Had the Hebrews enjoyed a free intercourse with other nations, the permission to take usury of foreigners might have had the effect of im poverishing Palestine by affording a strong in ducement for employing capital abroad; but, un der the actual restrictions of the Mosaic law, this evil was impossible. Some not inconsiderable ad vantages must have ensued from the observance of these laws. The entire alienation and loss of the lent property were prevented by that pecu liar institution which restored to every man his property at the great year of release. In the in terval between the jubilees the system under con sideration would tend to prevent those inequali ties of social condition which always arise rapid ly, and which have not seldom brought disaRter and ruin on states. The affluent were required to part with a portion of their affluence to supply the wants of the needy, without exacting that rec ompense which would only make the rich richer and the poor more needy ; thus superinducing a state of things scarcely more injurious to the one than to the other of these two parties. There was also in this system a strongly conservative influ ence. Agriculture was the foundation of the con stitution. Had money-lending been a trade, mon ey-making would also have been eagerly pursued. Capital would be withdrawn from the land; the agriculturist would pass into the usurer; huge inequalities would arise; commerce would as sume predominance, and the entiro commonwealth be overturned—changes and evils which were pre vented, or, if not so, certainly retarded and abated, by the code of laws regarding loans. As it was,
the gradually increasing wealth of the country was in the main laid out on the soil, so as to augment its productiveness and distribute its bount ies.
(5) Teaching of Christ. These views may pre pare the reader for considering the doctrine of 'the Great Teacher' on the subject of loans. It is found forcibly expressed in Luke's Gospel (vi :34, 35) : ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again: but love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest ; for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.' But it can be justly maintained that Christ taught the justice of taking interest in the parable of the Talents and of the Pounds.
J. R. B.
LOAVES (15vz). See BREAD.
11.1%N., LOCK (la), (Heb. man-awl', lock of door).
The ancient Hebrews had fastenings of wood or iron for the doors of towns, prisons, and fortresses (Is. xlv :2), which were in the form of bolts. The gates of Jerusalem erected by Nehemiah had both bolts and locks (Judg.
23, 24, 25; Neh. :3). These bolts, Or bars, were almost the only form of locks known. The key was a pin of iron or bronze, or sometimes of wood, to hold the bar in place.