The Incredible Danger of Assuring Someone Elses Debt - Proverbs 6:3-5

Do this then, my son, and deliver yourself; Since you have come into the hand of your neighbor, Go, humble yourself, and importune your neighbor. Give no sleep to your eyes, Nor slumber to your eyelids; Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hunter's hand And like a bird from the hand of the fowler. Proverbs 6:3-5

Evidently the Bible's view of being surety for someone else is pretty serious stuff.  When you read these three verses, you get the idea that surety is something horrific that we need to avoid at all costs.  If we have done it - the counsel here is to do whatever we need to do to get out of that situation.  Why is this so serious an issue to God? 

First of all surety means that you have guaranteed the debt of another person.  When you do this, you are doin it at the peril of your own possessions.  Most often a person does not seek surety unless they are not able to get normal credit.  The only way they can get money is for someone else to guarantee that it will be repaid.  Therefore you have a difficult situation that you face.  First of all the person you have just guaranteed is not that solvent.  They may NOT be able to repay their debt.  If that is the case, then the bank, company, or individual who gave the loan has the ability to come after you.  You have guaranteed that someone else will be responsible - and have done so at the risk of your good name - not to mention your goods themselves.  No repayment - they come after your stuff - and have every right to it. 

The second problem with surety is that it does not encourage responsiblity in the one who got the loan in the first place.  It's not as if he or his reputation is really on the line.  If he goes bankrupt its no big deal.  There is a person behind him who has deeper pockets who will take care of things.  Thus, the person doesn't even have all that much reason to be responsible and show good character in the process.  Thus you are placing your good name and your "responsibility" in the hands of someone else.  This is not a wise thing to do.  The Bible's counsel is to not be willing to be surety for anyone! 

What is the counsel here for when you find yourself having made the unwise decision to be surety for someone else?  When you find that you've made the bad decision to be surety for someone else - the Bible tells you to deliver yourself from that situation.  This word is a strong one - because it speaks of being delivered from the power of someone else.  It has the idea of someone having much power over you - and is used with things like being in the power of an enemy - or even death.  Surety places us in the power of someone else.  They now have power over our reputation and our good name.  God's counsel is to get out of that situation as soon as you can! 

Solomon tells us that we've come into the hand of our neighbor in this situation.  Hand here means the palm of their hand.  It has the picture of being at the mercy of someone else - being in their absolute power.  Again the picture given to us is of being at the mercy of another.  The result of this precarious situation is that you need to do two things.  First, go humble yourself before your neighbor.  You've made a serious mistake, and you need to go in humility to admit your mistake.  This may hurt - but you really don't want someone else responsible for your financial reputation and your financial well-being.  This is serious enough that you also need to importune your neighbor to deal with this.  Importune has the idea of going to them and doing whatever needs to be done to get out of this situation.  Let them know that you cannot remain in this situation.  We honestly need to see this as God does.  Many people see no harm in being surety - and yet God tells us that this is a very unwise situaiton.  It is one thing to invest - another to give a loan that needs to be repaid - even another to just give someone money they need.  But here we are placing our very reputation in someone else's hands.  We have guaranteed something we cannot guarantee.  We've said that they will be faithful to pay a debt - and have said that we will be good for the debt if they are not.  This is wildly unwise - and something God is very much against. 

Here is another picture of how much God wants us to steer clear of financial situations like this.  He tells us that not even sleep before we get ourselves out of this financial mess.  Give no sleep to your eyes or slumber to your eyelids.  Don't even go to sleep until you've gotten yourself out of this situation.  We are being told that this is a very dangerous, foolish thing we've done - and that until we've undone it - don't even sleep.When you find that you've made the bad decision to be surety for someone else - the Bible tells you to deliver yourself from that situation.  This word is a strong one - because it speaks of being delivered from the power of someone else.  It has the idea of someone having much power over you - and is used with things like being in the power of an enemy - or even death.  Surety places us in the power of someone else.  They now have power over our reputation and our good name.  God's counsel is to get out of that situation as soon as you can! 

Solomon tells us that we've come into the hand of our neighbor in this situation.  Hand here means the palm of their hand.  It has the picture of being at the mercy of someone else - being in their absolute power.  Again the picture given to us is of being at the mercy of another.  The result of this precarious situation is that you need to do two things.  First, go humble yourself before your neighbor.  You've made a serious mistake, and you need to go in humility to admit your mistake.  This may hurt - but you really don't want someone else responsible for your financial reputation and your financial well-being.  This is serious enough that you also need to importune your neighbor to deal with this.  Importune has the idea of going to them and doing whatever needs to be done to get out of this situation.  Let them know that you cannot remain in this situation.  We honestly need to see this as God does.  Many people see no harm in being surety - and yet God tells us that this is a very unwise situaiton.  It is one thing to invest - another to give a loan that needs to be repaid - even another to just give someone money they need.  But here we are placing our very reputation in someone else's hands.  We have guaranteed something we cannot guarantee.  We've said that they will be faithful to pay a debt - and have said that we will be good for the debt if they are not.  This is wildly unwise - and something God is very much against. 

Here is another picture of how much God wants us to steer clear of financial situations like this.  He tells us that not even sleep before we get ourselves out of this financial mess.  Give no sleep to your eyes or slumber to your eyelids.  Don't even go to sleep until you've gotten yourself out of this situation.  We are being told that this is a very dangerous, foolish thing we've done - and that until we've undone it - don't even sleep.

Lastly, we read of two final metaphors that help us to see how serious this situation is.  We should view it like a gazelle views being in the hunter's hand.  A gazelle see this as extremely dangerous - possibly fatal to be in the hand of the hunter.  The hunter has no regard for the safety or the well being of the gazelle.  The animal is there for the use of the hunter - and only for that purpose.  Thus the hunter has no interest in the ultimate best interests of the gazelle.  Thus the one in surety has someone that could honestly care less about the ultimate best interests of the one who has given their word for his debt.  Thus the one who foolishly stepped into this situation needs to get out as quickly as possible.

The last picture is of a bird who is in the hand of the fowler.  Once again the bird is in the hand of one who wants to kill him.  The fowler is interested in a meal - and the meal is the bird himself.  To be in these hands is to be in hands that are very dangerous.  Thus the bird should want to get our of this situation very very quickly.  To do otherwise is to risk life and limb (or wing in this case). 

Surety is something the Word of God teaches is financial suicide.  This may not register with our society all that well since we are often in the habit of making pretty foolish decisions regularly.  Yet, if we want God's fullest blessing on our finances, we would be wise to heed this warning and avoid guaranteeing another's debt like we would avoid the bubonic plague.