Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadJames Hastings Dictionary of the Bible: Pledge
Subjects in this Topic:
PLEDGE.—The taking of a pledge for the re-payment of a loan was sanctioned by the Law, but a humanitarian provision was introduced to the effect that, when this pledge consisted of the large square outer garment or cioak called simlah, it must be returned before nightfali, since this garment often formed the only covering of the poor at night (Exo_22:26 f., Deu_24:12 f.; cf. Amo_2:8, Job_22:6; Job_24:9, Eze_18:7; Eze_18:12; Eze_18:16; Eze_33:15). It was forbidden also to take the mill or the upper millstone as a pledge (Deu_24:6). In Isa_36:8 the reference is to a pledge to be forfeited if a wager is lost (cf. RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ). In I S17:18 ‘take their pledge’ probably means ‘bring back a token of their welfare’ (Driver).