Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

6:1-5 These proverbs describe putting up security (v. 1) 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. Therefore 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 (cf. 11:15; 17:18; 20:16; 22:26; 27:13).

6:2 The image of being trapped by one's own words uses verbs 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.

6:3-5 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 (v. 5) from ruin.

6:6-11 The sluggard is addressed twice in these proverbs (vv. 6, 9) and instructed to observe the careful labor of the ant (vv. 6-8) so that he may gain wisdom and heed the warning about the result of his sloth (vv. 9-11). The ruinous end that awaits the sluggard is described with some of the same images in 24:30-34, and the ant is called wise in laboring for its provision in 30:24.

6:7 The fact that the ant has no chief, officer, or ruler shows that it has initiative, which the sluggard lacks.

6:10 A little sleep, a little slumber. The sluggard may rationalize his late rising and his too-frequent naps as "just a little," but they destroy his productivity.

6:11 The similes used to describe the end of the sluggard are tragic. The poverty and want that his idleness has created are likened to external forces that will bring about his destitution (a robber and an armed man).

6:12-19 A person who seeks to cause strife among others is heading for an end of irreparable damage. These verses use repeated vocabulary to highlight the characteristics of such a person in two representative descriptions: characteristics of a worthless person (vv. 12-15), and things hateful to the Lord (vv. 16-19). These descriptions give a unified warning that it is the Lord himself (v. 16) who brings about the final end of the worthless person (v. 15).

6:12-14 The designation a worthless person, a wicked man indicates that he lacks "worth" in the sense of any desire to act in accord with righteousness, for that is what God values (cf. Deut. 13:13; 15:9). The four following phrases, each beginning with a participle in Hebrew (signals, points, goes, winks), describe the person more fully as one desiring to cause conflict, exploit situations, and gain personal advantage in all that he does. Not only his mouth (crooked speech) but also his eyes, feet, and finger are used to communicate deceptively. The final participle (devises) indicates that the external character of a worthless person's communication stems from a perverted heart that seeks to plant seeds of distrust and suspicion among others (continually sowing discord).

6:15 therefore. The primary justification for the conclusion of this verse is the content of v. 16: the Lord hates and thus also knows and judges these things. The unity of vv. 12-19 around these two central verses is indicated by the way vv. 12-14 and 17-19 are knit together in vocabulary and theme (see note on vv. 17-19).

6:16 six things . . . seven. This numeric literary device presents a representative rather than exhaustive list (cf. 30:15-16, 18-19, 21-31) that seeks to draw particular attention to the final item as the focus of God's hatred. It is easy to agree that God hates the first six items; it is also easy to overlook the seventh (v. 19b), and thus the author pulls the reader up short.

6:17-19 The repeated vocabulary from vv. 12-14 indicates that the things listed here are embodied in the character of the worthless person: eyes, tongue, hands, feet, and mouth (breathes) used for wrong purposes (see vv. 12-13), a heart that devises wicked plans (see v. 14a), and the same evil intent of one who sows discord among brothers (see v. 14b).