Ancient Hebrew Banking

[midori]

So, the other day ago, some of my friends and I were having a conversation. One friend is very yay-Dave Ramsey-boo-no-debt-yay-Bible; another friend was a hard money lender. The lending friend mentioned, “You know, the Bible sez, ‘be the lender, not the borrower’.” And of course, that’s where I have to pipe up and say, “The OT prohibits the Hebrews from charging interest to their countrymen, and by the time you get to the NT, they talk about lending without expecting anything back.” Which may or may not be referring to money or lawnmowers-- but whatever.

So, fresh out of that conversation, we have the gospel reading today, of the talents, and we all know how it goes. Mr. 5 Talents invests his and earns 5 more; Mr. 2 Talents invests his and earns 2 more; Mr. 1 Talent digs a hole and buries his and gives back the original amount with no gain at all. They argue about it for a bit, and the Master sez:

Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest.

And so that was the part that puzzles me. Obviously, in modern times, if I earn a measly 0.5% interest in my money, it’s because the bank is loaning it out to someone else at 5% interest. So how did the Hebrew bankers earn money? Had they lost that part of their culture/law in the Captivity? Did they only loan in one way to foreigners and had a different system going for their own people? I had always been under the impression that Israel was a very remote and insignificant territory, so it seemed odd to think of it as having a high enough population of non-Jews to have a particularly widespread banking system.

 

[Mintaka]

Very good question!

I’ll add that there’s also the “logion” or “agrapha” (a fancy word for “remark that’s not in the Gospel”) that’s attributed to Jesus in many ancient orthodox sources:

“Be good bankers” or “Be good bankers till I come.”

It’s an alternate wording for Luke 19:13, actually, instead of “Pragmateusasthe en ho erchomai” (“Do business/invest/trade until I come back”). Sometimes it’s associated with 1 Thess. 5:21. (So yeah, that’s close to two of today’s readings!)

The logion comes in several alternate versions: “ginesthe kaloi trapezitai” (“Be good bankers”), “ginesthe trapezitai dokimoi” (“Be experienced bankers”), and “ginesthe phronimoi trapezitai” ("Be honest bankers). It’s quoted by St. Irenaeus, St. Clement, and others.

St. Clement took it as meaning that a Christian should be like a moneychanger who could pick out good money from bad, and false coins without a full weight of gold or silver from good coin that gave full value, and “rejecting what is bad, retaining what is good.” In other words, Christians should be able to tell Gospel and Church teaching from what was dangerous BS.

St. Irenaeus compared the apostles’ teachings drawn from Christ as being entrusted to the Church, just as rich men entrust their deposit of money to a bank. (Which is why we call the apostolic teachings “the apostolic deposit.”) He further says that anybody can go to the “bank” and make a withdrawal.

Anyway… “trapezitai” were moneychangers and bankers. They sat at a table (“trapeza”). They needed a good supply of capital for their business, so they accepted deposits (essentially, a money deposit equalled an investment in their business) and paid a use fee to the depositor upon withdrawal. Pretty good interest, apparently.

It’s not clear whether Jesus approved of this business or not. What was clear is that he was using an analogy to warn us that God doesn’t give us responsibilities and then not expect results, or at least a solid try.

However, Jesus didn’t disapprove of soldiers, even though he had run-ins with them. So he might have approved of moneychangers, as long as they were honest, and as long as they weren’t doing business inside the Temple instead of outside.

 

[StGerardMajella]

So how did the Hebrew bankers earn money? Had they lost that part of their culture/law in the Captivity? Did they only loan in one way to foreigners and had a different system going for their own people?

This is a complex subject. Briefly, according to the Torah, they were not supposed to lend to their fellow Jews at interest. They could, however, lend to Gentiles at interest.

Yes, Jews continued to participate in lending activities to non-Jews even in exile. The Church restricted Jews from many other lines of work. Lending, however, was an area where the Jewish people were permitted to continue to lend to Gentiles, whereas the Church forbade Christians to lend to each other at interest. This led to hostility to Jews as moneylenders, and caused outbreaks of violent antisemitism throughout history.

 

[De_Maria]

I’ve always suspected that money is, in God’s divine plan, a metaphor for grace. But, I had no evidence to present since “the love of money is the root of all evil”.

Very interesting topic.

Thanks to all.