Proverbs 9:13-18

13 A foolish woman is clamorous;
She is simple, and knows nothing.
14 For she sits at the door of her house,
On a seat by the highest places of the city,
15To call to those who pass by,
Who go straight on their way:
16 “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here”;
And as for him who lacks understanding, she says to him,
17 “Stolen water is sweet,
And bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”
18 But he does not know that the dead are there,
That her guests are in the depths of hell.

Commentary

In the Book of Proverbs we are warned about the seductress, and here we are now warned about another type of women who neither fears God nor regards anyone. She is trouble with a capital T. So hopefully we will take Scriptures warning too heart and not become another victim of her. With that notice that the Bible says that a foolish woman is clamorous, that is boisterous (margin reading). Someone given to making her feelings and demands loudly known. According to the Net Bible the word used here comes close to meaning "riotous." To give you another mental picture of her the word used here is also used metaphorically in Zechariah 9:15 describing one who roars with wine. And so she stands in stark contrast to meek and quiet spirit of a Godly woman (1 Peter 3:4) with her brazen demeanor and outspoken nature, and all coupled too her undignified persona. The Believers Bible Commentary graphically says of her: "The foolish woman is loudmouthed, empty-headed, and brazen faced."

And so the Scripture calls her simple, one who knows nothing of God and less of righteousness. All she knows is how to stir up trouble, or arouse sin within men foolish enough to heed her. For again she regards neither God nor man, and so she knows neither peace, nor quietness in her life, or in her spirit. But instead she is only moved by her clamorous and sensual nature to pursue more of the same. And so when she's not bellowing like a cow in the pastures of sin, or rolling around in the mire like a sow, or brazenly voicing her desires or displeasure's, she perches herself like a hawk waiting to land upon its next prey. As the Scripture says:

14 For she sits at the door of her house,
On a seat by the highest places of the city,
15To call to those who pass by,
Who go straight on their way" vs. 14-15

And so she chooses for herself a strategic location where she can both see and be seen and heard by all those who pass by straight on the way. For she isn't looking for those she has already seduced and slain, for she has no pleasure in that. Instead she is looking for some new victim stupid enough to entertain her invitation to self annihilation. And all presented to him under the guise of endless "ease, delight and pleasure". That is what is meant in verses sixteen and seventeen when she says:

16 “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here”;

And as for him who lacks understanding, she says to him,
17 “Stolen water is sweet,
And bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”

Now what is actually being said there by her in the ancient Hebrew in verse seventeen is that sin indulged in secret is more delightful (Specifically illicit sexual intercourse). And so she seduces him through his own sexual desires and sin nature, with the grand illusion that illicit pleasure can be enjoyed with absolute immunity. Now we know that both the Scriptures and life testifies to another reality (Num 32:23; Prov 11:31). For just as sin has it momentary pleasure, so sin always pays its wages, which always ends in ones own death (consider Rom 6:23; James 1:13-15). And so if one dies unrepentant and unbelieving, there will be consequences for eternity (consider 1 Cor 6:9-10, Gal 6:7-8; 1 Peter 4:18). And that is what the Book of Proverbs sets to warns us all about; both here and elsewhere. That living wickedly will ensure one receives repayment, wrath, and judgment from God (consider Prov 3:33-35; 5:21-23; 10:25; 10:27; 11:21; 21:12). While living righteously will ensure ones own life, peace, and safety (consider Prov 10:25; 12:21). For even a casual reading of the Book of Proverbs makes that abundantly clear (consider Prov 10:29; 10:30; 11:31; 14:32; 15:9, 29; 16:4; 21:18; 24:19-20 etc.). Therefore the Lord Jesus Christ warns us all of sin, that there will be eternal consequences for the unrepentant (Matt 5:27-30; Mark 9:42-48) and unbelieving (Rev 21:6-8). And that is something the world always tries to deny, yet can never escape from (Matt 18:7-9). That God is Sovereign and His Son the Lord Jesus Christ will Judge the world in righteousness (Rev 20:11-15) and He will repay the wicked and unbelieving according to their works (Psalm 9:17). And thus the seductress (Prov 2:16-22; 5:1-6; 7:6-27) and or the foolish and clamorous woman, is to be steered well clear of by us all who fear the Lord.

For again she only seduces men through their own sinful desires, and in this she sometimes does so by arousing them through the Law, as verse seventeen indicates. For prohibition never brings liberation from sin (consider Romans 7:8; 1 Cor. 15:56) only regeneration does. And that is why the Lord Jesus Christ says we all must be born-again, whether a brazen harlot, or a fool taken by her, or anyone else. For we all have a sin nature, and we are all susceptible to sin (indeed we are under it's domain), and or deceptions from Satan, until we are born-again by the Spirit of God, by our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ's Person (John 3:16). For only when we come to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ does God by His Spirit change our hearts, and open our eyes to all that is truly evil and wrong in our lives, and in this world, so that we might do what is truly just and right in His sight by His Word and through His Spirit's Power. For human effort to bring about personal and lasting change through religion or anything else always fails, because of the weakness of our sinful flesh (Rom 7:5-6; Heb 7:18-19). For the Law can only expose sin, it cannot correct the root problem; which again is the sin nature within us all, which largely controls us, and progressively leads us astray until we are born-again (i.e. regenerated) by God's Holy Spirit, which again happens the moment we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ's Person (Eph 1:13-14). Therefore the laws purpose is not to make "religious" people, but to reveal sin in us, by showing us God's Character through its morals decrees, and thus define for us what righteousness is, and what sin is. So that we seeing the problem is within us, that is our own sins and powerlessness to keep ourselves from them, will turn to God, so that He might both save us from our sins, as well as deliver us out of them. That is why the Scripture says the Law was given to bring us to Christ (see Gal 3:19-25). Because apart from the Lord Jesus Christ justifying us before God the Father, then empowering us by His Spirit to live Godly lives; for no one can keep the Law of God to be saved by it. For to fail in one point is to be condemned by all of it (James 2:10). Therefore the Law was given to bring us to end of ourselves; of trying to do what only God can do in us and for us; and that is both atone for all our sins by Jesus' Crucifixion death and shed blood for them at Calvary. As well as change our persons whole nature, giving us who believe in Jesus a new heart and new nature (2 Cor 5:17), through His Holy Spirit regenerating us, which again happens the moment we repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ through the Gospel. And so with our faith in Jesus our old sin nature is not eliminated, but it is crucified, just as we are with Christ (Rom 6:6; Gal 2:21) which assures that though we may struggle with sin in this life, we shall overcome sin, Satan and death, all by the power of Jesus Christ's Crucifixion death, and Resurrection from the dead.

If you have never heard, nor received God's Good News, that there is hope for even the worst of sinners, because God's grace is now freely extended to one and to all who in faith repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as testified too in the Scriptures. Then please in all sincerity open your hearts to God and receive what He has done for you by receiving the Lord Jesus Christ into your hearts and lives. For He loves you and wants to save you from your sins and the wrath to come. That is why Jesus willingly was crucified for you, so that God could save you from all your sins and the judgment to come. And in doing so He could make you a new person in Christ (2 Cor 5:17). So that you can live a life filled with the fruits of His Holy Spirit (see Gal 5:22-23) and thus have and experience an abundant and full and rich life, being in union with Christ, and harmony and peace with God. Rather than living a life only ruled by the sinful desires of the flesh (see Gal 5:17-21), which again ends in death (Rom 6:23) and an eternity in hell (Rev 21:6-8) for those who remain dead in their sins and trespasses.

And so what the Law could not do through the weakness of our flesh, Jesus Christ has done by His own Death on the cross and Resurrection from the dead. So that by His first atoning for all our sins He can now impute His Righteousness to us, to give us a righteous standing before God the Father. Then by His Holy Spirit both transform our persons and empower us to live new lives of righteousness and peace and joy in the Spirit (Rom 14:17) as born-again children of God (John 1:12). It's the best thing in the world to experience and have forgiveness of all of ones sins and new and everlasting life. Don't miss it, instead believe and receive Jesus Christ while you can!

Scripture Quotations

The New King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982,

 

Additional Resources Consulted

^[1] MacDonald, W. (1995). Believer’s Bible Commentary: Old and New Testaments (A. Farstad, Ed.) (Pr 9:13). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.