+III. This advice is to be followed as a matter of duty.+ The man who has acted imprudently is bound to endeavour to deliver himself by lawful means. He is not to allow pride to hinder him (ver. 3). He is bound to try and prevent his life from being marred in the future--perhaps to its very close. For a man who is fettered by a promise which ought never to have been made, is like a creature born to enjoy freedom who has been taken captive by the hunter or the fowler. And as it is more than lawful for the roe or the bird (ver. 5) to try to regain its freedom, so is it the duty of man to use all right means to the same end. _ILLUSTRATION OF VERSE_ 1. The custom of striking hands at the conclusion of a bargain has maintained its ground among the customs of civilised nations down to the present time. To strike hands with another was the emblem of agreement among the Greeks under the walls of Troy, for Nestor complains, in a public assembly of the chiefs, that the Trojans had violated the engagements which they had sanctioned by libations of wine and by giving their right hands. (Iliad, Book II. i. 341, see also Book IV. i. 139). The Roman faith was plighted in the same way; for in Virgil, when Dido marked from her watchtowers the Trojan fleet setting forward with balanced sails, she exclaimed, "Is this the honour, the faith, _En dextra fidesque?_" Another striking instance is quoted by Calmet from Ockley's _History of the Saracens._ Telha, just before he died, asked one of Ali's men if he belonged to the Emperor of the Faithful, and being informed that he did, "Give me, then," said he, "your hand, that I may put mine into it, and by this action renew the oath of fidelity I have already made to him." (Calmet, vol. iii). See also Job xvii. 3; 2 Kings x. 15.--_Paxton's Illustrations of Scripture._ _OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._ Verse 1. The two characters are carefully distinguished. 1. The companion, on whose behalf the young man pledges himself. 2. The stranger, probably the Phœnician money-lender, to whom he makes himself responsible.--_Plumptre._ God graciously directs our temporal affairs by His providence, and condescends, in His word, to give us instructions concerning them. If we regard not these, we need not be surprised though His providence convince us, by dear-bought experience, of our folly and sin.--_Lawson._ The son has just been warned against the deadly wound of a stranger. He is now cautioned against a hurt from in imprudent friend. . . . Our God, while he warns against _suretyship,_ has taken it upon Himself. He has given His word, His bond--yea, His blood--for sinners: a security that no powers of hell can shake.--_Bridges._