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Bible Dictionaries
Interest
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or INTEREST.—‘Interest,’ found twice in Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 of the Gospels (Matthew 25:27, Luke 19:23) instead of ‘usury’ of Authorized Version, represents the Greek τόκος which in the LXX Septuagint is the equivalent of the Heb. neshekh in the whole of the eleven passages in which the latter occurs (Exodus 22:25, Leviticus 25:36 etc.). Now neshekh is rightly rendered ‘usury,’ the reference being to the interest, often exorbitant, charged by money-lenders in the ancient East. In the NT τόκος, though often used in contemporary Greek in the sense just defined, clearly signifies ‘interest on deposit paid by a banker.’ There were many banks in the Roman period scattered over the Graeco-Roman world, some called ‘public banks’ and others private firms (e.g. ‘Theon & Co.,’ ‘Herodes & Co.,’ at Oxyrhynchus). These, however, seem, from a lately discovered text, to have farmed from the government, in Egypt at any rate, the right of administering business; the Roman authorities, it would appear, following in some degree Ptolemaic precedent (Papyri of Oxyrhynchus, No. 513, vol. iii.: cf. the note on p. 248 f.). Not much seems to be known about the deposit department of ancient banking. The technical term for a deposit on which interest was paid was creditum. The amounts lodged in Roman banks towards the end of the Republic and under the Empire must have been, in some instances, very large. About the rate of interest paid to depositors there seems to be little or no information. The statement of Suetonius, that Augustus branded some people with infamy (notavit) because they borrowed at low interest and invested at high (Octavius, 39), may hint how the bankers made money out of the funds entrusted to their care. The usual rate of interest on loans under the Empire seems to have been one per cent, per month, or twelve per cent. per annum. This rate is repeatedly mentioned in the Papyri of Oxyrhynchus (No. 243 of a.d. 79, and No. 270 of a.d. 94, etc.). The rate paid to depositors will have been much lower. A considerable banking business was also done in ancient temples. So in ancient Babylonia (Johns, Babylonian and Assyrian Laws, Contracts, and Letters, 211), and in the Greek world, at the temple of the Ephesian Artemis, for instance (Anabasis, v. iii. 6 f.). That the temple of Jerusalem was used in this way is expressly stated by Josephus (BJ vi. v. 2), and in the legend about Heliodorus (2 Maccabees 3:10-12; 2 Maccabees 3:15). About the management of this temple bank nothing seems to be known. Our Lord’s references are probably to local τραπεζίται, the Eastern representatives of the Roman argentarii. See also Bank.
Literature.—Besides the authorities mentioned above, see Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible, art. ‘Usury’; Encyc. Bibl., art. ‘Trade and Commerce,’ § 78; Smith, Dict. of Ant., artt. ‘Fenus’ and ‘Argentarii; Winer, RWB [Note: WB Realwörterbuch.] , art. ‘Hinterlage’; Schurer, GJV [Note: JV Geschichte des Jüdischen Volkes.] 3 [Note: designates the particular edition of the work referred] ii. 268.
W. Taylor Smith.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Interest'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/i/interest.html. 1906-1918.
