Relief of a Money Changer
Relief of a money changer (third century AD)
BANKRUPTCY A person enters bankruptcy upon legally declaring inability to repay debts. God commanded that obligations be repaid, but he also established a type of bankruptcy procedure for Israel’s poorest debtors. They could render six years of life in servitude, but creditors had to release their servants every seventh year (Exod. 21:2). Additionally, the liberation at Jubilee (Lev. 25:10) gave the poor some protection against oppressive terms of service (cf. Neh. 5:3–5).
A key biblical theme concerns the kinsman-redeemer, who could buy back close relatives from slavery and restore their land to the family (Lev. 25:25, Lev. 2:47–48). The book of Ruth tells how Boaz redeemed Ruth from poverty and alienation back to Naomi’s ancestral land. This theme continues with Jesus Christ, who came as a “ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). With his blood he purchased the freedom of a spiritually bankrupt people, sold into bondage to sin (1 Pet. 1:18–19).
Longman, Tremper, III, Peter Enns, and Mark Strauss, eds. The Baker Illustrated Bible Dictionary 2013 : 166–167. Print.
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