November 2 – Proverbs 6:1-5; Proverb 28:19-27

Main Focus: The Devouring Life: Debt & Desire

Proverbs 6:1–5 “My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor or entered into an agreement with a stranger, you have been snared by the words of your mouth—trapped by the words from your mouth. Do this, then, my son, and free yourself, for you have put yourself in your neighbor’s power. Go, humble yourself, and plead with your neighbor. Don’t give sleep to your eyes or slumber to your eyelids. Escape like a gazelle from a hunter, like a bird from a fowler’s trap.”

These proverbs describe putting up security for someone else’s debt (i.e., promising to pay his debt if he defaults) as a trap in which one’s life is endangered. The son is to be tireless in trying to get out of the position in which his labor, wealth, or goods could be squandered because someone else who is ultimately responsible for satisfying the debt has defaulted. The warning is intended to instill prudence in such situations. It does not imply that putting up security for someone is morally wrong in every possible situation, but rather that it is generally unwise. Wisdom recognizes that in nearly all cases putting up security is ultimately not good for either party involved.

The image of being trapped by one’s own words is typical of capturing animals (snared, caught), which foreshadows the images of v.5 and highlights the danger: one who puts up security is trapped because he is at the mercy of a debtor who no longer has any stake in satisfying the debt. The main point of the appeal begins in v.3: save yourself from the whim of the one in debt and plead urgently with him. The point of such pleading is made clear by the comparison to game caught in a trap: focus all your energy and seek to get out of such a situation and thus save yourself from ruin.

Proverbs 28:19-27 “Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits will have plenty of poverty. A faithful man will abound with blessings, but whoever hastens to be rich will not go unpunished. To show partiality is not good, but for a piece of bread a man will do wrong. A stingy man hastens after wealth and does not know that poverty will come upon him. Whoever rebukes a man will afterward find more favor than he who flatters with his tongue. Whoever robs his father or his mother and says, “That is no transgression,” is a companion to a man who destroys. A greedy man stirs up strife, but the one who trusts in the LORD will be enriched. Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered. Whoever gives to the poor will not want, but he who hides his eyes will get many a curse.”

These proverbs all concern the desire to secure prosperity and favor for oneself. They speak of having plenty of bread, of having blessings, of doing wrong for a piece of bread, of wealth and poverty, of finding favor, of someone who robs father and mother, of the greedy man in contrast to the one who will be enriched, of those who will be delivered, and of those who do not want because they give to the poor. Along the way, these verses condemn get-rich-quick schemes, hastening after wealth, accepting bribes, seeking to get ahead by flattery, wrongfully taking a parent’s money, causing turmoil through greed, and lacking charity. The best way to prosperity and security is through hard work, integrity and honesty, trusting in God and in the principles that wisdom teaches, and paradoxically, through generosity. The greed that produces strife in v.25 has a particular application to the robbery of parents in v.24: when a person tries to snatch up all of his parents’ estate for himself, it inevitably produces strife in the family.