5 'When a man taketh a new wife, he doth not go out into the host, and 'one' doth not pass over unto him for anything; free he is at his own house one year, and hath rejoiced his wife whom he hath taken. 6 'None doth take in pledge millstones, and rider, for life it 'is' he is taking in pledge. 7 'When a man is found stealing a person, of his brethren, of the sons of Israel, and hath tyrannized over him, and sold him, then hath that thief died, and thou hast put away the evil thing out of thy midst. 8 'Take heed, in the plague of leprosy, to watch greatly, and to do according to all that the priests, the Levites, teach you; as I have commanded them ye observe to do; 9 remember that which Jehovah thy God hath done to Miriam in the way, in your coming out of Egypt. 10 'When thou liftest up on thy brother a debt of anything, thou dost not go in unto his house to obtain his pledge; 11 at the outside thou dost stand, and the man on whom thou art lifting 'it' up is bringing out unto thee the pledge at the outside. 12 'And if he is a poor man, thou dost not lie down with his pledge; 13 thou dost certainly give back to him the pledge at the going in of the sun, and he hath lain down in his own raiment, and hath blessed thee; and to thee it is righteousness before Jehovah thy God.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Deuteronomy 24:5-13
Commentary on Deuteronomy 24:5-13
(Read Deuteronomy 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.