Proverbs 7

It's safe, trust me. (don't trust, just don't)

Proverbs 7  

WEDNESDAY  Reflections

Watch out for the adulteress! The danger of adultery is the theme of this chapter. Though the wording makes the woman the one tempting, this does not suggest that men are not as guilty. The truth is they may be more guilty, but that isn’t the reason for this setting. Proverbs was written for Solomon’s son therefore a female antagonist is appropriate. Had Solomon been writing to his daughter, I believe the warning would have been the same but the tempter would have been male.

The promise made to the one giving in to sexual sin is the same one made today, it’s perfectly safe. The idea is that offerings have been made to God so God’s okay with this. The bed is perfumed giving the idea of only sweetness (no mention of STDs). There is plenty of time we won’t get caught (there are no consequences).

The problem is there are always consequences when one indulges in sin.  Specifically, in adultery, jealousy is a real danger. Besides the anger of a jealous man, there is a reason people say beware of a woman scorned.   

Pro 7:1-27
(1)  My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee.
(2)  Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye.
(3)  Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart.
(4)  Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; and call understanding thy kinswoman:
(5)  That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words.
(6)  For at the window of my house I looked through my casement,
(7)  And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding,
(8)  Passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house,
(9)  In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night:
(10)  And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart.
(11)  (She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house:
(12)  Now is she without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner.)
(13)  So she caught him, and kissed him, and with an impudent face said unto him,
(14)  I have peace offerings with me; this day have I payed my vows.
(15)  Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee.
(16)  I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt.
(17)  I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
(18)  Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves.
(19)  For the goodman is not at home, he is gone a long journey:
(20)  He hath taken a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed.
(21)  With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him.
(22)  He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks;
(23)  Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life.
(24)  Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye children, and attend to the words of my mouth.
(25)  Let not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths.
(26)  For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been slain by her.
(27)  Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death.

Photo by Michael D Beckwith on Unsplash