Komentarz do Powtórzonego Prawa 24:15

ואליו הוא נשא את נפשו means, for the sake of this hire he exposes his life even unto death: he climbs up a steep staircase or hangs on to a high tree to do his work (Sifrei Devarim 279:3; Bava Metzia 112a).

IN THE SAME DAY THOU SHALT GIVE HIM HIS HIRE, NEITHER SHALT THE SUN GO DOWN UPON IT. The meaning thereof by way of the plain sense of Scripture is that this explains what is stated in the Torah, the wages of a hired servant shall not abide with thee all night until the morning,³⁶²Leviticus 19:13. for it is the manner of verses to speak of the common occurrence, and the custom is to hire a laborer for one day and for him to leave toward evening before sunset. And so Scripture commands [the employer] to pay him during his day as soon as he finishes his work, and that the sun should not set upon him [before he is paid], in order that he should be able to purchase with his wages what he, his wife, and his children, need to eat at night, for he is poor as are most of those who hire themselves out for the day, he has staked his life upon this wage to buy with it food to sustain his life. Thus he teaches us here that the intent of what He said in the Torah, the wages of a hired servant shall not abide with thee all night until the morning³⁶²Leviticus 19:13. is that you pay him during his day, for if you do not pay him when he leaves his work, he will go home and his wage will be left with you until morning and he may die of hunger at night. In a similar way is the verse, for that is his only covering, it is his garment for his skin; wherein shall he sleep?³⁶³Exodus 22:26. It states the reason for the commandment in most of these prohibitions. And our Rabbis have explained³⁶⁴Baba Metzia 110b. that the verse [the wages of a hired servant shall not abide with thee all night] until the morning³⁶²Leviticus 19:13. applies to a day-worker [who departs from work at sundown; the time for paying him his wages is the entire night, and this law is not violated before daybreak]. Then he reverted to explain here the law of a man who is hired for night-work [whose departure from work is at daybreak and the time for paying his wages is the whole day and the law is not violated until sundown]. Thus for each one, there is a twelve hour deadline for payment. This is the truth as received by tradition and is appropriate with correct interpretation.

ואליו הוא נושא את נפשו, for his very soul is in dire need of it (so that he can buy food to sustain himself). He had put himself at risk working (instead of begging) in order to receive his wages. We find a verse with a similar message in Hoseah 4,8 חטאת עמי יאכלו ואל עונם ישאו (נפשם). “The priests are dependent on the meat from the sin offerings, so that they actually hope for the people to sin so that they will be provided with such meat by being instrumental in obtaining expiation for the sinners.”

ביומו תתן שכרו, “you are to pay his wages on the day that he performed the labour.” Nachmanides explains that the wording suggests that a labourer who has worked at night must be paid during the following day, whereas a day labourer must be paid before the night is over. The plain meaning of the verse is that the wages of a labourer must not remain with the employer overnight, seeing that the Torah usually chooses the most common examples, and most labourers are hired to work by day. The thrust of the verse is to tell the employer to pay the laborer when he goes home in the evening to eat his supper, and not to require him to come back once more in order to collect his wages. If he were a poor man, what would he use to pay for his supper if he had not yet been paid?

He climbs a wall, or suspends himself from a tree. Rashi (Bava Metzia 112a) explains that he puts his life at risk for him by going up on a high ramp, and puts himself in danger of falling, and suspends himself from a tree when he climbs it.

ואליו הוא נושא את נפשו, "and his life depends on it." The Torah tells us that although paying a labourer late is at worst only a sin comparable to robbery, the penalty the Torah has in mind for the employer is as if he had committed a capital crime. When the Torah writes יהיה בך חטא "for it shall remain a sin against you," this is similar to what we find in Kings I 1,21 "and I and my son will remain sinners." In this instance the Torah first gave the reason for the penalty of the employer when it wrote: ואליו הוא נושא את נפשו "for he is risking his life for it," i.e. the penalty too will be that applicable when one had taken someone else' life.

ביומו תתן שכרו, “you are to pay him his wages on the day that he has worked.” The wages become due as soon as he has completed the required number of hours, if he was hired for the night by sunrise, and if he was hired to perform his work during daylight hours, by sunset. The employer has the rest of the day to pay the wages, as we have learned in the Talmud tractate Baba Metzia folio 111. This is based on the Torah writing here: ולא תבא עליו השמש כי עני הוא, “(on the same day you are to pay him;) before the sun sets.” We also have another verse spelling out that the night must not pass before the labourer receives his pay for the previous day’s work. (Leviticus 19 13)

והיה בך חטא [LEST HE CALL AGAINST THEE UNTO THE LORD,] AND IT BE SIN UNTO THEE — under any circumstances, even if he does not call against thee to the Lord, but greater haste is made to punish thee because of him who cries (Sifrei Devarim 279:4; cf. Rashi on Deuteronomy 15:9).

כי עני הוא, “for he is poor;” most people hiring themselves out for a day at a time are poor, and depend on every penny they have earned with their labour on that day. By trusting that particular employer to pay them on time, they are, metaphorically speaking, entrusting the employer with their lives, as they depend on that prompt payment to satisfy their most basic requirements. He might die from hunger during that night if he had not been paid and become able to buy food with that money.

Regardless, except ... swiftly, etc. And even if he does cry out [one is punished]. If so, why does it say, “So that he should not cry out against you? [Rashi answers], “Except that punishment is swiftly dispatched, etc.”

ואליו הוא נושא את נפשו, “for he has depended on being paid on time with all his heart.” We find this expression used in the same sense in Psalms 25,1: אליך ה' נפשי אשא, “to You My Lord I hope with all my soul.”