Debtor

Debtor in the Topics

Various regulations as to the relation between debtor and creditor are laid down in the Scriptures.

(1.) The debtor was to deliver up as a pledge to the creditor what he could most easily dispense with (Deut 24:10, Deut 24:11).

(2.) A mill, or millstone, or upper garment, when given as a pledge, could not be kept over night (Ex 22:26, Ex 22:27).

(3.) A debt could not be exacted during the Sabbatic year (Deut 15:1–15).

For other laws bearing on this relation see Lev 25:14, Lev 25:32, Lev 25:39; Matt 18:25, Matt 18:34.

(4.) A surety was liable in the same way as the original debtor (Prov 11:15; Prov 17:18).

From Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897), by Matthew George Easton.