Matthew Poole and continuators on Proverbs 6:1

1. MY son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger :

To wit, rashly, without considering for whom, or how far thou dost oblige thy self, or how thou shalt discharge the Debt, if occasion require it. Otherwise suretyship in some cases may be not only lawful, but an Act of Justice, and Prudence, and Charity. See Gen. 42. 37. & 43. 8. Philem. v. 19. Or, to (as this prefix most commonly signifies) a friend.

Obliged thy self by giving thine Hand, or joining thine Hands with another mans, as the custom then was in such cases: Of which see Iob 17. 3. Prov. 17. 8. and 22. 26.

With the Creditor, whom he calls a Stranger, because the Usurers in Israel, who lent Money to others for their necessary occasions, upon condition of paying use for it, were either Heathens, or were reputed as bad as Heathens, because this practice was forbidden by Gods Law, Deut. 23. 19. Or, to or for 1 Stranger; for here is the same prefix which is rendred for in the former clause. And so he may imply, that whether a man be surety to, or for, a friend, or to, or for, a stranger, the case and course to be used is much of the same kind.

Marginal references: Ch. 22. 26.