Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Deuteronomy 15:6
For the LORD thy God blesseth thee, as he promised thee: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou shalt not borrow; and thou shalt reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over thee.
6. will bless thee ] Heb. is stronger, shall have blessed thee.
thou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou shalt not borrow ] Heb. shalt take, but shalt not give, pledges; cp. 8, Deu 24:10-13. This promise of a large foreign commerce, repeated Deu 28:12 f. (with the contrast in 43 f.) is peculiar to D among the codes of Israel. It covers, of course, not only the lending of money and bullion (banking proper), but the sale of goods on credit at interest, to other nations. Such a foreign trade appears to have flourished with great profit both to Judah and Israel under the long contemporary reigns of Uzziah and Jeroboam II (Isa 2:7; Hos 12:7). There was large commerce with foreigners under Manasseh: cp. Ezekiel’s name for Jerusalem, the gate of the peoples (Deu 26:2, LXX), and the king of Persia’s refusal to allow the walls of Jerusalem to be rebuilt lest her former power of exacting tolls and customs should revive (Ezr 4:20). It is striking, however, that the fulfilment of D’s promise was most fully realised not while Israel remained on their own land but after their dispersion among the nations, from the Greek period onwards. Strabo’s words (quoted in Jos. XIV. Antt. vii. 2) are a remarkable acknowledgement of the political as well as financial superiority foreseen by D for Israel: ‘These Jews have penetrated to every city and it would not be easy to find a single place in the inhabited world which has not received this race, and where it has not become master.’ See further Jerusalem, i. 370 f., ii. 193 f., 392 ff.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Thou shalt lend unto many; thou shalt be rich and able to lend not only to thy poor brother, but even to strangers of other nations, yea, to many of them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
For the Lord thy God blesseth thee, as he promised thee,…. He is faithful that has promised, and he always gives the blessing he promises according to the nature of the promise; if absolute, and without conditions, he gives it without respect to any; but if conditional, as the promises of temporal good things to Israel were, he gives according as the condition is performed:
and thou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou shall not borrow; signifying they should be so rich and increased in goods, and worldly substance, that they should be able to lend to their neighbouring nations round about, but should stand in no need of borrowing of any of them. This is sometimes said of the language of these people, the Hebrew language, that it lends to all, but borrows of none, being an original primitive language; see De 28:12
and thou shalt reign over many nations: which was fulfilled in the times of David and Solomon:
but they shall not reign over thee; that is, as long as they observed the commands of God; otherwise, when they did not, they were carried captive into other countries, and other people reigned over them, as at this day.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
6. For the Lord thy God blesseth thee. He confirms the foregoing declaration, but ascends from the particular to the general; for, after having taught that they might expect from God’s blessing much more than they have bestowed on the poor, he now recalls their attention to the Covenant itself, as much as to say, that whatever they have is derived from that original fountain of God’s grace, when He made them inheritors of the land of Canaan. God reminds them also that He then promised them abundant produce; and thus indicates that, if they were mean and niggardly, they would cause the land to be barren. When He says that they should lend to all nations, he speaks by way of amplification; and also in the next clause, that they should reign over the Gentiles; whence it follows, that if there were any in want among them, it would arise from the wickedness and depravity, of the people themselves.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(6) As he promised thee.1 will bless thee was said to Abram (Gen. 12:2).
Thou Shalt lend.The root of the word in Hebrew is closely connected with the word for slave. The borrower is servant to the lender (Pro. 22:7).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
‘ For Yahweh your God will bless you, as he promised you, and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow, and you shall rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over you.’
Indeed if they were truly faithful to Him and His covenant, and laid up their tithes as Yahweh decreed, Yahweh would so bless them that as a nation they would never need to borrow, while at the same time having so much in abundance that they would be in a position to lend to other nations. They would store up abundance of wealth for themselves. They would be creditors not debtors. Furthermore because of their wealth they would rule over many nations, for wealth brings power, but none would ever rule over them. This was the glittering future promised under the kingly rule of Yahweh that would follow true response and obedience.
Such statements could only have been made by someone looking forward to such a glorious future as a possible reality in response to obedience. It would have required cynicism indeed for someone to have made them once the land had sunk into its later low level existence, with a miserable record behind it, a cynicism that could never have produced the book of Deuteronomy with its strong morality, its vibrancy and its glorious awareness of Yahweh. And there is no suggestion here that it will arise from Yahweh’s cataclysmic intervention. This is in contrast with the later prophets. It positively demands that Moses is speaking prior to entry into the land.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Is not this strictly true, in gospel days, when the servants of JESUS impart of their golden treasure, the word of GOD, to the darkened nations of the earth? What loan is like this? And what power over men is equal to that which, under GOD’S teaching, brings them into captivity to the law of CHRIST? 2Co 9:12-14 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
as = according as.
lend = lend in pledge.
reign = rule.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
thou shalt lend: Deu 28:12, Deu 28:44, Psa 37:21, Psa 37:26, Psa 112:5, Pro 22:7, Luk 6:35
thou shalt reign: Deu 28:13, 1Ki 4:21, 1Ki 4:24, 2Ch 9:26, Ezr 4:20, Neh 9:27