Proverbs 11:15
He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it:
And he that hateth suretiship is sure.
Another wording of this proverb could say: He that contracts himself in bondage to another will become his own ransom: peace is with those who don’t bind themselves to each other through contracts.
In ancient times, a man freed himself of his obligations the same day. Wages were paid in the evening and there was no credit for trades. To owe money, and even to borrow put the beneficiary in potential slavery. (Note: Is it different today?) This must have made organizing finances a lot easier than the system of payment and repayment we have today.
Sometimes though, we can voluntarily, out of love, put ourselves as a pledge for someone else. In those cases, we are aware of the conditions and of the price, and are willing to suffer it. In the Book of Genesis in the Bible, Tamar, Judah’s daughter-in-law disguises herself as a prostitute to entice her father-in-law unbeknownst to him. Judah wants Tamar, but doesn’t have payment for her by him. Judah promises Tamar a sheep and as a pledge, leaves with her very important personal items such as would represent an I.D. card, a passport or his Social Security number. When he returns to her to pay and retrieve his items, Tamar is gone. Judah is compromised for his actions. Later in the story, Tamar returns his belongings to Judah, but not through a bitter experience of remorse when he learns the reasons of her actions: she was insuring his dying posterity, without which Jesus birth would have been also compromised.
Judah involuntarily puts himself in a position of bondage to Tamar, but this story represents a prophetic analogy of what Jesus, our Messiah would do for us. Out of love, Jesus voluntarily puts himself in obligation and ransom to the enemy for each one of us. He frees us through His enslavement. He pays our debts by His own investment. He becomes indebted and bound and we are liberated. The Messiah, Judah’s descendant pledged himself as a ransom for our Salvation.
This proverb leaves us with a feeling of contradiction. It is wrong to invest ourselves as surety, but Jesus saved us by doing it. Maybe the difference is that He has His Father’s big bank account to bail Him out every time, and we do too. Let us therefore make sure that whatever investment of our person we make, even for the sake of others, is backed by the securities of Heaven.
He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it:
And he that hateth suretiship is sure.
Another wording of this proverb could say: He that contracts himself in bondage to another will become his own ransom: peace is with those who don’t bind themselves to each other through contracts.
In ancient times, a man freed himself of his obligations the same day. Wages were paid in the evening and there was no credit for trades. To owe money, and even to borrow put the beneficiary in potential slavery. (Note: Is it different today?) This must have made organizing finances a lot easier than the system of payment and repayment we have today.
Sometimes though, we can voluntarily, out of love, put ourselves as a pledge for someone else. In those cases, we are aware of the conditions and of the price, and are willing to suffer it. In the Book of Genesis in the Bible, Tamar, Judah’s daughter-in-law disguises herself as a prostitute to entice her father-in-law unbeknownst to him. Judah wants Tamar, but doesn’t have payment for her by him. Judah promises Tamar a sheep and as a pledge, leaves with her very important personal items such as would represent an I.D. card, a passport or his Social Security number. When he returns to her to pay and retrieve his items, Tamar is gone. Judah is compromised for his actions. Later in the story, Tamar returns his belongings to Judah, but not through a bitter experience of remorse when he learns the reasons of her actions: she was insuring his dying posterity, without which Jesus birth would have been also compromised.
Judah involuntarily puts himself in a position of bondage to Tamar, but this story represents a prophetic analogy of what Jesus, our Messiah would do for us. Out of love, Jesus voluntarily puts himself in obligation and ransom to the enemy for each one of us. He frees us through His enslavement. He pays our debts by His own investment. He becomes indebted and bound and we are liberated. The Messiah, Judah’s descendant pledged himself as a ransom for our Salvation.
This proverb leaves us with a feeling of contradiction. It is wrong to invest ourselves as surety, but Jesus saved us by doing it. Maybe the difference is that He has His Father’s big bank account to bail Him out every time, and we do too. Let us therefore make sure that whatever investment of our person we make, even for the sake of others, is backed by the securities of Heaven.
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