DAVID AND SOLOMON.
Devout Hebrews during the period of the Judges obeyed the Mosaic
prohibition of usury or interest. It was also recognized as binding
and obeyed during the reigns of David and Solomon. This was a greatly
prosperous period when commerce flourished and trade was extended to
the ends of the earth.
David was weak before certain temptations and his falls were grievous,
but his repentance was deep and his returns to God were sincere. He
never failed to regard God as supreme over him and the bestower of all
his blessings. He is called the man after God's own heart, and it is
also said that his heart was perfect before God. His spirit of devout
worship has never been surpassed. His Psalms, in all the ages, have
been accepted as expressing the true yearning after righteousness and
a longing for closer communion with God.
David, in the fifteenth Psalm, expresses the thought of the earnest
and reverent worshippers of his time. This Psalm declares the
necessity of moral purity in those who would be citizens of Zion and
dwellers in the holy hill.
"Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy
hill? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and
speaketh the truth in his heart. He that backbiteth not with his
tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbor, nor taketh up a reproach
against his neighbor. In whose eyes a vile person is condemned; but he
honoreth them that fear the Lord. He that sweareth to his own hurt and
changeth not. He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh
reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be
moved."
The description, "He that putteth not out his money to usury," is
direct and unqualified. There could be no mistaking its meaning. Those
who were guilty could not claim to be citizens of Zion. There is no
qualifying clause behind which the usurer could take refuge and escape
condemnation.
This Psalm, prepared by the king, was chanted in the great
congregation, and was a prick to the consciences of the sinners and a
public reproof of all the sins mentioned. He that putteth out his
money to increase received thus a public reproof in the great
worshipping assembly.
Solomon, endowed with unequaled wisdom and able so clearly to discern
the right, places among his proverbs a direct denunciation of this
sin.
Prov. 28:8: "He that by usury and unjust gain increaseth his
substance, he shall gather it for him that will pity the poor."
In this proverb the gain of usury is classed with unjust gain that
shall not bless the gatherer. This is in entire harmony with other
proverbs in which those who practice injustice and oppression are
declared to be wanting in true wisdom and receive no benefit
themselves.
"The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them: but
transgressors shall be taken in their own naughtiness."
"As righteousness tendeth to life; so he that pursueth evil pursueth
it to his own death."
"Whoso causeth the righteous to go astray in an evil way, he shall
fall himself into his own pit; but the upright shall have good things
in possession."
"Rob not the poor, because he is poor: neither oppress the afflicted
in the gate: for the Lord will plead their cause, and spoil the soul
of those that spoiled them."
Usury and unjust gain are joined by Solomon as sins of the same
nature. It is also implied that they are necessarily connected with
want of sympathy and helpfulness toward the poor. They are presented
as an oppression that shall not bless the oppressor.
This proverb does not confine the evil to the borrower like the
proverb, "The borrower is servant to the lender." The wrong is not
confined to those of the poor to whom loans may be made. The
oppression of usury is upon all the poor though they are not
borrowers. They are the ultimate sufferers though the loan may be
made by one rich man to another to enable him to engage in some
business for profit. Usury is so bound up with injustice that its
practice cannot fail to result in increasing the hard conditions of
all the poor.
Solomon's reign was brilliant, and the ships of his commerce entered
every port in the known world, yet usury was not necessary and was not
practiced in that prosperous age.