Text: Amos 2:8
OT Text Referred to: Exodus 22:26
Subject: Garments taken in pledge from the poor
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Allusion
Connection Method(s): None
Significance: Amos 2:8 condemns those who "lie down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge," echoing Exodus 22:26-27, which commands that a poor man's cloak (שַׂלְמָה, salmah) taken as pledge must be returned by sunset because "it is his only covering." Exodus grounds the law in divine compassion: "When he cries to Me, I will hear, for I am gracious." Amos exposes how Israel has perverted this compassion-based legislation, using confiscated garments not for legitimate security but for self-indulgent revelry at pagan altars, transforming instruments of the poor's protection into accessories of idolatrous worship.
Consolidated 2026-06-09 per the later-text → earlier-text canonical-direction ruling (Full Corpus Audit, Phase 0). The content below is preserved verbatim from the deleted file "Exodus 22.26 to Amos 2.8"; fold unique material into the Significance during the Phase 3 IP audit, then remove this section.
Text: Exodus 22:26
OT Text Referred to: Amos 2:8
Subject: fornication on the cloak of the needy
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Allusion
Connection Method(s): None
Significance: Exodus 22:26 commands that a garment taken as pledge (חֲבֹל, chavol) must be returned before sunset because "it is his only covering" (כְסוּתוֹ, kesuto)—the poor man's cloak is his blanket. Amos 2:8 indicts Israel for the brazen violation of this law: "They lie down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge" (בְּגָדִים חֲבֻלִים, begadim chavulim). The prophet's use of the same root ח-ב-ל (ch-b-l) explicitly connects the transgression to the Exodus command. The additional outrage is that these confiscated garments are used in idolatrous worship contexts—the poor man's coat becomes a cushion for pagan revelry, compounding economic exploitation with cultic violation.