This Proverb says, “My son, if you have become surety for your neighbor, have given a pledge for a stranger, if you have been snared with the words of your mouth, have been caught with the words of your mouth, do this thing, my son, and deliver yourself; since you have come into the hand of your neighbor. Go humble yourself, and importune your neighbor. Do not give 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.”
In this Proverb, Solomon advises his son to not become responsible for another person’s debt or another person’s ability to repay. In so doing a the person is subject to another person’s character and integrity to fulfill an obligation. When it comes to character and integrity we cannot control another person. We can only control ourselves. Becoming surety for another person is a very dangerous position to place oneself.
Solomon tells his son to prioritize escaping from his pledge to his neighbor. He tells his son to importune his neighbor to be released from his pledge. In other words, Solomon tells his son to be persistent in his request for release until his neighbor grants release.
In like manner we should never put ourselves in a position of being subject to another person’s character. We must break free of such situations. We should never be accountable for another person’s poor decisions. Rather, we must only be subject to our own decisions and seek to live rightly before God.
