Avoiding Collateral Damage
When you make a loan of any sort to your countryman, you must not enter his house to seize his pledge. You must remain outside, while the man to whom you made the loan brings the pledge out to you. Deuteronomy 24:10-11
Pledge – If you make a loan to a member of the community of grace, you can ask for collateral. But you may not seize collateral even though it is due to you. The rabbis interpreted this commandment very broadly. They understood it to mean that you cannot take collateral anywhere that the borrower has property. You must wait for the borrower to bring you the ‘avot, the pledge. Why?
God’s instructions for living are filled with grace. In this case, grace is demonstrated by respect for the dignity of another. Nothing could be more important to a man who is forced to ask for a loan. Personal dignity is upheld because the creditor is not allowed to treat the borrower as if he were a slave. The prohibition from taking collateral means that the lender must respect the dignity of the borrower. The borrower is allowed to act voluntarily. The transaction requires consideration on both sides.
You might think that this tiny requirement has little application in the modern world of finance. After all, loans today are usually transacted with anonymous corporations. You never really know the creditor. You just know the name of the bank. But that entire process already undermines the personal dignity of the creditor-borrower relationship. The system of the world endorses anonymous debt. There is no personal relationship between lender and borrower. And since there is no personal relationship, the possibility of fraud or failure to pay is substantially increased. After all, your debt isn’t to any real person. It’s just a debt with some giant corporation. There is no face to this loan.
It is the removal of the personal element that has caused so much abuse of the financial system. In the community of God’s Kingdom all of the regulations acted to prevent this anonymous irresponsibility. Debts were very personal, and as a result, had to be treated with the utmost respect for both parties. But today, debts are nothing more than an account number and a negative balance.
What would happen if we, the followers of Yeshua, began to restore God’s financial system? What would change in the economic system if we made loans according to God’s instructions? How would those debts affect us if we had faces attached to every transaction? Restoring the Kingdom is a lot more than simply building churches or spreading the good news to the lost. Kingdom systems replace worldly systems. Things are not done “as usual.”
Give some thought to what happens when God brings His Kingdom to the earth. That’s what we pray for, isn’t it? Then why do we continue to do things according to the systems of this world? Are we ready to be transformed – entirely?
Topical Index: debt, loan, collateral, pledge, ‘avot, dignity, Deuteronomy 24:10-11
In the movie Collateral, Max Durocher is a yellow cab driver; a mediocre kind of guy.
In The 8th Habit, a book on leadership and management, Max is a yellow lab dog.
Unlike Paul in 1 Corinthians 3, Max’s boss and Max’s owner are models of mediocrity.
It is pretty clear that Paul had a very low tolerance for mediocrity; he expected greatness.
In the movie Collateral, the jazz musician Miles Davis is the model of greatness, The 8th Habit.
What Miles Davis brings to his work, his music, is a passion for excellence, fire in the belly.
Sound a little bit like Paul?
Dr Moen,
I think the unmanagable greed that has infiltrated the world society and virtually destroyed the world finiancial system has had its foundation in the attitude of the common people of today’s society. Fifty years ago, a man’s word was his bond. People today think you are an easy mark if you loan them money, because they have no intention of paying it back. Face to face makes no difference. Some intend to pay you back unless they experience an inconvenience in their life, and most of them find a convenient reason to avoid payment. This attitude has been building for over 50 years that I have been in private business. Today, I credit no one for any reason. I have heard enough pitiful tales to write a book. Today, I take cash, check or a credit card. When I provide goods or service to people who I know are in genuine need, there is no charge – ever. I do this on a daily basis because I want to, and very little of it is truly appreciated by the recipients.
I believe that people will have to be intoduced to the kingdom, and truly become a child of the King before you can introduce them to kingdom principles. It is a cruel and heartless world out there, and it probably has always been that way in some societies. I read the personal entries in the blog and see the difficulties that people experience, and I could write one that is as heart wrenching as any other. This is life though, and I have the companionship of the Holy Spirit to lead me through my daily difficulties. God will let you follow your own way until life grinds you down to the point that you realize that there is no life except the life that God lays out. Just ask Him and He will show you the way. You are never early or late or in the wrong place or doing the wrong thing when you follow the leading of the Holy Spirit.
John
John Offutt, I agree with your very truthful statements written above! We have never been in a business, but have so many times given, loaned or helped people, even with contracts of repayment without interest, they do not pay the money back. So we usually no longer loan or give money; ( exceptions: are our responsible children-spouses, and grandchildren–).
We just take a person or family that the Lord puts in our path, and the best we can understand His Spirit working in us, and we walk beside them as much as possible, being their friend, teaching in a non-lecture way, setting an example, and giving them things they need as we see the need. This week is a perfect example: our military family that God gave us three years ago this month, had a big SOS. The young mother, her sister that lives in NY, and five little children under five years, were in Austin shopping, and without any fault of theirs, they were in a three vehicle accident. Their ford suburban was totaled, a truck hit them and turned them around three times, hitting a mammonth rock fence. The Lord so protected all of them, and they were in seat belts, car seats proper for their ages, our young foster mother has a bad neck-a whip lash, and muscles strained. Chris, the military father home on medical leave from Iraq, called us and asked us to drive the hour plus to Austin, along with him, to see about them and bring them home. Which we did, and brought them home, feeding them on the way home. I have the opportunity to speak of the miracle of them not being seriously injured, and give God the credit. And even to get the little ones to say a simple prayer of Thanks to God for keeping them without being hurt in such a terrible wreck. They did and were so precious doing that. Tonight, I prepared a nice meal and took to them.( just a block away) Will again tomorrow. and probably we will be take the sister and her two children to the Austin airport Monday to fly to NY.—- When they offer to pay for gas, food, etc., we just say no, just return this to someone e years from now, when your family is grown. We will do without whatever, in order to help those that we think God has placed in paths for that purpose, BUT NEVER in the past few years, HAVE WE GIVEN THEM MONEY— NO, once I gave the young mother five dollars to mail a package to him, when he was in Iraq, and I had help make the goodies she was sending him.–
— We have learned that through the years not to give money, or sign a note for someone. The Proverbs warn against that one! We got taken on a “Christian man” who had won full custody of his son, and we loaned him enough to get into a home. He did not pay it back, after two payments— we were very saddened, but decided we could not do it any more: too many irresponsible people, plus drug and alcohol, and sex addicts.-
— We are 80 and 76 years old, and have very few years left to have earning power, although my husband does still work: substituting at the H.S. ( and helping take care of an old 1870’s Rock Home, with 55 goats. ( the owner lives about two hours away). My husband, Ed will get up at 5:30 in the morning, and go and pen some of the goats up, and has two friends that he pays to help load them, and drive them to the market an hour away. He recives a nominal fee per hour for his labor. — L.B.
It is L.B. again, I AM USING THIS TO TRY AND GET IN TOUCH WITH ROBIN JEEP–
USUALLY PEOPLE WILL READ THE NEW MATERIAL BEFORE GOING BACK, SO PLEASE ROBIN Jeep RETURN TO “Amazing Grace for ALL– monday, July 13, and see what L.B. wrote to you. Austin does have people with Skip, I do not think our daughter is signing up to be connected–as she has too many people needing her help now —but they faithfully let money be taken out of their bank account each month for Skip’s work–it started with the Road to Haiti, may still be that–
This daughter is very much in your line of line of work, but not competive to you, and her husband, is a jewel in some of the areas you could use. They are extremely busy with four daughters, two still in Universites, and moving around all the time, one to Long Island, NY in two or three weeks to enter a Master’s Degree at Stoney Brook U. etc. etc. and two married daughters with three litte grandchildren–( our great-grandchildren) that she helps take care of regurlarly.— Some of them were here in our home this week. Two more granddaughters coming Sunday. —– This family also has 55 acres, every farm animal in “Old MacDonald Had a Farm”, and so many veggies, trees and plants that must be watered in dry Central TX!
BUT ROBIN JEEP, ARE YOU MALE OR FEMALE? Married or not? — AND CHECK THE COMMENTS OUT ON THE ABOVE, and let us hear from you. I read your comments to our daughter last night, she had not read your book. But will, when things slow down some, getting the girls back into Univeristies for fall, and a married daughter and husband moved from Houston to Austin.—L.B.
L.B.,
Robin Jeep here. Please contact me directly robin@vibrantcuisine.com. I would love to get in touch with your daughter and other like minded people. I also have a website: http://www.vibrantcuisine.com. I have been very busy and hadn’t checked the comments but my friend Drew called me to tell me you were trying to get in touch with me. By the way, I’m female.
Robin