22:21–24 These stipulations prohibit oppressing or taking advantage of the socially vulnerable. The word “sojourner” may also be translated “resident alien,” that is, someone living in a foreign land (Gen. 15:13; Ex. 2:22). Resident aliens did not own land and thus had to make their living by hiring out their labor (Ex. 23:12; Lev. 25:39–40; Deut. 5:14; 29:11) or perhaps from trade. Their lack of land ownership, combined with their possibly starting from scratch in a foreign land among its unfamiliar language, customs, and prices, made sojourners vulnerable to financial difficulty and exploitation (cf. note 254 within comment on 12:43–50). In a modern context this category might include resident aliens, refugees, or migrant workers.531 The Israelites are forbidden from “wronging” them (Ex. 22:21), a word that “usually connotes economic exploitation, the deprivation of property, or denial of legal rights.”532 Neither could they “oppress” them, a word used earlier in Exodus to describe Pharaoh’s cruel mistreatment of the Israelites (3:9). Not only did the Lord abhor such wronging and oppression (Isa. 3:14; 10:1–2; Amos 5:11–12; etc.), but the Israelites personally experienced these horrors when they “were sojourners in the land of Egypt” (Ex. 22:21; cf. 23:9). Loving their neighbors as themselves meant not putting sojourners through the same type of treatment (cf. Lev. 19:33–34) and in fact extending to them compassion and care (Lev. 19:9–10; Deut. 10:18–19).

“Widows” and the “fatherless” were also socially vulnerable if not taken into a larger household to enjoy economic security. Not surprisingly, they are often listed with “resident aliens” as those who are especially susceptible to oppression and poverty (Deut. 10:18; 24:17, 19; etc.). The Israelites must in no way “mistreat” them (Ex. 22:22), a word used also to describe the ways in which the Israelites were “afflicted” and “oppressed” in Egypt (1:11–12; the Hb. verb is the same in each instance). If the Israelites do so, the Lord will be sure to hear the resulting cries for help, and his “wrath will burn” at such cruelty and injustice. He himself will “surely hear their cry” and take up their cause, fatally punishing their oppressors, with the result that their own wives will become widows and their own children fatherless (22:23–24).533

22:25–27 These stipulations encourage generosity and kindness to those in financial difficulty. Two situations are considered. In the first a fellow Israelite has become poor.534 Those who lend money to them should not act as a normal money lender and charge interest (v. 25). These Israelite poor are fellow members of God’s people, and therefore family rules apply: just as someone would not charge interest to a brother or sister in financial difficulty, neither should one with a fellow Israelite.535 But this is a loan, not a gift. In Israel’s context the loan could be used to plant crops and produce a harvest, enabling the loan’s repayment and the borrower’s escape from poverty. There is always some risk involved, however, so lending is viewed as an act of generosity, is praised elsewhere as a mark of the righteous (Pss. 15:1–5; 37:26; cf. esp. Luke 6:34),536 and is said to be rewarded by the Lord himself (Prov. 19:17).

In the second situation the lender asks the borrower to give a “pledge,” that is, an item of worth that will cover the loan if the borrower defaults (Ex. 22:26–27). The Bible recognizes that many cannot afford to risk loans that default and also affirms that those who borrow should repay, so asking for collateral is only fair. The pledge in this instance is a garment. Garment making in the ancient Near East was very labor intensive, since all the materials and the garment itself had to be made by hand. This in turn made them very valuable and possible pledge items. The context suggests that the “cloak” was an outer garment worn over other clothes (no one would have given his only garment in pledge, since public nakedness was forbidden). Apparently it decently covered the body and could serve as a type of blanket in the cold desert evenings (Deut. 24:12–13). Given the function of this garment, the lender had to return a neighbor’s cloak by sunset so that the neighbor could avoid undue hardship. If not, the Lord would again hear and show his compassion by judging the lender and helping the borrower. The Israelites were to avoid this judgment by showing such compassion themselves, the principle being that loving a neighbor well sometimes means temporarily suspending one’s own financial rights. (For related laws cf. Deut. 15:7–11; 24:6, 10–13, 17.)