Proverbs 7

Proverbs 7

Warning Against the Adulteress

1 My son, keep my words and treasure up my commandments with you; 2 keep my commandments and live; keep my teaching as the apple of your eye; 3 bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart. 4 Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” and call insight your intimate friend, 5 to keep you from the forbidden woman, from the adulteress with her smooth words.

6 For at the window of my house I have looked out through my lattice, 7 and I have seen among the simple, I have perceived among the youths, a young man lacking sense, 8 passing along the street near her corner, taking the road to her house 9 in the twilight, in the evening, at the time of night and darkness.

10 And behold, the woman meets him, dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart. 11 She is loud and wayward; her feet do not stay at home; 12 now in the street, now in the market, and at every corner she lies in wait. 13 She seizes him and kisses him, and with bold face she says to him, 14 “I had to offer sacrifices, and today I have paid my vows; 15 so now I have come out to meet you, to seek you eagerly, and I have found you. 16 I have spread my couch with coverings, colored linens from Egyptian linen; 17 I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. 18 Come, let us take our fill of love till morning; let us delight ourselves with love. 19 For my husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey; 20 he took a bag of money with him; at full moon he will come home.”

21 With much seductive speech she persuades him; with her smooth talk she compels him. 22 All at once he follows her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a stag is caught fast 23  till an arrow pierces its liver; as a bird rushes into a snare; he does not know that it will cost him his life.

24 And now, O sons, listen to me, and be attentive to the words of my mouth. 25 Let not your heart turn aside to her ways; do not stray into her paths, 26 for many a victim has she laid low, and all her slain are a mighty throng. 27 Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death.

Devotional

Introduction

Do you struggle with keeping in line with God's words? Actually, that question was rhetorical: I know you do. We all have a problem with sin. We don't live up to the standards God has set in his word. As per usual, Solomon starts off by saying hat we should keep his commandments close (vs.3) and value them (vs.2). But there is always something in the way, something that keeps us from doing what God commands. It is this sin that we have. Solomon metonymically uses adultery to represent all of sin. Perhaps he uses this as it was a real problem for young men back then (just as I assume it is now) and is thus and effective metaphor to garner attention.

In saying that, this passage is often used for the study of how a woman should not act - indeed, women should not be tempted to imitate the "forbidden woman". Whilst this study of the passage could be biblically accurate (eg. we should not be "wily of heart" (vs.10)), I would much rather focus on the "simple", the "youths", those "lacking sense" (vs.7), because that is where the heart of the passage lies. The passage is a warning against such folly of choosing sin over righteousness, and a command for us to instead hold dear the commandments of God, to seek after him rather than after the adulteress.

The passage demonstrates the foolishness of the man for seeking after the woman. It put's his mistakes on a pedestal, even though we see much more of the forbidden woman.

Study

So what problems do we see with this man?

1) The immediate problem: being foolish and getting near sin (vs. 6-9)

Between verses 6-9, we are, through the narrative, placed to the point of view of Solomon. Now, where is Solomon? Well, he is "at the window of [his] house" and he is "look[ing] out" (vs.6). Now notice where the man is - he is "passing along the street near her corner" (vs.8). Compared to Solomon, he is going near the trouble.

The first problem: he got near his temptation. So he is foolish from the very start.

Notice also how the man also recognises he is doing the wrong thing. He feels he must approach her during "night and darkness" because anything else is shameful. His ultimate problem is that he knows the truth, and yet decides to not follow God. Remember what I pointed out when we got started studying Proverbs. A man is wise when he fears God and in his belief, God gives him increasing wisdom. Well, this guy is obviously foolish because he does not live life with the fear of God. We can conclude he is not wise for the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

In verse 25, Solomon warns once again to "not stray into her paths". In other words, keep well away from temptation, from sin, from folly and wickedness. It's pretty clear what the man should do, but his immediate problem is that he does not do that. He goes near the temptation.

2) The next problem: he did not flee from the temptation (vs.10-20)

For pretty much all my life, I have been told by Sunday School teachers, by Christian School teachers, by pastors, by Youth Leaders, that if I have some sort of temptation to sin, I should flee from temptation. Just leave it behind. God does promise us we will not be tempted beyond our capacity to leave it behind. Look at 1 Corinthians 10:

"No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry" (1 Corinthians 10:13)

But the man does not flee. For the next 10 verses, we are introduced to the "forbidden woman" and her persuasive speech. Not only does he come near the temptation, he chooses to listen to her tempting words. In choosing to continue listening, he is choosing to come closer and closer to sin. That's his second problem.

Briefly, the warning signs we see with the woman:

1. She seduces with her own immodesty/choice of dress (vs.10)

2. She is loud and seeks attention (vs.11)

3. She is intending to catch her prey (vs.12)

4. She is an opportunist and forceful (vs.13)

5. She is a deceiver - she offers sacrificial offerings, but partakes not in a feast but immorality (vs.14-15)

6. She is enticing in her offers of finer things (vs.16-18)

7. She is adulterous and unfaithful (vs.19-20)

The man does indeed fall for these tricks. However, that is not different to us. In our sin, we are blinded to the negative qualities of sin. We are seduced by the enticing nature of sin. We forget how much damage it causes. In all its perceived goodness, we continue to listen to the temptation rather than flee from it. That was the man's second problem.

3) The final problem: the man succumbs to sin (vs.21-23;26-27)

What happens to the man? Well, he does not flee. He allows the sin to overwhelm him. The adulteress "with much seductive speech...persuades him" (vs.21) and "all at once he follows her". (vs.22). The result is dehumanising, literally. He is trapped like an animal would be (vs.22-23). In his sin, he seems to lose this image of God, placed upon mankind, as he idiotically vows to fall into sin and becomes like the animals who are foolishly trapped. Perhaps that is an overstatement.

We are the broken image of God, not because of anything God did, but because every sinful thing we did. As a result, we do not perfectly reflect God's image. It's all messed up. We fall to sin, and mess everything up - just as the man decides to do. He has a sin problem.

The adulteress prevails. Not only is he trapped as a "victim" (vs.26), but he is condemned to the "chambers of death". His folly has led him to his only deserved place: "the chambers of death" (vs.27).

Conclusion

The end is quite suffocating, its ugly, its dark. This temptation leads to sin, which leads to something much worse.

Right from the very beginning, Solomon says this:

"Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”  and call insight your intimate friend, to keep you from the forbidden woman,  from the adulteress with her smooth words." (Proverbs 7:4-5)

In other words, rather than being intimate with the adulterous, be an intimate friend with wisdom. Hold God's wisdom close, keep in it your heart.

The wisdom of God was most spendidly (and most morbidly) seen on the cross some 2000 years ago as Christ offered himself as a sacrifice for those in darkness whom he had elected. We were not deserving. Unlike Jesus, we did not flee temptation or resist it as we ought. Every day, we allowed our sin to overwhelm us. And we were victims. And we were not good reflections of the image of God. And yet, in this sin, in this continual sin, we can come to the wisdom of God and be in intimate relationship.

May I encourage you: resist temptation, flee from it. Resist the sin. And when you fall short, come to Jesus. Let me tell you, you will fall short. So why not just come to Jesus today? Why not say to the wisdom of God "you are my intimate friend"?

Thanks for joining us on day 7 of #31daysofproverbs!! See you again tomorrow!