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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadMatthew Poole Commentary - Proverbs 20:16 - 20:16
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Take his garment, to wit, as a pledge, without which he ought not to be trusted, because by this action he showeth himself to be a fool, and he taketh the ready way to beggary.
Object. This precept contradicts that law which forbade the taking of a garment for a pledge, Exo_22:26.
Answ. It doth not contradict it, for the cases vastly differ; for that law concerned only the poor, who were forced to borrow for their own necessity, and therefore deserve pity; whereas this teacheth only those who are or would be thought rich and sufficient security for others, and who borrow not for their own need, but for a mere stranger, for which folly they deserve to be severely punished. Besides, this may be only a prediction, though it be delivered in the form of a precept, as many predictions are; and so shows what may be expected by him that is guilty of such folly, even that he shall be stripped of his garments and other necessaries. For a stranger; for a foreigner, or a person unknown to him. Take a pledge of him that is surety; which words are to be understood out of the foregoing clause. For a strange woman; for a harlot, who is so called, Pro_2:16, and elsewhere.