Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself, when thou art come into the hand of thy friend; go, humble thyself, and make sure thy friend.
Ver. 3. When thou art come into the hand.] For "the borrower is servant to the lender," Pro 22:7 and Facile ex amico inimicum facies cui promissa non reddes, saith Jerome. a A friend will soon become a foe, if unfriendly and unfaithfully dealt with. Not keeping time makes a jar in payments - and so in friendship too - as well as in music.
Go, humble thyself.] Crave favour and further time of the creditor. Say, Doubt not of your debt, only forbear a while. Cast thyserf at his feet, as to be trodden - so the Hebrew word here signifieth. Ezekiel 32:2 ; Eze 34:18 Stick not at any submission, so thou mayest gain time, and get off, and not be forced to run into the usurer's books, that Amalek, or licking people, which, as cormorants, fall upon the borrowers, and, like cur dogs, suck your blood only with licking, and in the end kill you, and crush you, rob you, and ravish you. Psa 10:8-10
And make sure thy friend.] For whom thou standest engaged; call upon him to save thee harmless. For as Alphius, the usurer, sometimes said of his clients, Optima nomina non appellando mala fieri; b even good debtors will prove slack paymasters if they be let alone, if not now and then called upon. Some read the words thus: Multiply thy friends, or solicit them, viz., to intercede for thee to the creditor, and to keep thee out of this brake.
a Jerome, Ad Celantiam.
b Horat. Epod. Colum. de re rust, lib. i. cap. 7.