Were God's chosen people chosen for banking ? Or did they assume that role ?

?2014-04-09T19:29:40Z

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I assume you're asking why Jews were traditionally bankers.

It had to do with Christian interpretations of biblical (at least, I think they were biblical) restrictions against usury. The middle-ages interpretation was that any lending of money with interest--even modest, reasonable interest rates--was usury, and thus was something Christians weren't allowed to do to other Christians. Which means no banking, because if you can't charge interest, you can't make a living lending people money.

Since Jews did not share this interpretation (or the bit about usury wasn't in the Old Testament, I forget which), they *could* lend money with interest, and did so. So they ended up with more or less a monopoly (in Europe, at least) on the lending-other-people-money industry, aka banking.

Geo2014-04-10T02:24:03Z

which chosen people are we talking about....the Jews? The Christians? The Muslims? The Zoroastrians? The Bahai Faithful's...the Mormons?

?2014-04-10T02:12:51Z

Trolls are God's Chosen people.

F2014-04-10T03:27:42Z

They were chosen to bring forth the Messiah, which they violently rejected. Thumbs down all you want. Doesn't change history.

?2014-04-10T02:25:23Z

Indirectly yes. Christians were forbidden to make loans, so Jews stepped into that role

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