There are restrictions on the taking of security interests (pledges) that show up in the Bible, particularly in Deuteronomy and Ezekiel. Generally, if you take a cloak as a pledge, you need to return it before nightfall, because it gets cold on the desert (long before I was a bankruptcy lawyer here in Phoenix, Arizona, it got very chilly at night; then we paved the desert and put down a lot of blacktop, and that got fixed!). And you can't take a widow's cloak as security, period. And millstones are another area of limitations on security interests.
On the other hand, the breaking of any laws, ancient or modern, has consequences. What are the consequences for failing to observe the exemption laws of the Bible? Well, according to Ezekiel, and you should read Chapter 24, verses 10 through 13 to get the flavor, "...he will surely be put to death;" if he does not restore a pledge.
Modern secured lenders should consider how easy they have it; our limitations on secured lending are much less severe.
Leave a comment