Deuteronomy 24:6-13: a reflection

6No man shall take the mill or the upper millstone as a pledge, for he takes a life in pledge. 7If a man is found stealing any of his brothers of the children of Israel, and he deals with him as a slave, or sells him, then that thief shall die. So you shall remove the evil from among you. 8Be careful in the plague of leprosy, that you observe diligently and do according to all that the Levitical priests teach you. As I commanded them, so you shall observe to do. 9Remember what the LORD your God did to Miriam, by the way as you came out of Egypt. 10When you lend your neighbor any kind of loan, you shall not go into his house to get his pledge. 11You shall stand outside, and the man to whom you lend shall bring the pledge outside to you. 12If he is a poor man, you shall not sleep with his pledge. 13You shall surely restore to him the pledge when the sun goes down, that he may sleep in his garment and bless you. It shall be righteousness to you before the LORD your God.

In laws about lending and pledges, God shows a tender concern for the dignity and necessities of the poor. A creditor is not to take a millstone in pledge, for that is a person's means of livelihood; he is not to enter a poor man's house to seize his pledge, but to wait outside; and if a poor man gives his cloak as a pledge, it is to be returned by nightfall, that he may sleep in his garment and bless you. Even the creditor's right to a pledge was tempered by mercy: he was not to take what the poor person needed to live, nor to strip away his dignity. Mercy limited the exercise of a lawful right.

Notice how mercy tempered the creditor's rights. He had a right to a pledge for his loan; but that right was not to be pressed to the point of taking a person's livelihood, or the cloak he needed to sleep, or his dignity in his own home. The poor man's necessities and dignity set limits on what the creditor could rightly take. Mercy tempered the lawful right; the creditor was not to use his position to strip the poor of what they needed to live. Even in a lawful transaction, the welfare and dignity of the poor came first; the right to a pledge did not license the taking of a person's necessities.

That is worth taking to heart, for our rights over others are to be tempered by mercy, especially toward the poor and vulnerable. We can have a right, to repayment, to what is owed us, to press an advantage, and be tempted to exercise it to the full without regard to what it costs the other; but God tempered the creditor's right with mercy, so that the poor were not stripped of their necessities or dignity. Our rights are to be held with mercy, not pressed to the harm of the vulnerable. Do not press your rights over others to the point of taking what they need to live or stripping their dignity; temper your rights with mercy, as the creditor was to return the poor man's cloak by nightfall. Temper your rights over others with mercy, not taking from the poor what they need to live or robbing them of dignity, as God commanded the creditor to leave the poor their necessities; for even our lawful rights are to be exercised with mercy, and the welfare and dignity of the vulnerable come before the full pressing of what is owed us.

Lord, in laws about lending and pledges, you show a tender concern for the dignity and necessities of the poor. A creditor is not to take a millstone in pledge, for that is a person's means of livelihood; he is not to enter a poor man's house to seize his pledge, but to wait outside; and if a poor man gives his cloak as a pledge, it is to be returned by nightfall, that he may sleep in his garment and bless you. Even the creditor's right to a pledge was tempered by mercy. Show me how mercy tempered the creditor's rights. He had a right to a pledge for his loan; but that right was not to be pressed to the point of taking a person's livelihood, or the cloak he needed to sleep, or his dignity in his own home. The poor man's necessities and dignity set limits on what the creditor could rightly take. Mercy tempered the lawful right. Even in a lawful transaction, the welfare and dignity of the poor came first. Take that to my heart, for my rights over others are to be tempered by mercy, especially toward the poor and vulnerable. I can have a right, to repayment, to what is owed me, to press an advantage, and be tempted to exercise it to the full without regard to what it costs the other; but you tempered the creditor's right with mercy. My rights are to be held with mercy, not pressed to the harm of the vulnerable. Keep me from pressing my rights over others to the point of taking what they need to live or stripping their dignity; help me temper my rights with mercy, Lord, as the creditor was to return the poor man's cloak by nightfall.