Pro 5:1-6 | KingComments | STEP | In this chapter, Solomon returns in more detail to the depraved heart that leads a man to forsake the wife of his youth for another ( ). He shows that that path demoralizes the whole man. It is a warning from man to man to avoid any sexual connection with an adulteress, literally strange woman, that is, any woman outside of one’s own, lawful wife. If we assume that in the grandfather is still speaking to the father, we see that David spoke about this evil of an adulteress, literally a strange woman, to his son Solomon. Either way, it is a matter that every generation has to deal with. Sexual desire does not cease after reaching a certain age. Whoever is tempted by the strange woman has left the path of life and goes the path of death. The terminus of the path with the adulteress, the strange woman, is death. Many deny this. They want, so to speak, to reach life by the way of death. In doing so, life does have a different meaning for them than it does for God. It is impossible to live true life through that path. The father again begins by encouraging his son to give attention to his “wisdom” and to listen carefully to his “understanding” ( ). The “wisdom” is God’s wisdom, what God has revealed; the “understanding” is what he has acquired through experience and observation. He has more often called to listen to him ( ), but here he does so particularly in view of the temptation with which a strange woman approaches him. If his son is indeed listening, he will “observe discretion” ( ). He will then think before he does anything and live carefully and disciplined. This will keep him from making hasty, wrong choices. His lips will “reserve knowledge”, meaning he will speak what he has learned from his father. That knowledge is knowledge of God, knowledge that brings reverence for Him and obedience to His commandments. That knowledge will be evident from his words (“your lips”). “Discretion” and “knowledge” are the basis of avoiding the temptation to commit the disastrous folly of adultery. These verses are the introduction to the father’s teaching to his son about sexuality. Only by listening to his wise words will he be kept from satisfying his sexual desires in a wrong way. The wrong way is outside of marriage. The father also tells him that he can fully enjoy it within marriage. Therefore, he calls on his son to listen to his wisdom and his understanding ( ).

‏ Proverbs 5:1-6

Introduction

In this chapter, Solomon returns in more detail to the depraved heart that leads a man to forsake the wife of his youth for another (Pro 2:16-20). He shows that that path demoralizes the whole man. It is a warning from man to man to avoid any sexual connection with an adulteress, literally strange woman, that is, any woman outside of one’s own, lawful wife.

Discretion and Knowledge

If we assume that in Pro 5:1-6 the grandfather is still speaking to the father, we see that David spoke about this evil of an adulteress, literally a strange woman, to his son Solomon. Either way, it is a matter that every generation has to deal with. Sexual desire does not cease after reaching a certain age. Whoever is tempted by the strange woman has left the path of life and goes the path of death. The terminus of the path with the adulteress, the strange woman, is death. Many deny this. They want, so to speak, to reach life by the way of death. In doing so, life does have a different meaning for them than it does for God. It is impossible to live true life through that path.

The father again begins by encouraging his son to give attention to his “wisdom” and to listen carefully to his “understanding” (Pro 5:1). The “wisdom” is God’s wisdom, what God has revealed; the “understanding” is what he has acquired through experience and observation. He has more often called to listen to him (Pro 2:1 ; Pro 3:1 ; 2 ; Pro 4:1 ; 10 ; 20), but here he does so particularly in view of the temptation with which a strange woman approaches him.

If his son is indeed listening, he will “observe discretion” (Pro 5:2). He will then think before he does anything and live carefully and disciplined. This will keep him from making hasty, wrong choices. His lips will “reserve knowledge”, meaning he will speak what he has learned from his father. That knowledge is knowledge of God, knowledge that brings reverence for Him and obedience to His commandments. That knowledge will be evident from his words (“your lips”). “Discretion” and “knowledge” are the basis of avoiding the temptation to commit the disastrous folly of adultery.

These verses are the introduction to the father’s teaching to his son about sexuality. Only by listening to his wise words will he be kept from satisfying his sexual desires in a wrong way. The wrong way is outside of marriage. The father also tells him that he can fully enjoy it within marriage. Therefore, he calls on his son to listen to his wisdom and his understanding (Pro 6:20-24 ; Pro 7:1-5).

The Lips and Feet of the Adulteress

Pro 5:3 begins with the reasoning word “for”, which means that what now follows is why the father tells his son to observe discretion (Pro 5:2). Without any further introduction, he tells him that he will have to deal with “an adulteress”, i.e. a strange woman. He does not suppose it as a possibility, but states it as fact. This is going to happen.

The strange woman is the forbidden woman, the unauthorized woman. First, this refers to a woman other than one’s own. Next, it concerns a woman who deliberately sets out to seduce. The father has said something about her before (Pro 2:16-19), but now he is going to inform his son at length about her.

She is an adulteress, that is, a woman who is unfaithful to her own husband. The sin of unfaithfulness is the first major sin committed in adultery. The father tells his son how she goes about seducing him into adultery. That unfaithful woman comes to him with words that are honey-sweet and even smoother than oil (cf. Song 4:11a). She speaks flattering, pleasing words that slip easily into his ear and into his heart.

Her “lips” are a great contrast to those of the youth that preserve knowledge (Pro 5:2). Those trained in speaking healthy words with their lips, whose lips preserve knowledge, those accustomed to faith-building conversation, will immediately notice that her language is depraved. Healthy language we get only if we listen to the Word of God and teaching from it.

The (grand)father unmasks the corruption behind the seductive language (Pro 5:4; cf. Psa 55:21). He moves directly from the temptation to the consequences, to what she is “in the end”. By this he means where it ends, what her goal is, what is the result of her pernicious action. What she says seems so sweet and so pleasant. But what dealing with her leads to is so bitter, “bitter as wormwood”. Her tongue is “sharp as a two-edged sword”, literally “a sword with more than one mouth”, causing pain and destruction. The sword represents a devouring monster (2Sam 2:26; Isa 1:20). The temptress poisons and kills (cf. Ecc 7:26a).

The father paints the consequences of an adulterous life (Pro 5:5). His son should be aware that through this woman’s bed, the bed of sin, he ends up on the way down to death. Her footsteps are moving toward the grave. That is where she is steering. Before we know whether to go with someone, we need to know where the other person is heading. Sin always leads to death: “For the wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23; Jam 1:15).

She deliberately sets out to keep the young man from taking “the path of life” (Pro 5:6). It is also recognizable today in the countless temptations in advertisements, on billboards and on porn sites. The more a person looks at these and takes them in, the more the conscience dulls and the path of death is followed. This woman swings from one death road to another, there is nothing stable in her life, she is unpredictable. Aimless, uncontrolled and erratic she advances. You can see this in her tracks, which run erratically from left to right and back again. She walks like someone who is drunk. There is no rest or direction in it. If the youth is tempted by her, he will not realize that he is wandering just as she is. He sees only her and pays no attention to the way she is going.

By the strange woman is primarily meant a literal danger. But she also points in the application to a spiritual danger. For we can see in the strange woman “woman Foolishness” standing opposite “woman Wisdom” (Pro 9:1-5 ; 13-18). The temptation emanating from woman Folly is to draw us away from the fear of the LORD. She finds her full application in “Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots” (Rev 17:5), a picture of the roman-catholic church.