King Solomon and his court prohibited taking interest from non-Jews, as it says in Proverbs, “One who increases his wealth by interest collects it for he who favors the poor”- and who will distribute the interest to the poor after the usurer's demise.
The
reason for this prohibition is that if the financier becomes used to
taking interest, he may come to take it from Jews also. Excluded are
cases of small interest, “enough to live on” and Torah scholars, who
knows the law and will not come to take interest from the Jews. Later
on, taking interest from non-Jews became permitted, since it was not
possible otherwise.
