<b>The two different items that were pledged—habol tahbol.</b><sup class="footnote-marker">22</sup><i class="footnote">Though Exod. 22:25 speaks only of night garments, the repetition of the word <i>haval</i> (<i>havol tahbol</i>) indicates that two different pledges are referred to, and thus that it also refers to implements required in the daytime.</i><b></b> The verse teaches us that if one borrows the pin of a plow, he must return it upon awakening. In one verse Scripture says: <i>Thou shalt restore the garment unto him before the sun goeth down</i> (Exod. 22:25). And another verse states: <i>Neither shall the sun go down</i> (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: <i>When the sun goeth down</i>, so you must return the pin of the plow to him in the morning, <i>before the sun goeth down</i>. Furthermore, <i>In the same day thou shalt give him his hire</i> (Deut. 24:15). Why? Since he is poor. It states likewise: <i>For that is his only covering, it is his garment for his skin, wherein shall he sleep?</i> (Exod. 22:26). If he does not have his garment, he will suffer from the cold during the night and <i>will cry unto Me and I will hear him</i> (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: <i>In the same day thou shalt give him his hire</i>. 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 <i>He setteth his heart upon it</i> (Deut. 24:15).
It is written in Scripture: <i>I will hear; for I am gracious</i> (Exod. 22:26), and that is followed by: <i>Thou shalt not revile God</i> (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: <i>Thou shalt not revile God</i>.
What is written following that? <i>Thou shalt not delay to offer the fullness of thy harvest</i> (ibid.): That is to say, if you curse the judge, you curse your harvest, and so you find that whenever judges are cursed, harvests diminish considerably and famine develops, as it is said: <i>And it came to pass, in the days when the judges judged, that there was a great famine in the land</i> (Ruth 1:1). This verse indicates that this must have been a generation that passed judgment upon its judges. Hence it is said: <i>Thou shalt not revile God. Thou shalt not delay to offer of the fullness of thy harvest, and of the outflow of thy presses</i> (Exod. 22:28).