15
Und ich werde dich versprengen unter die Nationen und dich zerstreuen in die Länder und deine Unreinigkeit gänzlich aus dir wegschaffen.
Hesekiel 22:15
Arcana Coelestia #9210
9210. 'You shall not be like a money-lender' means that it must be done in a spirit of charity. This is clear from the meaning of 'a money-lender' as someone who does good for the sake of gain; for a money-lender entrusts money to another for the sake of interest and gives help to another for the sake of reward. And since real charity does not have gain or reward as the end in view, but the neighbour's good, 'you shall not be like a money-lender' means that the thing must be done in a spirit of charity. Anyone who does not know what Christian charity is may think that it consists not only in giving to the needy and poor but also in doing good to his fellow citizen, country, or Church for any reason whatever, that is, with no matter what end in view. But he should recognize that the end is what gives all of a person's deeds their true character. If the end or intention is to do good for the sake of reputation, in order to acquire important positions or else monetary gain, the good that he does is not good because it is done for the sake of self and thus also originates in self. But if the end is to do good for his fellow citizen's, country's, or Church's sake, thus for his neighbour's sake, the good he does is good since it is done for the sake of good itself, which in general is the real neighbour, 5025, 6706, 6711, 6712, 8123, and so is also done for the Lord's sake since such good does not have its origin in the person but in the Lord, and what originates in the Lord is the Lord's. This is the good that is meant by the Lord in Matthew,
Insofar as you did it to one of the least of these My brothers you did it to Me. Matthew 25:40.
[2] As it is with good, so it is also with truth. Those who do the truth for its own sake do it also for the Lord's sake since it comes from Him. Doing truth for its own sake is doing good; for truth becomes good when it passes from the understanding into the will, and from the will goes out into actions. Doing good in this manner is Christian charity. People who do good in the spirit of Christian charity may sometimes look for reputation earned as a result of doing it, so as to obtain an important position or else monetary gain. But their attitude is altogether different from that of anyone for whom these things are his end in view. For they regard what is good and right as the essential, one and only thing that matters, and accordingly rank it in highest position. As for monetary gain in comparison with this, or an important position, or reputation for the sake of them, they regard as non-essential, and accordingly rank it in lowest position. When the eyes of people such as these are fixed on what is right and good they are like soldiers fighting in battle for their country. During it they give no thought at all to their life, nor thus to their status or their assets in the world, which compared with what they are doing are of no importance to them. But those who rank self and the world at the top are the kind of people who do not even see what is right and good, because their eyes are fixed on themselves and on gain.
[3] All this shows what doing good for a selfish or a worldly reason is, what doing good for the Lord's or for the neighbour's sake is, and what is the difference between them. The difference is as great as that between two opposites, thus as great as that between heaven and hell. Furthermore those who do good for their neighbour's or for the Lord's sake are in heaven; but those who do it for a selfish or a worldly reason are in hell. For those who do good for their neighbour and the Lord's sake love the Lord above all things and their neighbour as themselves - commandments which are 'the first of all the commandments', Mark 12:28-31. But those who do everything for selfish and worldly reasons love themselves above all things, thus more than God; and they not only despise their neighbour but also hate him if he does not make common cause with them and align himself with them. This is the meaning of the Lord's teaching in Matthew,
No one can serve two lords, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will cling to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Matthew 6:24.
There are people who do serve both; but they are called 'lukewarm, neither cold nor hot, who are spewed out', Revelation 3:15-16. All this now shows what money-lenders who took interest represented, namely those who do good for the sake of gain.
[4] It makes plain the origin of this prohibition, that they were not to be like a money-lender, charging a brother interest, as again declared elsewhere in Moses,
You shall not charge your brother interest on silver, interest on food, interest on anything on which it is charged. A foreigner you shall charge interest, but your brother you shall not charge interest; so that Jehovah your God may bless you in everything to which you set your hand 1 in the land which you are entering to possess it. Deuteronomy 23:19-20; Leviticus 25:36-38.
'Charging a brother interest on silver' means lending truths, that is, giving instruction in them, for the sake of gain, 'charging interest on food' hiring out forms of the good of truth for the sake of gain; for 'silver' means truth, 1551, 2954, 5658, 6914, 6917, and 'food' the good of truth, 5147, 5293, 5340, 5342, 5576, 5410, 5426, 5487, 5582, 5588, 5655, 5915, 8562. The reason why those who do not charge it are blessed by Jehovah in everything to which they set their hand in the land is that their affection is for goodness and truth, so that the happiness which angels in heaven possess is theirs; for that affection, or the good of that love, holds heaven within it for a person, 6478, 9174. The reason why foreigners could be charged interest was that those who do not acknowledge anything of goodness or truth and are unreceptive of them are meant by 'foreigners', 7996, that is, they are those who do good solely for the sake of gain. These must serve a person, for in comparison they are servants or slaves, 1097. In David,
He walks blameless and does righteousness, and speaks the truth in his heart. He does not lend his silver at interest, and does not take a bribe 2 against the innocent. He who does this will never be moved. Psalms 15:2, 5.
'Lending his silver at interest' means teaching for the sake solely of gain, thus doing good for the sake of reward. Something similar occurs in Ezekiel,
A righteous man who executes judgement and righteousness does not lend at interest and does not take increase. Ezekiel 18:5, 8.
In the same prophet,
He who withdraws his hand from the needy, does not take interest or increase, executes My judgements, [and] walks in My statutes will surely live. Ezekiel 18:17.
In the same prophet,
In you they have taken bribes 2 to shed blood; you have taken interest and increase, and seized gain of your companions by violence. Ezekiel 22:12.
These things are said about 'the city of blood', by which falsity destroying truth and good is meant, 9127. 'Taking interest and increase' means doing good for the sake of gain and reward, thus not in a spirit of charity. In true charity there is no thought of earning a reward, see 2371, 2373, 2400, 4007, 4174, 4943, 6388-6390, 6392, 6478.
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Genesis 30
1
When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister. She said to Jacob, "Give me children, or else I will die."
2
Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel, and he said, "Am I in God's place, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?"
3
She said, "Behold, my maid Bilhah. Go in to her, that she may bear on my knees, and I also may obtain children by her."
4
She gave him Bilhah her handmaid as wife, and Jacob went in to her.
5
Bilhah conceived, and bore Jacob a son.
6
Rachel said, "God has judged me, and has also heard my voice, and has given me a son." Therefore called she his name Dan.
7
Bilhah, Rachel's handmaid, conceived again, and bore Jacob a second son.
8
Rachel said, "With mighty wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and have prevailed." She named him Naphtali.
9
When Leah saw that she had finished bearing, she took Zilpah, her handmaid, and gave her to Jacob as a wife.
10
Zilpah, Leah's handmaid, bore Jacob a son.
11
Leah said, "How fortunate!" She named him Gad.
12
Zilpah, Leah's handmaid, bore Jacob a second son.
13
Leah said, "Happy am I, for the daughters will call me Happy." She named him Asher.
14
Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them to his mother, Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, "Please give me some of your son's mandrakes."
15
She said to her, "Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son's mandrakes, also?" Rachel said, "Therefore he will lie with you tonight for your son's mandrakes."
16
Jacob came from the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and said, "You must come in to me; for I have surely hired you with my son's mandrakes." He lay with her that night.
17
God listened to Leah, and she conceived, and bore Jacob a fifth son.
18
Leah said, "God has given me my hire, because I gave my handmaid to my husband." She named him Issachar.
19
Leah conceived again, and bore a sixth son to Jacob.
20
Leah said, "God has endowed me with a good dowry. Now my husband will live with me, because I have borne him six sons." She named him Zebulun.
21
Afterwards, she bore a daughter, and named her Dinah.
22
God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her, and opened her womb.
23
She conceived, bore a son, and said, "God has taken away my reproach."
24
She named him Joseph, saying, "May Yahweh add another son to me."
25
It happened, when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, "Send me away, that I may go to my own place, and to my country.
26
Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you know my service with which I have served you."
27
Laban said to him, "If now I have found favor in your eyes, stay here, for I have divined that Yahweh has blessed me for your sake."
28
He said, "Appoint me your wages, and I will give it."
29
He said to him, "You know how I have served you, and how your livestock have fared with me.
30
For it was little which you had before I came, and it has increased to a multitude. Yahweh has blessed you wherever I turned. Now when will I provide for my own house also?"
31
He said, "What shall I give you?" Jacob said, "You shall not give me anything. If you will do this thing for me, I will again feed your flock and keep it.
32
I will pass through all your flock today, removing from there every speckled and spotted one, and every black one among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats. This will be my hire.
33
So my righteousness will answer for me hereafter, when you come concerning my hire that is before you. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and black among the sheep, that might be with me, will be counted stolen."
34
Laban said, "Behold, let it be according to your word."
35
That day, he removed the male goats that were streaked and spotted, and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white in it, and all the black ones among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons.
36
He set three days' journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks.
37
Jacob took to himself rods of fresh poplar, almond, plane tree, peeled white streaks in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods.
38
He set the rods which he had peeled opposite the flocks in the gutters in the watering-troughs where the flocks came to drink. They conceived when they came to drink.
39
The flocks conceived before the rods, and the flocks brought forth streaked, speckled, and spotted.
40
Jacob separated the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the streaked and all the black in the flock of Laban: and he put his own droves apart, and didn't put them into Laban's flock.
41
It happened, whenever the stronger of the flock conceived, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the flock in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods;
42
but when the flock were feeble, he didn't put them in. So the feebler were Laban's, and the stronger Jacob's.
43
The man increased exceedingly, and had large flocks, female servants and male servants, and camels and donkeys.
