Proverbs 6:1

Surety -The “pledge,” or security for payment, which, for example, David was to bring back from his brothers1 Samuel 17:18. So the word was used in the primitive trade transactions of the early Israelites. In the warnings against this suretyship, in the Book of Proverbs, we may trace the influence of contact with the Phoenicians. The merchants of Tyre and Zidon seem to have discovered the value of credit as an element of wealth. A man might obtain goods, or escape the pressure of a creditor at an inconvenient season, or obtain a loan on more favorable terms, by finding security. To give such security might be one of the kindest offices which one friend could render to another.