At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts. This is how it is to be done: Every creditor shall cancel any loan they have made to a fellow Israelite. They shall not require payment from anyone among their own people, because the Lord’s time for canceling debts has been proclaimed. Deuteronomy 15:1-2
“The Jubilee mandates include the remission of debts so that slaves might be freed and all families might return to their lands and houses…God’s people are to treat each other, even those who fall into slavery, in ways radically different from the way people of other nations treat one another…cancellation of debts, freeing of slaves, return to family lands, and rest for the land and the workers.” Ross and Gloria Kinsler, The Biblical Jubilee and the Struggle for Life (Maryknoll: Orbis, 1999) 16-17.
God’s instructions to His people on debts outlined that no one should remain enslaved in perpetuity. Notice how the proclamation of “the Lord’s time” in Deuteronomy 15:1-2 sounds similar to the language Jesus used in quoting Isaiah 61:1-2a as recounted in Luke 4:18-19 when launching His earthly ministry.
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
These thoughts on debt relate to us in at least three ways: (1) We, as God’s people, must be known by our love for people over profit. (2) Our business practices should appear “radically different” from the world, reflecting the fair treatment of workers. (3) We should help release people from slavery to debt.
Can you imagine God’s people living this way? What a witness! God’s design comes across as both gracious and merciful. As we study God’s heart on debt in the OT law, it reflects God’s amazing love and kindness to a watching world. Will we reflect it today?