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“Every creditor shall cancel any loan they have made to a fellow Israelite.” (15:2)

This chapter is very interesting to me in the sense of economics. This rule is very hard to be accepted in modern economics. (I don’t know how well it was accepted in ancient times).

In the view of an economist, this rule is uncomfortable in two ways:

1. Moral Hazard : Knowing he will be released in the seventh year, the borrower will not pay back the money for other six years. 

2. No loan at all : Knowing the Moral Hazard problem, the lender will not lend any amount of loan to anyone, because he knows he cannot be paid back.

We make all concerns toward borrowers that they will not pay back. So, it’s very reasonable to warn borrowers to repay in time. However, God warns lenders rather. He tells them not to be hardhearted or tightfisted toward borrowers, and also “commands” them to be openhanded. 

This is the God’s way, very different from the worldly way. He cares the poor and the weak more, because they know they cannot live without God. The rich and the strong rely more on what they have now rather than on God. Thus, God commands them to put down what are in their hands.

Don’t forget! The Word clearly says that there should be no poor among us if we fully obey God and follow all the commands of God. The poverty in the world is the result of “our” sins, not that of the poor. So, no one can blame the poor for their condition.