Financial Shenanigans

(Pro 22:27 KJV) If thou hast nothing to pay, why should he take away thy bed from under thee?

In trying to understand what is being said here I examined the context.  That is often useless in Proverbs because many of the couplets are stand alone propositions.  It is easy to see this one being an extension of the previous verse and almost automatic to say it has nothing to do with the next.  The Bible does not support sloth or irresponsibility.  In isolation this verse seems to be okay with that and the one loaning the money is the bad guy.  I think the landmark mentioned in the next verse gives us a clue.

This is about victims of oppression by the rich.  It is speaking about people who come in during a time of extreme hardship, make loans that they know people cannot pay back and then take away the property that has been in their family for generations.  I think the point is to examine our motives and our methods.  There are some kinds of loans we should not make.  If we have someone hungry we don’t loan them money knowing that they will default and we get to take their home.

So?  It is a hard line to follow but our concern for people should overrule our clever financial arrangements.