Proverbs 6:1-5 My son, if you be surety for your friend, if you have stricken your hand with a stranger,… A surety is one who becomes security for a debt due by another. The customary or legal forms which render suretyship valid differ in different countries. Allusion here is to the practice of the surety confirming his engagement by giving his hand to the creditor, in presence of witnesses. The prohibition must not be taken as unqualified. There are cases in which suretyship is unavoidable. The law sometimes requires it. But the less of it the better. I. IT IS WRONG FOR A MAN TO COME UNDER ENGAGEMENTS THAT ARE BEYOND HIS ACTUALLY EXISTING MEANS. Such a course is not merely imprudent; there is in it a threefold injustice. 1. To the creditor for whom he becomes surety, inasmuch as the security is fallacious, not covering the extent of the risk. 2. To his family, to whom the payment may bring distress and ruin. 3. To those who give him credit in his own transactions; for, in undertaking suretyships, he involves himself in the risks of other trades besides his own. II. IT IS WRONG TO MAKE ENGAGEMENTS WITH INCONSIDERATION AND RASHNESS. The case here treated is that of suretyship for a friend to a stranger; and the rashness and haste may be viewed in relation either to the person or to the ease. Men, when they feel the generous impulse of friendly emotion, are apt to think at the moment only of themselves, as if the risk were all their own, and to forget that they are making creditors and family securities, without asking their consent, or making them aware of their risks. Suretyships for strangers are specially condemned. (R. Wardlaw.) Parallel Verses KJV: My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger, |
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