10 When you make a loan of any kind to your neighbor, don't enter his house to claim his pledge. 11 Wait outside. Let the man to whom you made the pledge bring the pledge to you outside. 12 And if he is destitute, don't use his cloak as a bedroll; 13 return it to him at nightfall so that he can sleep in his cloak and bless you. In the sight of God, your God, that will be viewed as a righteous act.
14 Don't abuse a laborer who is destitute and needy, whether he is a fellow Israelite living in your land and in your city. 15 Pay him at the end of each workday; he's living from hand to mouth and needs it now. If you hold back his pay, he'll protest to God and you'll have sin on your books. 16 Parents shall not be put to death for their children, nor children for their parents. Each person shall be put to death for his own sin. 17 Make sure foreigners and orphans get their just rights. Don't take the cloak of a widow as security for a loan. 18 Don't ever forget that you were once slaves in Egypt and God, your God, got you out of there. I command you: Do what I'm telling you. 19 When you harvest your grain and forget a sheaf back in the field, don't go back and get it; leave it for the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow so that God, your God, will bless you in all your work. 20 When you shake the olives off your trees, don't go back over the branches and strip them bare - what's left is for the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow. 21 And when you cut the grapes in your vineyard, don't take every last grape - leave a few for the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow. 22 Don't ever forget that you were a slave in Egypt. I command you: Do what I'm telling you.
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Matthew Henry's Commentary on Deuteronomy 24:10-22
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.
Commentary on Deuteronomy 24:14-22
(Read Deuteronomy 24:14-22)
It is not hard to prove that purity, piety, justice, mercy, fair conduct, kindness to the poor and destitute, consideration for them, and generosity of spirit, are pleasing to God, and becoming in his redeemed people. The difficulty is to attend to them in our daily walk and conversation.