Deuteronomy 24:11

24:5-13 It is of great consequence that love be kept up between husband and wife; that they carefully avoid every thing which might make them strange one to another. Man-stealing was a capital crime, which could not be settled, as other thefts, by restitution. The laws concerning leprosy must be carefully observed. Thus all who feel their consciences under guilt and wrath, must not cover it, or endeavour to shake off their convictions; but by repentance, and prayer, and humble confession, take the way to peace and pardon. Some orders are given about pledges for money lent. This teaches us to consult the comfort and subsistence of others, as much as our own advantage. Let the poor debtor sleep in his own raiment, and praise God for thy kindness to him. Poor debtors ought to feel more than commonly they do, the goodness of creditors who do not take all the advantage of the law against them, nor should this ever be looked upon as weakness.

Thou shall stand abroad,.... Without doors, in the street, as the Targum of Jonathan, while the borrower or debtor looks out, and brings forth what he can best spare as a pledge: and the man to whom thou dost lend shall bring out the pledge abroad unto thee; now as, on the one hand, if the lender or creditor had been allowed to go in and take what he pleased for a pledge, he would choose the best; so, on the other hand, the borrower or debtor would be apt to bring the worst, what was of the least value and use; wherefore the Jews made it a rule that it should be of a middling sort, between both, lest it should be a discouragement and hinderance to lend upon pledges (l). (l) Misn. Gittin, c. 5. sect. 1. Maimon. & Bartenora in ib.

10-13. When thou dost lend thy brother anything, thou shalt not go into his house to fetch his pledge—The course recommended was, in kind and considerate regard, to spare the borrower's feelings. In the case of a poor man who had pledged his cloak, it was to be restored before night, as the poor in Eastern countries have commonly no other covering for wrapping themselves in when they go to sleep than the garment they have worn during the day.

Warning against oppressing the Poor. - Deuteronomy 24:10 , Deuteronomy 24:11 . If a loan of any kind was lent to a neighbour, the lender was not to go into his house to pledge (take) a pledge, but was to let the borrower bring the pledge out. The meaning is, that they were to leave it to the borrower to give a pledge, and not compel him to give up something as a pledge that might be indispensable to him.

Deuteronomy 7:1-2 ; Deuteronomy 9:1 , and Deuteronomy 1:28 .) The words, "every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours," are defined more precisely, and restricted to the land of Canaan on both sides of the Jordan by the boundaries which follow: "from the desert (of Arabia on the south), and Lebanon (on the north), and from the river Euphrates (on the east) to the hinder sea" (the Mediterranean on the west; see Numbers 34:6 ). The Euphrates is given as the eastern boundary, as in Deuteronomy 1:7 , according to the promise in Genesis 15:18 . (On Deuteronomy 11:25 , cf. Deuteronomy 7:24 ; Deuteronomy 2:25 , and Exodus 23:27 .)

Deuteronomy 11:24 . Every place — Not absolutely, as the Jewish rabbis fondly imagine, but in the promised land, as the sense is restrained in the following words; either by possession or by dominion, namely, upon condition of your obedience. From the wilderness — Of Sin, on the south of Canaan, and Lebanon — On the north. From Euphrates — On the east. So far the right of dominion extruded, but that their sins cut them short; so far, however, Solomon extended his dominion. Unto the uttermost sea — The Mediterranean, on the west.

22 . The helpless widow, and orphan, not to be oppressed. The widow, the orphan, and the ‘sojourner,’ as liable in various ways to suffer from rapacious judges, and hard-hearted moneyed men, are constantly commended to the philanthropic regard of the Israelite in Dt. ( Deuteronomy 10:18 , Deuteronomy 14:29 , Deuteronomy 16:11 ; Deuteronomy 16:14 , Deuteronomy 24:17 ; Deuteronomy 24:19-21 , Deuteronomy 26:12-13 , Exodus 27:19 ); so in the prophets, Jeremiah 7:6 ; Jeremiah 22:3 ; cf. Isaiah 1:17 , and elsewhere. Contrast Job’s conduct ( Job 31:16-17 ; Job 31:21 ).

16 . judges ] Unless the previous emendation be accepted the term judges appears here for the first time in the passage. Hear … and judge righteously ] The two indispensables: patient, equal hearing, and impartial decision. your brethren ] Your fellow-Israelites. the stranger that is with him ] His Gêr or sojourner : any non-Israelite who leaving his own kin settles under the protection of an Israelite family or individual; in distinction from the ‘ezraḥ or born Israelite ( Joshua 8:33 ). The Ar. equivalents are ǧar and ṣarîḥ . See W. R. Smith, OTJC 2, 342 n ., and Rel. Sem . 75 ff. In E the Gêr is not to be wronged, Exodus 22:21 ; Exodus 23:9 , and to have rest on the Sabbath, Exodus 23:12 ; cp. Exodus 20:8 . In D his equal rights at law are reiterated here, Deuteronomy 24:17 , Deuteronomy 27:19 ; not to be oppressed, Deuteronomy 24:14 , but cherished, Deuteronomy 10:19 ; to share with the Levite and the poor, Deuteronomy 14:29 , Deuteronomy 16:11-14 , Deuteronomy 24:19 ff., Deuteronomy 26:11 ff.; to rest on the Sabbath, Deuteronomy 5:14 ; enter the covenant, Deuteronomy 29:11 ; and keep the Law, Deuteronomy 31:12 ; only he is to have freedom in meats forbidden to Israel, Deuteronomy 14:21 ; if Israel persists in sin the Gêr shall rise over him, Deut 18:43. See on Deuteronomy 10:19 and Deuteronomy 14:21 where the different treatment of the Gêr in P is noted.