Taking A Pledge

Across Mosaic Law, the subject of accepting and returning pledges for debt, or items held by the lender as security in case the lendee fails to repay, comes up.  Deuteronomy 24:6, for instance, says to never seize someone's millstones as security (a pledge) for a debt/loan because this would be taking someone's livelihood as a pledge.  Like many things in Mosaic Law, it logically follows from this that other things would be immoral as well, for the reason given in the verse, someone's livelihood being at stake, would apply to not only millstones, but also to any technological means of making food or using a trade to earn money to live.  Thus, an entire category of items is forbidden for seizure by this one verse, not even for a day.

Another category of security is addressed in Exodus 22:26-27 and elsewhere.  This type of pledge is that of clothing.  The aforementioned verses say that someone who offers their cloak as security must have it returned by sunset because they will have nothing else to sleep in.  Yes, the text specifically says the article of clothing is the only covering this person had, possibly due to poverty in light of Exodus 22:25 prohibiting the charging of interest to the poor (see Leviticus 25:35-37 also).  To deprive them of this when they would otherwise sleep vulnerable to the elements is to mistreat them, this teaches.

An often ignored ramification of this is actually that the person's body would be naked, visible to all, until the pledge was returned before nightfall, and in this case, the cloak is returned so soon specifically because they have nothing else to wear; public nudity is absolutely nonsinful under the supposedly prudish laws of the Torah and is in fact outright acknowledged throughout the Old Testament as neutral or even as good, acknowledged directly or indirectly throughout Genesis and Mosaic Law as something that is by no means evil to partake in or view.  Whether due to personal preference or sensual appreciation or poverty with its need for offering pledges, the body can be displayed uncovered.

When Deuteronomy 24:13 mentions returning a cloak by sunset, it does not say that they by default have no other clothing, though it does reiterate the obligation to ensure they can sleep in it.  Deuteronomy 24:17 does exclude a widow's cloak from being taken, but this is due to the special repeated emphasis in the Bible on helping widows, not any sort of inherently female privilege or general prudery (men's and women's bodies can be freely shown and seen according to the parameters of the Torah, contrary to popular expectations and assumptions).  The same vulnerability of a poor widow could be had by a widower, after all, and neither gender's body is unfit to be seen or deserving of special reverence one way or another.

Whatever the item being taken, however, Deuteronomy 24:10-11 addresses the general process of securing a pledge.  If it is in someone's home, the lender is to allow the debtor to bring it out themself and not forcefully enter their dwelling and disrespect their autonomy.  Verse 12 adds that a poor debtor should always have their pledge returned, clothing or not.  While the following verse again mentions a cloak like Exodus 22:26-27, Deuteronomy 24:12 does not.  The borrower's dignity, safety, and comfort is clearly always prioritized over the lender constantly having a pledge to hold over the lendee.  Their livelihood is not threatened, their bodily vulnerability is limited to daylight, and the belongings of the poor are repeatedly given back by night.