Exodus 22 Footnotes

22:25 Is it permissible to charge interest on loans? Charging interest was the normal practice in ancient western Asia. In Babylon people were permitted to charge twenty to fifty percent interest on loans of silver bullion or food. The OT also permitted Israelites to charge interest on loans made to non-Israelites (Dt 23:20), though the rate for such loans was not specified. But when it came to lending to fellow Israelites, the Lord’s people were to follow a different standard: interest was not to be charged on such loans. It seems that God was teaching his people not to profit from the hardship of their fellow Israelites.