Debtor

Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words

1: Ὀφειλέτης (Strong'S #3781 — Noun Masculine — opheiletes — of-i-let'-ace )

"one who owes anything to another," primarily in regard to money; in  Matthew 18:24 , "who owed" (lit., "one was brought, a debtor to him of ten thousand talents"). The slave could own property, and so become a "debtor" to his master, who might seize him for payment.

 Romans 1:14 Romans 8:12 Romans 15:27 Galatians 5:3 Matthew 6:12 Luke 13:4

2: Χρεωφειλέτης (Strong'S #5533 — Noun Masculine — chreopheiletes — khreh-o-fi-let'-ace )

lit., "a debt-ower" (chreos, "a loan, a debt," and No. 1), is found in  Luke 7:41 , of the two "debtors" mentioned in the Lord's parable addressed to Simon the Pharisee, and in  Luke 16:5 , of the "debtors" in the parable of the unrighteous steward. This parable indicates a system of credit in the matter of agriculture. In the Sept.,  Job 31:37 , "having taken nothing from the debtor;"  Proverbs 29:13 , "when the creditor and the debtor meet together." The word is more expressive than No. 1.

 Matthew 23:16

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

One under obligations, whether pecuniary or moral,  Matthew 23:16   Romans 1:14   Galatians 5:3 . If the house, cattle, or goods of a Hebrew would not meet his debts, his land might be appropriated for this purpose until the year of Jubilee, or his person might be reduced into servitude till he had paid his debt by his labor, or till the year of Jubilee, which terminated Hebrew bondage in all cases,  Leviticus 25:29-41   2 Kings 4:1   Nehemiah 5:3-5 .

Easton's Bible Dictionary

A surety was liable in the same way as the original debtor ( Proverbs 11:15;  17:18 ).

Copyright Statement These dictionary topics are from M.G. Easton M.A., DD Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Third Edition, published by Thomas Nelson, 1897. Public Domain.

Bibliography Information Easton, Matthew George. Entry for 'Debtor'. Easton's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/ebd/d/debtor.html. 1897.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Debtor. See Loan .

Webster's Dictionary

(n.) One who owes a debt; one who is indebted; - correlative to creditor.

King James Dictionary

DEBT'OR, n. det'tor.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

( חוֹב , chob, debt,  Ezekiel 18:7; Χρεωφειλέτης , ower of money,  Luke 7:41;  Luke 16:5;. elsewhere simply Ὀφειλέτης . See generally the prop. Hebrew words לָוָה נָשָׁא , G, Gesenius, Thes. eb. p. 920. The Mosaic laws respecting pecuniary obligations differ in many points from those of modern nations, but this is no proof that they were not suitable to the people for whom they were designed, and it is certain that they are pervaded by a spirit of kindness to the debtor to which no parallel is to be found in the codes of antiquity. (See Loan). Though they at least tacitly allow of the sale of a debtor as a slave ( Leviticus 25:39-40), they also direct that his treatment shall be that of "an hired servant and a sojourner," while the law of the Twelve Tables authorized putting an insolvent debtor to death, and both Grecian and Roman history abound with instances of the disturbances caused in those states by the severity with which this class was dealt with. The laws of Moses are, however, by no means regardless of the rights of creditors, as we find that persons who had property due to them might, if they chose, secure it either by means of a mortgage, or by a pledge, or by a bondsman or surety. The chief provisions in the Scripture on the subject are the following:

1. The creditor, when about to receive a pledge for a debt, was not allowed to enter the debtor's house and take what he pleased, but was to wait before the door till the debtor should deliver up the pledge with which he could most easily dispense ( Deuteronomy 24:10-11;  Job 22:6;  Job 24:3;  Job 24:7;  Job 24:9).

2. When a mill, or mill-stone, or an upper garment was given as a pledge, it was not to be kept all night. These articles appear to be mentioned as examples for all other things which the debtor could not without great inconvenience dispense with ( Exodus 22:26-27;  Deuteronomy 24:6;  Deuteronomy 24:12).

3. The debt which remained unpaid until the seventh or Sabbatic year (during which the soil was to be left without cultivation, and, consequently, a person was not supposed to be in a condition to make payments) could not be exacted during that period ( Deuteronomy 15:1-11). But at other times, in case the debt was not paid, the creditors might seize, first, the hereditary land of the debtor, and enjoy its produce until the debt was paid, or at least until the year of jubilee; or, secondly, his houses. These might be sold in perpetuity, except those belonging to the Levites ( Leviticus 25:14;  Leviticus 25:32). Thirdly, in case the house or land was not sufficient to cancel the debt, or if it so happened that the debtor had none, the person of the debtor might be sold, together with his wife and children, if he had any. This is implied in  Leviticus 25:39, and this custom is alluded to in  Job 24:9. It existed in the time of Elisha ( 2 Kings 4:1), and on the return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity some rich persons exercised this right over their poor debtors ( Nehemiah 5:13). Our Lord alludes to the same custom in  Matthew 18:25. As the person of the debtor might thus be seized and sold, his cattle and furniture were undoubtedly liable for his debts ( Proverbs 22:27). It does not appear that imprisonment for debt existed in the age of Moses, but it seems to have prevailed in the time of our Savior ( Matthew 18:34).

4. If a person had become bondsman or surety for another, he was liable to be called upon for payment in the same way with the original debtor. But this practice does not appear to have obtained before the time of Solomon, when it was attended with serious consequences. It seems that the formality observed was for the person who became surety to give his hand to the debtor, and not to the creditor, to intimate that he became, in a legal sense, one with the debtor; for Solomon cautions his son against giving his hand to a stranger, to a person whose circumstances he did not know; and entreats him to go and urge the person to whom he had given his hand, or for whom he had become surety, to pay his own debt ( Proverbs 11:15;  Proverbs 17:18;  Proverbs 22:26), (See Debt).