We continue this discussion of Proverbs with Chapter 7. In this chapter there is again a repetition of the admonishment to make wise choices (choose the good!); to observe and become wiser and to flee adultery and the adulteress.
1. Choose Life. We are instructed to "keep the commandments and live" (Proverbs 7:2 ESV). They should be a part of us, bound on our fingers and written on our heart (Proverbs 7:3 ESV). We are advised to make wise alliances and declare that wisdom and insight are our close kin, and in so doing we are under their protection and kept from the forbidden woman and her smooth words (Proverbs 7:4-5 ESV).
2. People Watching. While Proverbs does not advocate voyeurism in its debased form (the ensuing reprisal of King David for committing adultery with Bathsheba after spying on her showering attests to that) there is something to be gained from observation in general and people watching specifically. The latter part of this chapter is told from the perspective of Solomon as he watches out of the window of his house at a young man who commits the act of adultery. Much wisdom is to be gained from learning from the mistakes of others, be it from observing wickedness in the streets or reading about it in the history books.
3. The Adulteress. A large portion of this chapter expounds on the wiles and charms of the adulteress and the resultant consequences of being snared in her trap. That we may be forewarned, what are her traits?
1) She is a deceiver. She is "dressed as a prostitute" (Proverbs 7:10 ESV); we think she is one thing but she is something else entirely (and the consequences are much more severe as a result). She will not come up front and tell you what she has in mind and who she is lest your conscience should keep you from her (although the man who goes in with a prostitute already has some searing of conscience if he justifies himself). I believe this saying is derived from the consequence of Judah's adultery with Tamar in Genesis 38 (and yet God made good of this, as Tamar is an ancestor of Jesus Christ; Matthew 1:3).
2) She does not stay in her place but seeks you out like a hunter. "She is loud and wayward; her feet do not say at home; now in the street, now in the market, and at every corner she lies in wait." (Proverbs 7:11 ESV). You think you just happened upon her but this was no chance meeting. She was searching for you as her pray.
3) She is a specialist in the sensual. Her bed is of "colored linens from Egyptian linen" and it is perfumed with "myrrh, aloes and cinnamon" (Proverbs 7:16-17 ESV). She seeks to overwhelm your senses. When we overindulge in the senses we are taken over by them and as a result we end up "losing" them and so they can lead us into great danger. What I think is interesting about this discussion of the senses is that so often we may be overtaken by the visual or think only of sensual enticements as those that could come from something we see but the adulteress can approach us in other ways, perhaps with a soft caress or a pleasant perfume. We must be on guard against all assaults on the senses lest we be "as an ox [that] goes to the slaughter" (Proverbs 7:22 ESV).
4) She's a smooth talker. As her father the Devil is so is she. She beguiles with her words and "[w]ith much seductive speech" and "smooth talk" (Proverbs 7:21 ESV). She persuades and compels. And so we find the young man is caught in her net (Proverbs 7:22 ESV).
Forewarned is forearmed. Let us be mindful of these things when (not if) we cross her path, for she can come to us in many forms and many ways but "[l]et not your heart turn aside to her ways; do not stray into her paths, for many a victim has she laid low, and all her slain are a mighty throng. Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death."(Proverbs 7:25-27 ESV).
Lord Jesus Christ, I pray that we heed these words of wisdom provided by Solomon and that we cherish wisdom and insight, that they may keep us from the paths of the adulteress.
*ESV=English Standard Version
1. Choose Life. We are instructed to "keep the commandments and live" (Proverbs 7:2 ESV). They should be a part of us, bound on our fingers and written on our heart (Proverbs 7:3 ESV). We are advised to make wise alliances and declare that wisdom and insight are our close kin, and in so doing we are under their protection and kept from the forbidden woman and her smooth words (Proverbs 7:4-5 ESV).
2. People Watching. While Proverbs does not advocate voyeurism in its debased form (the ensuing reprisal of King David for committing adultery with Bathsheba after spying on her showering attests to that) there is something to be gained from observation in general and people watching specifically. The latter part of this chapter is told from the perspective of Solomon as he watches out of the window of his house at a young man who commits the act of adultery. Much wisdom is to be gained from learning from the mistakes of others, be it from observing wickedness in the streets or reading about it in the history books.
3. The Adulteress. A large portion of this chapter expounds on the wiles and charms of the adulteress and the resultant consequences of being snared in her trap. That we may be forewarned, what are her traits?
1) She is a deceiver. She is "dressed as a prostitute" (Proverbs 7:10 ESV); we think she is one thing but she is something else entirely (and the consequences are much more severe as a result). She will not come up front and tell you what she has in mind and who she is lest your conscience should keep you from her (although the man who goes in with a prostitute already has some searing of conscience if he justifies himself). I believe this saying is derived from the consequence of Judah's adultery with Tamar in Genesis 38 (and yet God made good of this, as Tamar is an ancestor of Jesus Christ; Matthew 1:3).
2) She does not stay in her place but seeks you out like a hunter. "She is loud and wayward; her feet do not say at home; now in the street, now in the market, and at every corner she lies in wait." (Proverbs 7:11 ESV). You think you just happened upon her but this was no chance meeting. She was searching for you as her pray.
3) She is a specialist in the sensual. Her bed is of "colored linens from Egyptian linen" and it is perfumed with "myrrh, aloes and cinnamon" (Proverbs 7:16-17 ESV). She seeks to overwhelm your senses. When we overindulge in the senses we are taken over by them and as a result we end up "losing" them and so they can lead us into great danger. What I think is interesting about this discussion of the senses is that so often we may be overtaken by the visual or think only of sensual enticements as those that could come from something we see but the adulteress can approach us in other ways, perhaps with a soft caress or a pleasant perfume. We must be on guard against all assaults on the senses lest we be "as an ox [that] goes to the slaughter" (Proverbs 7:22 ESV).
4) She's a smooth talker. As her father the Devil is so is she. She beguiles with her words and "[w]ith much seductive speech" and "smooth talk" (Proverbs 7:21 ESV). She persuades and compels. And so we find the young man is caught in her net (Proverbs 7:22 ESV).
Forewarned is forearmed. Let us be mindful of these things when (not if) we cross her path, for she can come to us in many forms and many ways but "[l]et not your heart turn aside to her ways; do not stray into her paths, for many a victim has she laid low, and all her slain are a mighty throng. Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death."(Proverbs 7:25-27 ESV).
Lord Jesus Christ, I pray that we heed these words of wisdom provided by Solomon and that we cherish wisdom and insight, that they may keep us from the paths of the adulteress.
*ESV=English Standard Version
