The Pulpit Commentary — Proverbs — Section 134

not to be to.ken eo much ne an abAolnte it a thing of dnily occunence, and a ~onrce unqualified prohibition of enrctyship ne of constant dnnger. In the New Testa- oounsol directed agninst the inconsiderate ment one instance of snretyship is found, nud rash underto.king of ench an obligation. when St. Pnnl offers to become surety to 'l'hero were some occasions on which be- Philemon for Onesimas (Philem. 19). But coming surety for another wae demanded in the language of the New Testament, the by the !awe of charity and prudence, and purely commercial meA.ning of the word is when it was not inconsistent with the transmuted into n Rpiritual one. The gift of humane precepts of the Mosaic Law as the Spirit is regarded 11s tbe arrahon, iippa{3i;,v, enunciated in Lev. xix. 19. In other po.s- "the pledge," the earnest of the Christian sagee of cur book the writer of the Proverbs believer's acceptance with God (2 Cor. i. 22; lo.ye down maxims which would cleo.rly v. 5; Epb. i. 14). For thy friend; Hebrew, countenance the practice (eh. xiv. 21; xvii. l'relka. The Hebrew rei!h, more usually reii, 17; xviii. 24; xxvii. 10), and in the o.po- is "the companion or friend," and in this crypho.l writings the practice is enconrag-erl, case obviously the debtor for whom one has if not enjoined (Ecolus. xxix. 14 ; viii. 13). become surety. The word reappears in ver. Notwithstanding this limitation, however, it 3. The ~ (l') pretixed to rei!h is the da!ivus ie observable that suretyship is almost in- commodi.· So Delitzsch and others. If; not variably spoken of in terms of condemna- in tue original, but rightly inserted. Thou tion, •o.nd the evil consequences which it hast striaken thy hand with a stranger cato.iled on the surety may be ·the reason (Hebrew, takii'ta liizzar kiipiyka); properly, why it is so frequently alluded to. The thou hast stricken thy hand for a stranger. teacher refers to the subjeot in: the following The analogous use of l' (~) in liimir deter- passages:. here; eh. xi. 15; xvii. 18; xxii. 26; xx. 16; xxvi.i. 13. My eon. On this mines this rendering. As in the corre- address, see eh. ii. 1; iii. 1, 17, If thou be spooiling l'reeyha, the ~ (!') indicates the surety (Hebrew, fm-ariivta); literally, if person frrr whose benefi·t the snretyship is thou hast become rurely; LXX., Uv irt'1up ; undertaken. i.e. the debtor, and not the Vnlgate, Bi spoponderis. What the teacher person teith whom the symbolical act ie coumrels in the present instance ie that, if performed, i.e. the creditor. Compo.re the by inadvertence e. person has become surety, following passages, though the construction he should by the most strenuous eadellvours with ~ is wanting: " He tbo.t is surety for o. prevail on his friend to free him from the stranger" (eh. :s:i. 15): "Take his go.rment bond. The Hebrew verb ariiv is properly thnt is surety for n stranger" (eh. xx, JG "to mix," aud then signifies " to become and xxvii. 13). "'l'he stranger," zur, is not surety" in the sense of interchanging with an alien, or one belonging to another another and so taking his plo.ce. The fre- nationo.lity, but simply one e:s:tro.neous to quent mention of suretyship in the Proverbs one's self, nnd so equivalent to iikher, is o.11 uded to above. The first recorded "another." The menning, therefore, seems inato.nces are those where Judah offers to to be, "If thou hast entered into a bond for become surety for Benjamin, first to Israol one with whom thou art but slightly I\C- (Gen. xliii.. 9), and secondly to Joseph quainted." Others (Wordswo1·th, Plumptrc), (Gen, xliv. 33) .. It is singular that it is however, take zar CLS representing the foreign only once alluded to in the Book of Job, manoy-lender. The phrase, "to strike the v,:here Job eoys,." Lay down now, put me hand," takii 1.aph, or simply "to strike," in surety with thee; who is be that wiH ta/iii, describes the symbolic,\! act which strike hands with me?" (Job xvi i. 3): and accompanied the contract. Takii is properly once only, and that doubtfully, in the whole "to drive," like the Latin <lefigere, and of the Mosaic writings, in the phrnse henoe " to strike," and indiclltes the shn.rp tesummat yad, i.e. giving or stl'iking the sound with which the hllnds were brought hand in the case of perjury (Lev. vi. 2). into contnct. 'l'he act no doubt wns accom- The psalmist refers to it in the words, " Be plished before witnesses, and the h_and surety for thy servant for good" (Pe. cxix. which was stricken wns that of the creditor, 122). It is spoken of twice in Isaio.h who thereby received assurance th,\t the (xxxviii. 14; x.uvi. 8), once iu Ezekiel responsibility of the debtor was undertaken (xxvii. 27) .and in Nehemiah (v. 3), o.n!f the by the surety. The" striking of the baud" corraate noun, arrabo11, "tho pledge," security oe indice.tin"' the completion of e. contmct fo;' pllymeut, is met with in Gen. xxxviii. is illuetrate:l by the author of tl1e ' Ko.- 17 a.ad . 1 Sam. xvii. 18. These scnttered moos' (quoted by Lee, on Job xvii. 3), who notices iu the Old 'l'estument show thnt the BlLys, "He etrnok or clapped to him o. sal0 pre.ctice wo.s always in existence, wllile the . . . Ila struok his hand iu o. sale, or on his moro,fre~uent notices in the Provorbs refer hond . . . he struok his own he.ud upon the to a condition of society where extended ~om- hand of him, a.ad this is o.mong tl.10 neces- mercial tro.nsnctious ho.d apparently macle sary (tro.nsactions) of sale." So llmong  THE PROVERDS. [t11t. VI, 1-35,