Deuteronomy 24:11
Thou shalt stand abroad, and the man to whom thou dost lend shall bring out the pledge abroad unto thee.
Thou shall stand abroad,.... Without doors, in the street, as the Targum of Jonathan, while the borrower or debtor looks out, and brings forth what he can best spare as a pledge:
and the man to whom thou dost lend shall bring out the pledge abroad unto thee; now as, on the one hand, if the lender or creditor had been allowed to go in and take what he pleased for a pledge, he would choose the best; so, on the other hand, the borrower or debtor would be apt to bring the worst, what was of the least value and use; wherefore the Jews made it a rule that it should be of a middling sort, between both, lest it should be a discouragement and hinderance to lend upon pledges {l}.
{l} Misn. Gittin, c. 5. sect. 1. Maimon. & Bartenora in ib.