Proverbs (Part 059) - Pro 6:2-5

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2. Pro 6:2 - "Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth." A. Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, i. In order to be surety for a person two things are necessary: a handshake (Pro 6:1) and a verbal agreement (the words of thy mouth) that the handshake confirms. ii. The words establishing a suretiship will snare a man. a. Snare v. - 1. a. trans. To capture (small wild animals, birds, etc.) in a snare; to catch by entangling. b. Just as an animal gets entangled in a rope or net, so a man gets entangled in foolish agreements to guarantee another's debt. c. Wicked men try to entangle the righteous with their words (Mat 22:15). d. Be very careful because wicked men will try to entangle you with carefully worded verbal or written agreements that they get you to assent to with your words. iii. Sinful or foolish words will snare the wicked (Pro 12:13). iv. A man's own words will be used to condemn him (Mat 12:37). a. A man will be judged out of the words of his own mouth (Luk 19:22). b. Death and life are in the power of the tongue (Pro 18:21). B. thou art taken with the words of thy mouth. i. Once one is snared, he is then taken (Isa 28:13). ii. The words of the agreement will be used to catch the man and then take him to cleaners to pay the debt of his friend when he defaults. 3. Pro 6:3 - "Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself, when thou art come into the hand of thy friend; go, humble thyself, and make sure thy friend." A. Do this now, my son, i. If you have become surety for a friend's debt, it's necessary to act now. ii. Now adv. - 1. a. At the present time or moment. a. Time is of the essence. b. You are only one layoff, late payment, or emergency away from being on the hook for his debt. c. Today is the day of salvation (2Co 6:2). d. Solomon was exhorting his son today while there was still time (Heb 3:13). B. and deliver thyself, i. By agreeing to be surety for a friend one has snared himself in a trap (Pro 6:2). ii. Deliver v. - 1. trans. To set free, liberate, release, rescue, save. 2. a. To free, rid, divest, clear. b. refl. To free oneself, get clear or rid of. iii. The man now needs to free himself from the trap and get clear of the obligation because no one else can or will do it for him. iv. We cannot save ourselves eternally, but we can save ourselves temporally from the consequences of bad decisions (Act 2:40). C. when thou art come into the hand of thy friend; i. To come "into the hand" of someone is to be put under their power (Deut 1:27; Deut 19:12; Jdg 3:8; Jdg 6:1). ii. "Come into the hand of thy friend" cannot be referring to the friend defaulting on his debt and causing the man to be obligated to pay the debt to the creditor. a. If that was the case, the man would be "come into the hand of the stranger" who was the creditor whom he had stricken hands with (Pro 6:1). b. Therefore, this must be referring to something else other than the friend defaulting and making the man be obligated to pay off his debt to the stranger/creditor. iii. When a man agrees to be surety for a friend and assume responsibility for his debt if he defaults, he has "come into the hand of his friend" because his future is now in the power of his friend. a. If the friend is irresponsible, then the guarantor is on the hook for his debt. b. In such a situation, the man needs to deliver himself from the trap before it's too late. D. go, humble thyself, i. Because of the agreement that was made he is in the hand of his friend. a. His friend has the upper hand because all of the risk has now been transferred to the guarantor. b. Since a legal agreement has been made, the man is in a position of weakness. ii. Because of his weak position, it is necessary for the man to humble himself in order to influence his friend. a. God resists the proud but gives grace unto the humble (Jam 4:6). b. The man who is in debt (or in this case in danger of assuming debt) needs to be humble when approaching a man that has power over him (Mat 18:23-27). c. The poor must use intreaties, not demands, when they want something (Pro 18:23). E. and make sure thy friend. i. The man that has become surety for his friend can't back out of being a guarantor of his debt because he has stricken hands with the creditor and given him his word that he would pay the debt if it is defaulted on. ii. Thus it is crucial that he makes sure that his friend will pay off his debt. iii. He therefore needs to make his friend sure. a. Sure adj. - II. Trustworthy, firm, steadfast. 4. a. That can be depended or relied on; not liable to fail or disappoint expectation; trustworthy, reliable. 13. Phr. to make sure (intr. or with clause). a. (a) absol., or with of followed by a noun of action: To make something certain as an end or result (cf. 9a); to preclude risk of failure. b. In other words he needs to gently encourage his friend to be a trustworthy man and be steadfast in his promise to pay off the debt that he owes. (i) Since he is in a position of weakness, he needs to approach his friend humbly and not simply demand that his friend pays the debt. (ii) In such a case it would be wise to remind his friend that it would be in his friend's best interest to pay off his debt because not doing to would hurt both his reputation and his credit score. c. If he influences his friend for good and encourages him to faithfully pay off his debt, the result will be certain and will greatly reduce the risk of him failing to pay. d. If his friend is made sure, then he will not end up being on the hook for his debt, and he, his friend, and the creditor will all be happy. 4. Pro 6:4 - "Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids." A. Give not sleep to thine eyes, i. Solomon learned this phrase from his father David (Psa 132:4). ii. Solomon is here emphasizing the importance of taking action quickly to deliver oneself out of the predicament of being surety for a friend. iii. Being surety for a friend is such a dangerous proposition that one must do whatever is possible to deliver himself from it today before going to bed. a. Solomon exhorted his son twice to deliver himself from his friend (Pro 6:3, 5). b. Deliver is a synonym of save (Act 2:21 c/w Joe 2:32). c. Deliver v. - I. 1. trans. To set free, liberate, release, rescue, save. d. In other words, if you have become surety for a friend, "now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation" (2Co 6:2). e. Exhort your friend daily "while it is called To day" (Heb 3:13) to be faithful and pay his debt (Pro 6:3). f. "To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts" (Heb 3:15) and take action to save yourself from being on the hook for your friend's debt. B. nor slumber to thine eyelids. i. Slumber n. - 1. a. Sleep, repose. ii. Slumber and sleep are synonyms. iii. Eyes and eyelids are often used interchangeably in scripture (Pro 4:25; Pro 30:13). iv. This verse is an example of a Hebrew parallelism in which a thought is repeated using slightly different wording to emphasize the point. 5. Pro 6:5 - "Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler." A. Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand of the hunter, i. This is the second time that Solomon has exhorted his son to save himself from the trap of suretiship, which demonstrates how important it is to do so. a. Deliver v. - 1. trans. To set free, liberate, release, rescue, save. b. We cannot save ourselves eternally, but we can save ourselves temporally from the consequences of bad decisions (Act 2:40). ii. By agreeing to be surety for a friend one has snared himself in a trap (Pro 6:2). iii. Snare v. - 1. a. trans. To capture (small wild animals, birds, etc.) in a snare; to catch by entangling. iv. Solomon uses the example of a roe (a deer) delivering itself out of the hand of the hunter to illustrate extricating ourselves from being liable for another man's debt. a. In Biblical times, larger animals were often hunted using nets (Isa 51:20) or pits (2Sa 23:20). b. Both of these techniques were used to capture animals. c. Once the animal was captured in either a net or a pit, it would fight with all its might to deliver itself from the hand of the hunter who was coming to kill it. d. If we have become surety for a friend's debt obligation, we should likewise do everything in our power to deliver ourselves from that trap before it's too late. B. and as a bird from the hand of the fowler. i. A fowler likewise catches his prey with nets and snares (Psa 91:3). ii. Fowler n. - 1. One who hunts wild birds, whether for sport or food, esp. with nets; a bird-catcher. iii. Just as the bird would try desperately to get out of the net before the fowler comes to harvest him, so must we do likewise if we have guaranteed another's debt.