《Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures – Proverbs (Vol. 1)》
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Illustration- Note how Job understood this power of temptation. He said, "I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?" ( Job 31:1) He made a quality decision in his heart before he encountered temptation that he would not gaze and stare upon a woman. A man cannot stop himself from seeing things and observing people. But a person can make a decision not to focus his attention upon it. A person can turn his eyes away from temptation and focus his thoughts upon something else. This is the decision that Job made. Note that Jesus teaches in the Sermon on the Mount that gazing upon a woman will turn our hearts towards adulterous thoughts. This is what Job was avoiding. Matthew 5:27-28, "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." Proverbs 5:3 For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil: Proverbs 5:3 — "For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb" - Comments- The adulteress is called a "strange" woman in Proverbs 5:3. It is the strangeness of a whore that stands in direct contrast to "knowing" one"s wife. There was nothing sweeter on earth than honey. Yet, the lips of a woman are sweeter. This refers to the sense of taste. A man can seduce a man with the taste of her lips. We could paraphrase the statement, "the lips of a strange woman drop as a honey comb" into saying it means a person who is able to sweet-talk someone into doing something. Proverbs 5:3 — "and her mouth is smoother than oil" - Comments- Just as there are no tangible materials more valuable than gold and nothing sweeter than honey, so is the Word of God more valuable than these ( Psalm 19:10). Likewise, no earthly substance is more slippery, smoother and lubricating than oil, yet a strange woman's lips surpasses even this. Psalm 19:10, "More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb." Proverbs 5:3 — Comments- We see in Proverbs 5:3 the method of a woman"s seduction over a man. A man is able to rule over others by his strength, but a woman, because she is weak, is only able to rule over a man through seducing him. We find later in the book of Proverbs that her mouth is a like a pit that men fall into. Note: Proverbs 22:14, "The mouth of strange women is a deep pit: he that is abhorred of the LORD shall fall therein." Proverbs 23:27, "For a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit." Proverbs 5:3 — Scripture References- Note a similar verse. Song of Solomon 4:11, "Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb: honey and milk are under thy tongue; and the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon." Proverbs 5:4 But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword. Proverbs 5:4 — Word Study on "wormword" - Strong says the Hebrew word ( לַעֲנָה) (H 3939) means , "wormword (regarded as poisonous, and therefore accursed)," and it comes from a root verb meaning, "to curse." Its New Testament counterpart is the Greek word άψινθος. Holladay says it is "the plant Artemisia absinthium, containing a bitter taste, always used metaphorically as ‘bitter (ness)'." Webster says that worm word is "a strong smelling plant that yields a bitter-tasting, dark green oil used in making absinthe. Also, a bitter, unpleasant, or mortifying experience." Proverbs 5:4 — Comments- Bitterness and sharpness are used symbolically to describe what the spirit of man experiences when his conscience shows to him his sin. The grief and pain in a man's soul who has been overcome by sin is enormous. Proverbs 5:5-6 — The Strange Woman Leads a Man to Hell With Her Unpredictable Decisions - Proverbs 5:5-6 tell us this seduction will lead down the path of death and not the path of life, and that it is an unpredictable path to follow. From Soothing Lips to a Broken Heart- To hear her talk to you sounds soothing and sweet to the soul ( Proverbs 5:3), but when your heart follows hard after her, she desires you no more. You have not predicted such a moveable person ( Proverbs 5:6). How sharp the pain is of a broken heart. It is like a sword piecing you and the taste of that ordeal is bitter ( Proverbs 5:4). During the time that you have tried to please her, she has led you further away from God ( Proverbs 5:5). Proverbs 5:5 Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell. Proverbs 5:6 Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them. Proverbs 5:6 — "Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life" - Word Study on "ponder" - Strong says the Hebrew word "ponder" ( פָּלַס) (H 6424) means, "to roll flat, to prepare, to revolve, i.e. to weigh (mentally)." The Enhanced Strong says it is used six times in the Old Testament, being translated in the KJV as, "ponder 3, weigh 2, made 1." Comments- In Proverbs 5:6 This verb could be translated as the second masculine singular (i.e, you): YLT, "The path of life--lest thou ponder, Moved have her paths--thou knowest not." Or it could be translated as the third feminine singular (i.e, she): WEB, "She gives no thought to the way of life. Her ways are crooked, and she doesn"t know it." JPS, "Lest she should walk the even path of life, her ways wander, but she knoweth it not." Either translation is valid because these two different meanings have the same structure in the Hebrew text. The LXX reads as the second masculine singular, as does the KJV:
Illustrations: 1. Judges 6 - Delilah"s love and hate for Samson. 2. Ammon loved Tamar one minute, then hated her the next. ( 2 Samuel 13:2; 2 Samuel 13:4; 2 Samuel 13:15) 2 Samuel 13:4, "And he said unto him, Why art thou, being the king"s Song of Solomon , lean from day to day? wilt thou not tell me? And Amnon said unto him, I love Tamar, my brother Absalom"s sister." 2 Samuel 13:15, "Then Amnon hated her exceedingly; so that the hatred wherewith he hated her was greater than the love wherewith he had loved her. And Amnon said unto her, Arise, be gone." Watch a man who is chasing a loud, whorish woman. She leads him about, constantly changing her mood. He cannot figure her out, no matter how hard he tries. She does not want anything permanent. She is restless and wants constant change. She wants to satisfy her flesh and this requires greater and greater depths of sin and indulgences. One relationship with one man cannot satisfy her cravings. Proverbs 5:7-8 — Stay on the Path of Wisdom of Solomon , and Far from the Path of the Strange Woman - Proverbs 5:7-8 tell us to stay on the path of wisdom and far from her path. Do not be sidetracked by the lures of our senses. We must follow our hearts where the voice of wisdom is heard. Proverbs 5:7 Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth. Proverbs 5:7 — "and depart not from the words of my mouth" - Comments- The mouth of wisdom in Proverbs 5:7 is contrasted with the mouth of the strange woman in Proverbs 5:3. Proverbs 5:3, "For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil:" Proverbs 5:8 Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house: Proverbs 5:8 — Comments- To ignore this warning of Proverbs 5:8 brings regret and sorrow ( Proverbs 5:12-14) that comes from falling into a lifestyle of promiscuity and sin ( Proverbs 5:9-11). Yet, this is exactly what the simply young man did in Proverbs 7:8, "Passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house." He thought he had the strength to confront the adulteress, but found out he was weak. Paul gave the church at Corinth a similar warning to "flee fornication". 1 Corinthians 6:18, "Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body." Paul told young Timothy to stand and fight the good fight of faith. But on one issue he is told to flee, and that is when he is around things that inflame youthful lusts. 2 Timothy 2:22, "Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart." Paul knew that this was an area that believers could quickly be overcome by the sinful nature of the flesh and thus, they did not even need to be near such temptations. Wisdom is telling us not to get into a place where our senses are being aroused. We are not to be deceived into thinking that we are strong enough to overcome temptations. Proverbs 5:9-10 — The Man who Follow the Strange Woman will Give Her His Honour, Labour, and Wealth - Proverbs 5:9-10 tell us that our honour, our life, our wealth and our strength will be lost if we follow the path of the strange woman and ignore the warnings of wisdom. We are told in other verses in Proverbs that riches, honour, life and health are the blessings of wisdom ( Proverbs 3:16). Proverbs 3:16, "Length of days is in her right hand; and in her left hand riches and honour." The path of death will cause us to lose all of these blessings, spiritual, mental, physical and financial. Solomon looked upon Pharaoh's daughter and pondered her beauty, but it was a setup, a trap that Solomon thought he could discern and avoid. Proverbs 5:9 Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel: Proverbs 5:9 — Comments- A man who follows whorish women loses his honour within his community. A man gives honor unto others by giving his best efforts to please them. Giving a person's years "unto the cruel" is giving one's life and effort to evil people, especially to the devil. Proverbs 5:10 Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger; Proverbs 5:10 — Comments- The objective of the evil man and the strange woman is to gain their victim's wealth. The devil will craftily steal and have you waste your substance. While newspapers, billboards, radios, and televisions advertise a perverse life style with alcohol, cigarettes and other sinful delights, the businesses are become rich from the victim"s wealth. Those who yield to these enticements find themselves in bondage, and spend their wealth on such pleasures, while the advertisers get rich off of their substance. When a man goes to the nightclub to satisfy his fleshly lusts, the owner of the club get his wealth while the man's life is slowly destroyed. A man gives his "labours," or his best strength to others, i.e, the most active years of one's life as a young man. Many wrong marriages resulting in divorce have left a man's hard earned wealth in another's household. I watched my beloved father, who gave his life to Jesus in his later years, go through two such divorces in which he left most wealth in the houses of his Exodus -wives. Proverbs 5:11-14 — The Words of Grief from the Fool - Proverbs 5:11-14 give voice to the words of a man consumed with grief. It is only in the midst of utter despair that a fool will finally admit his errors. In other words, when your body is used up, you grieve and realize how much you have wasted your life and hated the instruction of God. It is only when the fool has no more strength to continue in his foolishness does he stop to consider his condition. Only when judgment becomes unbearable will the fool finally sit down and acknowledge his sin. God has a way of taking a person through judgment that intensifies until a person repents. At this time, God is more concerned about his eternal soul than his temporal gain. We see a series of increasing judgments in the book of Revelation as God gives the world a final opportunity to repent before the Second Coming of the Lord. However, in chapter 19 of the book of Revelation there are those who do not repent because of the hardness of their hearts. Verses 1-23
We must keep God's Word foremost in our lives ( Proverbs 5:1-2) because the path of the adulteress appears pleasant ( Proverbs 5:3), but its end is bitter ( Proverbs 5:4), her ways lead to death ( Proverbs 5:5), and are unpredictable ( Proverbs 5:6). We must stay far from this path ( Proverbs 5:7-8), lest we be snared and ruined ( Proverbs 5:9-14). You can avoid this path by staying close to your wife ( Proverbs 5:15-20) and this is the remedy that God has given us to avoid the fate of the fool. God knows how easily a man is ensnared in the trap of the adulteress and His judgment will follow ( Proverbs 5:21-23). Outline - Here is a proposed outline: 1. The Path of Adultery Leads to Poverty and Destruction — Proverbs 5:1-14 2. The Remedy: A Happy Marriage — Proverbs 5:15-19 3. The Punishment for Adultery — — Proverbs 5:20-23 Verses 15-19
The pleasures of marriage outweigh the pleasures of fornication. The remedy for avoiding the strange woman is to pay attention to Wisdom of Solomon , staying far from the house of the adulteress, and focus on your wife as God"s source of satisfaction. Contrasting the Adulteress with the Wife- The book of Proverbs gives a number of contrasts between the adulteress and the wife. 1. If the wife is called fresh, clean water in this passage, the whore is contrasted as a dirty ditch. Note: Proverbs 23:27, "For a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit." Just as filthy water in a ditch is a source of worms and disease, so is a filthy whore a source of infectious disease. 2. The adulteress is called a "strange" woman. It is the strangeness of a whore that stands in direct contrast to "knowing" one"s wife.
My wife grew up in a poor neighbourhood where many small houses were built together. Her father was one of the few homes with running water. The other neighbours were constantly coming over to purchase water from him, but the wicked person attempted to steal some water. This is symbolic of adultery. Note: Proverbs 9:17, "Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. But he knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell." Proverbs 5:16 Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets. Proverbs 5:16 — Comments- For those who had their own well, they found enough for themselves and for others to be blessed also. If the fountain of water represents the man and woman in marriage, then the rivers of water represent their offspring and their overflow of blessings into the society. Rivers of water represent a multitude of children and the divine blessings that overflow into the lives of others. Their offspring will as well become blessings to others in the community. 1. The nation of Judah is said to have come forth out of the waters of Judah.
2. We see a similar picture of a river being dispersed from the throne of God in the book of Revelation. Revelation 22:1, "And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb." In the book of Revelation , these waters represent the life, or provision, from God. 3. In contrast to the blessings of having many children from a loving wife, the man who commits whoredom will not be producing children, as noted in Hosea 4:10.
We see this illustrated in the relationship of Ishmael with his father Abraham. Ishmael, the son of Abraham"s handmaid, was cast out of the family after he began to despise Isaac, his half brother. Proverbs 5:18 Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth. Proverbs 5:18 — "and rejoice with the wife of thy youth" - Comments- The phrase "the wife of thy youth" occurs in others places in the Scriptures. Ecclesiastes 9:9, "Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun." Malachi 2:14-15, "Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the LORD hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant. And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth." Proverbs 5:19 — Comments- There is a joy in early marriage, where the young wife is excited about taking care of her husband and giving him pleasure. They do things together and enjoy the hope of future happiness together. Unfortunately, the husband can easily take advantage of a wife's desire to serve him and neglect to meet her needs. Such years of neglect leave a woman depressed and less responsive to her husband, so that she loses her beauty and youthful joy. Such immaturity in the husband leads him to look for a new wife, in whom is such youth and excitement. He blames his first wife, when in fact, he has been the cause of her demise. Proverbs 5:19 Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love. Proverbs 5:19 — "Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe" - Comments- The NIV reads, "A loving doe, a graceful deer…" Because of the grace of these animals, women were even named after them ( Acts 9:36). The Aramaic name "Tabitha" and its Greek equivalent "Dorcas" mean "a gazelle." Acts 9:36, "Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas: this woman was full of good works and almsdeeds which she did." Matthew Henry notes that the wealthy men would often keep these animals as pets in their homes to entertain them. 68] We see an illustration of this type of pet in 2 Samuel 12:3. 68] Matthew Henry, Proverbs, in Matthew Henry"s Commentary on the Whole Bible, New Modern Edition, Electronic Database (Seattle, WA: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc, 1991), in P.C. Study Bible, v 31 [CD-ROM] (Seattle, WA: Biblesoft Inc, 1993-2000), notes on Proverbs 5:15-23.
Note other Scriptural references to the roe in relation to love: Song of Solomon 2:9, "My beloved is like a roe or a young hart: behold, he standeth behind our wall, he looketh forth at the windows, shewing himself through the lattice." Song of Solomon 2:17, "Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of Bether." Song of Solomon 8:14, "Make haste, my beloved, and be thou like to a roe or to a young hart upon the mountains of spices." Proverbs 5:19 — "let her breasts satisfy thee at all times" - Comments- The breasts are both the seat of a woman's emotions and the source of a man's attraction. If a man is satisfied with his wife, then he will not be looking for the breasts of another. His affection for his wife's breasts satisfies her sexual needs. Thus, a man's physical attraction for his wife is an indicator of the strength of his relationship with her. Download 3.1 Mb. Share with your friends:
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