ABSTRACT
The issue of interest, a matter of debate since the early times of Judaism, has attracted a great deal of attention and created a rich literature, particularly due to the contributions by religious thinkers and clerics. To better understand how monotheist religions approach interest-bearing debt transactions, it is necessary to analyze the initial arguments. The interest by the Jews in interest/usury has its roots in the economic developments that emanated from the exodus from Egypt. The underlying causes for the Old Testament’s approach vis-à-vis the issue of interest include opposition to the institutionalization of slavery, explaining the universal nature of wealth distribution, and proposing divine rulings applicable to the debt transactions. Debt slavery has been the primary problem associated with the difficulty of repaying the debts; this issue has been resolved by the introduction of heavy solutions. For this reason, the early theological sources take the issue of interest-bearing debts as an issue of freedom. An etymological analysis of some notions such as nèšèk, tarbît/marbit, and ribbit used in the scripts to describe the interest-bearing debts provides some insights on the historical evolution of the process.
