Charles Ellicott Commentary Proverbs 6:1

"My son, if thou art become surety for thy neighbor, If thou hast stricken thy hands for a stranger;" — Proverbs 6:1 (ASV)

(i). Ninth Discourse: — Against Suretyship (Proverbs 6:1–5).

If thou be surety for thy friend.— When the Mosaic Law was instituted, commerce had not been taken up by the Israelites, and the lending of money on interest for its employment in trade was a thing unknown.

The only occasion for loans at that time was to supply the immediate necessities of the borrower, and the exaction of interest under such circumstances would be productive of great hardship, involving the loss of land and even personal freedom, as the insolvent debtor and his family became slaves of the creditor (Nehemiah 5:1–5).

To prevent these evils, lending money on interest to any poor Israelite was strictly forbidden (Leviticus 25:35–37); the people were instructed to be liberal and lend for nothing in such cases.

But at the time of Solomon, when Israelite commerce had enormously developed, and communications were opened with Spain, Egypt, and (possibly) India and Ceylon, while caravans penetrated beyond the Euphrates, then the lending of money on interest for employment in trade most probably became frequent, and suretyship also, the pledging of a man’s own credit to enable his friend to procure a loan.

And when the wealth that accompanied this development of national resources had brought luxury in its train, borrowing and suretyship would be employed for less worthy purposes, to supply the young nobles of Jerusalem with money for their extravagance.

Hence possibly the emphatic language of the text and of Proverbs 20:16 and Proverbs 27:13.

Stricken thy hand.— That is, as we would say, “shaken hands on the bargain.”

With a stranger. —Or rather, for another, that is, your friend.