5 Mosebok 15:7

Det Norsk Bibelselskap

Når det er en fattig hos dig, blandt dine brødre i nogen av byene i det land som Herren din Gud gir dig, da skal du ikke være hårdhjertet og lukke din hånd for din fattige bror;

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

there be: Lest the preceding law might render the Israelites cautious in lending to the poor, Moses here warns them against being led by so mean a principle; but to lend liberally, and God would reward them.

thou shalt: Deuteronomy 15:9, Proverbs 21:13, Matthew 18:30, James 2:15, James 2:16, 1 John 3:16, 1 John 3:17

Reciprocal: Leviticus 25:35 - thy brother 1 Samuel 30:11 - gave him Nehemiah 5:1 - their brethren Nehemiah 5:3 - mortgaged Nehemiah 10:31 - the exaction Job 22:7 - not given Job 31:16 - withheld Psalms 41:1 - Blessed Psalms 112:5 - showeth Proverbs 19:17 - lendeth Proverbs 22:9 - He that hath a bountiful eye Proverbs 28:27 - that giveth Ecclesiastes 11:1 - thy bread Isaiah 58:10 - thou draw Ezekiel 18:7 - hath given Zechariah 7:9 - saying Matthew 5:42 - General Matthew 25:35 - I was an Luke 6:30 - Give 2 Corinthians 9:7 - not 1 Timothy 6:18 - ready James 1:9 - the brother

Gill's Notes on the Bible

If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren,.... As there would be, according to the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem, if they did not keep the commandments of the law, and continue therein:

within any of thy gates, in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee; a native of the land was to be preferred to a foreigner, and a brother, whether in relation or religion, to a proselyte of the gate; and the poor of a city to which a man belonged, to the poor of another city, as Jarchi observes; which he gathers from this phrase,

within any of thy gates: thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy brother; so as not to pity his distressed case, and have no bowels of compassion for him, and feel for his want, and so as not to distribute to his necessities, and relieve him.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The year of release is no doubt identical with the sabbatical year of the earlier legislation (Exodus 23:10 ff, and Leviticus 25:2 ff), the command of the older legislation being here amplified. The release was probably for the year, not total and final, and had reference only to loans lent because of poverty (compare Deuteronomy 15:4, Deuteronomy 15:7). Yet even so the law was found to be too stringent for the avarice of the people, because it was one of those which the rabbis “made of none effect by their traditions.”

Deuteronomy 15:2

Because it is called the Lord’s release - Render, because proclamation has been made of the Lord’s release. The verb is impersonal, and implies (compare Deuteronomy 31:10) that “the solemnity of the year of release” has been publicly announced.

Deuteronomy 15:3

The foreigner would not be bound by the restriction of the sabbatical year, and therefore would have no claim to its special remissions and privileges. He could earn his usual income in the seventh as in other years, and therefore is not exonerated from liability to discharge a debt anymore in the one than the others.

Deuteronomy 15:4

There is no inconsistency between this and Deuteronomy 15:11. The meaning seems simply to be, “Thou must release the debt for the year, except when there be no poor person concerned, a contingency which may happen, for the Lord shall greatly bless thee.” The general object of these precepts, as also of the year of Jubilee and the laws respecting inheritance, is to prevent the total ruin of a needy person, and his disappearance from the families of Israel by the sale of his patrimony.

Deuteronomy 15:9

literally: “Beware that there be not in thy heart a word which is worthlessness” (compare Deuteronomy 13:13 note).