1 My son, pay attention to my wisdom; Lend your ear to my understanding, 2 That you may preserve discretion, And your lips may keep knowledge. 3 For the lips of an immoral woman drip honey, And her mouth is smoother than oil; 4 But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a two-edged sword. 5 Her feet go down to death, Her steps lay hold of hell. 6 Lest you ponder her path of life— Her ways are unstable; You do not know them. 7 Therefore hear me now, my children, And do not depart from the words of my mouth. 8 Remove your way far from her, And do not go near the door of her house, 9 Lest you give your honor to others, And your years to the cruel one; 10 Lest aliens be filled with your wealth, And your labors go to the house of a foreigner; 11 And you mourn at last, When your flesh and your body are consumed, 12 And say: “How I have hated instruction, And my heart despised correction! 13 I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, Nor inclined my ear to those who instructed me! 14 I was on the verge of total ruin, In the midst of the assembly and congregation.” 15 Drink water from your own cistern, And running water from your own well. 16 Should your fountains be dispersed abroad, Streams of water in the streets? 17 Let them be only your own, And not for strangers with you. 18 Let your fountain be blessed, And rejoice with the wife of your youth. 19 As a loving deer and a graceful doe, Let her breasts satisfy you at all times; And always be enraptured with her love. 20 For why should you, my son, be enraptured by an immoral woman, And be embraced in the arms of a seductress? 21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, And He ponders all his paths. 22 His own iniquities entrap the wicked man, And he is caught in the cords of his sin. 23 He shall die for lack of instruction, And in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.
Commentary
Vs. 1-2 1 My son, pay attention to my wisdom; Lend your ear to my understanding, 2 That you may preserve discretion, And your lips may keep knowledge.
Once again, the Word of God bespeeches us to listen to it, to receive its wisdom and instruction, so that we may preserve discretion and our lips may keep knowledge, so that we do not go the way of this evil world that validates every sin of flesh, nor the way of apostasy, that is so terribly happening now.
Vs. 3-5 3 For the lips of an immoral woman drip honey, And her mouth is smoother than oil; 4 But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a two-edged sword. 5 Her feet go down to death, Her steps lay hold of hell.
Once again, the warning is about lusting after the immoral woman who knows no bounds or boundaries, but only seeks out another young man to be her next victim. Her appeal is her looks which she knows how to use, along with her flattering tongue, to seduce him or any man who entertains thoughts about her. And so, though her mouth may drip honey as she radiates her sensuality, and her lips oil, as she speaks to you with her smooth or enticing speech, in the end she is always as bitter as wormwood. That is, what seemed so desirable and enticing at first afterwards always leaves one in a very bad state, whether this is one’s body, soul, or mind, etc. one always regrets having gone to be with her when the consequences of having done so come home to roost. For she is sharp as a two-edged sword, meaning she will inflict deep and lasting and potentially lethal wounds on you. I wish I could cite to you every example of her, of men who ruined their own lives because of their going after her. Men who ruined their marriages, or ruined their own carriers and lost much of their own wealth in divorces and lawsuits because they went after her. Or who lost the respect of and their relationships with their children, family members and friends, who in the end only died alone and bitter and miserable after she used them for a season before abandoning them, to go onto her next victim. The real life miseries and the examples are endless! And so verse five also warns that her feet go down to death, literally she will shorten your life and ruin what’s left of your days if you embrace her. And in the end after the pleasure all there is waiting for you is an eternity in hell because for a mere moment of lustful pleasure with her so forsook the truth. Therefore, don’t do it! Don't entertain thoughts about her and live a long and happy and prosperous and peaceful life. Now its not just young men who need to guard themselves from her, but men of any age (especially middle age men) for she is calculating, and she knows that your wealth is established and your days will be few, therefore she in her youthful beauty and sensuality will come to enticing you to first have her, then later to leave your wife and your relationships with your teenage or adult children for her, and then, little by little she'll take everything from you, for that is her person and nature, which is never satisfied with the one she then has or what he has to give her.
Vs. 6 “Lest you ponder her path of life— Her ways are unstable; You do not know them.”
Therefore, we are all warned not to ponder (wonder about) her path of life, of living “lose and carefree”, as she does, as living without responsibilities or accountability to anyone or anything. For though on the surface their seems a sort of “freedom” in her person and life, her ways are only unstable, and there is much discord and distress in her own life, and she will be more than glad to share these with you! Crying on your shoulder about how badly she is being mistreated, she'll play on your hero or rescuer sensibilities. Therefore, don’t consider her path of life, because you do not know the inner workings, nor the troubles of her sinful life, nor do you want to know them!
Vs. 7-14 7 Therefore hear me now, my children, And do not depart from the words of my mouth. 8 Remove your way far from her, And do not go near the door of her house, 9 Lest you give your honor to others, And your years to the cruel one; 10 Lest aliens be filled with your wealth, And your labors go to the house of a foreigner; 11 And you mourn at last, When your flesh and your body are consumed, 12 And say: “How I have hated instruction, And my heart despised correction! 13 I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, Nor inclined my ear to those who instructed me! 14 I was on the verge of total ruin, In the midst of the assembly and congregation.”
Therefore king Solomon who knew woman as know man has known them pleads with his children to listen to him. And yet as God endowed Solomon with wisdom and understanding this urgent and passionate appeal then is not just of Solomon speaking to his children, but of God speaking to us all through him as His children! Telling us all to remove ourselves far from her, and to stay away from the door of her house (Vs.7-8), to not seek to be with her: 9 Lest you give your honor to others, And your years to the cruel one; 10 Lest aliens be filled with your wealth, And your labors go to the house of a foreigner”, vs. 9-10 For you will bring nothing but dishonor and misery to yourself if you get involved with her, and not only that, what should’ve been your golden years, or your years of prosperity and peace you’ll only give to the cruel one (a veiled reference to Satan and all of the troubles that God will now allow him to bring into your life because you forsook His way for her). Even your wealth which you worked so hard for, will only be turned over to aliens and your labors will find their end in the house of a foreigner. For that is what will happen to you, you will lose it all to a stranger whom you don’t know, who will take your place and your wealth when she is done with you (vs.9-10). And so in verses eleven to fourteen we now hear the cries of regret and sorrow of the man who lusted after her and went after her, now seeing himself weakened and wasted away, and all that he once had now gone away, now bemoans to himself the great folly of his way, recalling to himself how he hatred instruction; and so the choice that he made was not in ignorance; but in full knowledge of the truth, and yet when he heard it, he only hated it and despised it, because it was contrary to what he himself wanted to do, or was already doing. And so, he now recalls how from his youth he rejected the counsels of his parents, his teachers, his pastor, and all those who tried to instruct him and warn him about going after the immoral woman, who always avails herself to all those who do so, for she's not hard to catch if you have what she wants, but she's sure hard to get free of without deep loss and cost (Pr. 23:26-28). And so now he faces not only his own personal misery and loss, but also his own public shame and humiliation as he has ruined not only his own reputation and life, but also his own place in congregation! And let me tell you the last place you want to end up in your old age is in the assembly of the dead, where you will find no peace, nor care, nor concern, nor remembrance of your person anymore (Ecc. 8:10).
Vs. 15 “Drink water from your own cistern, And running water from your own well.”
Having then revealed the folly of the wayward man and life, Scripture now counsels us to keep one’s life pure. To drink water from one’s own cistern is analogous to saying satisfy you sexual thirst with your wife whom you have committed your person and life too. For this is good and right in the eyes of God who alone makes peace and who alone makes calamity, whose observes all of mans ways on earth and repays everyone according to their works and ways. Running water from your own well, is again analogous to saying by doing so, one drinks of a healthy and vibrant sexual life, (free of sexual sin, vernerial disease, and or illegitimate children) and thus does not partake of the stagnant and polluted waters of the immoral woman or wife.
Vs. 16 “Should your fountains be dispersed abroad, Streams of water in the streets?”
That is should your passions, your life, your strength, be for the immoral woman of the streets.
Vs. 17 “Let them be only your own, And not for strangers with you.”
Therefore, keep your sexual passions for you and your wife to fully enjoy yourselves, and do not give them to strangers. Commit yourself then to cultivating, enjoying, and preserving a healthy sexual relationship with your wife.
Vs. 18-19 18 Let your fountain be blessed, And rejoice with the wife of your youth. 19 As a loving deer and a graceful doe, Let her breasts satisfy you at all times; And always be enraptured with her love.
Yes, God’s blessing is on those who keep their wives pure, whose love and sexual desire is for them alone! Therefore, rejoice with the wife of your youth and let her breasts satisfy you at all times, and always be enraptured with her love, because you’ll never have more deeply satisfying and fulfilling love, satisfying in every deep and intimate way, than with her.
Vs. 20 “For why should you, my son, be enraptured by an immoral woman, And be embraced in the arms of a seductress?”
The seductress on the other hand can give you nothing but sex, for she will not love you, nor be faithful to you, for her heart knows nothing of love, nor of loyalty, nor of true intimacies, for she only seeks after men to meet her own material wants and needs or to satisfy her own sexual lusts and desires. Therefore from here you’ll find nothing with her that will last or satisfy, for sure she will give you sex, but she will never give you genuine intimacy and love. For her “love” is always a lie, and when tires of you she moves on to another. Indeed, all she will give you is many hardships, pains, griefs and sorrows, so that when desire fails, as it always does, you yourself will soon want no more of her!
Vs. 21-23 21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, And He ponders all his paths. 22 His own iniquities entrap the wicked man, And he is caught in the cords of his sin. 23 He shall die for lack of instruction, And in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.
And so though a man may keep a secret affair with her it is God who watches all the steps of a man, He considers all of our ways, and so when a man chooses to go after the immoral woman God Himself bears witness (Prov. 15:3), and He Himself will render His judgment on him (Heb. 4:13; Rev. 22:15). And yet there are the consequences of one’s sin right here and now that need no direct involvement of God, but carry with them their own judgment (vs. 22-23). Not only his person and life, but also his heart, mind, and potentially his faith and soul may all be ruined by his decision and choice to go into the harlot. Sadly, though these are never readily apparent to men, so that men never see the consequences coming upon them until they are well steeped in their own sins and ruin (Ecc. 8:11).
Scripture Quotations
New King James (1982):Thomas Nelson.
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