Bryant G. Wood
In Bible times the average person did not own much in the way of material goods. The most valued piece of personal property for the majority of individuals seems to have been his or her bgd. This Hebrew word means “covering” and is usually translated “cloak.” It was an outer garment, much like our overcoat of today. Everyone needed and owned a cloak (see cover photo). This was because it not only kept one warm during the day in cold weather, it also served as a covering at night. Since there was no central heating in those days and nights were (and are) cold throughout the year, a cloak was an absolutely essential article.
So important was a person’s cloak to his or her well-being, that there were special laws concerning the cloak. When someone was forced to borrow money, in most cases the only collateral they could offer was their cloak. In fact, the words “pledge” and “cloak” are, at times, synonymous in the Old Testament. When a cloak was taken as a pledge, Mosaic law required the lender to return the cloak at sunset, so that the borrower could survive the rigors of the cold night:
If you lend money to one of my people among you who is needy, do not be like a moneylender; charge him no interest. If you take your neighbor’s cloak as a pledge, return it to him by sunset, because his cloak is the only covering for his body. What else will he sleep in? When he cries out to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate. (Ex 22:25–27, NIV)
When you make a loan of any kind to your neighbor, do not go into his house to get what he is offering as a pledge. Stay outside and let the man to whom you are making the loan bring the pledge out to you. If the man is poor, do not go to sleep with his pledge in your possession. Return his cloak to him by sunset so that he may sleep in it. Then he will thank you, and it will be regarded as a righteous act in the sight of the Lord your God. (Dt 24:10–13, NIV)
Amos accused Israel of the sin of not returning pledge cloaks at sunset, but instead “laying down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge” (2:8, NIV).
In the case of widows, lenders were forbidden to take a cloak as collateral:
Do not deprive the alien or the fatherless of justice, or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge. (Dt 24:17. NIV)
The cloak is mentioned along with the ox, sheep and donkey as valuable possessions which are to be returned if found:
If you see your brother’s ox or sheep straying, do not ignore it but be sure to take it back to him. If the brother does not live near you or if you do not know who he is, take it home with you and keep it until he comes looking for it. Then give it back to him. Do the same if you find your brother’s donkey or his cloak or anything he loses. Do not ignore it. (Dt 22:1–3, NIV)
One of the sins Eliphaz accused Job of committing was that of taking a garment (pledge) without cause:
You demanded security from your brothers for no reason; you stripped men of their clothing, leaving them naked. (Jb 22:6, NIV)
The only non-Biblical document to be found in the Holy Land which has
BSP 4:3 (Summer 1991) p. 96
Ostracon found at Metsad Hashavyahu
to do with everyday life is concerned with none other than a cloak. It is an urgent request by a laborer to have his cloak returned after it had been confiscated. Found in 1960 in an ancient fortress on the Mediterranean coast 11 miles south of Tel Aviv, the text is comprised of 14 lines written in ink on a potsherd (an “ostracon”). The ancient name of the fortress remains a mystery. Today it is known as Metsad Hashavyahu, after an official named in another ostracon found at the site (metsad in Hebrew means “fort”). Occupied for only a short period during the late seventh century BC, the fortress was probably built by Josiah.
The text reads as follows:
Let my lord commander hear the case of his servant! As for thy servant, thy servant was harvesting at Hazarsusim (?). And thy servant was (still) harvesting as they finished the storage of grain, as usual before the Sabbath. While thy servant was finishing the storage of grain with his harvesters, Hoshaiah son of Shobal came and took thy servant’s bgd (cloak). (It was) while I was finishing with my harvesters (that) this one for no reason took thy servant’s bgd. And all my companions will testify on my behalf — those who were harvesting with me in the heat (?) […] all my companions will testify on my behalf! If I am innocent of guilt, let him return my bgd, and if not, it is (still) the commander’s right to take [my case under advisement (?) and to send word] to him [(asking) that he return the] bgd of thy servant. And let not [the plea of his servant] be displeasing to him!
Apparently the reaper’s cloak was taken while he was working. The reason for this is not stated. It may have been for some infraction which he was unwilling to admit in his appeal. Although it is not found in the Bible, according to Talmudic sources, the confiscation of garments was carried out as a sanction against hired laborers as late as the third century AD.
The Metsad Hashavyahu inscription points up the importance of a cloak to the average citizen. This is reflected in the Bible also, as we have seen. The discovery of this ancient inscription is yet another in a long list of evidences clearly demonstrating that the Bible is composed of contemporary documents—eye-witness accounts accurately portraying everyday life and events.
References:
J. D. Amusin and M. L. Heltzer, “The Inscription from Metsad Hashavyahu: Complaint of a Reaper of the Seventh Century B.C.,” Israel Exploration Journal 14(1964), pp. 148-57.
W.F. Albright, “A Letter From the Time of Josiah,” in Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, ed. James B. Pritchard, Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, 1969, p. 568.
Bible and Spade 4:4 (Autumn 1991)