ABSTRACT
Wisdom literature draws out the metaphysical dimensions that were implicit in the legal material we reviewed above. As in Deut 15 ( A5 ), there was something irrational about the practices associated with the Sabbatical year. A creditor would naturally be worried about extending credit in the year or two before the seventh year because his loans would be subject to cancellation and thus he could lose all of his principal. The law compensated for these anxieties by stating that God would bless those who kept the law in the face of such risk. God, it would seem, has become something of a guarantor of the loan; the loan is no longer a mere intra-human affair but God is involved as a third party. The theological principle that lies behind this law is given elegant expression in the book of Proverbs, which might better be rendered: “He who is generous to the poor makes a loan to the Lord; He will repay him his due” (Prov 19:17).
