(2.) It regulated thoughtfully and compassionately the whole subject of _pledges_, _i. e._ securities for the payment of debt. As first announced (Ex. 22: 26, 27), it provided that if the poor man’s garment were taken in pledge, it must certainly be restored to him by sundown, because it was his bed-covering for the night; and God would surely hear the poor man’s cry if he were compelled to lay himself down to sleep with no covering.――――As subsequently revised or enlarged (Deut. 24: 6, 10–13, 17), the statute peremptorily forbade taking the upper or the nether millstone in pledge, because no oriental family could subsist without these. It also forbade the creditor to go in to the poor man’s house to get his pledge lest he fix his covetous eye on something there, but required him to wait patiently outside for the poor man to bring it out――a provision which manifests a specially delicate regard for the feelings of the poor. He was not obliged to expose his deep poverty, nor to disclose all he had to the greedy gaze of his more wealthy neighbor.――――The law also forbade the taking of a widow’s raiment in pledge. (3.) The law was entirely explicit and positive in its prohibition of _usury_. By “usury” the Hebrew meant, not merely excessive or illegal interest, but _interest_ itself――_all_ interest――money paid for the use of money, or any thing valuable paid for the use of any other property borrowed.――――The first statute (Ex. 22: 25) was general, yet fully covered the principle: “If thou lend money to any of my people that is poor by thee, thou shalt not be to him as an usurer, neither shalt thou lay upon him usury.” The law contemplated the poor only; for the rich are presumed to be above the necessity of borrowing money. The borrowing of money as capital to be used in trade, or in manufacture, or in the purchase of land, had no place at all in the business economy of Israel. The borrowing which the law contemplated was only that of the poor man to meet his imperative necessities. A man who had no accumulations to draw from for a sick day or a casualty, must borrow or go hungry. God speaks of such poor as “my people,” and forbids taking interest on what they must needs borrow.