At the time of this writing, credit card debt in the United States stands at a staggering $1.25 trillion. That’s an average of $6,715 for every single person—man, woman, and child.
Since the average credit card rate is 21.52%, that means that the vast majority of us are spending at least some of our income on interest. And anyone who’s dealt with the hamster wheel that is credit card debt can attest to how vicious a cycle that is. It can feel suffocating; an almost impossible burden to unload.
What if all of that debt just disappeared? And didn’t just do it once, but every seven years?
At first glance, that seems to be exactly what Deuteronomy 15 is describing. The Sabbath Year is described, which frees everyone from any kind of interpersonal debt that they may owe to someone else.
Of course, the first question is what kind of debt God has in mind here. Is he talking about mortgages? Car loans? Cryptocurrency loans?
Strictly speaking, the Text seems to only be describing loans made between person to person, which makes sense, considering a lot of the major banking tools we use today weren’t really around back then. If you needed money, you almost always went to your friend or neighbor to ask for it.
Secondly, it seems like the idea was to keep Israelites out of poverty. You are not obligated to forgive debts for foreigners, for example, but for your brother? As Elsa says, let it go.
In fact, the power of lending was to stay strictly with Israel. Deuteronomy 15:6 says that Israel was to be the one to lend to other nations, but not borrow. This places them in a position of power over the rest of the world; those who control the money usually call the shots.
Forgiveness then was an act of charity. Although I do have the power to forcefully take my money back from someone, the Sabbath year was meant for forgiveness, just as the Sabbath day was meant for rest and focus on God.