The
Lost Tradition of Biblical Debt Cancellations
by
Michael Hudson
This paper is based on research done as
a Research Fellow at Harvard University's Peabody Museum in
Babylonian economic history, and was originally published by the Henry
George School of Social Science (New York City). ©1993
Michael Hudson, Ph.D.
PART 3
APPENDICES
Mesopotamian Debt Cancellations, 2400-1600 BC
Debt Cancellations in Canaan/Israel/Judah
Debt Crises in Classical Antiquity
Biblical Passages Dealing with the Usury Problem and Debt Forgiveness
APPENDICES
Mesopotamian Debt Cancellations, 2400-1600 BC
The third millennium Mesopotamian city of Lagash, in
southeastern Sumer, is the best documented. Its ruler
Enmetena (2404-2375) achieved suzerainty over
southern Mesopotamia by defeating neighboring Umma and its allies.
After his victory he inscribed the earliest known amargilaw
(c. 2400) cancelling agrarian debts and obligations.
A half-century later Uruinimgina (formerly read Urukagina, 2351-42)
reformed economic relations. Upon becoming war-leader (lugal) in
his second year to defend Lagash against Umma, his "reform
text" cancelled agrarian debts (2350).
During his reign Lagash and the rest of Sumer was conquered first
by Lugalzagesi of Umma and Uruk (2351-2327),and
then by the northerner Sargon of Kish, who ruled Mesopotamia as
a military overlord from the new capital he built at Akkad.
In the revival after the collapse of the Akkadian dynasty, the
Lagash ruler Gudea restored broad trade relations between Sumer
and Egypt, Ethiopia, Anatolia and the Taurus range, Dilmun ( Bahrain)
and Elam. He has left many inscribed statues, and one of his cylinders
contains the longest surviving Sumerian poem (1400 lines)commemorating
his rebuilding of the city-temple and how he restored order by
cancelling the land's debts at the New Year festival celebrating
this occasion c. 2130.
The neo-Sumerian Third Dynasty of Ur (2112-2004
BC)was founded by Ur-Nammu (2112-2095). After
defeating Lagash and killing its ruler Namhani (Gudea's brother-in-law)
in battle in 2112, Ur-Nammu led a great extension of trade and
installed provisional governors in Elam ( Susa), Ashur and Mari.
He drew up an extensive body of legal rulings and cancelled debts
with a nig.šiša act.
His son Shulgi (2094-2047) consolidated Sumerian
domination over Mesopotamia. He inscribed the laws of his father
and seems to have proclaimed his own debt cancellation.
In the city of Isinthe ruler Ishbi-Irra (2017-1985)
founded a dynasty comprising fifteen rulers in 223 years. Ishbi-Irra
was an Amorite subordinate of Ur's last ruler, breaking away when
related Amorite tribesmen and Elamites invaded the land. Many debt
cancellations of the Isin rulers survive, starting with the nig.šiša acts
of Iddin-Dagan (1974-1954) and his successor Ishme-Dagan (1953-1935).
Lipit-Ishtar (1934-1924) left a body of legal rulings which,
like those of Ur-Nammu, led off with a nig.šiša debt
cancellation. During his rule an Amorite dynasty in Larsa established
itself with Elamite backing. Its first ruler was the Amorite chieftain
Naplanum (2025-2005). The city became a dominant power a century
later under Gungunum (1932-1906), who defeated Lipit-Ishtar of
Isin. Larsa reached the peak of its influence a century later under
two Elamite brothers, Warad-Sin (1834-1823) and Rim-Sin (1822-1763).
Rim-Sin reasserted palace authority over the private sector which
had been growing steadily since the demise of Ur III's centralized
economy. He "purified the foreheads" of the land's debt-servants.
After six decades of rule, in 1763, he was defeated by Hammurapi
of Babylon.
The Amorite dynasty of Babylon comprised eleven
rulers in three hundred years (1894-1595). Benefiting from the
city’s upstream position, its dynasty was founded by Sumaubum
(1894-1881). His successor Sumulael (1880-1845) cancelled debts
with a misharum act. The dynasty’s
fifth ruler, Sin-Muballit (1812-1793) oversaw the first great assertion
of Babylonian power. He declared misharum debt
cancellations in 1812, 1803 and 1797. His son Hammurapi (1792-1750)
headed an alliance which carried Babylon to the height of its power.
He declared misharum acts in the year
of his accession (1792) and in 1780, 1771 and 1762.
Hammurapi’s son Samsuiluna (1749-1712) declared misharum to
restore order upon taking the throne, and again in 1741. Abi-Eshuh
(1711-1684) likewise declared misharum upon
taking the throne. Ammiditana (1683-1647) likewise cancelled agrarian
debts upon his succession, and again in 1662 and 1647. Ammisaduqa
(1646-1626) declared misharum upon his accession, and again in
1636. His misharum act is the longest
and most detailed of all such proclamations. It also is the last
Babylonian act on record, for in 1595 the city was raided by the
Hittites, and then occupied for 370 years by the Kassites, a tribe
from the Iranian highlands.
The Old Babylonian period ( 2000-1600) rulers
of many other cities also proclaimed misharum acts.
In Hana (near Mari on the Euphrates) the rulers Kastiliiash, Ammirabih
and Sunuh-Rammu cancelled debts. In Eshnunna, Abi-Madar, Naram-Sin
and Ipalpiel (or Dadusha) proclaimed misharum. In
Der, Nidnusha appears to be the first Mesopotamian ruler to use
the term misharum to signify a debt cancellation,
replacing nig.šiša and
the Assyrian term andurarum, used by
Ilushuma and Erishum in the nineteenth century BC, and by contemporary
rulers in Asia Minor with which Ashur had established trade relations.
This term andurarumevolved into the Hebrew deror to
underlie the Old Testament debt cancellations and Jubilee Years
called for in Leviticus and Deuteronomy.
Debt Cancellations in Canaan/Israel/Judah
c. 1400 BC: The Amarna Age. Abdi-Ashirta leads hapiru attacks
on Canaan's mountainous area, bidding for local support against
the large landowners who have reached an accommodation with Egyptian
puppet rulers. Many hapiru are uprooted
fugitives from debt pressures in their native lands.
1200: End of the Bronze Age, beginning of the Dark Age through
a combination of folk-wanderings and natural disasters, including
a little Ice Age. The "Sea Peoples" settle the coast
of Palestine. Drought in the Hittite kingdom.
1250-1150: Reported time of the Exodus from Egypt.
926: Following the death of Solomon, the northern kingdom of
Israel (926-722) withdraws from the southern kingdom of
Judah ruled by Rehoboam.
845-817: The cult of Baal is suppressed and the followers of
Omri and his son Ahab (who married the Phoenician, Jezebel) are
eliminated. Leading the Jehovah counter-movement, the prophet Elijah
is followed by Amos and Hosea who identify the Jehovah religion
with the ideal of protecting the poor from the increasingly powerful
landed aristocracy. Israel's destruction is predicted if it fails
to maintain social equity. Tribute-levying Assyria is represented
as the Lord's tool of vengeance against the resented oligarchy.
722: Sargon defeats Israel and incorporates it as an Assyrian
province, resettling many of its citizens in Mesopotamia and Media.
740-700: (possibly later): Isaiah preaches social justice. (However,
the Biblical book of Isaiah took its present form only after the
exile ended in 537.)
639-609: Josiah ascends the throne at age eight. In
610, in the process of renovating the temple at Jerusalem, the
Deuteronomy scroll is found and becomes the basis for Josiah's
reforms. These are made in conjunction with the preachings of Jeremiah.
626-604: The prophet Jeremiah denounces usury, much as did his
contemporary Greek "tyrant"-leaders in Corinth, Megara,
and Sicyon.
597: When the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar prepares to attack
Judah, Zedekiah frees the Jewish slaves cancelling the debts which
bind them in servitude. (See Jeremiah 34:8-19, 2 Chronicles 32
and 2 Kings 25.) First deportations to Babylonia occur.
587: Jerusalem is captured by Nebuchadnezzar.
586-516: The "Babylonian captivity." Judah's inhabitants
are resettled in Babylonia, much as Sargon resettled Israel's inhabitants
after 722.
516: Rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem, marking the end of
the "Babylonian captivity."
539: The Median-Persian Cyrus (559-529) defeats Babylonia. Persia
permits the Jews to resettle their homeland. (In 538 Judah becomes
a province of the Persian empire.)
458: In the seventh year of Artaxerxes' reign (465-425), some
exiles returned with Ezra.
444: Nehemiah, cup-bearer to Artaxerxes, makes his first visit
to Jerusalem to become the first great reformer of the post-exile
school.
432: After his second visit Nehemiah leads the second "return
from exile," resettling the Babylonian Jews in their homeland.
The land is returned to its families, freeing them from the debts
owed to local creditors and landlords. Ezra the scribe and others
compose the Torah (Pentateuch) in their modern form.
350: The Jews once again are carried away to Babylonia, probably
because of a renewed revolt against the Persians.
131: The Hasmonians liberate Israel from the yoke of debts and
taxation. Under Simon the high priest this marks the beginning
of a new era. (See I Maccab. 13-14.)
Debt Crises in Classical Antiquity
Egypt
663-609: Bocchoris/Psammeticus cancels consumer debts, freeing
the debt-servants.
Greece and Rome:
650-580: Popular reformers ("tyrants") come to power
in Corinth, Megara, Sicyon (under Cleisthenes) and other Greek
cities, overthrowing landed aristocracies (often including their
own relatives), redistributing their lands and cancelling the debts.
594: When Athens succumbs to a similar debt-polarization crisis,
Solon is given powers to act as archon ("premier").
He cancels the debts, bans personal debt-servitude for Athenians
and alien landownership (thereby preventing foreign creditors from
foreclosing), but avoids the more drastic land redistributions
carried out in other cities.
500-450: Rome's secessions of the plebs over the debt issue.
Indebted Romans refuse to fight until their debts are cancelled
and economic polarization mitigated.
450 (443?): Rome's XII Tables set interest rates at 8 ¹ /³ %
per annum, but this tradition and its fourfold penalty is repeatedly
violated by creditors and must be reiterated (e.g. in 357). Meanwhile,
the law permits debt-servitude (the nexum institution).
367: After an impoverished thirty years, plebeian legislation
permits debtors to deduct interest payments from the principal,
and to pay off the balance in three years instead of all at once.
357: A public commission is appointed to lend Roman funds to
save bankrupt debtors from slavery and loss of their lands (revived
in the 217 Punic War emergency).
347: Rome's legal interest rate is cut in half, to 4 ¹/
6%, and a moratorium is declared on existing debts, which are to
be paid off in four equal installments. (To ameliorate matters
further, the war tax and levy are lifted.)
342: The plebeian tribune Lucius Genucius moves to ban outright
the charging of interest.
326: After popular riots, Rome's Poetillian-Papirian laws ban nexum debt-servitude.
264-241: First Punic War with Carthage, followed by a second
war in 218-201.
220-200: Sparta's kings Agis, Cleomenes and Nabis cancel the
debts, seeking to return to the legendary Lycurgan golden age with
its egalitarian ethic. The objective is to restore a freely land-tenured
peasant-army.
Sparta is defeated when oligarchic cities call in Roman aid.
Greece passes into the Roman sphere of influence after the Peace
of Apamia in 188.
204: After Rome levies huge reparations on Carthage, wealthy
contributors to the war effort in 216 demand repayment, representing
that their pledges actually were loans. The money is to be paid
in three installments.
200: With its treasury bare after paying two installments, Rome
has only the public land to turn over, above all the rich Campagnia.
Instead of being settled by war veterans as had been customary,
this land is turned over to wealthy war-contributors in lieu of
reimbursement. It is to be taxed at only a nominal rate. Beginning
in 198, foreign slaves are imported en masse to cultivate the resulting latifundia.
193: The Sempronian law extends the XII Tables’ 8¹/
3% interest-rate ceiling to cover non-Romans within the expanding
Republic as Greece and other regions are absorbed.
133: Attalos III of Pergamum bequeaths his kingdom to the Romans.
In 129 it becomes a Roman province. Aristonicus, the local claimant,
mobilizes the population against Rome, promising to cancel their
debts and establish a “Kingdom of the Sun” ( Heliopolis),
a political ideal probably influenced by the Stoic philosopher
Blossius. Rome defeats local armies by poisoning the water supply.
After looting local temples, it burdens Asia Minor with huge reparations
debts, paving the way for over half a century of warfare. Regular
tribute starts in 126.
133-30: Rome’s domestic Social War is fought largely over
the debt issue. In 133 the brothers Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus
sponsor land reform (in particular to limit the extent of large
estates) on the public domain. They also sponsor a general financial
reform, creating a class of publicani “knights” to
act as creditors and financiers, so that senators will not perform
this function. Tiberius Gracchus is murdered by oligarchic senators
in 133, the first tribune to be killed. A decade later, in 123,
his brother Gaius and his supporters are defeated when they occupy
the Aventine, and Gaius has a slave kill him in 121.
111: The oligarchic Agrarian Law declares all occupied public
domain to be the property of existing holders, thereby defeating
plebeian hopes for land reform.
100: The tribune L. Apuleius, supported by the Consul Marius,
sponsors a land-settlement reform, but the Optimates oppose it,
and repress a popular revolt.
89: The praetor Asellio is murdered for sponsoring restoration
of the XII Tables law punishing creditors fourfold for charging
excessive interest (over 8¹/ 3%). In the ensuing riots, debtors
agitate for "new account books," that is, a Clean Slate
debt cancellation.
88: The Vespers of Ephesus: As many as 80,000 Romans are killed
in Asia Minor in retaliation against Roman tax farming and moneylending.
During 88-84 Mithradates of Pontus turns what had begun as a local
war in 92 into a regionwide by Asia Minor against Rome.
86: The Valerian Law remits three-quarters of the debts of all
Romans. Publican financiers and senators join forces in the face
of their common fear that demagogues might bid for popular support
by endorsing a general debt cancellation and land redistribution.
86-85: The Roman general Sulla sacks Asia Minor and imposes a
huge tribute, forcing many cities and much of the population into
debt to Italian bankers. This helps make Sulla the richest man
in Rome in 83. His army takes over the city and he kills many of
his opponents during his dictatorship of 82-79.
73-71: Slave revolt led by the Thracian war-captive Spartacus.
70: Rome declares a moratorium on Asia Minor's war tribute, which
had multiplied sixfold from the 20,000 talents imposed by Sulla
in 84 to 120,000 talents, despite the fact that 40,000 talents
already had been paid out (not including the looted treasure of
Asia Minor's temples). The local Roman general, Lucullus, sets
a 12% interest rate and decrees that where interest payments have
exceeded the original principal, the debt is to be considered paid.
Debt service is limited to a quarter of the debtor's income.
63-62: Catiline and some three thousand supporters are killed
in battle. A major plank of their program (which Cicero called
a "conspiracy") is a cancellation of debts.
60: In the ensuing civil war, Pompey, Crassus and Caesar form
the First Triumvirate. The next year, in 59 BC, Julius Caesar becomes
Consul.
49: Caesar marches on Rome and defeats Pompey and his supporters.
In the turmoil he allows debtors to deduct interest payments from
their principal, and introduces Rome's first bankruptcy law, but
it alleviates debt pressures only on the wealthy. His cessio
bonorum saves them from having to sell off their
property under distress conditions by letting them turn over real
estate at pre-Civil War prices. To support collapsing land prices,
Caesar also directs that two-thirds of all capital assets must
be held in the form of Italian real estate.
This is not much help to the landless and smallholding population
at large. Demagogues such as Caelius (Rufus) and Milo are killed
afterleading a popular insurrection. In 47, Cneius
Cornelius Dolabella likewise advocates cancellation of debts, and
is killed for leading riots in the Forum. This is the final defeat
for Rome's indebted poor. Henceforth, lending is concentrated mainly
among the wealthy.
45: Caesar becomes dictator, but is killed the following year
by members of the Senate.
31 BC - AD 235: The Roman Principate: Twelve emperors in 266
years. In 27, Octavian is crowned as Emperor Augustus, inaugurating
the Roman Empire.
AD 33: A financial crisis results from emperors hoarding coinage
in the imperial treasury, aggravated by private hoarding and a
drain of bullion to the East (largely to purchase luxuries). Tiberius
reimposes the traditional 8 ¹/ 3 % interest-rate ceiling,
and Caesar's decree that two-thirds of all personal capital be
invested in Italian real estate. This leads to widespread foreclosure
on mortgages as lenders convert their financial claims into land.
Tiberius decrees that debtors are obligated only to pay twothirds
of debts that are called due, but his measures nonetheless aggravate
the general financial crisis.
AD 325: The council of Nicea bans the practice of usury by members
of the Christian priesthood.
AD 425: Charging interest is banned for the lay population generally.
Biblical Passages Dealing with the Usury
Problem and Debt Forgiveness
Revised Standard Version
I. The Biblical Law Codes
The Book of the Covenant in Exodus 21-23. The
Lord becomes king and protector of Israel, whose people make a
covenant, a sacred compact with the Lord to protect the economically
weak-- significantly (but anachronistically) without the intermediary
of kings.
21:1-11: The Lord instructs Moses that "These are the rulings
you are to set before them: If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is
to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year he shall go
free without paying anything.
"If he came in alone, he shall go free alone; but if he
has a wife when he comes, she is to go with him. If his master
has given him a wife and she has borne him sons or daughters, the
wife and her children shall belong to her master, and only the
man shall go free.
"But if the servant declares, `I love my master, my wife,
and my children and do not want to go free,' then his master must
take him before the judges. He shall take him to the door or the
doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant
for life.
"If a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to
go free as menservants do. If she does not please her master who
has selected her for himself, he must let her be redeemed. He has
no right to sell her to foreigners, because he has broken faith
with her. If he selects her for his son, he must grant her the
rights of a daughter. If he marries another woman, he must not
deprive the first one of her food, clothing and marital rights.
If he does not provide her with these three things, she is to go
free, without any payment of money."
22:22-27: "Do not take advantage of a widow or an orphan.
If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry.
My anger will be aroused, and I will kill you with the sword; your
wives will become widows and your children fatherless.
"If you lend money to one of my people among you that is
needy, do not be like a moneylender; charge him no interest. If
you take your neighbor's cloak as a pledge, return it to him by
sunset, because his cloak is the only covering he has for his body.
What else will he sleep in? When he cries out to me, I will hear;
for I am compassionate."
23:9-13: "Do not oppress an alien; you yourselves know how
it feels to be aliens, because you were aliens in Egypt.
"For six years you are to sow your fields and harvest the
crops, but during the seventh year you let the land rest unplowed
and unused. Then the poor among your people may get food from it,
and the wild animals may eat what they leave. Do the same with
your vineyard and your olive grove.
"Six days you shalt work, but on the seventh day do not
work, so that your ox and your donkey may rest and the slave born
in your household, and the alien as well, may be refreshed.
"Be careful to do everything I have said to you. Do not
invoke the names of other gods; do not let them be heard on your
lips."
The Holiness Code of Leviticus 17-26 (esp.
25 for debt). (Numbers 36 refers to it. See also Num. 29 with regard
to blowing the horn at the world's creation/New Year recreation.)
25:8-43: "Count off seven sabbaths of years -- seven times
seven years -- so that the seven sabbaths of years amount to a
period of forty-nine years. Then have the trumpet sounded everywhere
on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement
sound the trumpet throughout your land. Consecrate the fiftieth
year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants.
It shall be a Jubilee for you; each of you is to return every man
unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.
The fiftieth year shall be a Jubilee for you: do not sow, nor reap
that which grows of itself or harvest the untended vines. For it
is a Jubilee and is to be holy for you. Eat only what is taken
directly from the fields.
"In this Year of Jubilee everyone is to return to his own
property.
"If you sell land to one of your countrymen or buy any from
him, do not oppress one another. You are to buy from your countrymen
on the basis of the number of years since the Jubilee. And he is
to sell to you on the basis of the number of years left for harvesting
crops. When the years are many, you are to increase the price,
and when the years are few, you are to decrease the price, because
what he is really selling you is the number of crops. Do not take
advantage of each other, but fear thy God, for I am - the Lord
your God.
"Follow my decrees and be careful to obey my laws, and you
will live safely in the land. Then the land will yield its fruit,
and you will eat your fill and live there in safety. You may ask,‘What
will we eat in the seventh year if we do not plant or harvest our
crops?’ I will send you such a blessing in the sixth year
that the land will yield enough for three years. While you plant
during the eighth year, you will eat yet from the old crop and
will continue to eat from it until the harvest from the ninth year
comes in.
"The land must not be sold permanently, because the land
is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants. Throughout the country
that you hold as a possession you must provide for the redemption
of the land.
"If one of your countrymen becomes poor and sells some of
his property, his nearest relative is to come
and redeem what his countryman has sold. If, however, a man has
no one to redeem it for him but he himself prospers and acquires
sufficient means to redeem it, he is to determine the value for
the years since he sold it and refund the balance to the man to
whom he sold it; he can then go back to his own property. But if
he does not acquire the means to repay him what he sold will remain
in the possession of the buyer until the Year of Jubilee. It will
be returned in the Jubilee, and he can then go back to his property.
"If a man sells a house in a walled city, he retains the
right of redemption a full year after its sale. During that time
he may he redeem it. If it is not redeemed before a full year has
passed, the house in the walled city shall belong permanently to
the buyer and his descendants. It is not to be returned in the
Jubilee. But houses in villages without walls around them are to
be considered as open country. They can be redeemed, and they are
to be returned in the Jubilee.
“The Levites always have the right to redeem the houses
they possess in the Levitical towns. So the property of the Levites
is redeemable – that is, a house sold in any town they hold – and
is to be returned in the Jubilee, because the houses of the town
of the Levites are their property among the Israelites. But the
pastureland belonging to their towns must not be sold, for it is
their permanent possession.
“If one of your countrymen becomes poor and is unable to
support himself among you, help him as you would an alien or a
temporary resident, so he may continue to live among you. You must
not lend him money at interest or sell him food at a profit. I
am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt to give you
the land of Canaan and to be your God.
“If one of your countrymen becomes poor and is unable to
support himself among you and sells himself to you, do not make
him work as a slave. He is to be treated as a hired worker or a
temporary resident among you; he is to work for you until the year
of the Jubilee. Then he and his children are to be released, and
he will go back to his own clan and to the property of his forefathers.
Because the Israelites are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt,
they must not be sold as slaves. Do not rule over them ruthlessly,
but fear thy God.”
The Priestly Code occurs in Deuteronomy, esp.
15 with regard to the shemitta, the
septennial release of debt-servants from their servitude and the
obligations that caused it.
Deut.15:1-18: "At the end of every seven years you must
cancel debts. This is how it is to be done: Every creditor shall
cancel the loan he has made to his fellow Israelite. He shall not
require payment from his fellow Israelite or brother, because the
Lord's time for cancelling debts has been proclaimed. You may require
payment from a foreigner, but you must cancel any debt your brother
owes you. However, there should be no poor among you, for in the
land the Lord your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance,
he will richly bless you, if only you fully obey the Lord your
God and are careful to follow all these commands I am giving you
today. For the Lord your God will bless you as he has promised,
and you will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. You
will rule over many nations but none will rule over you.
If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns
of the land that the Lord thy God is giving you, do not be hardhearted
or tightfisted toward your poor brother. Rather be openhanded and
freely lend him whatever he needs. Be careful not to harbor this
wicked thought: ‘The seventh year, the year for cancelling
debts, is near,’ so that you do not show ill will toward
your needy brother and give him nothing. He may then cry unto the
Lord against you, and you will be found guilty of sin. Give generously
to him and do so without a grudging heart: then because of this
the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything
you put your hand to. There will always be poor people in the land.
Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers
and toward the poor and needy in your land.”
Deut. 23:19-20: “Do not charge your brother interest, whether
on money or food or anything else that may interest. You may charge
a foreigner interest, but not a brother Israelite, so that the
Lord your God may bless you in everything you put your hand to
in the land you are entering to possess”
Deut. 24:6: "Do not take a pair of millstones --not even
the upper one -- as security for a debt, because that would be
taking a man's livelihood as security."
Deut. 24:I0-I3: "When you make a loan of any kind to your
neighbor, do not go into his house to get what he is offering as
a pledge. Stay outside and let the man to whom you are making the
loan bring the pledge out to you. If the man is poor, do not go
to sleep with his pledge in your possession. Return his cloak to
him by sunset so that he may sleep in it. Then he will thank you,
and it will be regarded as a righteous act in the sight of the
Lord thy God”
Deut. 24:I7-I8: "Do not deprive the alien or the fatherless
of justice, or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge. Remember
that you were slaves in Egypt and the lord your God redeemed you
from there. That is why I command you to do this."
Biblical scholars have noted that there are no traces of Deuteronomy's
ideas in the preachings of Amos, Hosea and Isaiah, yet their influence
is manifest in Jeremiah and Ezekiel. This indicates the recomposition
of Deuteronomy following its discovery c. 610 BC. The original
text must have been shorter than its ultimate version, for in the
reign of Josiah it took only an evening to be read aloud.
II.Historical Books of the Bible
Nehemiah 5: Upon returning from Babylonia to Israel, Nehemiah
relates how he found many of the land's poor inhabitants "saying,
`We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards and our homes to get
grain during the famine.' Still others were saying, `We have had
to borrow money to pay the king's tax on our fields and vineyards.
Although we are of the same flesh and blood as our countrymen and
though our sons are as good as theirs, yet we have to subject our
sons and daughters to slavery. Some of our daughters have already
been enslaved, but we are powerless, because our fields and our
vineyards belong to others.'
"When I heard their outcry and these charges, I was very
angry. I pondered them in my mind and then accused the nobles and
officials. I told them, `You are exacting usury from your own country
men!' So I called together a large meeting to deal with them and
said: `As far as possible, we have bought back our Jewish brothers
who were sold to the Gentiles. Now you are selling your brothers,
only for them to be sold back to us!' They kept quiet, because
they could find nothing to say.
"So I continued, `What you are doing is not right. Shouldn't
you walk in the fear of our God to avoid the reproach of our Gentile
enemies? I and my brothers and my men are also lending the people
money and grain. But let the exacting of usury stop! Give back
to them immediately their fields, vineyards, olive groves and houses,
and also the usury you are charging them - the percentage of their
money, grain, new wine and oil.'
"`We will give it back,' they said. `And we will not demand
anything more from them. We will do as you say.
"Then I summoned the priests and made the nobles and officials
take an oath to do what they had promised."
III. Wisdom literature
Psalm 15: "Lord, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may
live on your holy hill? He whose walk is blameless and who does
what is righteous … who lends his money without usury and
does not accept a bribe against the innocent."
Proverbs 22:7: "The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower
is slave to the lender."
IV. The Social Prophets
Prophetic statements with regard to justice and righteousness,
specifically concerning land tenure and its debts, were retrojected
throughout the Biblical narrative. I Samuel 8:10ff., for instance,
warns (anachronistically) about the danger of kings hurting the
people.
Around the time of the Lycurgan reforms in Sparta, Isaiah (c.
700 BC), the greatest and most influential of all Old Testament
prophets, preached against economic injustice, and especially against
usury.
Isaiah
Isaiah 1:2 ,7, 10, 16-17, 21-23: O heavens!
Listen, O earth! For the Lord has spoken:
"Your country is desolate, your cities burned with fire;
your fields are being stripped by foreigners right before you ...
"Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom; listen
to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah! ...
"Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong,
learn to do right!
"Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause
of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow . . .
"See how the faithful city has become a harlot! She once
was full of justice; righteousness used to dwell in her - but now
murderers!
Your silver has become dross, your choice wine is diluted with
water. Your rulers are rebels, companions of thieves; they all
love bribes and chase after gifts. They do not defend the cause
of the fatherless; the widow's case does not come before them."
Isaiah 3:14-15: "The Lord enters into judgment against the
elders and leaders of his people: `It is you who have ruined my
vineyard; the plunder from the poor is in your houses.
“What do you mean by crushing my people and grinding the
faces of the poor?"'
Isaiah 5:8-9: "Woe to you who add house to house and join
field to field till no space is left and you live alone in the
land.
"The Lord Almighty has declared in my hearing: Surely the
great houses will become desolate, the fine mansions left without
occupants. A ten-acre vineyard will produce only a bath of wine;
a homer of seed only an ephah of grain…
"So man will be brought low and mankind humbled, the eyes
of the arrogant humbled.
"Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put
darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter.
"Woe to those ... who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but
deny justice to the innocent."
Isaiah 10:1-3: "Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those
who issue oppressive decrees to deprive the poor of their rights
and rob my oppressed people of justice, making widows their prey
and robbing the fatherless. What will you do on the day of reckoning?
To whom will you run for help? Where will you leave your riches?"
Isaiah 11:1-2, 4-6: "A shoot will come up from the stump
of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of
the Lord will rest on him -- the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding
... with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he
will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the
earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he
will slay the wicked. Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness
the sash around his waist.
"The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie
down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together,
and a little child will lead them."
Isaiah 13:11: "I will put an end to the arrogance of the
haughty and will humble the pride of the ruthless."
Isaiah 42:21-24: "It pleased the Lord for the sake of his
righteousness to make his law great and glorious. But this is a
people plundered and looted, all of them trapped in pits or hidden
away in prisons. They have become plunder, with no one to rescue
them; they have been made loot, with no one to say, `Send them
back.'
* See above, my criticism of the Revised Standard
Version’s anachronistic translation of usury as meaning excessive interest.
"Which of you will listen to this or pay dose attention
in time to come?Who handed Jacob over to become
loot, and Israel to the plunderers? Was it not the Lord, against
whom we have sinned? For they would not follow his ways; theydid
not obey his law."
Isaiah 46:6-7: "Some pour out gold from their bags and weigh
out silver on the scales; they hire a goldsmith to make it into
a god, and they bow down and worship it. They lift it to their
shoulders and carry it; they set it up in its place, and there
it stands. From that spot it cannot move. Though one cries out
to it, it does not answer; it cannot save him from his troubles."
Isaiah 61:1-2, 5, 8: "The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is
upon me, because the Lord has annointed me to preach good news
to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim
freedom (deror) for the captives and
release for the prisoners, to proclaim the Year of the Lord's favor
and the day of vengeance of our God ...
"Aliens will shepherd your flocks, foreigners will work
your fields and vineyards. . `For I, the Lord, love justice; I
hate robbery and iniquity.”
Isaiah 62:4-6: "For the day of vengeance was in my heart,
and the year of my redemption has come. I looked, but there was
no one to help, I was appalled that no one gave support; ... I
trampled the nations in my anger."
Jeremiah
Around the time of Solon (594 BC), Jeremiah (c. 626-586), the
last pre-exilic prophet, picked up the theme of social justice.
Jeremiah 7:6-7, 11 proclaims; "If you do not oppress the alien,
the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this
place ... then I will let you live in this place, in the land I
gave your forefathers for ever and ever ... Has this house, which
bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? I have been watching!
declares the Lord."
Jeremiah 34:8-22 describes Zedekiah making a covenant in the
face of Nebuchadnezzar's attack. (Note Rome's parallel legend of
Coriolanus and the secession of the plebs c. 500 BC.) "The
word came to Jeremiah from the Lord after King Zedekiah had made
a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem to proclaim freedom (deror) for
the slaves. Everyone was to free his Hebrew slaves, both male and
female; no one was to hold a fellow Jew in bondage. So all the
officials and people who entered into this covenant agreed that
they would free their male and female slaves and no longer hold
them in bondage. They agreed, and set them free. But afterward
they changed their minds and took back the slaves they had freed
and enslaved them again.
"Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: This is what
the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I made a covenant with your
forefathers when I brought them out of Egypt, out of the land of
slavery. I said, `Every seventh year each of you must free any
fellow Hebrew who has sold himself to you. After he has served
you six years, you must let him go free.' Your fathers, however,
did not listen to me or pay attention to me. Recently you repented
and did what is right in my sight: Each of you proclaimed freedom
to his countrymen. You even made a covenant before me in the house
that bears my Name. But now you have turned around and profaned
my name; each of you has taken back the male and female slaves
you had set free to go where they wished. You have forced them
to become your slaves again.
"Therefore, this is what the Lord says: You have not obeyed
me; you havenotproclaimed freedom
for your fellow countrymen. So I now proclaim `freedom' for you,
declares the Lord --'freedom to fall by the sword, plague and famine.
I will make you abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth. . .
I will hand Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials over to their
enemies who seek their lives, to the army of the king of Babylon,
which has withdrawn from you. I am going to give the order, declares
the Lord, and I will bring them back to this city. And I will fight
against it, take it and burn it down. And I will lay waste the
towns of Judah so that no one can live there."
Ezekiel
Biblical scholars have found that the writings of Ezekiel bear
the closest kinship to the Holiness Code of Leviticus, suggesting
that the book was rewritten in his period (early sixth century
BC, around the time of the early Babylonian captivity).
Ezekiel 7:1-3, 10-14: The word of the Lord came to me: `Son of
man, this is what the Sovereign Lord says to the land of Israel:
The end! The end has come upon the four corners of the land. The
end is now upon you and I will unleash my anger against you. I
will judge you according to your conduct and repay you for all
your detestable practices....’
"`The day is here! It has come! Doom has burst forth, the
rod has budded, arrogance has blossomed! Violence has grown into
a rod to punish wickedness; none of the people will be left, none
of that crowd -- no wealth, nothing of value.... Let not the buyer
rejoice nor the seller grieve, for wrath is upon the whole crowd.
The seller will not recover the land he has sold as long as both
of them live, for the vision concerning the whole crowd will not
be reversed. Because of their sins, not one of them will preserve
his life. Though they blow the trumpet and get everything ready,
no one will go into battle, for my wrath is upon the whole crowd.”
Ezekiel 16:1-3, 15, 44-51: "The word of the Lord came to
me: `Son of man, confront Jerusalem with her detestable practices
and say, `This is what the Sovereign Lord says to Jerusalem: Your
ancestry and birth were in the land of the Canaanites; your father
was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite…’
"`You trusted in your beauty and used your fame to become
a prostitute. You lavished your favors on anyone who passed by
and your beauty became his. . .'
"`Like mother, like daughter.' . . . Your mother was a Hittite
and your father was an Amorite. Your older sister was Samaria,
who lived to the north of you with her daughters; and your younger
sister, who lived to the south of you with her daughters, was Sodom.
You not only walked in their ways and copied their detestable practices,
but in all your ways you soon became more depraved than they. .
. .
"`Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her,
daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not
help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things
before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen'."
Ezekiel 18:5-8, 13-18: "`Suppose there is a righteous man
who does what is just and right.... He does not oppress anyone,
but returns what he took in pledge for a loan. He does not commit
robbery but gives his food to the hungry and provides clothing
for the naked. He does not lend at usury or take ... interest.
. . . '*
"`Suppose he has a violent son, who sheds blood or does
any of these other things ... He lends at usury and takes . . .
interest. Will such a man live? He will not!’
"`But suppose this son has a son who sees all the sins his
father commits, and though he sees them, he does not do such things....
He does not oppress anyone or require a pledge for a loan. He does
not commit robbery but gives food to the hungry and provides clothing
for the naked. He withholds his hand from sin [Heb."from the
poor"] and takes no usury. . .He keeps my laws and follows
my decrees."
"`He will not die for his father's sin; he will surely live.
But his father will die for his own sin, because he practiced extortion,
robbed his brother and did what was wrong among his people....
The soul who sins is the one who will die. The son will not share
the guilt of the father, not will the father share the guilt of
the son."
Ezekiel 33:1, 12-16: "The word of the Lord came to me:…`Son
of man, say to your countrymen, `The righteousness of the righteous
man will not save him when he disobeys, and the wickedness of the
wicked man will not cause him to fall when he turns from it. The
righteous man, if he sins, will not be allowed to live because
of his former righteousness.' If I tell the righteous man that
he will surely live, but he trusts in. his righteousness and does
evil, none of the righteous things he has done will be remembered;
he will die for the evil he has done. And if I say to the wicked
man, `You will surely die,' but he then turns away from his sin
and does what is just and right -- if he gives back what he took
in pledge for a loan, returns what he has stolen, follows the decrees
that give life, and does no evil, he will surely live."
Ezekiel 34.2-4: "Woe to the shepherds of Israel who only
take care of themselves! Should not shepherds take care of the
flock? You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter
the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock. You
have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the
injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the
lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally."
Ezekiel 45:9-12: "This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
You have gone far enough, O princes of Israel! Give up your violence
and oppression and do what is just and right. Stop dispossessing
my people…”
Ezekiel 46.16-18: "This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
If the prince makes a gift from his inheritance . . . to one of
his servants, the servant may keep it until the year of freedom;
then it will revert to the prince. His inheritance belongs to his
sons only; it is theirs. The prince must not take any of the inheritance
of the people, driving them off their property. He is to give his
sons their inheritance out of his own property, so that none of
my people will be separated from his property.
Hosea
Hosea 4.1-6, 10, 16: "Hear the word of the Lord, ye children
of Israel: for the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants
of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge
of God in the land.
"By swearing, lying and killing, stealing and committing
adultery, they breakall bounds, and bloodshed
follows bloodshed."
Because of this the land mourns, and all who live in it waste
away; the beasts of the field and birds of the air and the fish
of the sea are dying….
"You stumble day and night, and the prophets stumble with
you. So I will destroy your mother -- my people are destroyed from
lack of knowledge.
"Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you
as my priests, because you have ignored the law of your God …
"They will eat but not have enough; they will engage in
prostitution but not increase, because they have deserted the Lord
... They consult a wooden idol and are answered by a stick of wood.
A spirit of prostitution leads them astray; they are unfaithful
to their God. The Israelites are stubborn, like a stubborn heifer."
Hosea 12:7: "The merchant uses dishonest scales; he loves
to defraud.”
Amos
Amos 2:6-8: "This is what the Lord says:
For three sins of Judah, even for four, I will not turn back my
wrath. They sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a
pair of sandals. They trample on the heads of the poor as upon
the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed.
"They lie down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge.
In the house of their god they drink wine taken as fines."
Amos 5:12-16: "I know how many are your offenses and how
great your sins. You oppress the righteous and take bribes, and
you deprive the poor of justice in the courts. Therefore the prudent
man keeps quiet in such times, for the times are evil.
"Seek good, not evil, that ye may live; . . .
"Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts. Perhaps
the Lord God Almighty will have mercy on the remnant of Joseph."
Micah
Micah 2:1-2: Woe to those that devise iniquity… they covet
fields and houses, and take them by force. They defraud a man of
his home and his inheritance”.
Malachi
Malachi 3:1-6: "Behold, I will send my messenger, and he
shall prepare the way before me ... He will be like a refiner's
fire or a launderer's soap. He will sit as a purifier of silver;
he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver
. . . `So I will come near to you for judgment. I will be a swift
witness against the sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against
those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widow,
and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice, but do not fear
me,' says the Lord Almighty."
Malachi 4:1-3: "`Surely the day is coming: it will burn
like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble,
and the day that is coming will set them on fire,' says the Lord
Almighty. `Not a root or a branch will be left to them. But for
you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with
healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves
released from the stall. Then you will trample down the wicked;
they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when
I do these things,' says the Lord Almighty.
"Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws
I gave him at Horeb for all Israel ... or else I will come and
strike the land with a curse."
The Old Testament thus ends with a call for reform. Looking backward,
the yobel trumpets provide a linkage
to Bronze Age New Year festivals; looking forward, they call for
a messenger to redeem Israel leading to the Christian New Testament
whose closing book of Revelation (8:11) returns to the sabbatical
theme with seven yobel trum pets played
by seven angels.
V. Testament Acts, Epistles and Revelation
The Church Fathers discussed usury in the context of wealth in
general, taking their lead from Christ’s contrast between
worldly riches and the treasures in heaven, as described e.g. in
Matthew 7:19-24: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures
on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break
in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will
be also...
"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one
and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise
the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."
Acts 4:32-35 reflects the shift from the Old
Testament’s call for periodic debt cancellation to the Christian
idea of charity, that is, charity in the context of existing status
quo property and debt relations. All the believers
were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions
was his own, but they shared everything they had… There
were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who
owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales
and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed
to anyone as he had need.”
The subsequent epistles continue in the same vein, reflecting
the victory of oligarchic creditor power throughout the Roman Empire.
1. Timothy 6:6-12, 17 -19 exhorts that “Godliness
with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the
world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and
clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get
rich fall into the temptation and a trap and into many foolish
and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction.
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people,
eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves
with many griefs…
Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life
to which you were called when you made your good confession in
the presence of many witnesses…
Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant
nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to
put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for
our enjoyment Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds,
and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will
lay up treasure for themselves a firm foundation for the coming
age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.”
2 Timothy 3:1-5: "There will be terrible
times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers
of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents,
ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without
self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash,
conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God -- having
a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with
them."
James 5:1-5: "Now listen, you rich people,
weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. Your
wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold
and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you
and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last
days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your
fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters
have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth
in luxury and self-indulgence." This denunciation recalls
the cries of Sodom. (See Ezekiel 16:49.)
1 John 2:15-17: "Do not love the world
or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of
the Father is not in him. For everything in the world - the cravings
of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he
has and does -- comes not from the Father but from the world. The
world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will
of God lives forever."
Revelation reports John's vision of the Lord
speaking with a voice like a trumpet to announce the Day of Judgment.
This is the occasion for re-creating the world, much as archaic
rulers restored order out of chaos at the New Year celebrations
over which they presided in the names of their sun-gods of justice.
The Lord sits on the throne in heaven. On his right is a scroll
sealed with seven seals. One by one they are opened, unleashing
tribulations upon the earth. After the seventh seal is opened,
there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. Then seven
trumpets were given to the seven angels standing before God.
Blowing the first trumpet brought a hail of fire, burning up
much of the earth. The second trumpet brought a huge blazing mountain
thrown into the sea. The third trumpet turned the earth's fresh
water bitter. At the sounding of the fourth trumpet, a third of
the sun, moon and stars turned dark.
The fifth angel's trumpet opened the shaft of the Abyss, darkening
the sky with a host of scorpion-like locusts. The sixth trumpet
released four avenging angels to destroy a third of mankind by
the three plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur.
The seventh angel prepared to sound his trumpet, announcing that
the mystery of God was about to be accomplished. The visionary
John was given "a reed like a measuring rod," recalling
how archaic rulers ruled by proclaiming just measures.
More wondrous signs appear. Babylon is destroyed, the source
of export trade from which "merchants of the earth grew rich
from her excessive luxuries." These merchants bewailed her
doom, for "no one buys their cargoes any more --- cargoes
of gold, silver and precious stones and pearls; fine linen, purple
silk and scarlet cloth; every sort of citron wood, and articles
of every kind made of ivory, costly wood, bronze, iron and marble;
cargoes of cinnamon and spice, of incense, myrrh and frankincense,
of wine and olive oil, of fine flour and wheat; cattle and sheep;
horses and carriages; and bodies and souls of men….
The merchants who sold these things and gained their wealth from
her will stand far off, terrified at her torment ... and cry out…In
one hour such great wealth has been brought to ruin!"' But
the multitude in heaven would shout "Amen, Hallelujah!" The
New Jerusalem would appear on earth -- the millennium restoring
equity and righteousness, the Year of the Lord which Christ had
prophesized in the tradition of the Old Testament prophets.
Debt servitude comes full circle
The New Testament's idea of righteousness changed from the concrete
legal restorations of order found in Mesopotamian New Year celebrations
to something more abstract. The words were the same -- righteousness,
equity and justice -- but their significance was altered to reflect
the changing conditions on earth as the Roman Empire sank into
economic and monetary decay. Instead of uprooting the sources of
worldly economic inequity and dependency by cancelling the debts
and returning forfeited lands and debt-servants to their former
families, the Christian spirit of moral righteousness is grounded
on the idea of sharing wealth through charity. The focus of the
new morality is no longer the worldly economic system but the personal
souls of the wealthy and poor.
What henceforth is asked of creditors is charity, not social
restructuring. There is no longer thought of anything like administering
on earth the Levitical laws designed to promote economic and financial
equity here and now. The Church Fathers played little role in Rome's
banning of usury in the fourth and fifth centuriesof
ourera. By that time the world seemed hopelessly
lost, and all that one could do was to await the Millennium. The
more gloomy hopes for worldly reform became, the more the temptation
grew for all eyes to turn to the Hereafter.
So much has this turning inward occurred that it is now possible
even for liberation theologists to speak abstractly of social justice
without reference to freedom from debt or free access to the means
of self-support. Not only individual families but entire nations
are losing their economic self-dependency, their ability to provide
themselves with food, housing and related basic needs. Isaiah's
prophesy has come true:
Lands have been taken over by foreigners, in many cases to grow
export crops (viz. the olive oil and
wine of Revelation ) rather
than to feed local populations. National economies have fallen
into debt-servitude, often to their own wealthy classes operating
out of offshore banking enclaves.
This state of affairs recalls that in which the Old Testament
prophets foretold national destruction for having fallen away from
the commandments to preserve economic freedom and self-dependency,
on pain of the entire country losing its political freedom, having
lost its soul.
Continue to Part 4
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