Text: Deuteronomy 24:6
OT Text Referred to: Exodus 22:26-27
Subject: essential property protected from seizure
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Allusion
Connection Method(s): None
Significance: Exodus 22:26-27 protects the poor man's garment from permanent seizure as a pledge, and Deuteronomy 24:6 extends this protection to millstones: "No one shall take a pair of millstones... as security, for that would be taking a life (נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh) as security." Both texts establish the principle that items essential to survival may not be taken as loan collateral—garments for bodily warmth and millstones for daily food preparation. Deuteronomy's theological justification ("taking a life") articulates the principle that undergirds both laws: seizing the means of subsistence is tantamount to threatening the debtor's existence.