Midrash for Exodus 22:26

8) Lest you say "There is food and there is drink, but without peace there is nothing!" It is, therefore written (Shemoth 22:26) "And I will put peace in the land" — whence we are apprised that peace is over and against all. And thus is it written (Isaiah 45:7) ("I) form light and create darkness. (I) make pace and create 'all.'" — whence we are apprised that peace is over and against all.

Our rabbis teach us that the borrower, the guarantor, the witnesses, and the scribes are all considered culpable, (for without them the moneylender would not have loaned his money on interest). Therefore, all of them shall be punished. Whence do we learn that the borrower is punished? It is written: Thou shalt not cause thy brother to lend upon interest (Deut. 23:20). To what can interest be likened? To a person who does not feel or notice the bite of a snake until the swelling appears. Similarly, interest is not felt until it has increased for the debtor. If thou at all take thy neighbor’s garment to pledge (Exod. 22:25). The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: If he is in debt to you, you are also in debt to Me, as it is said: If they sin against Thee—for there is no man that sinneth not (I Kings 8:46).

The two different items that were pledged—habol tahbol.²²Though Exod. 22:25 speaks only of night garments, the repetition of the word haval (havol tahbol) indicates that two different pledges are referred to, and thus that it also refers to implements required in the daytime. The verse teaches us that if one borrows the pin of a plow, he must return it upon awakening. In one verse Scripture says: Thou shalt restore the garment unto him before the sun goeth down (Exod. 22:25). And another verse states: Neither shall the sun go down (Deut. 24:15). From these verses you can conclude that just as you must return the garment in which a man sleeps in the evening, as it is said: When the sun goeth down, so you must return the pin of the plow to him in the morning, before the sun goeth down. Furthermore, In the same day thou shalt give him his hire (Deut. 24:15). Why? Since he is poor. It states likewise: For that is his only covering, it is his garment for his skin, wherein shall he sleep? (Exod. 22:26). If he does not have his garment, he will suffer from the cold during the night and will cry unto Me and I will hear him (ibid.). Two matters, similar to each other, are treated here, a pledge and a man’s hire.

In reference to a man’s hire, it is written: In the same day thou shalt give him his hire. For example, a man walking along the road, followed by his donkey, bought a sheaf of grain which he carried upon his shoulder. The donkey followed him, eager to eat the sheaf of grain. What does the owner do? He leads the donkey to the barn and ties the grain high above his head. Thereupon they say to him: “You are a miserable creature. He ran after you all the way because of the grain, and now you do not give it to him.” So too in the case of a hired man, who labors throughout the day in the hope of receiving his wages, only to be sent away empty-handed though He setteth his heart upon it (Deut. 24:15).

It is written in Scripture: I will hear; for I am gracious (Exod. 22:26), and that is followed by: Thou shalt not revile God (ibid., v. 27). What can be the connection between these two verses? Once it happened that a man had a lawsuit against his companion before a certain judge, and a decision was rendered in his favor. Whereupon he went about singing the praises of that judge: “There is not as wise a judge in all the world; he is truly an angel.” Sometime later, however, he appeared before this same judge and was found guilty. He began cursing and crying out against him: “There is no fool in the entire world like this one.” Others said to him: “Yesterday you called him an angel, and now you call him a fool.” Hence it is written: Thou shalt not revile God.

2 Rabi Abahu says it says (Exodus 23,4): 'Three pilgrimages you will celebrate for me in the year,' The Holy One established three pilgrimages and in the merit of the fathers that don't come before The Holy One empty-handed, and even in these generations even though they are troubled (narrow, stressed), the Torah has not moved from them as it says (Isiah 59,21): 'Should not be removed from your lips or your offspring lips, or your offspring's offsprings lips...'.