Creditor

kred'-i-ter:

(a) nosheh, participle of nashah: Exod 22:24 (English translation: 25); 2 Kgs 4:1; Isa 50:1; translated "extortioner," Ps 109:11; "taker of usury," Isa 24:2 the King James Version;

(b) malweh, participle of lawah, Isa 24:2 the Revised Version (British and American), the King James Version "lender";

(c) ba`al mashsheh yadho: "lord of the loan of his hand," Deut 15:2;

(d) danistes: Luke 7:41, "creditor" the King James Version, "lender" the Revised Version (British and American); compare further danistos, Sirach 29:28, "lender" the King James Version, "money-lender" the Revised Version (British and American):

In the ideal social system of the Old Testament, debts are incurred only because of poverty, and the law protected the poor debtor from his creditor, who in Exod 22:25 is forbidden to demand interest, and in Deut 15:2 to exact payment in view of the nearness of the year of release. 2 Kgs 4:1 shows that the actual practice was not so considerate, and in consequence the creditor fell into bad repute. In Ps 109:11 he is the extortioner; in Prov 29:13 the oppressor is evidently the creditor, though a different word is used; compare also Prov 22:7. In Sirach 29:28 the importunity of the creditor is one of the hardships of the poor man of understanding. The actual practice of the Jews may be gathered from Neh 5:1 ff; Jer 34:8 ff; and Sirach 29:1-11.

See also Debt.

Walter R. Betteridge