Be not of them that strike hands, of them that are sureties for debts
In Bible times a handshake sealed a promise to pay someone else's debt. This proverb tells you not to be one of the people who do it. So why is such a generous-looking act called folly? And what should you do instead when a friend is in trouble?
Here the handshake is not a greeting. It is a pledge to pay what another person owes. The proverb does not forbid helping. It forbids one way of helping.
Verse 26 warns us, as Proverbs has done before, not to copy the example of those who shake hands, making a pledge to be surety for another's debts. If we want to help someone, we can give to them, if we have the means, without pledging anything. If a person is not sure he can pay when his pledge falls due, making that pledge is folly. The creditor may not hesitate to take even your bed away.
The trap does not look like a trap. They call it a mere formality, and the person asking is already sinking.
Suppose a person truly faced the duty of having to pay. Then in any bargain he makes, or any suretyship he agrees to, he would think hard about whether God approves and leads the way. But the careless are like drowning men catching at a straw. They lose their own money, then try to draw in their trusting friends. Those friends may have little or nothing to spare. It is a trifle, they say, or a mere form with no risk, since it is certain to work out. Those who hope for too much, and those who never plan ahead, trap themselves this way into their own ruin.
Should love risk anything at all for a friend? Commentators answer that generosity has a limit, and the limit is the harm your pledge would do to others.
Our strength and resources are very limited. Human life changes often and fast. So it would be hard to name a more dangerous mistake than a rash pledge or suretyship. Grace is free to lose without limit for another. But it is not free to dishonour the Lord by running up one's own debt, or to injure others, whether one's family or strangers. That would indeed be playing the part of a senseless man, not of a brother born for adversity.
Writers give a test to apply before you sign. It turns on one question: could you carry the whole loss yourself?
Proverbs condemns becoming surety for another as unwise: "he who hates striking hands in pledge is secure." Proverbs condemns being surety for a stranger outright. Many a Christian has suffered by being surety for a friend. Refusing may be hard. Yet it is unrighteousness unless the person who becomes surety can bear the loss if it falls on him.
The New Testament tells believers to owe no one anything. One writer takes that as a whole way of living with money, not just a rule about overdue bills.
"Owe no one anything." These few words cover a great deal. They mean more than paying debts when they are due. They mean seeking to pay every demand as soon as it falls due. To do this, a Christian should always aim to live below his income and do his business within his means. This may take much diligence and self-denial, but what misery he will avoid.
There is one great exception to the proverb's warning. What Proverbs calls unwise for us, Christ took up for us — and He could pay.
Suretyship. He became surety of a better covenant (Hebrews 7:22). Solomon was both wealthy and wise. In his book of Proverbs he warns against suretyship: "Whoever puts up security for a stranger will surely suffer harm" (Proverbs 11:15). Yet the Lord Jesus Christ, in His matchless grace, took up our cause — and we were strangers indeed. He Himself assumed our liabilities and paid our debts. The sorrows and sufferings of the cross show us the price He had to pay for our redemption.
- The debt — Striking hands meant taking on someone else's debt as your own. The proverb tells you not to be among the people who do it.
- The bait — Those who have already lost their own money call the pledge a trifle. So they pull in trusting friends who have nothing to spare.
- The limit — Grace may lose without limit for another. It may not dishonour the Lord with a debt you cannot pay, or injure your own family.
- The test — Give outright if you can. If you cannot carry the whole loss yourself, signing is unrighteousness — however hard refusing feels.
- The exception — Christ became Surety for strangers. He took our debts and paid them in full at the cross. Only He could.
if thou hast nothing to pay, why should he take away thy bed from under thee?
Verse 26 warns against shaking hands on someone else's debt. This verse gives the reason. A guarantee you cannot cover — standing surety for someone else — can cost you the bed you sleep on. Commentators read it as a warning about money, a test of real kindness, and a pointer to the one Surety who could pay.
One writer traces how it happens. The man in trouble grabs at anyone within reach, and the pitch for a signature makes the risk sound like nothing.
Suppose a person understood the duty of having to pay. Then, in any bargain made or any pledge agreed to, he would think seriously about whether God approves and leads the way. But drowning men catch at a straw for life. In the same way, the unwise lose their own money and then try to pull in their trusting friends, even when those friends have little or nothing to spare. It is a small thing, they say, or a mere formality with no risk, because it is certain to work out. The optimistic and the careless trap themselves into their own ruin. How plain and sharp the hint is! If you have nothing with which to pay, why should your bed be taken from under you?
The bed is the last thing a poor man owns, and his signature puts even that within the lender's reach.
Verse 26 warns us, as Proverbs has done before, that we should not copy the example of those who shake hands, making a pledge to be surety for another's debts. If we want to help someone, we can give to them, if we have the means, without pledging anything. Is someone unsure of being able to pay when his pledge falls due? Then it is folly to make the pledge. The creditor may not hesitate to take even your bed away.
God's law protected a poor man's night covering.
And so God kindly ordered that a garment pledged during the day had to be properly returned at night, so that no harm should come of it.
The force of the proverb lands here: what God guarded for the poor, a careless signature can hand over.
Commentators do not treat every guarantee as sin. The test is whether you could absorb the loss if it fell on you.
To stand surety for another is condemned in Proverbs as unwise: "whoever hates being surety is secure." Standing surety for a stranger is condemned outright. Many a Christian has suffered by standing surety for a friend. It may be hard to refuse, but it is unrighteousness unless the person standing surety can bear the loss if it should fall on him.
Where the money is not there, refusing is the right answer.
In our own way and measure we too may take the risk. But we should do it only where we are ready to stand the loss, and can do it thoughtfully and honourably. Otherwise it is right as well as safe to refuse. But risking money you do not have, or more than you have, cannot be justified. It is not kindness. It is dishonesty.
The proverb assumes a man who meant well and still could not pay. Good intentions do not pay a debt. Only means can, and that is where Christ differs from us.
If we want to become surety for a stranger, we should be prepared to suffer the consequences. When the Lord Jesus became surety for us, He was fully prepared to bear all the consequences of our countless sins. And He did this perfectly. He had both the ability and the willingness for this. Even if we should be willing to be surety for another, do we have the ability for it? Generally, the answer is no!
The same principle shapes everyday spending.
We take Romans 13:8 in its plain, broad sense. We believe it teaches us to owe no one anything. If only it were more fully carried out! It is painful beyond words to see how little conscience professing Christians have about debt. We solemnly call on all who are in the habit of going into debt. Let them judge themselves in this matter and get out of a false position at once. It is far better to sit down to a dry crust and wear a shabby coat than to live well and dress well at our neighbour's expense.
- Signature — A pledge always sounds like a formality; the proverb asks what happens when it isn't.
- Bed — The last thing you own is what the pledge exposes; the creditor is free to take it.
- Guarded — God's law gave a poor man his covering back at night. A careless pledge hands over what God protected.
- Ability — Willingness to help is not the same as means to pay; give what you have instead of pledging what you don't.
- Surety — Christ took our debt on Himself with both the will and the means to pay it in full.