Deuteronomy 24:10-13 When you make your neighbour a loan of any kind, you shall not go into the house to take the pledge. You shall wait outside, while the person to whom you are making the loan brings the pledge out to you. If the person is poor, you shall not sleep in the garment given you as* the pledge. You shall give the pledge back by sunset, so that your neighbour may sleep in the cloak and bless you; and it will be to your credit before the Lord your God.
It's not often I get to write brief devotional messages about obscure ancient legal codes. So here we go!
Say you're loaning money to someone and getting some collateral (in the words of Deuteronomy: a pledge) in return. Say that you take the borrower's cloak as collateral against the loan. First of all, strange collateral... but maybe that's all the person has. Maybe it's literally the shirt off their back. The law of God says don't sleep in the cloak that you got as collateral. Not sure why you'd wear someone else's cloak to sleep in, but don't.
But the point comes at the end: give the pledge (collateral) back by sunset so your poor neighbor/borrower has something to sleep in. Even if they haven't paid the loan back. Compassion is the rule. Not fairness. Not equity. Not justice. Not the going rates in the marketplace. Not the invisible hand of the market. But compassion.
Perhaps not the most inspiring verse for a morning devotional message, but as you go about your business today, think about compassion as the guiding rule. It will be to your credit before the Lord your God.
In Christ,
Pastor Seth
Worship with us this Sunday at 8:30 and 11.
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