Is Financial DEBT Forgiveness in the Bible?

The Bible contains two passages outlining debt forgiveness: Leviticus 25 (the year of Jubilee) and Deuteronomy 15 (the Sabbath year). The question is, did the ancient Israelites ever practice debt forgiveness? In this video I find out...

Leviticus 25 | The Year of Jubilee | Bible Study, What is the Year of Jubilee and Why is it Important to Me? What Does the Bible Say About Debt?

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This channel is now known as Tablets and Temples, unpacking ancient history and religion. Formerly known as Bible Unboxed.

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SOURCES:
Just a quick note before the sources. I noticed a lot of the academic material on debt forgiveness in the ancient world is written for the purpose of promoting discussions around modern debt forgiveness. This isn't necessarily to say anything bad about the quality of the academic study, it's just good to be aware of these biases going in.

- Michael Hudson, Trade, Development and Foreign Debt (1993)
- Michael Hudson et al, Debt and Economic Renewal in the Ancient Near East (2002)
- David Graeber, Debt: The First 5000 Year (2014)
- RH Lowery: Sabbath and jubilee (2012)
- CA Evans, Jesus, Satan, and Holy War in the Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls (2016)
- A Feldman, New Light on the Ten Jubilees of 11QMelchizedek (11Q13)

IS JUBILEE DEBT FORGIVENESS?

I've seen it argued that the year of Jubilee was the cyclical expiration of an ancient equivalent of a long-term lease and was, therefore, not debt forgiveness. However, Leviticus 25 covers much more than just land leases. Jacob Milgrom, perhaps the most respected authority on Leviticus points out the following in his Anchor Yale Bible Commentary:

1. Verses 22-55 form a single unit of successive stages of impoverishment
2. A person in such a circumstance is given multiple ways to pay back their debt (having a relative take over as creditor through redemption, or through a zero-interest scheme)
3. However, in the event that such a person cannot pay back their debt, "Only if neither he nor his family can supply the means for his redemption, as we shall see, will the jubilee free him, cancel his debt, and give him back his land. Thus he (or his inheritor) will be able to start out afresh as
a debt-free landowner who will be independent of his family." (p.2216)

This is essentially, debt forgiveness. That is, an Israelite, even if they became impoverished was given multiple ways to pay back their debt through labor-hire. However, if the worst situation occured - their debt was cancelled via the Jubilee year.

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[InquisitiveBible]

That's the tricky thing with the Mosaic code, isn't it? It's easy to assume that these were actual laws that applied at some time and place in ancient Israel, and yet even within the canonical story, the law of Moses seems to be lost until its discovery during the reign of Josiah. And later in Nehemiah 8, it seems like the people are hearing the law from Ezra for the first time — like in 8:14ff, where they discover the rules for holding the Festival of Booths.

[rosdavis]

Can you do one on the passage in the new testament about not being anxious?

[mustachemac]

You were talking about how the money would be given to the court, as a type of loophole.

When these laws were given to Moses...who was the court?

(For some reason, I didn't get a notification for this video.🤷‍♂️)

[GuessWhoAsks]

Debt forgiveness is only offered to Hebrews. The followers of the bible were forbidden from treating Hebrews as slaves but were instead allowed to purchase foreigners and consider them inheritable property that could be passed on to their children...Do you consider that to be morally acceptable?

[JosephDaoud-tvcu]

You said the story might have been written in the Bible to serve the narrative. (BIG RED FLAG)
That is very concerning. If you don't believe in the inerrancy of the Bible, why even bother.
The Bible is then a book like any other, and we have no absolute truth to hold on.