Proverbs 6:1-5

If His Son Has Become Surety For Another He Should Seek To Obtain Release From His Obligation At All Costs (Proverbs 6:1).

To become a surety is to guarantee to pay someone else's debts if that person fails to pay. A surety is usually a man of some worth. The idea here must be that the surety has committed himself to more than he could afford, because he was so sure that he would not be called on to act upon it. He would hardly need to go to all this trouble about something that he could well afford. The thought is that he has put himself under an obligation that could ruin him, and is therefore to make every effort to obtain his release before it is too late. This is in accordance with the words of Proverbs 22:26, ‘do not be of those who strike hands, or of those who are sureties for debts, if you do not have the wherewithal to pay, why should he take your bed from under you?'

Solomon was very much against the idea of acting as a surety. As he says in Proverbs 11:15, ‘he who is surety for a stranger will smart for it, but he who hates suretyship is secure, and in Proverbs 17:18 it is ‘a man void of understanding' who ‘ strikes hands, and becomes surety in the presence of his neighbour.' It is, of course, a different matter when a father acts as surety for his own son's debt, where he is in a sense thereby guaranteeing the household debt.

The fact that he has put himself in the stranger's (or the neighbour's) power (Proverbs 6:1) is reminiscent of putting himself in the strange woman's power in chapter 5. Both no doubt used assuring words to him. And both are using their influence, one sexual the other commercial, in a way which could bring him down. Of both we could argue ‘beware of the subtleties of strangers'. It is not anti-stranger as such. Israel were to welcome strangers among them. It is a reminder that ‘strangers' see things in a different way from Israelites. They have no Torah.

Note once again the chiastic structure. He has snared himself by his promises (Proverbs 6:1) -- he must therefore seek to deliver himself from the snare (Proverbs 6:5). He is to deliver himself (Proverbs 6:3) -- he is to deliver himself (Proverbs 6:5). Centrally he is to make every effort to obtain release (Proverbs 6:3).

Proverbs 6:1

‘My son, if you have become surety for your neighbour,

If you have struck your hands for a stranger,

You are snared with the words of your mouth,

You are taken with the words of your mouth.'

The passage commences with ‘my son, ‘if --.' Compare for this construction Proverbs 1:10. Here Solomon follows it up by declaring that to make yourself surety for another person's debts is to unconsciously have entered into a trap which could spring at any moment. It is to enter into a time of uncertainty, for no one can be sure of what the outcome will be. By this means many good-hearted persons have ruined themselves. Of course if it is for an amount that the surety can easily afford to lose there is no problem. The problem occurs when the surety has committed himself beyond his means because he expected never to be called on to pay. The giving of assurances (the words of his mouth) and the striking of hands was the method of sealing the contract.

There are two possible scenarios here. The first is that the neighbour is the one he has become surety for, as an act of compassion, and the ‘stranger' or foreigner is the one to whom the obligation will have to be paid, the one who has given the loan. In this case it would necessarily be a foreigner because Israelites were expected to lend to the poor without security (Deuteronomy 15:1). The other is that the surety is given to the neighbour (fellow-Israelite) on behalf of the stranger, on a commercial basis. This would tie in with Proverbs 11:15, and explain better why he has to plead with his neighbour. In this case it would have been a commercial transaction in the sense that the one who gave the surety was doing so in return for a commission. This may well have been somewhat high which would help to explain why the surety is classed with the sluggard, as wishing to obtain wealth without working for it, and with the worthless man as an extortioner.

The striking of the hand to act as surety is elsewhere described as the action of a man lacking in understanding (Proverbs 17:18), and as something to be avoided (Proverbs 22:26). Solomon may well have presided over many cases where sureties were bankrupted and sold with their families into bondage.

Proverbs 6:3

‘Do this now, my son, and deliver yourself,

Seeing you have come into the hand of your neighbour,

Go, humble yourself,

And importune your neighbour,

Note the repetition of ‘my son'. This demonstrates that it was not Rehoboam or another natural son in mind. Solomon with all his wealth would hardly have seen his natural sons as being in danger for acting as a surety. Nor would they have needed to do so. He points out that a person who has entered into such an obligation is to seek to escape from it at all costs. If he has given the surety on behalf of his neighbour, then he has in fact put himself totally at the mercy of his neighbour, for now his neighbour can renege on his obligation leaving him to pick up the debt. He can simply not bother to work it off, because he knows that his surety will pay up (he can be a sluggard), or even deliberately act deceitfully towards his surety (he can be a worthless person). He should therefore go immediately and humble himself before his neighbour, pleading with him and importuning him to work hard to pay off the loan. Note the command to ‘go' (compare Proverbs 6:10). He is not to hang about or slumber and sleep, but to act decisively, just as the sluggard is advised to do the same (Proverbs 6:6; Proverbs 6:11).

In this scenario the neighbour is in no position to cancel the surety (only the creditor can do that), so presumably the idea is that he importunes him to work hard to pay of his debt as soon as possible. In other words he pleads with him not to be a sluggard.

In the second scenario he is pleading with the neighbour to release the security, and possibly offering him payment in order to persuade him to do so. This seems to fit the sense better. If he succeeds he will be much worse off, but at least he will not be facing ruin.

The point behind all this is in order to bring home the lesson of not acting as someone's surety. It is to point out that it could lead to many sleepless nights, and even to ruin, and possibly indicates Solomon's (and God's) disapproval of obtaining wealth by this means.

Proverbs 6:4

Do not give sleep to your eyes,

Nor slumber to your eyelids,

Deliver yourself as a roe from the hand,

And as a bird from the hand of the fowler.'

The situation is so urgent that he must not sleep or give himself to slumber (as the sluggard does - Proverbs 6:10). He must not be a sluggard. Rather he must put every effort into escaping from the trap into which he has fallen. He has to seek to escape with the desperation of a roe/gazelle escaping ‘from the hand', that is from the hunter who is trying to capture him (compare ‘the hand of your neighbour - Proverbs 6:3. The simple ‘from the hand' emphasises the comparison), or like a terrified bird escaping from the hand of the fowler. And the only way that he can do that is by ensuring that the neighbour does not renege on his debt, or alternatively by buying off his liability to his neighbour.

An alternative interpretation is to see ‘the neighbour' and ‘the stranger' as the same person, and therefore the creditor, but that is not to take the obvious meaning of the words. Nor is it clear how someone who has lent on security can be persuaded to relinquish that security before the debt is paid, especially if he is ‘a stranger'. It would, however make sense if it was to be achieved by a commercial payment. This would necessarily be less than the amount assured as the lender would still hope to recover the debt. What he was losing was the security.