BANK, BANKER
In Jesus’ parables of the talents and the mines he referred to bankers and to a bank as giving interest on money deposited with them. (Matt. 25:27; Luke 19:23) Much like the English word “bank” (which derives from the Italian word [banca] for bench or counter), the Greek word translated bank (traʹpe·za) literally meant a table (Matt. 15:27), or, when associated with financial operations, as with the money changers, it referred to a counter for money.—Matt. 21:12; Mark 11:15; John 2:15.
Jesus’ reference to “bankers” (Gr., tra·pe·ziʹtes [singular]) as accepting deposits and paying interest indicates a larger operation than that generally performed by the money brokers (Gr., ker·ma·ti·stesʹ [singular] from ker·ma·tiʹzo, to make small change) or money changers (kol·ly·bi·stesʹ [singular] from kolʹly·bos, a small coin or rate of exchange) whose main operations were to exchange local money for foreign money and provide coins of lesser value in exchange for ones of greater value, receiving a certain fee for each such service. (See MONEY CHANGER.) Some of these men may also have done banking, accepting deposits and making loans, while in other cases these financial transactions were handled by men of wealth, such as merchants and owners of large estates.
Evidence of such banking activity goes back apparently to the time of Abraham, for the ancient Sumerians of the Plains of Shinar are said to have carried on “a surprisingly complex system of lending, borrowing, holding money on deposit, and providing letters of credit . . . ” (The Encyclopedia Americana 1956 ed., Vol. 3, p. 152) In Babylon, as later in Greece, the banking activities centered around the religious temples whose sacrosanct position in the minds of the people provided security against assault by thieves. The temple of Shamash, the sun-god, at Sippar has been called “the oldest financial establishment in the world.” (Nebuchadnezzar, G. R. Tabouis, p. 317) Funds were loaned for commercial enterprises, mortgages on property, or in cases of financial emergency. Transactions were put in written form on clay tablets in the presence of witnesses, acknowledged as valid by the mark or seal of the parties, and protected against falsification by the placing of a duplicate text within a clay envelope, which was not to be broken unless some dispute required it. Private groups also acted as bankers, and the Egibi family of Babylon was very prominent in the banking business during King Nebuchadnezzar’s time (in the latter half of the seventh and the early part of the sixth century B.C.E.), hundreds of commercial documents bearing their name being issued in the form of clay tablets, unearthed in recent times by archaeologists. The bankers of Babylon received interest ranging from 12 to 20 percent on loans. Houses, lands, furniture, even wives and children were pledged as security.
In Greece, by the fourth century B.C.E., the temples, private groups and firms were engaged in financial activities similar to those of banks of modern times, including the arrangement of credit transactions between cities, investment of funds and exchange of foreign currency. In ancient Troy depositors of money for the public service of the State evidently received as much as 10 percent interest on their deposits. Similar banking activity was carried on throughout the Roman Empire.
Inasmuch as the economy of the nation of Israel was fundamentally agricultural, the need for such financial enterprises was considerably less than in such commercial centers as Babylon, Tyre and Sidon. While the taking of interest on loans made to their fellow Israelites is condemned at Deuteronomy 23:19, this appears to have been primarily in cases of borrowing done by needy and impoverished persons. (Compare Exodus 22:25; Leviticus 25:35-37; 2 Kings 4:1-7.) Interest was specifically allowable on loans to non-Israelites. (Deut. 23:20) Valuables were often left in the care of some trusted persons for safekeeping (Ex. 22:7), while others resorted to burying them in the ground, as did the sluggish slave of Jesus’ parable. (Matt. 25:25; compare Matthew 13:44.) Evidence of this practice is seen in the large quantities of valuables and coins unearthed by both archaeologists and farmers in Bible lands.
Following the exile in Babylon (607-537 B.C.E.) there is some evidence in the form of papyrus documents that Jewish bankers and brokers were active in Egypt. Certain ones of the Israelites who returned from Babylon to the land of Judah were condemned for applying harsh banking practices toward their needy brothers, exacting security in the form of their homes, lands and vineyards, and even their children, and charging an interest rate of 12 percent annually (one hundredth part per month). Those debtors who defaulted due to insolvency thus suffered the loss of their properties. (Neh. 5:1-11) Such improper action, however, did not place a blanket condemnation on the receiving of interest, as evidenced by Jesus’ later expression of implied approval of the use of capital to obtain increased funds.—See INTEREST.