Deuteronomy 24
Big idea: A chapter about not taking what someone cannot spare. No one takes a millstone in pledge, for he takes a life in pledge — a household without a mill cannot eat. A creditor may not go into the house to seize the collateral; he waits outside and the debtor brings it. A poor man's cloak comes back before sunset, so he can sleep in it and bless you. A hired man is paid the same day, because he is poor and sets his heart on it. A widow's clothing is never taken at all. And when you forget a sheaf in the field, you do not go back for it — it belongs to the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. Twice the reason is the same: you were a slave in Egypt, and Yahweh your God redeemed you.
Chapter 24 protects the poor from creditors and employers. Chapter 25 protects them from courts, scales, and a brother who will not do his duty.
24:1–9 — He takes a life in pledge
The divorce certificate — which Jesus explains was permitted because of hardness of heart rather than commanded — and then a run of protections. A new husband is exempt from war for a YEAR, to cheer his wife. And the millstone rule contains the chapter's sharpest sentence: taking a man's mill in pledge is taking A LIFE in pledge, because he cannot make bread without it.
1 When a man takes a wife and marries her, then it shall be, if she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some unseemly thing in her, that he shall write her a certificate of divorce, put it in her hand, and send her out of his house. 2 When she has departed out of his house, she may go and be another man’s wife. 3 If the latter husband hates her, and writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house; or if the latter husband dies, who took her to be his wife; 4 her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife after she is defiled; for that would be an abomination to Yahweh. You shall not cause the land to sin, which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance. 5 When a man takes a new wife, he shall not go out in the army, neither shall he be assigned any business. He shall be free at home one year, and shall cheer his wife whom he has taken. 6 No man shall take the mill or the upper millstone as a pledge, for he takes a life in pledge. 7 If 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. 8 Be 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. 9 Remember what Yahweh your God did to Miriam, by the way as you came out of Egypt.
24:10–15 — Before the sun goes down
Two laws about dignity, and both turn on time. A creditor may not enter the house to choose the pledge — he waits OUTSIDE and takes what is brought — so a poor man's home is not searched. And a poor man's cloak must be back before sundown, because he sleeps in it. The same deadline governs wages: paid the same day, because he is counting on it.
10 When you lend your neighbor any kind of loan, you shall not go into his house to get his pledge. 11 You shall stand outside, and the man to whom you lend shall bring the pledge outside to you. 12 If he is a poor man, you shall not sleep with his pledge. 13 You 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 Yahweh your God. 14 You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers or one of the foreigners who are in your land within your gates. 15 In his day you shall give him his wages, neither shall the sun go down on it, for he is poor and sets his heart on it, lest he cry against you to Yahweh, and it be sin to you.
24:16–22 — The sheaf you forgot
A principle far ahead of its era — each man dies for HIS OWN sin, no executing a criminal's children — and then the gleaning laws, whose mechanism is deliberate inefficiency. Forget a sheaf and leave it. Beat the olive tree once and don't go back. The poor are provided for by a harvest run at less than maximum yield, and the reason given each time is Egypt.
16 The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers. Every man shall be put to death for his own sin. 17 You shall not deprive the foreigner or the fatherless of justice, nor take a widow’s clothing in pledge; 18 but you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and Yahweh your God redeemed you there. Therefore I command you to do this thing. 19 When you reap your harvest in your field, and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you shall not go again to get it. It shall be for the foreigner, for the fatherless, and for the widow, that Yahweh your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. 20 When you beat your olive tree, you shall not go over the boughs again. It shall be for the foreigner, for the fatherless, and for the widow. 21 When you harvest your vineyard, you shall not glean it after yourselves. It shall be for the foreigner, for the fatherless, and for the widow. 22 You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt. Therefore I command you to do this thing.
Scripture text: World English Bible (public domain).