My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger,
To be surety for a friend and to strike hands with a stranger is to pledge payment and bind oneself to answer for another person's debt. The verse stands in the opening seven chapters of Proverbs, which call the reader to heed instruction and reproof and choose wisdom as the path of life, while rejecting that counsel leads to spiritual disease and death.
Signing another person's paper is a real obligation and not a mere form. One should pledge only if willing and able to pay the full amount oneself, able to do so without harming one's own household, and willing to give that sum outright. Otherwise going surety is folly, sin, and shame. The danger is real because the borrower may become insolvent through business failure, illness, death, poor management of an estate, or dishonesty. Treating the pledge as a mere form can then leave the surety responsible for debts that consume his property and harm his household without saving his friend.
Such a commitment can entrap a person through what he has undertaken and bring serious loss, so the counsel is to be cautious about becoming surety. Taking such responsibility can bring severe hardship, so the practical course is to refuse to become another's security. This holds even when a man is pressed by social pressure to sign as security for a wealthy acquaintance's loan and assumes the wealth makes the risk small, yet he is troubled and in danger.
Binding oneself by pledge or agreement includes striking hands with insurance companies, so believers should not insure their lives, health, or property through worldly institutions, but should do their duty and trust the Lord to protect what belongs to him.
To be surety for a friend and to strike hands with a stranger is to pledge payment and bind oneself to answer for another person's debt. The verse stands in the opening seven chapters of Proverbs, which call the reader to heed instruction and reproof and choose wisdom as the path of life, while rejecting that counsel leads to spiritual disease and death.
Signing another person's paper is a real obligation and not a mere form. One should pledge only if willing and able to pay the full amount oneself, able to do so without harming one's own household, and willing to give that sum outright. Otherwise going surety is folly, sin, and shame. The danger is real because the borrower may become insolvent through business failure, illness, death, poor management of an estate, or dishonesty. Treating the pledge as a mere form can then leave the surety responsible for debts that consume his property and harm his household without saving his friend.
Such a commitment can entrap a person through what he has undertaken and bring serious loss, so the counsel is to be cautious about becoming surety. Taking such responsibility can bring severe hardship, so the practical course is to refuse to become another's security. This holds even when a man is pressed by social pressure to sign as security for a wealthy acquaintance's loan and assumes the wealth makes the risk small, yet he is troubled and in danger.
Binding oneself by pledge or agreement includes striking hands with insurance companies, so believers should not insure their lives, health, or property through worldly institutions, but should do their duty and trust the Lord to protect what belongs to him.