not charge your brother interest on money, food, or any other type of loan.
Study Bible
Do not charge
The Hebrew root for "do not charge" is "נָשָׁךְ" (nashak), which means to bite or lend on interest. This word conveys a sense of taking advantage or causing harm, akin to a serpent's bite. In the ancient Near Eastern context, charging interest was often seen as exploiting the vulnerable, particularly among the community of God's people. The command here is a call to practice compassion and fairness, reflecting God's character of justice and mercy.

your brother
The term "brother" (אָח, 'ach) in Hebrew extends beyond biological relationships to include fellow Israelites, emphasizing the covenant community's unity. This familial language underscores the importance of treating one another with love and respect, as members of God's chosen people. It reflects the broader biblical principle of loving one's neighbor as oneself, fostering a community where mutual support and care are paramount.

interest
The Hebrew word for "interest" is "נֶשֶׁךְ" (neshek), which literally means a bite. This metaphorical language highlights the potentially harmful nature of interest, which can consume and oppress the borrower. In ancient Israel, the economy was primarily agrarian, and loans were often sought out of necessity rather than for profit. Charging interest could lead to a cycle of poverty and debt, contrary to God's desire for His people to live in freedom and abundance.

on money
Money, or "כֶּסֶף" (kesef) in Hebrew, was typically in the form of silver, a common medium of exchange in the ancient world. The prohibition against charging interest on money loans is a safeguard against economic exploitation. It encourages a spirit of generosity and trust within the community, where resources are shared to meet genuine needs rather than to accumulate wealth at another's expense.

food
The Hebrew word for "food" is "אֹכֶל" (okel), encompassing all sustenance necessary for life. In a subsistence economy, food was a critical resource, and lending it with interest could jeopardize a person's survival. This command ensures that the basic needs of the community are met without adding undue burden, reflecting God's provision and care for His people.

or any other type of loan
This phrase broadens the scope of the command to include all forms of lending, emphasizing the principle over specific transactions. The Hebrew term "מַשָּׁא" (mashsha) refers to any loan or burden. By prohibiting interest on any loan, the text calls for a holistic approach to economic justice, where the well-being of the community takes precedence over personal gain. This reflects the biblical vision of a society where God's people live in harmony, supporting one another in love and faithfulness.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Moses
The author of Deuteronomy, delivering God's laws to the Israelites.

2. Israelites
The recipients of the law, God's chosen people, who are being instructed on how to live in community.

3. Promised Land
The context in which these laws are given, as the Israelites prepare to enter and settle in the land God promised them.
Teaching Points
Community Support and Compassion
The prohibition against charging interest to a fellow Israelite underscores the importance of supporting one another within the community. It encourages believers to prioritize relationships over financial gain.

Trust in God's Provision
By not charging interest, Israelites were to trust in God's provision rather than relying on financial exploitation. This principle can be applied today by trusting God to meet our needs as we act with integrity and generosity.

Reflecting God's Character
God's laws reflect His character of justice, mercy, and love. By adhering to these principles, believers demonstrate God's nature to the world.

Practical Generosity
This command encourages practical generosity, urging believers to help those in need without seeking personal gain. It challenges us to consider how we can support others in our communities.

Financial Integrity
The principle of not charging interest calls for financial integrity and ethical behavior in all dealings, reminding us to conduct our financial affairs in a way that honors God.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does the prohibition against charging interest to fellow Israelites reflect God's character and His intentions for community living?

2. In what ways can we apply the principle of not charging interest in our modern financial interactions and relationships?

3. How does trusting in God's provision influence our willingness to help others without expecting anything in return?

4. What are some practical ways we can demonstrate generosity and support within our church or local community?

5. How do the teachings of Jesus in the New Testament expand upon the principles found in Deuteronomy 23:19, and how can we live them out today?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Exodus 22:25
This verse also prohibits charging interest to fellow Israelites, emphasizing the importance of compassion and community support.

Leviticus 25:35-37
Expands on the prohibition of charging interest, particularly in the context of helping a fellow Israelite in need.

Proverbs 28:8
Warns against unjust gain through interest, highlighting the moral implications of exploiting others financially.

Nehemiah 5:7-10
Nehemiah confronts the nobles and officials for charging interest, demonstrating the practical application of this law in Israel's history.

Luke 6:34-35
Jesus teaches about lending without expecting anything in return, reflecting the spirit of generosity and love.
Sermons
Various PreceptsJ. Orr Deuteronomy 23:15-23
Money-Making Must be Above SuspicionR.M. Edgar Deuteronomy 23:17-25
Usury Lawful and UnlawfulD. Davies Deuteronomy 23:19, 20
People
Aram, Balaam, Beor, Moses
Places
Beth-baal-peor, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Pethor
Topics
Anything, Brother, Charge, Countrymen, Earn, Goods, Interest, Israelite, Lend, Lent, Loaned, Money, Usury, Victuals, Whether
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Deuteronomy 23:19

     5389   lending
     5661   brothers

Deuteronomy 23:19-20

     5274   credit
     5353   interest

Library
Appendix v. Rabbinic Theology and Literature
1. The Traditional Law. - The brief account given in vol. i. p. 100, of the character and authority claimed for the traditional law may here be supplemented by a chronological arrangement of the Halakhoth in the order of their supposed introduction or promulgation. In the first class, or Halakhoth of Moses from Sinai,' tradition enumerates fifty-five, [6370] which may be thus designated: religio-agrarian, four; [6371] ritual, including questions about clean and unclean,' twenty-three; [6372] concerning …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

That the Employing Of, and Associating with the Malignant Party, According as is Contained in the Public Resolutions, is Sinful and Unlawful.
That The Employing Of, And Associating With The Malignant Party, According As Is Contained In The Public Resolutions, Is Sinful And Unlawful. If there be in the land a malignant party of power and policy, and the exceptions contained in the Act of Levy do comprehend but few of that party, then there need be no more difficulty to prove, that the present public resolutions and proceedings do import an association and conjunction with a malignant party, than to gather a conclusion from clear premises. …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Here Then Shall These Persons in their Turn be in Another More Sublime Degree...
28. Here then shall these persons in their turn be in another more sublime degree of righteousness outdone, by them who shall so order themselves, that every day they shall betake them into the fields as unto pasture, and at what time they shall find it, pick up their meal, and having allayed their hunger, return. But plainly, on account of the keepers of the fields, how good were it, if the Lord should deign to bestow wings also, that the servants of God being found in other men's fields should …
St. Augustine—Of the Work of Monks.

Lessons for Worship and for Work
'Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil. 2. Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth; therefore let thy words be few. 3. For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool's voice is known by multitude of words. 4. When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for He hath …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Introductory Note to the Works of Origen.
[a.d. 185-230-254.] The reader will remember the rise and rapid development of the great Alexandrian school, and the predominance which was imparted to it by the genius of the illustrious Clement. [1865] But in Origen, his pupil, who succeeded him at the surprising age of eighteen, a new sun was to rise upon its noontide. Truly was Alexandria "the mother and mistress of churches" in the benign sense of a nurse and instructress of Christendom, not its arrogant and usurping imperatrix. The full details …
Origen—Origen De Principiis

Excursus on Usury.
The famous canonist Van Espen defines usury thus: "Usura definitur lucrum ex mutuo exactum aut speratum;" [96] and then goes on to defend the proposition that, "Usury is forbidden by natural, by divine, and by human law. The first is proved thus. Natural law, as far as its first principles are concerned, is contained in the decalogue; but usury is prohibited in the decalogue, inasmuch as theft is prohibited; and this is the opinion of the Master of the Sentences, of St. Bonaventura, of St. Thomas …
Philip Schaff—The Seven Ecumenical Councils

Jesus Defends Disciples who Pluck Grain on the Sabbath.
(Probably While on the Way from Jerusalem to Galilee.) ^A Matt. XII. 1-8; ^B Mark II. 23-28; ^C Luke VI. 1-5. ^b 23 And ^c 1 Now it came to pass ^a 1 At that season ^b that he ^a Jesus went { ^b was going} on the { ^c a} ^b sabbath day through the grainfields; ^a and his disciples were hungry and began ^b as they went, to pluck the ears. ^a and to eat, ^c and his disciples plucked the ears, and did eat, rubbing them in their hands. [This lesson fits in chronological order with the last, if the Bethesda …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

That it is not Lawful for the Well Affected Subjects to Concur in Such an Engagement in War, and Associate with the Malignant Party.
That It Is Not Lawful For The Well Affected Subjects To Concur In Such An Engagement In War, And Associate With The Malignant Party. Some convinced of the unlawfulness of the public resolutions and proceedings, in reference to the employing of the malignant party, yet do not find such clearness and satisfaction in their own consciences as to forbid the subjects to concur in this war, and associate with the army so constituted. Therefore it is needful to speak something to this point, That it is …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Canaan
Canaan was the inheritance which the Israelites won for themselves by the sword. Their ancestors had already settled in it in patriarchal days. Abraham "the Hebrew" from Babylonia had bought in it a burying-place near Hebron; Jacob had purchased a field near Shechem, where he could water his flocks from his own spring. It was the "Promised Land" to which the serfs of the Pharaoh in Goshen looked forward when they should again become free men and find a new home for themselves. Canaan had ever been …
Archibald Sayce—Early Israel and the Surrounding Nations

Brief Directions How to Read the Holy Scriptures once Every Year Over, with Ease, Profit, and Reverence.
But forasmuch, that as faith is the soul, so reading and meditating on the word of God, are the parent's of prayer, therefore, before thou prayest in the morning, first read a chapter in the word of God; then meditate awhile with thyself, how many excellent things thou canst remember out of it. As--First, what good counsels or exhortations to good works and to holy life. Secondly, what threatenings of judgments against such and such a sin; and what fearful examples of God's punishment or vengeance …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

Commerce
The remarkable change which we have noticed in the views of Jewish authorities, from contempt to almost affectation of manual labour, could certainly not have been arbitrary. But as we fail to discover here any religious motive, we can only account for it on the score of altered political and social circumstances. So long as the people were, at least nominally, independent, and in possession of their own land, constant engagement in a trade would probably mark an inferior social stage, and imply …
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life

Nature of Covenanting.
A covenant is a mutual voluntary compact between two parties on given terms or conditions. It may be made between superiors and inferiors, or between equals. The sentiment that a covenant can be made only between parties respectively independent of one another is inconsistent with the testimony of Scripture. Parties to covenants in a great variety of relative circumstances, are there introduced. There, covenant relations among men are represented as obtaining not merely between nation and nation, …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

Scriptures Showing the Sin and Danger of Joining with Wicked and Ungodly Men.
Scriptures Showing The Sin And Danger Of Joining With Wicked And Ungodly Men. When the Lord is punishing such a people against whom he hath a controversy, and a notable controversy, every one that is found shall be thrust through: and every one joined with them shall fall, Isa. xiii. 15. They partake in their judgment, not only because in a common calamity all shares, (as in Ezek. xxi. 3.) but chiefly because joined with and partakers with these whom God is pursuing; even as the strangers that join …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Appeal to the Christian Women of the South
BY A.E. GRIMKE. "Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther, Think not within thyself that thou shalt escape in the king's house more than all the Jews. For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place: but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this. And Esther bade them return Mordecai this answer:--and so will I go in unto the king, …
Angelina Emily Grimke—An Appeal to the Christian Women of the South

The Tenth Commandment
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.' Exod 20: 17. THIS commandment forbids covetousness in general, Thou shalt not covet;' and in particular, Thy neighbour's house, thy neighbour's wife, &c. I. It forbids covetousness in general. Thou shalt not covet.' It is lawful to use the world, yea, and to desire so much of it as may keep us from the temptation …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

Deuteronomy
Owing to the comparatively loose nature of the connection between consecutive passages in the legislative section, it is difficult to present an adequate summary of the book of Deuteronomy. In the first section, i.-iv. 40, Moses, after reviewing the recent history of the people, and showing how it reveals Jehovah's love for Israel, earnestly urges upon them the duty of keeping His laws, reminding them of His spirituality and absoluteness. Then follows the appointment, iv. 41-43--here irrelevant (cf. …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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