Sayings like “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger” are so very memorable precisely because they are concise. Those of us who grew
up in Christian homes often know dozens even if we have never intentionally committed them to memory. They tend to pop into our heads at the most opportune
moments.
Sure, more could have been said, but there’s
no need. We get the point.
These next nineteen verses of Proverbs are not like that at all; they are considerably more developed. They divide logically into three (or four) topics depending how you read them.
7. Wisdom Applied: Unnecessary Obligations (Proverbs 6:1-5)
Taking Pledges for Strangers
My youngest son is a ridiculously responsible individual, extremely careful with money. Thus he was more than a bit surprised a few months back to find creditors ringing his cellphone repeatedly. Picture how
disconcerting it is to have a heavily accented individual claiming to represent
some dodgy company you have never heard of breathing in your ear about the urgent repayment of a debt of which you know absolutely nothing.
It turned out a less-than-responsible friend had given my son’s name and number to six different fly-by-night loan
outfits as security in order to get his hands on a few thousand dollars he was
unable to repay. And it reminds me of this passage:
“My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, have given your pledge for a stranger … save yourself.”
Now of course my son had not put up security or signed a pledge for anyone. He stopped answering his
phone and the problem eventually went away. But we both looked over our
shoulders for a while, and with good reason.
Bobbing and Weaving
The word translated “security” or “surety” is literally “weave” or “mix” in the original Hebrew. The idea is
that you have got your affairs entangled with those of someone else.
The patriarch Judah made this sort of agreement with his father Israel to convince
him to send his youngest brother Benjamin to Egypt with him to buy food. He said to his father, “From my
hand you shall require him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him
before you, then let me bear the blame forever.” It was a binding, solemn promise that wove their fates together, making one brother accountable for the other.
Now, Judah took his pledge of accountability in a desperate situation where there seemed to be no other
option and the lives of his family were at stake. It was a noble and
sacrificial gesture. That is not the sort of thing Solomon is forbidding here.
Rather, he’s telling his sons not to make legally-binding commitments frivolously
or unnecessarily. Strangers, foreigners and even neighbors are not family. You
do not have any moral obligation to entangle yourself in their financial web
just because they ask you to. The consequences can be very serious indeed. They
can ruin a man.
Stupid, Ill-Advised and Broke
The critical importance of this advice is evident from the number of times it is repeated throughout the book of Proverbs
in different language:
“One who lacks sense gives a pledge and puts up security in the presence of his neighbor.”
“Take a man’s garment when he has put up security for a stranger, and hold it in pledge when he puts up security for foreigners.”
“Be not one of those who give pledges, who put up security for debts.”
The basic problem here is that you don’t know the guy. At best he lives nearby; at worst he’s only just wandered into the neighborhood. So going to bat for him financially, we’re told, is: (i) expressly forbidden; (ii) evidence of stupidity; and (iii) the easiest way to (literally) lose your shirt.
That’s pretty strong stuff.
Save Yourself
The other evidence that this advice is critically important is this: that Solomon tells his son, “Save yourself.” Get
out of this contract, however you must. Normally scripture teaches us to keep
our word at all cost. “Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’.” Be trustworthy. Be predictable. Stand by what you have promised. Yet here he
tells us, “Plead urgently with your neighbor. Give your eyes no sleep and your
eyelids no slumber.” There is one legitimate way out of an unwise promise, and
that is to beg the person to whom you have committed yourself to let you off
the hook. Embarrassing? Maybe. But absolutely necessary.
What drives a man to commit himself to
something he cannot deliver? More often than not, it’s pride. But even today we
are wise to recognize that when someone else is overextending themselves
financially to the point where they need a third party to cosign for
them — whether they be a business acquaintance, an old high school buddy or just somebody you
want to impress — that is the time to reconsider your involvement in their
affairs. It’s a terrible idea to sign on the dotted line on their behalf. When
one cannot find someone in one’s own family to underwrite one’s ballooning obligations,
that’s a big red flag to anyone whose involvement is optional. Or it ought
to be.
Such a promise will almost surely come back
to bite you. Wisdom says to give that sort of extravagant gesture of goodwill
a pass, even if it results in hurt feelings or lost opportunities.
Born in the Red
Here’s a thought you will not find in chapter 6 of Proverbs, but it’s far from irrelevant: You and I were born
in the red. Suffused in Adam’s fallen-ness from the womb and estranged from
Heaven, we owed a debt we could not pay long before we knew we owed it. In
legalese, we were “jointly liable”. We then proceeded to willingly add a great personal
weight of “several liability” to that tab with each passing day. Further, not
one of us has ever by his own effort succeeded in rolling back that immense
obligation by even a single penny.
If ever anyone needed a stranger to put up
security on our behalf, it was you and me.
Solomon’s wise counsel to any mere man would be this: “Be not one of those who give pledges, who put up security
for debts.” Thankfully there was one Man who paid no attention to the conventional wisdom. He heard the words “Save yourself,” and said
No, thanks. Not by coincidence, he was the only human being in the universe equipped to
foot the bill. He signed a pledge in his own blood, took on himself billions
upon billions of unnecessary obligations, and stands willing and able to
discharge, if necessary, the sins of the world throughout the entirety of history — assuming, of course, that the individual debtors are (severally, not jointly) willing to accept the offer.
Aren’t you glad God didn’t take his own advice?
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