Commentary for Bava Metzia 150:2

רבן גמליאל אומר יש רבית מוקדמת ויש רבית מאוחרת כיצד נתן עיניו ללוות הימנו והוא משלח לו ואומר בשביל שתלוני זו היא רבית מוקדמת לוה הימנו והחזיר לו את מעותיו והוא משלח לו ואומר בשביל מעותיך שהיו בטילות אצלי זו היא רבית מאוחרת

[BUT] ONE MAY NOT SAY, 'PLOUGH WITH ME IN THE DRY SEASON, AND I WILL PLOUGH WITH YOU IN THE RAINY SEASON'.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' In different seasons the work is of unequal difficulty. ');">³</span> RABBAN GAMALIEL SAID: THERE IS [A FORM OF] PREPAID INTEREST AND ONE OF POSTPAID INTEREST. E. G., IF ONE MADE UP HIS MIND TO BORROW FROM HIS NEIGHBOUR AND SENT HIM [A GIFT], SAYING, 'IT IS IN ORDER THAT YOU SHOULD LEND ME' — THAT IS INTEREST IN ADVANCE. IF HE BORROWED FROM HIM, REPAID HIS MONEY, AND THEN SENT HIM [A GIFT], SAYING, 'IT IS ON ACCOUNT OF YOUR MONEY WHICH, [AS FAR AS YOU WERE CONCERNED], LAY IDLE WITH ME' — THAT IS POSTPAID INTEREST. R. SIMEON SAID: THERE IS A FORM OF VERBAL INTEREST. [THUS:] HE [THE BORROWER] MAY NOT SAY TO HIM [THE LENDER], 'KNOW THAT SO-AND-SO HAS COME FROM SUCH AND SUCH A PLACE.'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The mere giving of information which he would otherwise not have given, is interest. But the text in J. a.l. is, 'Know that if so-and-so has come, etc.' On this reading, it is the lender who speaks thus to the borrower, and to make the sense complete, Maim. Yad, Loweh, 13, adds, 'and when he comes, shew him hospitality.' Now, though the borrower would probably have done this in any case, his doing it at the lender's behest becomes interest, and is forbidden. The passage then must be translated: R. Simeon said, There is a form of interest arising through (the creditor's) words (orders). (V.J.D. CLX, 12 [H] a.l. § 5 and [H] a.l. § 21.) ');">⁴</span>

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