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Magik
Lv 4
Magik asked in Politics & GovernmentPolitics · 7 years ago

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

7 Answers

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  • 7 years ago
    Favorite Answer

    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.

    Source(s): Please check out my open questions.
  • Geo
    Lv 6
    7 years ago

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

  • ?
    Lv 5
    7 years ago

    Trolls are God's Chosen people.

  • 7 years ago

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

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  • EIEIO
    Lv 5
    7 years ago

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

  • Anonymous
    7 years ago

    God doesn't make mistakes

  • 7 years ago

    there are no such pepole

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