At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts. – Deuteronomy 15:1

Today's Scripture Reading (January 16, 2022): Deuteronomy 15

There is an argument that what Africa needs, more than our food support, is simply debt forgiveness. The debt of African nations has reached dangerous levels. According to the International Monetary Fund, any debt to Gross National Product ratio that exceeds 50% is dangerous. That describes over half of the nations of Africa. And while it also describes the United States, something that does concern me, African countries do not have the economic activity and backing to attempt to support this level of debt. As a result, teachers go through periods when there is no money to pay them in some nations. Schools have no funds to buy desks or other necessary equipment to teach. And hospitals have no drugs.

There is no easy solution to the problem. Much of the money that has been loaned to African nations have never reached their intended use. In some corrupt countries, vast amounts of money that were supposed to be spent on infrastructure simply disappeared, likely into the personal bank accounts of the national leaders. But right now, what Africa needs is a reset; to be able to start over again. The only way that will ever happen is if we forgive their debt.

Biblically, debt was never intended to be a long-term thing. It was seen as a short-term reality, a way to get beyond momentary trouble. Decades ago, I had a conversation with a business leader who admitted that he could not run his business if he had to forgive debt every seven years. The reality of our contemporary society is that we have become a people of money lenders. Goods and services are often sold at little or no profit so that the seller can make money off of the financing. And, as a result, many of us owe too much money. Too often, our loans are upside down, meaning that we owe more money on an item than that item is worth if we could sell it. And maybe even more importantly, the money we owe is the force that keeps many of us poor.

It was never intended to be this way. Moses gave strict instructions that debt was to be kept short-term. Every seven years, every instance of debt in the nation would be wiped off the books. A national reset button would be hit, and the country would start over again. Admittedly, the system was often either ignored or misused. As the seventh year approached, loans were often simply not available where this seven-year loan forgiveness was put into effect.

But if it had worked, the seven-year system of forgiveness should have had two effects. The first and most obvious effect was that it made debt temporary. Debt would be a short-term situation designed to get us over tough times in our lives. The seven-year forgiveness cycle would teach us to save for what we want and put away money for a rainy day.

The other effect would have been making the lender part of the process. The lender's responsibility was to make sure that no one could borrow too much or beyond their ability to repay because if the one who borrowed the money could not repay, the loan would have to be forgiven in the seventh year. And that is something that has been lacking when it comes to most modern debt. There has been no accountability that has been attached to the money given. And too often, the amount of money loaned has gone far beyond the individual's, or nation's, ability to repay.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 16