American Standard Version Proverbs 7

Proverbs 7:1-27
EXPOSITION
Pro_7:1-27

13. Thirteenth admonitory discourse, containing a warning against adultery, treated under a different aspect from previous exhortations, and strengthened by an example. In this chapter and the following a contrast is drawn between the adulteress and Wisdom.
    Pro_7:1
    My son, keep my words. The teacher enjoins his pupil, as in Pro_2:1, to observe the rules which he gives. Lay up, as a precious treasure (see on Pro_2:1 and Pro_2:7). The LXX. adds here a distich which is not in the Hebrew or in any other version, and is not germane to the context, however excellent in itself: “My son, honour the Lord, and thou shalt be strong, and beside him feat no other.” With this we may compare Luk_12:5 and Isa_8:12, Isa_8:13.
    Pro_7:2
    Keep my commandments, and live (see on Pro_4:4). As the apple of thine eye; literally, the little man (ishon, diminutive of ish) of the eye; so called from the miniature reflection of objects seen in the pupil, specially of the person who looks into another’s eye. It is a proverbial expression for anything particularly precious and liable to be injured unless guarded with scrupulous care (comp. Psa_17:8, Zec_2:8). Similarly the Greeks called this organ κόρη, “damsel” or “puppet,” and the Latin, pupilla.
    Pro_7:3
    Bind them upon thy fingers. Wear my precepts like a ring on thy finger, so that they may go with thee, whatever thou takest in hand. Others think that the so called tephillin, or phylacteries, are meant. These were worn both on the hand and the forehead, and consisted of a leather box containing strips of parchment, on which were written four texts, viz. Exo_13:1-10; 11-16; Deu_6:4-9; Deu_11:13-21. The box was attached to a leather strap wound seven times round the arm three times round the middle finger, and the remainder passed round the hand (see (Exo_13:9, Exo_13:16; Jer_22:24). Write them upon the table of thine heart (see on Pro_3:3 and Pro_6:21; and comp. Deu_6:9).
    Pro_7:4-5
    Pro_7:4 and Pro_7:5 contain earnest admonitions to the pursuit of Wisdom, which is worthy of the purest love.
    Pro_7:4
    Say unto Wisdom, Thou art my sister. Wisdom is personified, and the connection with her indicated by the relationship which best expresses love, purity, confidence. In the Book of Wisdom 8. she is represented as wife. Christ calls those who do God’s will his brother, and sister, and mother (Mat_12:50). Call Understanding thy kinswoman; moda, “familiar friend.” Let prudence and sound sense be as dear to thee as a close friend.
    Pro_7:5
    That they may keep thee from the strange woman (see on Pro_2:16 and Pro_6:24). When the heart is filled with the love of what is good, it is armed against the seductions of evil pleasure or whatever may entice the soul from God and duty. Septuagint, “That she (Wisdom) may keep thee from the strange and evil woman, if she should assail thee with gracious words.”
    Pro_7:6-23
    To show the greatness of the danger presented by the seductions of the temptress, the writer introduces no mere abstraction, no mere personification of a quality, but an actual example of what had passed before his own eyes.
    Pro_7:6
    For. The particle introduces the example. At the window of my house. He gives a graphic delineation of a scene witnessed outside his house. I looked through my casement; eshnab, “the lattice,” which served the purpose of our Venetian blinds, excluding the sun, but letting the cool air pass into the room (comp. Jdg_5:28). A person within could see all that passed in the street without being himself visible from without (So Pro_2:9). The Septuagint reads the sentence as spoken of the woman: “For from the window glancing out of her house into the streets, at one whom she might see of the senseless children, a young man void of understanding.”
    Pro_7:7
    And beheld among the simple ones. Though it was night (Pro_7:9), there was light enough from moon or stars or from illuminated houses to show what was passing. “The simple” are the inexperienced, who are easily led astray (see on Pro_1:4). Looking forth into the street on the throng of young and thoughtless persons passing to and fro, among them I discerned … a young man void of understanding; a fool, who, without any deliberate intention of sinning, put himself in the way of temptation, played on the borders of transgression. The way of escape was before him, as it is in all temptations (1Co_10:13), but he would not take it. Such a one may well be said to lack understanding, or heart, as the Hebrew expresses it (Pro_6:32, where see note).
    Pro_7:8
    Near her corner. He kept near the corner of the house of the woman for whom he waited. Another reading gives, “near a corner;” juxta angulum. Vulgate; παρὰ γωνίαν, Septuagint; i.e. he did not take to the broad, open street, but sneaked about at corners, whence he could watch the woman’s house without being observed by others. He went the way to her house. He sauntered slowly along, as the verb signifes. Septuagint, “Passing by a corner in the passages of her house (ἐν διόδοις οἴκων αὐτῆς).”
    Pro_7:9
    In the twilight, in the evening of the day. So termed to distinguish it from the morning twilight. The moralist sees the youth pacing to and fro in the early evening hours, and still watching and waiting when the darkness was deepest (comp. Job_24:15). In the black and dark night; literally, in the pupil of the eye of night and in darkness. We have the same expression in Pro_20:20 (where see note) to denote midnight. Its appropriateness is derived from the fact that the pupil of the eye is the dark centre in the iris. Septuagint: the youth “speaking in the darkness of evening, when there is the stillness of night and gloom.”
    Pro_7:10
    And, behold, there met him a woman. His long watch is rewarded; the woman comes forth from her house into the street—a proceeding which would at once show what she was, especially in the East, where females are kept secluded, and never appear at night or unattended. With the attire of an harlot. There is no “with” in the original, “woman” and “attire” being in apposition: “There met him a woman, a harlot’s dress” (shith, Psa_73:6); her attire catches the eye at once, and identifies her (comp. Gen_38:14). In Rev_17:4 the harlot is “arrayed in purple and scarlet, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls;” and in the present case the female is dressed in some conspicuous garments, very different from the sober clothing of the pure and modest. Subtil of heart (נְצֻרַת לֵב); literally, of concealed heart; i.e. she hides her real feelings, feigning, perhaps, affection for a husband, or love for her paramour, while she seeks only to satisfy her evil passions. The versions have used a different reading. Thus the Septuagint: “Who makes the hearts of young men flutter (ἐζίπτασθαι);” Vulgate, praeparata ad capiendas animas, “ready to catch souls.”
    Pro_7:11-12
    Pro_7:11 and Pro_7:12 describe the character and habits of this woman, not as she appeared on this occasion, but as she is known to the writer.
    Pro_7:11
    She is loud; boisterous, clamorous, as Pro_9:13. The description applies to a brute beast at certain periods. Stubborn; ungovernable, like an animal that will not bear the yoke (Hos_4:16). Vulgate, garrula et vaga, “talkative and unsettled;” Septuagint, ἀνεπτερωμένη καὶ ἄσωτος, “flighty and debauched.” Her feet abide not in her house. She is the opposite of the careful, modest housewife, who stays at home and manages her family affairs (Tit_2:5). The Vulgate inserts another trait: quietis impatiens, “always restless.”
    Pro_7:12
    Now is she without, now in the streets. At one moment outside her own door, at another in the open street. Septuagint: “At one time she roams without (ἔξω ῥέμβεται).” The woman is represented not as a common prostitute, but as a licentious wife, who, in her unbridled lustfulness, acts the part of a harlot. Lieth in wait at every corner; seeking to entice some victim. Then the narrative proceeds; the writer returns to what he beheld on the occasion to which he refers.
    Pro_7:13
    So she caught him and kissed him; being utterly lost to shame, like Potiphar’s wife (Gen_39:12). With an impudent face said; literally, strengthened her face and said; put on a bold and brazen look to suit, the licentious words which she spoke. Wordsworth quotes the delineation of the “strange woman” drawn by St. Ambrose (’De Cain. et Abel.,’ 1.4): “Domi inquieta, in plateis vaga, osculis prodiga, pudore villis, amictu dives, genas picta; meretricio procax motu, infracto per delicias incessu, nutantibus oculis, et ludentibus jaculans palpebris retia, quibus pretiosas animus juveuum capit.”
    Pro_7:14
    I have peace offerings with me. Shelamim, “peace or thank offerings,” were divided between Jehovah, the priests, and the offerer. Part of the appointed victim was consumed by fire; the breast and right shoulder were allotted to the priests; and the rest of the animal belonged to the person who made the offering, who was to eat it with his household on the same day as a solemn ceremonial feast (Lev_3:1-17; Lev_7:1-38). The adulteress says that certain offerings were due from her, and she had duly made them. This day have I payed my vows. And now (the day being reckoned from one night to the next) the feast was ready, and she invites her paramour to share it. The religious nature of the feast is utterly ignored or forgotten. The shameless woman uses the opportunity simply as a convenience for her sin. If, as is probable, the “strange woman” is a foreigner, she is one who only outwardly conforms to the Mosaic Law, but in her heart cleaves to the impure worship of her heathen hems And doubtless, in lax times, these religious festivals, even in the case of worshippers who were not influenced by idolatrous proclivities, degenerated into self-indulgence and excess. The early Christian agapae were thus misused (1Co_11:20, etc.); and in modern times religious anniversaries have too often become occasions of licence and debauchery, their solemn origin and pious uses being entirely thrust aside.
    Pro_7:15
    Therefore came I forth to meet thee. As though she would invite the youth to a pious rite, she speaks; she uses religion as a pretext for her proceedings, trying to blind his conscience and to gratify his vanity. Diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee (see on Pro_1:28). She tries to persuade her dupe that he is the very lover for whom she was looking, whereas she was ready to take the first that offered. Spiritual writers see in this adulteress a type of the mystery of iniquity, or false doctrine, or the harlot described in Revelation (Rev_2:20) etc.; Rev_17:1, etc.; Rev_18:9, etc.).
    Pro_7:16
    She describes the preparation she has made for his entertainment. Coverings of tapestry; marbaddim, “cushions,” “pillows.” The expression occurs again in Pro_31:22. It is derived from דָבַד “to spread,” and means cushions spread out ready for use. The Septuagint has κειρίαις; Vulgate, funibus, “cords.” These versions seem to regard the word as denoting a kind of delicate sacking on which the coverlets were laid. Carved works, with fine linen of Egypt; literally, striped, or variegated, coverings, Egyptian linen. The words are in apposition, but the latter point to the material used, which is אֵטוּן, etun (ἅπαξ λεγόμενον), “linen yarn or thread,” hence equivalent to “coverlets of Egyptian thread.” This was of extreme fineness, costly, and much prized. By “carved works” (Hebrew, חֲטֻבוֹת, chatuboth) the Authorized Version must refer to bed poles or bed boards elaborately carved and polished; but the word is better taken of coverlets striped in different colours, which give the idea of richness and luxury. Vulgate, trapetibus pictis ex Aegypto, “embroidered rugs of Egyptian work;” Septuagint, ἀμφιτάποις τοῖς ἀπ Αἰγύπτου, “shaggy cloth of Egypt.” The mention of these articles denotes the foreign commerce of the Hebrews, and their appreciation of artistic work (comp. Isa_19:9; Eze_27:7). The Prophet Amos (Amo_6:4) denounces those that “lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches.”
    Pro_7:17
    I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. The substances mentioned were dissolved in or mixed with water, and then sprinkled on the couch. The love of such things is reckoned as a sign of luxury and vice (Isa_3:20, etc.). The three perfumes are mentioned together in So Pro_4:14; “myrrh, aloes, and cassia,” in Psa_45:8. Septuagint, “I have sprinkled my couch with saffron, and my house with cinnamon.” Myrrh is nowadays imported chiefly from Bombay, but it seems to be found in Arabia and on the coasts of the Red Sea and Persian Gulf. It is a gummy substance exuding from the bark of the balsamodendron when wounded, and possessing an aromatic odour not particularly agreeable to modern tastes. It was one of the ingredients of the holy oil (Exo_30:28), and was used in the purification of women (Est_2:12), as well as in perfuming persons and things, and, mixed with aloes, in embalming dead bodies (Joh_19:39). Aloes is the inspissated juice of the leaves of the aloe, a leguminous plant growing in India, Cochin China, Abyssinia, and Socotra. The ancients used the dried root for aromatic purposes. It is mentioned by Balaam (Num_24:6). Cinnamon, which is the same word in Hebrew and Greek, is the fragrant bark of a tree growing in Ceylon and India and the east coast of Africa.
    Pro_7:18
    Let us take our fill of love; let us intoxicate ourselves (inebriemur, Vulgate); as though the reason were overthrown by sensual passion as much as by drunkenness. The bride in So Pro_1:2 says, “Thy love is better than, wine” (see Pro_5:15, Pro_5:19, and note there),
    Pro_7:19
    The temptress proceeds to encourage the youth by showing that there is no fear of interruption or detection. The goodman is not at home. “Goodman” is an old word meaning “master of the house,” or husband (Mat_20:11, etc.); but the Hebrew is simply “the man,” which is probably a contemptuous way of speaking of the husband whom she was outraging. He is gone a long journey; he has gone to a place at a great distance hence. This fact might assure her lover that he was safe from her husband’s jealousy (Pro_6:34); but she has further encouragement to offer.
    Pro_7:20
    He hath taken a bag of money with him; not only to defray the expenses of the journey (a fact which need not be dwelt upon), but because he has some pecuniary business to transact which will occupy his time, and prevent his return before the appointed hour. And will come home at the day appointed; better, as the Revised Version, he will come home at the full moor, (in die pleura lunae, Vulgate). כֶּסֶא here, and כֶּסֶה Psa_81:4, are rightly translated “the full moon,” this rendering being supported by the Syriac keso, though the etymology is doubtful. As it has before been mentioned that the night was dark (Psa_81:9), it is plain that there were still many days to run before the moon was full, and the husband returned.
    Pro_7:21
    Thus far we have had the adulteress introduced speaking; now the narrative proceeds. With her much fair speech she caused him to yield. First, she influenced his mind, and bent his will to her purpose by her evil eloquence. The Hebrew word means “doctrine, or learning”—devil’s pleading (Pro_1:5; Pro_9:9). St. Jerome has irretivit, “she netted him;” Septuagint, “She caused him to go astray (ἀπεπλάνησε) by much converse.” She talked him over, though indeed he had put himself in the way of temptation, and had now no power to resist her seductions. Then with the flattering of her lips she forced him; drew him away. His body followed the lead of his blinded mind; he acceded to her solicitations. Septuagint, “With the snares of her lips she ran him aground (ἐξώκειλε), drove him headlong to ruin.”
    Pro_7:22
    He teeth after her straightway; suddenly, as though, casting aside all scruples, he gave himself up to the temptation, and with no further delay accompanied her to the house. Septuagint, “He followed, being cajoled (κεπφωθείς), ensnared like a silly bird” (see the article on Cepphus Larus, in Erasmus’s ’Adag ,’ s.v. “Garrulitas”). As an ox goeth to the slaughter. He no more realizes the serious issue of his action than an irrational beast which, without prevision of the future, walks contentedly to the slaughter house, and is stupidly placid in the face of death. Or as a fool to the correction of the stocks. There is some difficulty in the translation of this clause. The Authorized Version, with which Delitzsch virtually agrees, is obtained by transposition of the nouns, the natural rendering of the Hebrew being “as fetters to the correction of a fool.” The sense thus obtained is obvious: the youth follows the woman, as a fool or a criminal is led unresisting to confinement and degradation. Doubtless there is some error in the text, as may be seen by comparison of the versions. Septuagint (with which the Syriac agrees), “As a dog to chains, or as a hart struck to the liver with an arrow;” Vulgate, “As a frisking lamb, and not knowing that as a fool he is being dragged to bondage.” The commentators are much divided. Fleischer, “As if in fetters to the punishment of the fool,” i.e. of himself; Ewald, “As when a steel trap (springs up) for the correction of a fool,” i.e. when a hidden trap suddenly catches an incautious person wandering where he has no business. The direct interpretation, that the youth follows the harlot, as fetters the proper punishment of fools, is unsatisfactory, because the parallelism leads us to expect a living being instead of “fetters.” We are constrained to fall back on the Authorized Version as exhibiting the best mode of reconstructing a corrupt text. The youth, with his insensate passion, is compared to the madman or idiot who is taken away, unconscious of his fate, to a shameful deprivation of liberty.
    Pro_7:23
    Till a dart strike through his liver. This clause would be better taken with the preceding verse, as in the Septuagint, or else placed in a parenthesis; then the following clause introduces a new come parison. The youth follows the harlot till his liver, the seat of the passions, is thoroughly inflamed, or till fatal consequences ensue. Theocr; ’Id,’ 11.15—
    Ἔχθιστον ἔχων ὑποκάρδιον ἕλκος
    Κύπριος ἐκ μεγάλας τὸ οἱ ἥπατι πᾶξε βέλεμνον.
    “Beneath his breast
    A hateful wound he bore by Cypris given,
    Who in his liver fixed the fatal dart.”
    Delitzsch would relegate the hemistich to the end of the verse, making it denote the final result of mad and illicit love. The sense thus gained is satisfactory, but the alteration is quite arbitrary, and unsupported by ancient authority. As a bird hasteth to the snare. This is another comparison (see Pro_1:17, the first proverb in the book, and note there). And knoweth not that it is for his life; i.e. the infatuated youth does not consider that his life is at stake, that he is bringing upon himself, by his vicious rashness, temporal and spiritual ruin (Pro_5:11).
    Pro_7:24
    The narrative ends here, and the author makes a practical exhortation deduced from it. Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye children. He began by addressing his words to one, “my son” (Pro_7:1); he here turns to the young generally, knowing how necessary is his warning to all strong in passion, weak in will, wanting in experience. The Septuagint has “my son,” as in Pro_7:1.
    Pro_7:25
    Let not thine heart decline to her ways. The verb satah is used in Pro_4:15 (where see note) of turning aside from evil; but here, as Delitzsch notes, it is especially appropriate to the case of a faithless wife whose transgression, or declension from virtue, is described by this term (Num_5:12). Go not astray in her paths. The LXX. (in most manuscripts) has only one rendering for the two clauses: “Let not thine heart incline unto her ways.”
    Pro_7:26
    For she hath east down many wounded. Delitzsch, “For many are the slain whom she hath caused to fall.” The harlot marks her course with ruined souls, as a ruthless conqueror leaves a field of battle strewn with corpses.
    Yea, many strong (atsum) men have been slain by her. One thinks of Samson and David and Solomon, the victims of illicit love, and suffering for it. Vulgate, et fortissimi quique interfecti sunt ab ea. But the Septuagint and many moderns take atsum in the sense of “numerous,” as Psa_35:18; ἀναρίθμητοι, “innumerable are her slain,” The former interpretation seems preferable, and avoids tautology.
    Pro_7:27
    Her house is the way to hell (sheol). A warning fontal in Pro_2:18 and Pro_5:5. Viae inferi domus ejus. The plural דַּרְכֵי is well expressed by Hitzig: “Her house forms a multiplicity of ways to hell.” Manifold are the ways of destruction to which adultery leads; but they all look to one awful end. Going down to the chambers of death. Once entangled in the toils of the temptress, the victim may pass through many stages, but he ends finally in the lowest depth—destruction of body and soul Spiritual writers see here an adumbration of the seductions of false doctrine, and the late to which it brings all who by it are led astray.
    HOMILETICS
    Pro_7:1-3
    Keeping the commandments
    We are all familiar with the expression, “keeping the commandments.” But do we all fully comprehend what this involves? Let us consider some of the requisites.
    I. REMEMBER THE COMMANDMENTS. “Lay up my commandments with thee.” The Law was treasured in the ark. It is important that great principles should be so impressed upon our minds as to perpetually haunt our memories, and recur to our vision in critical moments. The school task of committing the ten commandments to memory will not be enough. The text does not refer to the Law of Moses, but to parental instruction. Great Christian principles are what we need to treasure up.
    II. LET NOTHING TAMPER WITH THE COMMANDMENTS. “Keep my law as the apple of thine eye.” We cannot bear the smallest speck of dust in the eye. The slightest wound is most painful. Let us beware of allowing the least injury to the healthy condition of the law within us. Moral scepticism is most dangerous.
    III. BRING THE COMMANDMENTS TO BEAR ON DAILY LIFE. “Bind them upon thy fingers.” Thus they will be always before us, and brought into contact with practical affairs. It is useless to keep the Law only in the closet. It must be carried with us to the workshop, the marketplace, the senate house. How many people’s religion never reaches their fingers! Like men with feeble circulation, they have cold extremities.
    IV. CHERISH THE COMMANDMENTS AFFECTIONATELY. “Write them upon the table of thine heart.” This means impressing them upon the whole being—understanding, memory, affection. The secret of feeble circulation at the extremities is defective action of the heart. If we are to obey the Law we must pray that God will “incline our hearts to keep” it.
    Pro_7:6-27
    Profilgacy
    It would not, perhaps, be wise for any one to discuss this subject in the presence of a general congregation. The sin is so fearfully contaminating that it is scarcely possible to touch it in any way without contracting some defilement; and the few who might benefit by a public exposure of the evils of profligacy would be greatly outnumbered by the multitude of people, especially the young, to whom the direction of attention to it would be unwholesome. But on special occasions, and before special audiences, a strong, clear denunciation of this sin may be called for. We can avoid the subject too much, and so leave the sin unrebuked. Certainly some men do not seem to realize how fearfully wicked and how fatally ruinous it is.]
    I. IT IS A DESECRATION OF THE TEMPLE OF GOD. It is a sin against God as well as an offence against society. Utterly abandoned men will set little weight by such a consideration, because they have long lost all serious care for their relations with God, But it is important that they who are in danger of falling should remember the solemn words of St. Paul, and the lofty point of view from which he regards the subject (1Co_6:18, 1Co_6:19). The Christian is a temple of the Holy Spirit. Every man is designed to be such a temple. See that this temple is not converted into a nest of corruption.
    II. IT IS RUINOUS TO ANY ONE WHO SUCCUMBS TO IT. It ruins the mind, degrading the whole tone and energy of thought. It is the most gross and disastrous dissipation. It ruins the physical health. It ruins wholesome interest in pure delights. It ruins business prospects. It ruins reputation. It brings other sins in its train. It ruins the soul. He who abandons himself to it is indeed a lost man.
    III. IT IS HEARTLESSLY CRUEL. The heaviest guilt lies with the tempter. When a man has deluded and ruined a woman, society regards the woman with loathing and contempt, while the man often escapes with comparative impunity. This is one of the grossest instances of injustice that the future judgment will surely rectify. But in any case of profligacy great selfishness and cruelty are shown. The miserable creatures who live by sin could not continue their wretched traffic if men did not encourage it. The demand creates the supply, and is responsible for the hopeless misery that results.
    IV. IT IS FATAL TO SOUND SOCIAL ORDER. It is a gangrene in society, eating out its very heart. Nothing more surely undermines the true welfare of a people. It is fatal to the sanctities of the home—sanctities on which the very life of the nation depends.
    V. ALL THIS ACCOMPANIES THE INDULGENCE OF WHAT IS PURSUED SOLELY AS SELFISH PLEASURE. The profligate man has not the thief’s excuse, who may rob because he is starving (see Pro_6:30-32); nor can he pretend that he is benefiting any one else by his wickedness.
    In conclusion:
14. Let the Legislature be urged to repeal any laws that make the indulgence of this sin more easy by counteracting its natural penalties.
15. Let all men avoid the smallest temptation towards it—all amusements and scenes that lead thither.
16. Let employers endeavour to protect young people under their charge from the fearful dangers of city life.
17. Let Christians seek to save the failing and rescue the fallen in the spirit of Christ, who received penitent sinners.
    HOMILIES BY E. JOHNSON
    Pro_7:1-27
    A tragedy of temptation
    This is a fine piece of dramatic moral description, and there is no reason why it should not be made use of, handled with tact and delicacy, with an audience of young men.
    I. THE PROLOGUE. (Pro_7:1-5.) On Pro_7:1, see Pro_1:8; Pro_2:1; Pro_6:20. On Pro_6:2, see on Pro_4:4. Here an expression not before used occurs. “Keep my doctrine as thine eye apple;” literally, “the little man in thine eye.” It is an Oriental figure for what is a treasured possession (Deu_32:10; Psa_17:8). On Pro_4:3, see on Pro_3:3; Pro_6:21. “Bind them on thy fingers,” like costly rings. Let Wisdom be addressed and regarded as “sister,” Prudence as “intimate friend” (Pro_6:4). On Pro_6:5, see on Pro_2:16; Pro_6:24. On the prologue as a whole, remark
    (1) it is intense in feeling,
    (2) concentrated in purpose, and hence
    (3) exhaustive in images of that which is precious and desirable before all else. It is an overture which gives the theme of the drama with the deepest impressiveness.
    II. THE FIRST ACT. (Pro_6:6-9.) The teacher looked through a grated loophole, or eshnab, and saw among the silly fools, the simple ones, who passed by or stood chatting, one simpleton in particular, who attracted his notice. He watched him turn a corner (hesitating, and looking around a moment, according to Ewald’s explanation), and pass down a street. The Hebrew word finely shows the deliberacy, the measured step, with which he goes; he has made up his mind to rush into sin. It was late in the evening—”dark, dark, dark,” says the writer, with tragic and suggestive iteration—dark in every sense. The night is prophetic.
    III. THE SECOND ACT. (Pro_6:10-20.) A woman—”the attire of a harlot” (as if she were nothing but a piece of dress), with a heart full of wiles, meets him. She was excitable, noisy, uncontrollable, gadding—now in the streets, now in the markets, now at every corner (Pro_6:11, Pro_6:12). Her characteristics have not changed from ancient times. And so with effrontery she seizes and kisses the fool, and solicits him with brazen impudence. Thank offerings had “weighed upon” her in consequence of a vow; but this day the sacrificial animal has been slain, and the meat which, according to the Law, must be consumed within two days, has been prepared for a feast. And she invites him to the entertainment, fires his fancy with luxurious descriptions of the variegated tapestries and the neat perfumes of her couch, and the promise of illicit pleasures. She alludes with cool shamelessness to her absent husband, who will not return till the day of the full moon (Pro_6:20). “This verse glides smoothly, as if we could hear the sweet fluting of the temptress’s voice.” But it is as the song of birds in a wood before an awful storm.
    IV. THE THIRD ACT. (Pro_6:21-23.) Her seductive speech, the “fulness of her doctrine,” as the writer ironically says, and the smoothness of her lips, overcome the yielding imagination of her victim. Pro_6:22 implies that he had hesitated; but “all at once,” passion getting the better of reflection, he follows her like a brute under the dominion of a foreign will driven to the slaughter house. He is passive in the power of the temptress, as the fool who has got into the stocks. “Till a dart cleave his liver”—the supposed seat of passion. Hastening like a bird into the net, he knows not that his life is at stake.
    V. THE EPILOGUE. (Pro_6:24-27.) On Pro_6:24, see on Pro_5:7. “Let not thy heart turn aside to her ways, and go not astray on her paths.” Properly, “reel not” (shagah), as in Pro_5:20. Beware of that intoxication of the senses and fancy which leads to such an end. For she is a feller of men, a cruel murderess (verse 26). Her house is as the vestibule of hell, the facilis descensus Averni—the passage to the chambers of death (see on Pro_2:18; Pro_5:5).
    LESSONS.
18. Folly and vice are characteristically the same in every age. Hence these scenes have lost none of their dramatic power or moral suggestion.
19. Only virtue is capable of infinite diversity and charm. The pleasures of mere passion, violent at first, pass into monotony, thence into disgust.
20. The character of the utter harlot has never been made other than repulsive (even in French fiction, as Zola’s ’Nana’) in poetry. What exists in practical form is mere dregs and refuse.
21. The society of pure and refined women is the best antidote to vicious tastes. For to form a correct taste in any matter is to form, at the same time, a distaste for coarse and spurious quality. Perhaps reflections of this order may be more useful to young men than much declamation.—J.
    HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON
    Pro_7:1-27
    The two ways
    Here we have—
    I. THE WAY OF SIN AND DEATH. This is:
22. The way of thoughtlessness. It is the “simple ones,” the “young men void of understanding” (Pro_7:7), those who go heedlessly “near the corner,” “the way to the house” of the tempter or the temptress (Pro_7:8). It is those who “do not consider,” who do not think who they are, what they are here for, whither they go, what the end will be;—it is these who go astray and are found in the way of death.
23. The way of darkness. (Pro_7:9.) Sin hates the light; it loves the darkness. It cannot endure the penetrating glance, the reproachful look, of the good and wise man. It prefers to be where it can better imagine that it is unseen of God.
24. The way of shame. (Pro_7:10-20.) The result of habitual sin is to rob woman of her native purity, to make her impudent and immodest. How sad, beyond almost everything, the effect of guilt that will put shameful thoughts into a woman’s mind, shameless words into a woman’s lips! If sin will do this what enormity of evil will it not work?
25. The way of falsehood, of pretence, of imposture. (Pro_7:14, Pro_7:15.)
26. The way of weakness and defeat. (Pro_7:21, Pro_7:22.) A man, under the power of sin, yields himself up; he is vanquished, he surrenders his manliness, he has to own to himself that he is miserably beaten. The strong man is slain by sin, the wounded is cast down (Pro_7:26). He who has gained victories on other fields, and won trophies in other ways, is utterly defeated, is token captive, is humiliated by sin.
27. The way of death and damnation. (Pro_7:27.)
    II. THE WAY OF RIGHTEOUSNESS AND LIFE. (Pro_7:1-5.) This is:
28. The way of attention. The will of God must first be heeded and understood.
29. The way of holy love. We must take Divine wisdom to our heart, and love it as that which is near and dear to us (Pro_7:4).
30. The way of wise culture. (Pro_7:1-3.) We are to take the greatest pains to keep God’s thought in our remembrance, before the eyes of our soul. We are to take every needful measure to keep it intact, whole, flawless in our heart. We are to find it a home in the inmost chamber, in the sacred places of our spirit. Then will this path of righteousness prove to us to be:
31. The path of life. Keeping his commandments, we shall “live” (Pro_7:2). We shall live the life of virtue, escaping the snares and wiles of the vicious (Pro_7:5). We shall live the life of piety and integrity, beloved of God, honoured of man, having a good conscience, cherishing a good hope through grace of eternal life.—C.

Proverbs 7:6
From Solomon’s observation we learn:—
I. The special perils of great cities. (1) The vastness and multitudinousness of many of our modern cities provide a secrecy which is congenial to vice. This enormously adds to the power of temptation, that you may pluck the poisonous fruit unobserved. Only keep the inward monitor quiet, and you may run undetected and unchallenged into every excess. (2) In all great towns, solicitations to vice abound as they do not elsewhere. Every passion has a tempter lying in wait for it.
II. We learn from this passage the evil of late hours. The devil, like the beast of prey, stalks forth when the sun goes down. Midnight on earth is hell’s midnoon.
III. The next warning in the text is the danger of foolish company. The word “simple” means in the Book of Proverbs silly, frivolous, idle, abandoned. You could almost predict with certainty the future of one who selected such society. “He that walketh with wise men shall be wise; but the companion of fools shall be destroyed.”
IV. No man’s understanding can be called thoroughly sound till it has been brought under the power of the truth as it is in Jesus. Your only security against the perils of the city, of the dark night and of evil company, is a living faith in God, a spiritual union with Christ.
J. Thain Davidson, The City Youth, p. 3.
References: Pro_8:4.—R. M. McCheyne, Memoir and Remains, p. 325. Pro_8:10.—W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 1st series, p. 197. Pro_8:11.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. xi., p. 86. Pro_8:12.—A. Mursell, Christian World Pulpit, p. 406. Pro_8:13.—W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven, 1st series, p. 200.

Proverbs 7:1
Words. As dangerous temptations always threaten, the same instructions are frequently inculcated. (Worthington)

Proverbs 7:5
Thine. But another’s, ver. 19. Give thy heart to wisdom, that it may be guarded against impure love.

Proverbs 7:6
Lattice. No glass was used, on account of the great heat. (Calmet)

Proverbs 7:7
Ones. Not in age, but prudence. (Menochius)

Proverbs 7:10
Attire. Covered with a veil, (Gen_38:15) though different from that of honest women. (Calmet) — The wanton are commonly the most gaudy; nullarum fere pretiosior cultus est quam quarum pudor vilis est. (St. Cyprian, de Habitu.) — Prepared, &c. Hebrew, “guarded,” (Calmet) or “subtle of heart.” (Protestants) “who makes the hearts of youths take flight.” (Septuagint) (Son_6:4) (Haydock)

Proverbs 7:11
Not….quiet. Is not in Hebrew. (Calmet) — “She is loud and stubborn, her feet abide not in her house.” (Protestants) (Haydock) — Chaste women are guarded in their speech, and keep at home. (Menochius)

Proverbs 7:14
Prosperity. Or thy welfare, (Cornelius a Lapide; Tirinus) so great is my love for thee. (Menochius) — Vows. And therefore I have a feast prepared. People might carry home the greatest part of the victim to eat, if they were clean, Lev_7:29 (Calmet)

Proverbs 7:16
Cords. For greater ease, instead of boards, (Menochius) or the curtains are hung with precious cords from Egypt. (Calmet)

Proverbs 7:17
Aloes. Of Syria, (Joh_19:39) different from ours, Num_34:6 (Calmet)

Proverbs 7:18
Inebriated. Protestants, “take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves.” (Haydock) — This passion is a sort of intoxication. (Menochius)

Proverbs 7:19
My. Literally, “the man.” (Haydock) — She speaks thus out of contempt. (Calmet)

Proverbs 7:20
The day. Septuagint, “after many days.” Hebrew, “at the day concealed,” or when the people will dwell under tents, (Chaldean; Calmet) or “at the new moon,” when it does not appear. (Piscator) — He will not return for a long time, so that we need apprehend no danger from him. (Menochius)

Proverbs 7:22
Lamb. Protestants, “fool to the correction of the stocks,” (Haydock) or “like a shackle (abs.) for the chastisement of a fool.” (Mont.[Montanus?]) — Interpreters have read different words. (Calmet) — Sinners who have given way to temptations, are as inconsiderate as oxen, or birds which hasten to their own ruin. (Worthington)

Proverbs 7:26
Her. Solomon gave a melancholy proof of this, as well as David, and Amnon. (Calmet)

Proverbs 7:27
Death. There can be no precaution too great, chap. 2:18 (Calmet)

Proverbs 7:3
(1756) Verses 1-3- Keeping YHWH’s commandments and His Torah are always equated with keeping one’s life or soul, Mat_19:17, Pro_4:4, Psa_19:7-11, Deu_32:46-47, Deu_30:15-20.

Proverbs 7:1-5

Introduction

The need for sexual self-control, the need to say “no” to offers of bodily intimacy outside of marriage, is the dominant theme in the speeches of wisdom in Proverbs 1-9.

In this chapter, the father speaks again to his son about this (Pro_2:16-19 Pro_5:1-23 Pro_6:20-35 ). He does so in the form of a story. It is a parenting story that the father tells to seriously warn the son about being tempted by the strange woman. In Proverbs 6 it is about a man who is so foolish that he does not have enough from his own source and goes to his neighbor’s wife. In Proverbs 7, it is about a young, inexperienced man who lets himself be tempted in his foolishness.

In Pro_7:1-5 , the father first again holds up to his son as an introduction the value and beauty of the commandment. Then in Pro_7:6-23 he relates from his experience what he has seen. He describes a young man who does not accidentally approach the temptress, but seeks the danger zone. The boy, against an earlier warning (Pro_5:8 ), comes near her house. He did not mean to fornicate, but does it anyway. In Pro_7:24-27 , the father holds up to his children the consequences if they deviate in their heart to the ways of the harlot.

Warning Against the Strange Woman

This section again begins with the father pointing out to his son his “words” to keep them and his “commandments” to treasure them within him (Pro_7:1 ). If he does so, he will live (Pro_7:2 ). This is contrasted with the death that results from not listening to it (Pro_7:24-27 ). Life in the true sense of the word is threatened if it is not listened to. It is a matter of life or death.

Therefore, the son must keep in mind his father’s teaching as his “apple of the eye”. This means that obedience to the teaching is vital to him, that he must keep it with the utmost care in order to keep the proper view of these things. There is no more sensitive part of the body than the apple of the eye (Deu_32:10 ; Psa_17:8 ; Zec_2:8 ).

In Pro_7:3 , the commandments are linked to the fingers. Everything he does with his fingers must be directed by the commandments. He must also write them on “the tablet” of his heart. The heart is the center of the person. If the commandments are written there, everything he does, everywhere he goes and looks and everything he says and thinks will be controlled by the commandments.

“Wisdom” must be to him as his “sister” and “understanding” must be in his blood, as it were (Pro_7:4 ). In the Old Testament, the brother-sister relationship reflects a close bond of affection. “Sister” is also used for the wife or the beloved (Son_4:9-10 ). If he embraces wisdom as his sister, the strange woman will have no chance to embrace him (Pro_7:13 ). Man must have an object about which he delights. If that is not wisdom, the void will be filled with wrong desires. Love for God’s Word will drive out the power of evil.

These instructions are all given in view of the strange woman (Pro_7:5 ). He will only stay out of the snare of temptation if he listens to this teaching from his father. Whoever keeps the words and commandments of the father, that is, whoever keeps the Word of God, is thereby preserved himself. In short, whoever keeps, is kept.

Proverbs 7:6-9

The Victim

In Pro_7:6-23 , the father gives one of the most vivid descriptions of the temptation to sin we have in Scripture. He gives an eyewitness account, not as a peeping tom, but as a teacher. His account does not present sin as attractive, but contains a serious warning to avoid and flee from sin.

We find in it the elements for which he has previously warned:

1. wrong company (Pro_1:10-19 ),
2. aimless hanging around (Pro_6:6-10 ),
3. places where temptation lurks (Pro_5:8 ), and
4. especially not listening to the words and commands of the parents (Pro_4:1 Pro_4:10 Pro_5:1 Pro_5:7 Pro_6:20-22 ).

The scenario of disaster, as so often, is a combination of the wrong company in the wrong place at the wrong time. This combination applies only to those who do not let themselves be warned by the Wisdom.

In the eyewitness account we find

1. the victim in Pro_7:5-9 ,
2. the temptress in Pro_7:10-12 ,
3. the temptation in Pro_7:13-20 and
4. the capitulation of the victim in Pro_7:21-23 .

The father begins his story by saying that he was at home looking out through his lattice (Pro_7:6 ). He then goes on to describe what he saw when he looked down. He saw a group of “naive”, a group of unsuspecting, inexperienced young people, strolling along the road (Pro_7:7 ). Among those youths, his attention fell on “a young man lacking sense”, literally “a young man without heart” or “a young man who lacks common sense”, an airhead, a dunce.

While strolling, this boy purposefully crossed the street “near her corner” and slowly took “the way to her house” (Pro_7:8 ). It is an action that takes place under cover of darkness (Pro_7:9 ). No less than four different words are used to describe the darkness. It is in the twilight, in the evening of the day, after sunset, which makes it seem in the middle of the night in the east very quickly, given the immediately falling darkness.

Both his aimlessness and the darkness deprive him of the spiritual insight to see the danger he is exposing himself to. Therefore, he is unable to do what Joseph did, and that is to flee harlotry (Gen_39:7 Gen_39:10-12 ; 1Co_6:18 ). It is not possible, for anyone, to stand firm in such a situation. The only option is to flee.

Proverbs 7:10-12

The Temptress

In Pro_7:10 , the temptress appears on the scene. She comes out of her house and walks toward the young man. There can be no uncertainty about what she wants. She shows this in her clothing. She is “dressed as a harlot” (cf. Gen_38:14-15 ). The young man knows who he is before him. She is a cunning, crafty woman. She is “cunning of heart”, indicating her profound insincerity, determined to seduce the boy. What she pretends to feel for the boy is totally lacking.

This woman is “boisterous” (Pro_7:11 ). She is full of restlessness, loud and excited. She is also “rebellious” regarding God’s purpose with marriage. For her, marriage is an oppressive and constraining yoke that she throws off. At home, she cannot stand it. Her impure lusts chase her out onto the streets. Restlessly she wanders outside the house (Pro_7:12 ). She lurks like an enemy, ambushed, to tempt an unsuspecting young man who crosses her path to commit the sin of adultery.

Proverbs 7:13-20

The Temptation

The stages in the seduction are carefully prepared by her. She knows exactly what to do when and what to say when. When the young man is close to her, she overwhelms him (Pro_7:13 ). She seizes him and kisses him. She has him in her power. Without moving a muscle, with a brazen face, she begins to entrap him further, breaking down even the last bit of inner resistance in the young man.

The first thing she says has to do with the service to God (Pro_7:14 ). From this we can see that we are dealing with a woman from the people of God. This perverted woman does not shy away from pouring a religious sauce over her reprehensible intention, giving the impression that God is on her side. She had promised God, she says, that she would offer Him peace offerings. These she had brought Him, she claims. The peace offering is a meal offering (Lev_7:11-21 ). The idea is that she has the meat of the peace offering with her that the offeror may eat. Now she is looking for someone to eat it with her. This must be done quickly though, today, or it will spoil.

Now, anyway, this young man comes her way. He is exactly the boy for whom she has come out to meet him (Pro_7:15 ). How hard she tried her best to look for him. And look, now she has found him. If that is not guidance from God… She acts as if she has thought only of him, that he and he alone is her only love. Thus she makes him feel that he is very special to her.

But what a world full of lies and deceit she represents. This is how an adulterer always proceeds, with lies and deceit. To her there is nothing special about her prey. In an adulterous relationship you are not loved, you are not special. On the contrary, you are deceived, used, raped. The path of death is not pleasant, but causes endless torment.

The act of adultery is completely impersonal. A person who has intercourse with a harlot is one body with her and not one flesh. In marriage, husband and wife are one flesh, which is a total unity of spirit, soul and body. In harlotry it is only about the body. The body is a toy, you yourself are nothing, nothing more than an impersonal plaything.

From the dining room, where she invites him to eat there together, she suddenly shifts attention to her bedroom. She describes the bedding and the scent she has applied (Pro_7:16-17 ). Thus she visualizes her sinful undertaking and excites his desire. There and in that atmosphere love must be ‘practiced’. This is really ecstasy; there is nothing to compare with it. She has prepared everything carefully and ‘tastefully’.

Then comes an unreserved invitation to join her (Pro_7:18 ). She offers him a whole night of bodily pleasure. Come to me and let’s get drunk with love all night long. This is the great enjoyment, this is just love! This is pure enjoyment, the real, complete and deep saturation of love.

About her husband the boy need not worry (Pro_7:19 ). Literally it does not say “my” husband, but “the” husband. By speaking of him in this way, she shows that she has abandoned him as her husband. Also, speaking of “my husband” might still discourage the young man from going with her. She assures him that he need not fear that “the man” will suddenly come home. He is not at home and will not come home for the time being because “he has gone on a long journey”.

She underlines that lie by saying that he has taken a lot of money for his living expenses (Pro_7:20 ). That he will not come home until the day of the full moon is an additional argument for reassurance. When it is a full moon, it cannot be pitch black. Now it is not a full moon, but pitch black and they can just have their way (
Pro_7:9 ).

Her whole story comes down to the fact that God is pleased, the man is out of the picture and all the young man has to do is follow her. All the lies she uses have been repeated over and over again and throughout the ages:

1. Adultery is a “sanctified” action.
2. The seductress pretends that the other person means a great deal to her; she pretends that she loves him alone.
3. What can be enjoyed is the epitome of love and the other person is made for that.
4. The one who is seduced need not be afraid because it is kept secret.

Most of these lies are used in every adulterous relationship. They crop up in a wide range of sexual sins, including “private sins”, such as self-gratification and watching pornography. But it is clear that whoever commits adultery is a liar, someone who cannot be trusted at all. Anyone who breaks the most intimate bond of trust, the promise of faithfulness, cannot be trusted in any other relationship. How would anyone be faithful to any promise if he is not faithful to the promise of faithfulness to his wife?

Proverbs 7:21-23

The Capitulation of the Victim

It takes the wisdom and sincerity of a Joseph to resist such reasoning and flattery. “Her many persuasions” (Pro_7:21 ) has driven out of him all strength to say “no”. “With her flattering lips” she entered him and melted away all resistance from him. She has persuaded the young man to follow her.

The defeat is sudden and irrevocable (Pro_7:22 ). He immediately goes with her. We see him chasing after her like an ox, however, not like an ox going to a grazing pasture, but “as an ox goes to the slaughter”. He is not going to pleasure, but to his death. An advertising campaign against irresponsible use of fireworks has the slogan: You are an ox if you stunt with fireworks. A variant related to what Solomon is saying here is: You are an ox if you stunt with porn.

He is “a fool” who is taken to prison “as [one in] fetters to the discipline” (cf. Ecc_7:26 ; Jdg_16:16-19 ). Stupid animals see no connection between a trap and death. Similarly, stupid people see no connection between their sin and death. He must pay the price of sin, death: “For the wages of sin is death” (Rom_6:23 ). This sin costs him his life.

The phrase “until an arrow pierces through his liver” possibly refers to the gnawing of a guilty conscience, the realization that he will reap spiritual and bodily destruction (Pro_7:23 ). He is as a bird that has eyes only for the bait, but in doing so does not see the snare. He flies toward the bait because it is so attractive and because he needs it to continue living. But he does not realize that the opposite is true. The bait is aimed against its life. By flying toward it, it flies toward his death. The smell of the bed of the harlot turns into a smell of death, and the short night of pleasure turns into an eternal night of torment.

Proverbs 7:24-27

Do Not Let Your Heart Turn Aside to Her Ways

In Pro_7:24-27 , we have turned our backs on the street and are back in the room of the teaching father. There he paints again in bright colors for his children the consequences of adultery. He did not tell the preceding story to entertain his children, but to warn them. Now that the lesson is being drawn, they need to pay close attention.

In saying “now therefore” he connects to what he has shown to be the result of sin (Pro_7:24 ). He calls his “sons” to listen to him and pay attention to his words. They are to make a resolution in their heart not to turn aside to the ways of the harlot and not to let the heart stray into her paths (Pro_7:25 ). By “her ways” and “her paths” we can understand, for example, cherishing impure thoughts, pernicious fantasies, dirty conversation, filthy reading and foolish company. We must shun a first step into those ways and paths like death. As we become familiar with sin, the abhorrence of it weakens. In fact, in time, even affection for sin will arise.

Intercourse with a harlot leads to death (Pro_7:26 ). And it is not only this young man, for “many are the victims” who came her way and all her slain are numerous. They all ended up in death.

The way to the house of the strange woman “is the way to Sheol”. It is the way down, to the inner “chambers of death” (Pro_7:27 ). The end of an adulterous relationship is not ultimate pleasure, but devastation. It does not give the special feeling that true intimacy does. The sons should make no mistake: the path of apparent pleasure is the path of death. The house of the harlot is on a cul-de-sac in the true sense of the word.

Proverbs 7:1-4
CRITICAL NOTES
Pro_7:2. Apple of the eye, the “pupil,” literally the “little man” of the eye, referring to the reflected image of a man seen in that organ.
Pro_7:3. Bind them “refers to rings with large signets, upon which maxims were inscribed” (Stuart).
Pro_7:4. Kinswoman, rather, “an acquaintance, a familiar friend.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH—Pro_7:1-4
THE SOURCE OF TRUE LIFE, ETC
I. The true life of man depends upon his relation to the Word of God. “Keep my commandments, and live” (Pro_7:2). The life which is given to man upon his entrance into this world is not life in its highest sense, but an existence in which he is to obtain life. “It is not all of life to live.” Those who do not keep God’s commandments are living existences, but in the moral signification of the word they are dead. It was said by the highest authority—by the Son of God Himself—that “it had been good for Judas Iscariot if he had not been born” (Mat_26:24). Existence is not a blessing, oftentimes a curse, unless a man is “born again,” “not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (Joh_1:13). Christ taught the same truth when He said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God” (Luk_4:4). Man is not flesh and blood only, he has not a mere animal existence, but moral capabilities and needs, which must be nourished by the thoughts of God. If this is not done, he has no life worth the name.
II. The relation that a man should have to the Word of God is like that which a rich man has to his banked money. “Lay up my commandments with thee.” The best place for money which the merchant wishes to use constantly is a safe bank, from which he can draw out at any time of need. So the Word of God must be laid up in the mind ready for constant use. The Word of God must “dwell in us” (Col_3:16). It must be stored up to furnish us with encouragement and admonition in the unceasing warfare with temptation which we are called upon to wage. It must be at hand at the moment of need.
III. It is to be guarded with the same care as the eye is guarded by the eyelid. “As the apple of thine eye.” The eye is carefully protected by nature because it is the organ of a most precious sense—of a sense of which we stand in the greatest need—without which we walk through the world in darkness. The revelation of God in the Holy Scriptures is the only light which enlightens us amid the darkness of ignorance and mystery by which we are surrounded. Without it all our future would be darkness indeed. Hence its preciousness, and hence the value we ought to set upon it.
IV. It is to hold to us a relation like that of a pure, and tender, and beloved sister. “Say unto Wisdom, Thou art my sister.” The Word of God is the highest wisdom. The relationship of brother and sister, where it is what God intended it to be, is a very tender and pure relationship, involving willingness to undergo self-denial for the sake of her who is loved, to listen to her advice, to seek her welfare. In this light we must regard the wisdom of God as revealed in the word of God if existence is to become life to us. We must exercise self-denial for her sake. “I prevented the dawning of the morning, and cried: I hoped in Thy word” (Psa_119:147).
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Pro_7:2. As God would have us keep His law as the apple of our eye, so He keeps His people (Deu_32:10), in answer to their prayer, as the apple of His eye (Zec_2:8). We guard the eye as our most precious and tender member from hurt, and prize it most dearly. As we guard the pupil of the eye from the least mote, which is sufficient to hurt it, so God’s law is so tender and holy a thing that the least violation of it in thought, word, or deed, is sin; and we are so to keep the law as to avoid any violation of it. The law resembles the pupil of the eye also in its being spiritually the organ of light, without which we should be in utter darkness.—Fausset.
The instruction of the Word is the same to the soul which the eye is to the body. For as the body without the sight of the eyes runneth upon many things that hurt it, and falleth at every little stumbling-block, so the soul most fearfully runneth into sins if it want the light and direction of the Word.—Muffet.
Men are off and on in their promises: they are also slow and slack in their performances. But it is otherwise here: the very “entrance of Thy Word giveth light” (Psa_119:130), and the very onset of obedience giveth life. It is but “Hear, and your soul shall live” (Isa_55:3). Sin is homogeneous, all of a kind, though not all of the same degree. As the least pebble is a stone as well as the hugest rock, and as the drop of a bucket is water as well as the main ocean, hence the least sins are in Scripture reproached by the names of the greatest. Malice is called manslaughter, lust, adultery, etc. Concupiscence is condemned by the law; even the first motions of sin, though they never come to consent (Rom_7:7). Inward bleeding may kill a man. The law of God is spiritual, though we be carnal. And as the sunshine shows us atoms and motes that till then we discerned not, so doth the law discover and censure smallest failings. It must therefore be kept curiously, even “as the apple of the eye,” that cannot be touched, but will be distempered. Careful we must be, even in the punctilios of duty. Men will not lightly lose the least ends of gold.—Trapp.
In some bodies, as trees, etc., there is life without sense, which are things animated, but not so much with a soul as with a kind of animation; even as the wicked have some kind of knowledge from grace, but are not animated by it. Or rather the wicked do not live, indeed, for life consisteth in action, and how can he be said truly to live whose words are dead? But keep God’s commandments, and live indeed, live cheerfully with the comfort of this life, which makes life to be life; live happily in the life of glory hereafter, which is the end for which this life is lent us.—Jermin.
Pro_7:4. Since, O youth, thou delightest in the intimacy of fair maidens, lo! here is by far the loveliest one, Wisdom.—Cartwright.
Wisdom has been represented as a wife, and here she is called a sister. As Didymus says (in Catenâ, p. 104), “Wisdom is called a mother, a sister, and a wife.” She is a mother, because, through her, we are children of Christ; she is a wife, because, by union with her, we ourselves become parents of that which is good; she is our sister, because our love to her is chaste and holy, and because she, as well as ourselves, is the offspring of God. Such is the love of Christ, who is the true Wisdom, and who is all in all to the soul. Compare His own words, applied to every faithful and obedient soul: “The same is my brother, and my sister, and mother” (Mar_3:35). “Do thou love the true faith with sisterly love, it shall keep thee from the impure love of the strange women of false doctrine” (Bede).—Wordsworth.
Holiness is positive. Sin is negative. The one is to love God, and also our neighbour. The other is not to love God or our neighbour. The one shows itself in a positive delight in the abstract holiness; the other not in a positive delight in the opposite, viz., in an abstract sin, but a delight in women, a delight in money, a delight in praise, a delight in everything except moral purity, and therefore a delight in things which are innocent when in limits, and that are only guilty when the soul is let in upon them without curb of superior affection. If a man calls Wisdom his kinswoman, then he may love wine or love without moral danger.—Miller.

Proverbs 7:6-27
CRITICAL NOTES
Pro_7:7. Simple, “inexperienced.”
Pro_7:8. Went, “moved leisurely, sauntered.”
Pro_7:9. In the black and dark night, literally, “in the apple,” or “pupil” of the night.
Pro_7:10. Literally, “a woman, the attire of a harlot,” with no connecting word between, as though the woman were nothing but such a dress. Subtil, “guarded.” Wordsworth renders “her heart is like a walled fortress.”
Pro_7:11. Stubborn, rather “boisterous, ungovernable.”
Pro_7:14. The offerings here named are those of thanksgiving for blessings received. Of such offering, which, in accordance with the law (Lev_7:16), must be eaten by the second day, the guests partook, so that a rich feast is here offered to the young man under the garb of religious usage.
Pro_7:16. With carved works, rather, “variegated coverlets of Egyptian linen.”
Pro_7:20. The purse, etc., indicating long delay; the day appointed, rather, “the day of the full moon.”
Pro_7:22. Straightway. “The Hebrew implies that he had at first hesitated, until the fear of his to take the decisive step was overcome by evil appetite, and he now, with passionate promptness, formed the vile purpose and executed it at once, to cut off all further reflection. Here is evidently a stroke in the picture of the profoundest psychological truth” (Lange’s Commentary). The latter clause of the verse is literally, “and as fetters for the punishment of a fool.” It has been variously rendered. Many expositors read, “As the obstinate fool is suddenly caught and held fast by a trap lying in a forbidden path, so has the deceitful power of the adulteress caught the young man.”
Pro_7:23. “The liver stands here as representative of the vitals in general as in Lam_2:11, as in some instances the heart, or again, the reins” (Psa_16:7; Psa_73:21, etc.). According to Delitzsch, the liver is here made prominent as the seat of sensual desire. “Since the ancient Greeks, Arabians, and Persians, in fact, connected this idea with the organ under consideration, this view may be received as probably correct” (Lange’s Commentary). Knoweth not that it is for his life, i.e. “that his life is at stake.”
NOTE ON THE SIGNIFICATION OF THE “STRANGE WOMAN” OF THIS CHAPTER, AND OF MANY KINDRED PASSAGES IN THE BOOK.—Although most modern commentators attach no other meaning to this woman than that which would occur to the general reader, there are some who, as will be seen from the comments, agree with most of the early expositors in attaching to the representation an ideal meaning also. Wordsworth, referring to the original meaning of the word
mashal, or proverb (see preface), says, “By a consideration of the proper meaning of this word mashal, used in the title of this book, and by reflecting on the use made of it in the Gospels, we are led to recognise in the Proverbs or Parables of Solomon not only moral apothegms for practical use in daily life, but to ponder deeply upon them as having also a typical character and inner spiritual significance concerning heavenly doctrines of supernatural truth, and as preparing the way for the evangelical teaching of the Divine Solomon, Jesus Christ, in parables on the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven.” Following out this principle of interpretation, he continues, “As in Solomon’s delineation of Wisdom we recognised Christ, so in the portraiture of the “strange woman,” who is set in striking contrast to Wisdom in this book, we must learn to see something more than at first meets the eye. Doubtless we must hold fast the literal interpretation, and must strenuously contend for it;.… but in the gaudy and garish attire and alluring cozenage of the strange woman we may see a representation of the seductive arts with which the teachers of unsound doctrine, repugnant to the truth of Christ, endeavour to charm, captivate, and ensnare unwary souls, and to steal them away from Him. There is a harlotry of the intellect—there is an adultery of the soul, and this harlotry and adultery are not less dangerous and deadly than the grossest sins and foulest abominations. Indeed they are more perilous, because they present themselves in a more specious and attractive form.” Hengstenberg, commenting on Ecc_7:26, says, “There are strong grounds for thinking that the woman of the Proverbs is the personification of heathenish folly, putting on the airs of wisdom and penetrating into the territory of the Israelites.… The key to Pro_2:16-17, is Jer_3:4-20. In Proverbs 5. the evil woman must needs be regarded as an ideal person, because of the opposition in which she is set to the good woman, Wisdom. If Wisdom in chap. Pro_7:4-5, is an ideal person, her opponent must be also.… In chap. 9. again, the evil woman is put in contrast with Wisdom;.… the explanation is, in fact, plainly given in Pro_7:13. Last of all, in chap. Pro_22:14, we read, “The mouth of the foreigner is a deep pit,” etc. That the writer here treats of false doctrine is clear from the mention of the mouth. Nah_3:4, presents an analogous instance of such a personification.… To the woman here, corresponds in Rev_2:20 : “the woman Jezebel,” a symbolical person. Miller, as will be seen in the suggestive comments on chap. Pro_2:16, looks upon this woman as an emblem of impenitence.
The following comment is by Professor Plumptre: “The strange woman,” the “stranger,” may mean simply the adulteress, as the “strange gods” the “strangers” (Deu_32:16; Jer_3:13), are those to whom Israel, forsaking her true husband, offered an adulterous worship. But in both cases there is implied also some idea of a foreign origin, as of one who by birth is outside the covenant of Israel. In the second word used, this meaning is still stronger. It is the word used of the strange wives of Solomon (1Ki_11:1-8), and of those of the Jews who returned from Babylon (Ezra 10.), of Ruth, as a Moabitess (Rth_2:10), of heathen invaders (Isa_2:6). Whatever form the sin here referred to had assumed before the monarchy (and the Book of Judges testifies to its frequency), the intercourse with Phœnicians and other nations under Solomon had a strong tendency to increase it. The king’s example would naturally be followed, and it probably became a fashion to have foreign wives and concubines. At first it would seem this was accompanied by some show of proselytism. The women made a profession of conformity to the religion of their masters. But the old leaven breaks out. They sin and “forget the covenant of their God.” The worship of other gods, a worship in itself sensual and ending in the foulest sin, leads the way to a life of harlotry. Other causes may have led to the same result. The stringent laws of the Mosaic code may have deterred the women of Israel from that sin, and led to a higher standard of purity than prevailed among other nations. Lidonian and Tyrian women came, like the Asiatic hetaeræ at Athens, at once with greater importunity and with new arts and fascinations to which the home-born were strangers.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Pro_7:6-27
A PICTURE DRAWN FROM LIFE
The woman depicted here has been before us twice before. (See on chap. Pro_2:16-19 and Pro_6:24). We will therefore confine ourselves in this chapter to the picture of her dupe. He fully justifies his right to the title here given to him, viz., “a young man void of understanding.”
I. Because he did not wait for temptation to seek him, but went where he knew it would meet him. Those who carry gunpowder upon their persons ought never to go into a blacksmith’s forge, ought never even to approach the door lest some sparks fall upon them. How much more foolish is he who, knowing that there is a tendency to sin within him, seeks out the place where the spark will be fanned into a flame. This young man is found “near the corner” of the house of the temptress, “he went the way to her house.”
II. He goes to ruin with his eyes wide open. The woman’s character is plainly written upon her dress and upon her face. There is no pretence at disguise. She boasts of her infidelity to her husband. Yet he yields to her invitation; yet he believes her professions of attachment to himself. The most silly fish that swims will not bite if the steel hook gleams through the bait, but this simpleton takes the hook without any bait. The ox resists when he feels that he is being driven to death, but this fool goes deliberately to the house of death. He walks into the snare which he knows has been the death of myriads of his fellow creatures. The remedy for this folly is found in Pro_7:1-4.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Pro_7:6-27. From the earlier and copious warnings against adultery the one now before us is distinguished by the fact, that while chapter 5. contrasted the blessings of conjugal fidelity and chaste marital love with unregulated sexual indulgence, and chapter Pro_6:20-35 particularly urged a contending against the inner roots and germs of the sin of unchastity, our passage dwells with special fulness upon the temptations from without to the transgression of the sixth commandment. It also sets forth the folly and the ruinous consequences of yielding to such temptations, by presenting an instructive living example … Aside from the fact that it is nocturnal rambling that delivers the thoughtless idle youth into the hands of temptation (Pro_7:9), and aside from the other significant feature that after the first brief and feeble opposition, he throws himself suddenly and with the full energy of passion into his self-sought ruin (Pro_7:22, comp. Jas_1:15), we have to notice here chiefly the important part played by the luxurious and savoury feast of the adulteress, as a co-operating factor in the allurement of the self-indulgent youth (Pro_7:14 seq.). It is surely not a feature purely incidental, without deeper significance or design, that this meal is referred to as preceding the central or chief sin; for, that the tickling of the palate with stimulating meats and drinks prepares the way for lust is an old and universal observation (comp. Exo_32:6; 1Co_10:17, as also similar passages from the classical authors).—Lange’s Commentary.
Apart from the external blandishments which are portrayed in this passage, there belongs to them a power of internal deception the most fallacious and insinuating—and this not merely because of their strength, and of their fitness to engross the whole man when once they take possession of him, and so to shut out all reflection and seriousness—those counteractives to evil passions; but because of their alliance with, and the affinity which they bear to, the kindly and benevolent and good feelings of our nature. As the poet says—himself a wild and wayward, and most dangerously seductive writer—the transition is a most natural one, from “loving much to loving wrong.” Let all such affections be sedulously kept at bay, and the occasions of them shunned and fled from, rather than hazarded and tampered with. Let them never be wilfully encountered, or presumptuously braved and bid defiance to, lest the victory be theirs; and no sooner do they win the heart than they war against the soul.—Chalmers.
Pro_7:5. This woman not only represents the harlot and the adulteress literally, but is also a figure of whatever seduces the soul from God, whether in morals or religion, and whether in doctrine and practice, or in religious worship.—Wordsworth.
Strange, indeed, if she alienate us from the very God that made her, and stir the jealousy of the very Being that gives us our power to love her. (Hos_2:8).—Miller.
Pro_7:6. God is ever at His window, His casement is always open to see what thou dost.—Jermin.
Pro_7:8. Circumstances which give an occasion to sin are to be noticed and avoided. They who love danger fall into it. The youth (as Pro_7:21 shows) did not go with the intention of defiling himself with the “strange woman,” but to flatter his own vanity by seeing and talking with her, and hearing her flatteries. It is madness to play with Satan’s edged tools.—Faussett.
The beginning of the sad end. The loitering evening walk, the unseasonable hour (Job_24:15; Rom_13:12-13); the vacant mind. “The house was empty,” and therefore ready for the reception of the tempter (Mat_12:44-45), and soon altogether in his possession. How valuable are self-discipline, self-control, constant employment, active energy of pursuit, as preservatives under the Divine blessing from fearful danger.—Bridges.
Pro_7:7-9. The first character appears on the scene, young, “simple” in the bad sense of the word; open to all impressions of evil, empty-headed and empty-hearted; lounging near the place of ill-repute, not as yet deliberately purposing to sin, but placing himself in the way of it; wandering idly to see one of whose beauty he had heard, and this at a time when the pure in heart would seek their home. It is impossible not to see a certain symbolic meaning in this picture of the gathering gloom. Night is falling over the young man’s life as the shadows deepen.—
Plumptre.
Pro_7:9. He thought to obscure himself, but Solomon saw him; how much more God, before whom night will convert itself into noon, and silence prove a speaking evidence. Foolish men think to hide themselves from God, by hiding God from themselves.—Trapp.
Pro_7:10. A careless sinner shall not need to go far to meet with temptation. The first woman met with it almost as soon as she was made, and who meets not everywhere with the woman Temptation?—Jermin.
Pro_7:14. Though I indulge in amours, do not think I am averse to the worship of God; nay, I offer liberally to Him: He is now therefore appeased, and will not mind venial offences.—Cartwright.
It is of course possible that the worship of Israel had so degenerated as to lose for the popular conscience all religious significance; but the hypothesis stated above (see note at the beginning of chapter), affords a simpler explanation. She who speaks is a foreigner who, under a show of conformity to the religion of Israel, still retains her old notions, and a feast-day is nothing to her but a time of self-indulgence, which she may invite another to share with her. If we assume, as probable, that these harlots of Jerusalem were mainly of Phœnician origin, the connection of their worship with their sin would be but the continuation of their original cultus.—Plumptre.
An awful portraiture of the mystery of iniquity. It is applicable also to corrupt churches, especially to the spiritual harlot described by St. John in the Apocalypse. She professes zeal for God’s house and service, while she is offending Him by heretical doctrine, and insulting Him by the fascinations of idolatrous worship, with which she beguiles unwary souls to commit spiritual fornication with her. (See Rev_17:1-5; Rev_18:9). As Bede says, following in the steps of Basil and others: All the description which is here given is true, in a literal sense, of the meretricious allurements of an adulteress; but it is to be interpreted also spiritually. False doctrine tricks herself out with the embellishments of worldly rhetoric and spurious philosophy, and is ever lurking at the corners of the streets, to allure and deceive the simple, and to caress them with her embraces; and she makes religious professions. She has her couch adorned with heathen embroidery, and yet sprinkled with the odours of spiritual virtues; but Christ says of her in the Apocalypse, “I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds” (Rev_2:22).—Wordsworth.
The immoral devotionist. 1. The absurd conduct of those who indulge in immorality, and think to compound with God for so doing, by paying Him outward forms of worship. 2. All external observances vain and useless unless they are accompanied with purity of heart, and real goodness of life. True religion is an end, and all external observances are only means leading to that end. (See Mic_6:5). Agreeably to this St. Paul assures us that the end of the Christian revelation is to-teach men to “live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world” (Tit_2:12). And Christ assures us that no ceremonious method of atonement without practical goodness will entitle us to the rewards of Christianity (Mat_7:21). All duties enjoined by God can be enjoined by Him only for the good they do us. “Can a man be profitable unto God, as he that is wise is profitable to himself?” (Job_22:2). And in which way can we possibly conceive how an immoral man can reap any benefit from the mere forms and ceremonies of religion. Is there any reason to think that God will accept this religious flattery instead of purity of life? No, rather it is an aggravation of his crimes. (See Isa_1:11.)—N. Ball.
Pro_7:15. O how diligent is wickedness, thinking that thing never done soon enough which is too soon done at any time! O how diligent a helper is Satan of wickedness, administering all opportunities for it! And, therefore, as the harlot seeketh diligently, so she findeth readily. Which is the shame of religion in many that profess it, and who are so slow in the performance of religious duties, as if they were both servants and masters, and had the commandments of God at their own command, to do them at their pleasure; which is a great reason that they are so ill observed. But if they would use their own diligence, they should find God much more diligent to give a blessing to it.—Jermin.
Pro_7:16. Her coverings of tapestry could not cover her naughtiness, her carved work could not embellish her own deformed work, her white Egyptian linen could not make white her black Egyptian soul.—Jermin.
Pro_7:17. This might have minded the young man that he was going to his grave, for the bodies of the dead were so perfumed. Such a meditation would much have rebated his edge—cooled his courage.—Trapp.
Pro_7:18. But what if death draw the curtains, and look in the while? If death do not, yet guilt will.—Trapp.
Pro_7:19. Instead of saying, “My husband,” she contemptuously calls him “the goodman,” as though he were unconnected with her.—Fausset.
Man may not be at home, but God is always at home, whose house is the world: man may be gone a far journey, but God’s journey is at once to be everywhere; His farthest off, to be present always.… She talketh that the goodman was not at home, but the good woman was not at home rather; she saith that her husband was gone a far journey, but she herself was gone much farther from her duty. If she had been at home, to have heard her conscience the home reprover of wickedness, the goodman, though not at home, had not been so much wronged; if she had not gone far from her covenant, her husband, though gone far, had still been near and present in her heart.—Jermin.
Our hearts must be guarded against the admission of sin by stronger motives than the fear of detection and disgrace, for artful solicitors to evil will easily baffle such restraints as these. Joseph might have expected his master’s favour by complying with the wishes of his mistress, but the motive that induced him to decline her company was irresistible,—“How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?”—Lawson.
Pro_7:22. He goeth to the slaughter when he thinketh he goeth to the pasture; or as those oxen brought forth by Jupiter’s priests, with garlands unto the gates, but it was for a slain sacrifice (Act_14:13).—Trapp.
The butcher’s yard would show the meaning of this first similitude. In every sort of way the ox may be coaxed, or, in turn, may be desperately beaten, and apparently to no purpose. But though he may stand, ox-like, like a rock, yet the experienced herdman knows that he will suddenly start in. This is his nature. One inch may cost a hurricane of blows; but at a dash, as the butcher expects, he will suddenly rush in to his doom.—Miller.
Pro_7:25. Cut off the beginnings of desire. The first trickling of the crevasse is the manageable, and, therefore, more culpable, period of the difficulty.—Miller.
Pro_7:26. As Solomon himself subsequently was (Neh_13:26). So Samson and David previously. It is better to learn by the awful example of others than by our own suffering. Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other.—Fausset.
The house of the harlot had been compared before to the grave, to the world of the dead; now it is likened to a battle-field strewn with the corpses of armed men. The word speaks rather of the multitude than of the individual strength of those who have perished.—Plumptre.
In a figurative sense, some of the greatest teachers of Christendom have been seduced by the allurements of heresy, and have been cast down from their place in the firmament of the Church, like stars falling from heaven.—Wordsworth.
The valour of men hath oft been slaved by the wiles of a woman. Witness many of your greatest martialists, who conquered countries, and were vanquished of vices. The Persian kings commanded the whole world, and were commanded by their concubines.—Trapp.
The secret thought that one can saunter toward her house (Pro_7:8), and at any time turn back, is cruelly met by most discouraging examples. The whole passage is the more impressive, if we consider it as a warning against confidence in strength, and particularly grand, if we mark the second clause … All men are strong, and strong in the most substantial sense. All men, saved, are princes (Rev_1:6); and they are offered the second place in God’s kingdom (Isa_61:7). All men are bone of Christ’s bone; all men are born with a birthright to be kings and priests, if they choose to be, and brothers of Emmanuel.—Miller.

Proverbs 7:1
My son keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee.
Parental precepts
“Lay up.” Hebrew, “hide.” A metaphor from treasure not left open in the house, but looked up in chests unseen, lest it should be lost, or got away.
I. Children must remember parents’ words.

1. Their words of instruction.
2. Of charge or command.
3. Of commendation, for that is a great encouragement to do well.
4. Of consolation, which revives the spirit of good children in their troubles.
5. Of promise.
6. Of prohibition.
7. Of reprehension.
8. Of commination.
   The spring of parents’ words is love—yea, when they chide. The end and result of all their speeches is their children’s good.
   II. The heart is the receptacle for godly precepts. There they must be laid up.
9. They are very precious in themselves. Common things lie about the house. Choice things are locked up.
10. They are very profitable to us, and such things easily creep into our hearts.
11. The heart is the secretest place to lodge them in.
12. It is the safest place. Good precepts should be as ready in our thoughts as if we had them in our eyes. (Francis Taylor, B. D.)

Proverbs 7:5
That they may keep thee from the strange woman.
Heavenly wisdom protective
I. Knowledge is a special means to keep us from wantonness.

1. By way of excellency. Wisdom is far more beautiful than the fairest strumpet in the world.
2. By her good counsel. Wisdom will advise thee for thy good.
3. By sweet and pleasant discourse far more pleasant to a pious heart than all the wanton songs in the world.
4. By arming thee against all objections. Keep in with knowledge, and thou shalt be sure to keep out of harlots’ paws.
   II. The false woman is a stranger. Possibly in the sense of being a foreigner, and not considering herself in the control of our moral laws.
5. A stranger in regard to marriage. Then thou hast no right to her.
6. A stranger in regard to carriage. Thou canst not look for any good respect from her.
   III. The false woman is a flatterer.
7. The difference between her words and her deeds prove it. She speaks like a friend, and acts like an enemy.
8. The difference between her first and her last words proves it. She will surely turn against thee when thy money is spent. She will sink thee with fair words. (Francis Taylor, B. D.)

Proverbs 7:7
A young man void of understanding.
A youth void of understanding
Solomon was pre-eminently a student of character. His forte lay in the direction of moral philosophy, in the sense of the philosophy of morals.
I. The special peril of great cities. Human nature remains the same in every age. The descriptions of the temptations that assailed the youth of Jerusalem and Tyre answers precisely to what we see in our own day. Therefore the counsels and warnings of the ancient sage are as valuable and fitting as ever. The vastness and multitudinousness of our modern cities provide a secrecy which is congenial to vice. In all great towns solicitations to vice abound as they do not elsewhere. Every passion has a tempter lying in wait for it. Whatever be your temperament or constitution, a snare will be skilfully laid to entrap you. Vice clothes itself here in its most pleasing attire, and not seldom appears even under the garb of virtue.
II. The evil of late hours. The devil, like the beast of prey, stalks forth when the sun goes down. Night is the time for unlawful amusements and mad convivialities and lascivious revelry. Now Jezebel spreads her net, and Delilah shears the locks of Samson. Young men, take it kindly when I bid you beware of late hours. Your health forbids it; your principles forbid it; your moral sense forbids it; your safety forbids it. Purity loves the light. Late hours have proved many young man’s ruin.
III. The danger of foolish company. “Simple” in the Book of Proverbs means silly, frivolous, idle, abandoned. You could almost predict with certainty the future of one who selected such society. The ruin of most young men is due to bad company. It is commonly the finest natures that are first pounced upon. The good-hearted, amiable fellow, with open countenance and warm heart and generous disposition, is at once seized by the vermin of the pit, and poisoned with every kind of pollution. Take care with whom you associate. There are men who will fawn upon you, and flatter you, and call you good company, and patronise you wonderfully, and take you anywhere you wish to go; and—allow you to pay all expenses. As a rule, a companion of loose character is the most mean and selfish of creatures. “Void of understanding.” Understanding is more than wisdom, more than knowledge; it is both and something besides. It is a mind well-balanced by the grace of God; it is the highest form of common-sense, sanctified by a genuine piety. No man’s understanding can be called thoroughly sound until it has been brought under the power of the truth as it is in Jesus. Your only security against the perils of the city, of the dark night, and of evil company, your only safety amid the lusts that attack the flesh, and the scepticisms that assail the mind, is a living faith in God, a spiritual union with Christ. (J. Thain Davidson, D. D.)

A beacon to young men
Now reason is the glory of man. It is a light within the soul by which he is exalted above the brutes that perish. And yet God often charges men with displaying less judgment than the mere animal creatures (Isa_1:3).
I. The evidences of this state. How can we know with certainty the young who are void of understanding?

1. Those who throw off the restraints and counsels of their parents and friends. When counsel and supervision are most needed they are rejected, and who so fit to guide and counsel as the parent?
2. Those who become the companion of the foolish and wicked. No other influence will be so disastrous on our highest interests as that of evil companionship. It will insidiously undermine every good principle.
3. Those who disregard the opinions of the wise and good around them.
4. Those who neglect the institutions of religion. The atmosphere of religious ordinances is that of health and life to every virtue and grace of the soul. By neglecting Divine ordinances and services, the heart and mind run fallow.
5. Those who yield themselves up to sensual gratifications. The text refers to the ensnaring woman. “For at the window of my house I looked through my casement,” etc. How fearful the result! Money, reputation, health, mind, morals, life, and the soul, all sacrificed!
   II. Its evil results.
6. The morally evil condition of the youths themselves. Here are powers perverted—talents prostituted—sin and misery increased.
7. The pernicious influence they exert on others. Every such youth has his young friends and relations, all of whom may be corrupted by his conduct.
8. The eternal misery to which they are hastening.
   III. The only remedy.
9. Immediate and genuine repentance. Prompt consideration.
10. There must be the yielding of the heart to Christ. Christ alone can open the blind eyes, expel the foul spirit, renew the heart.
11. By the regulation of the life by the Word of God.
12. Union to, and fellowship with, God’s people. (J. Burns, D. D.)

The ignorance and folly of the man of pleasure
It is a mortifying truth that that age, which of all others stands most in need of advice, thinks itself the least in want of it. Youth is warm even in its desires, hasty in its conceptions, and confident in its hopes. Talk to it when its passions are high, or when pleasure is glittering around it, it will in all likelihood look upon you as come to torment it before its time, and will none of your reproof. The particular error of youth is its pursuit of licentious pleasures. This writer gives us an interesting picture of a young man, confident in his own wisdom, and relying on his own strength, met by a character whom the world has denominated Pleasure. He paints to us the charms which she displays for his seduction, describes the flattery of her tongue, the crafty wiliness of her allurements, and shows us his simple heart won by her deceptions, and following her guilty call.
I. The man of pleasure betrays an utter want of acquaintance with his own being. It is among the foremost arguments in support of this kind of life that it is only in conformity with that nature which God has given us. But your nature, as long as it is without the renovation of the Eternal Spirit, cannot possibly be made your guide. In reality full of diseases, the man imagines himself in perfect health. Bound in misery and iron, he dreams that he is happy and at liberty. In following his carnal desires a man is surely “void of understanding.”
II. The man of Pleasure shows his ignorance and folly in his want of acquaintance with his duties in this world. The sins of impurity are doubly sinful, inasmuch as they incapacitate the follower of them from those exertions to which he is bound in whatever state of life it hath pleased God to call him. The libertine imagines that his duties are easily reconcilable with his pursuits of pleasure; and in few cases does he show himself more void of understanding. It is their direct tendency to enervate the spirit; to absorb the native vigour of the mind; to extinguish generous ambition, that incitement to worthy deeds; and to drown all in dissipation, indolence, and trifling. The pagans made the temple of honour lie through the temple of virtue.
III. The libertine shows his want of understanding in his ignorance or defiance of Omnipotence. Of all the instances of want of wisdom, a disregard of the injunctions of Almighty God is surely the most absurd, as well as the most wicked. And it never can be confined to yourself, but involves often the misery, and always the guilt, of others. The man bent on pleasure seldom considers whom he offends, whom he injures, whose confidence he abuses, whose innocence he betrays, what friendship he violates, or what enmities he creates. Your first vice might arise from the seduction of bad companions, but a continuance of it becomes your own sin.
IV. The libertine acts in opposition to his own conviction. There is always an inward monitor whispering against him. Rouse, then. Break from the infatuating circle. No longer miscall the things of this world. (G. Matthew, M. A.)

The young man void of understanding
Understanding or reason is the glory of human nature. It is the “candle of the Lord,” to light us on our destiny. Where this is not, you have a traveller on a devious path without light, a vessel on a treacherous sea without rudder or compass. Who is the young man void of understanding?

1. One who pays more attention to his outward appearance than to his inner character. He sacrifices the jewel for the casket.
2. One who seeks happiness without rather than within. But the well of true joy must be found in the heart, or nowhere.
3. One who identifies greatness with circumstances rather than with character. But true greatness is in the soul, and nowhere else.
4. One who is guided more by the dictates of his own nature than by the counsels of experience. He acts from the suggestions of his own immature judgment. He is his own master, and will be taught by no one.
5. One who lives in show and ignores realities. He who lives in these pursuits and pleasures which are in vogue for the hour, and neglects the great realities of the soul and eternity, is “void of understanding.” (Homilist.)

A simple youth, void of understanding
The young man Solomon had in mind perhaps thought himself wise, but in the opinion of the sober and virtuous part of mankind, he was one of the most infatuated of men. When may a young man be spoken of as “void of understanding”?

1. When he suffers his mind to remain unacquainted with the great principles of religion.
2. When he follows the dictates of his own corrupt heart. How shall we account for all that wickedness which abounds in the world if there is no bad principle from which it breeds? Take corruption out of the heart, and this world would become a paradise. Simple souls, instead of checking the evil principle within them, rather give it the greatest indulgence.
3. When he throws himself in the way of temptation. Snares abound. There is hardly a step in our way in which we do not run some hazard of stumbling. Have we not often complied when we ought to have resisted? Sin is sometimes so artfully disguised that it loses its deformity, and we are insensibly drawn into the commission of it. Is it not, then, wise and prudent to keep at a distance and not to tamper with temptation? The old serpent is too cunning and subtle for us, and if we throw ourselves in his way we must fall.
4. When he has not resolution to withstand the allurements with which he may be surrounded. We can hardly hope to escape allurement altogether. All depends on our yielding to or resisting first enticements. And what avails the most enlightened understanding if we have not firmness to follow its dictates?
5. When he does not hearken to the admonitions of those who are older and more experienced than himself. Vanity and self-conceit are too natural to young minds, and numbers have been led away by them. Positive and headstrong, they refuse to be admonished, and scorn to be controlled. Hence they run headlong into vice, and involve themselves in misery.
6. When he flatters himself with seeing long life and many years. This is very natural to youth. But there is nothing more vain and uncertain. Can there be a greater defect of understanding than to flatter one’s self with what we may never enjoy? (D. Johnston, D. D.)

A young man void of understanding

1. One who makes light of parental restraints and counsels. No young man is walking in safe paths who is engaged in pursuits or pleasures which a wise father or a tender mother would be mortified and grieved to see him mixed up with.
2. One who neglects the cultivation of his mind. If knowledge is power, ignorance is weakness. The mind must be carefully trained in order that the soul may fulfil her destiny upon earth, and be prepared for a more glorious existence hereafter. 3 One who is content to live an idle and aimless life. To spend the golden hours of existence in irresolution and idleness, with no definite purpose, betrays, as much as anything could do, the lack of good sense.
3. One who chooses his bosom companions from the ranks of the thoughtless and the profane. We are naturally social beings, and seek for pleasure in the company of others.
4. One who yields to the enticements of folly and wickedness. As soon as he reaches the point when he is indifferent to the opinion of the wise and the good, his case may well be set down as desperate. The young are always surrounded by temptations, and every evil thought which is allowed a resting-place in the mind vitiates and corrodes the fibres of the soul, and every sinful deed unnerves the arm and paralyses the essential power of manhood.
5. One who makes light of religion. Religion never encouraged anybody to be indolent and improvident; never led him into the haunts of vice; never wasted his substance in riotous living; never dragged a single victim to the prison or the gallows. All its offices in the world have been elevating and beneficent. Unbelief is not a misfortune, but it is the sin, the damning sin, of the world. Men first do wrong and then believe wrong in order to escape from its consequences. True religion will make you abhor sin, and draw you to Christ, the Redeemer; it will strengthen you for duty, and nerve you for endurance. It will give songs in the night, and through the grave and gate of death it will brighten your pathway to eternal glory. (John N. Norton.)

Proverbs 7:8
He went the way to her house.
Occasions of sin
I. Many occasions of sin present themselves unlooked for.

1. All places afford temptations.
2. All times have theirs.
3. All things afford it.
4. So do all conditions, all actions, and all persons.
   Therefore we need to keep a constant watch, since we are not secure in any place, time, or condition. Then suspect all things with a holy suspicion.
   II. It is dangerous coming near bad houses.
5. Much danger may come from within.
6. Much danger from without; for ruffians and quarrellers haunt such places.
7. Judgment may be feared from heaven.
   III. Idleness is the nurse of wantonness.
8. Because nature is corrupt, and of all sins most inclines to wantonness.
9. The soul is very active both in our waking and sleeping, and if it move us not to good it will move us to bad actions.
10. Because labour removes the rubs in the way of wantonness. Spiritual duties and labour in our vocation take the heart, eyes, and ears off from wanton objects. The heart set at liberty by idleness falls upon them with greediness.
11. God’s judgment follows idleness to give such over to wantonness. Take heed of idleness. Many think it either no sin or a light one. (Francis Taylor, B. D.)

Proverbs 7:16
I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry.
A luxurious bed
“I have exhausted the toil of myself and bought the toil of others to increase the luxury of my rest. Come and see the courtly elegance with which my bed is decked. Long and weary days have I laboured at the counting-house, at the workshop, or at the desk. And now my bed is decked. Come and look. Place yourself at my chamber window and tell me what you see now and what you will see next year.”

1. “I see thee lying on this bed which thou hast decked, fretful, restless, and miserable. Thou hast found out too late that enjoyment is more painful than expectation.
2. I see thee dying on the same bed. May God grant thee mercy! but if He does it is in spite of the luxury with which thou art surrounded.
3. I see thee lying in another bed. It is narrow, and though well quilted and smoothed, yet it has no room for the weary body to turn, or for the feverish head to lift itself.” “I have decked my bed with peace. And though its coverings are but scanty, and though sorrow and desolation have taken their seats by its side, yet peace remains. And there is one like unto the Son of Man whose gracious face ever shines on me from before this, my poor resting-place, so that though deserted and wretched, His love gives me a comfort this world can neither give nor take away.
   Come and see.” “I have come, oh, saint of God! and I see three sights.
4. Destitution and pain are indeed about thee as thou liest on that rude couch; but peace and love reign there, and who shall prevail against the Lord’s elect?
5. I see thee in thy dying hour. Deserted and miserable thou mayest be, but angelic forms are hovering over thee, and I hear a voice speaking as man can never speak, saying, ‘Come, thou beloved of My Father!’
6. I see thee in thy narrow bed, but I see something else behind. For I see that great city, the holy Jerusalem, having the glory of God. And I hear a voice there saying, ‘Who is this who is arrayed in white robes? and whence came he?’ And I say unto him, ‘Sir, thou knowest.’ And the voice says, ‘He is one of them that came out of great tribulation,’” etc. (Christian Treasury.)

Proverbs 7:21
With her much fair speech she caused him to yield.
Good and bad speech
There is a force in words which it is often almost impossible to resist. Good words have a wonderful virtue in them to work upon the mind, and a great part of the good which we are called to do in the world is to be accomplished by means of that little member, the tongue. But corrupt minds are often found to have greater intelligence in persuading men to sin because human nature is depraved, and needs only a temptation to draw men to the practice of the worst of evils. No words have greater force in them to persuade men to sin than the flatteries of the strange woman, and therefore the apostle Paul, who directs us to strive against sin, calls loudly to us to flee youthful lusts. Such lusts can scarcely be conquered but by flight, because the temptations to them, when they meet with a simple mind and an impure heart, are like sparks of fire lighting upon stubble fully dry. The force that is in the tongue of the strange woman will not excuse the deluded youth; for his yielding to her is to be attributed to the depravity of his own heart, which inclines him to prefer the advice of a bad woman to the counsels of the Supreme and Eternal Wisdom. (
G. Lawson.)

Proverbs 7:22
As a fool to the correction of the stocks.
Slaughter of young men

1. We are apt to blame young men for being destroyed, when we ought to blame the influences that destroy them. Society slaughters a great many young men by the behest, “You must keep up appearances.” Our young men are growing up in a depraved state of commercial ethics, and I want to warn them against being slaughtered on the sharp edges of debt. For the sake of your own happiness, for the sake of your good morals, for the sake of your immortal soul, and for God’s sake, young man, as far as possible keep out of debt.
2. Many young men are slaughtered through irreligion. Take away a young man’s religion, and you make him the prey of evil. If you want to destroy a young man’s morals take his Bible away. You can do it by caricaturing his reverence for Scripture. Young man, take care of yourself. There is no class of persons that so stirs my sympathies as young men in great cities. Not quite enough salary to live on, and all the temptations that come from that deficit. Unless Almighty God help them they will all go under. Sin pays well neither in this life nor in the next, but right thinking, right believing, and right acting will take you in safety through this life and in transport through the next. (T. De Witt Talmage.)

Proverbs 7:23
Till a dart strike through his liver.
The gospel of health
Solomon had noticed, either in vivisection or in post-mortem, what awful attacks sin and dissipation make upon the liver, until the fiat of Almighty God bids the soul and body separate. A javelin of retribution, not glancing off or making a slight wound, but piercing it from side to side “till a dart strike through his liver.” Galen and Hippocrates ascribe to the liver the most of the world’s moral depression, and the word melancholy means black bile. Let Christian people avoid the mistake that they are all wrong with God because they suffer from depression of spirits. Oftentimes the trouble is wholly due to physical conditions. The difference in physical conditions makes things look so differently. Another practical use of this subject is for the young. The theory is abroad that they must first sow their wild oats and then Michigan wheat. Let me break the delusion. Wild oats are generally sown in the liver, and they can never be pulled up. In after-life, after years of dissipation, you may have your heart changed, but religion does not change the liver. God forgives, but outraged physical law never. (T. De Witt Talmage.)

Proverbs 7:24
Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye children.
On impurity
Cicero says, “There is not a more pernicious evil to man than the lust of sensual pleasure; the fertile source of every detestable crime, and the peculiar enemy of the Divine and immortal soul” This is true of all sensual pleasures immoderately pursued and gratified beyond the demands of reason and of nature.
I. How contradictory the vice of impurity is to the great laws of nature and of reason, of society and religion.

1. It is in opposition to the first law of our nature, which enjoins the due subordination and subjection of our inferior appetites and passions to the superior and ruling principle of the soul—that principle which distinguishes man from the animal creation. What can be so degrading to our nature as to reverse this first and important law by giving the reins of dominion to an inferior and merely animal appetite, implanted in us, as a slave, to serve the purposes of our temporal existence? Appetites are wholly of sense; with them, abstractly considered, the mind has no concern. But if indulged beyond due bounds, they darken the mind and absorb all its noblest faculties.
2. It opposes the laws of reason, whose peculiar office it is to direct our conduct and form our manners in such a way as becomes the rank and station we bear in the universe. What folly, then, to indulge a vice and pursue a conduct which is at once most opposite to, and most derogatory from, the honour and the dictates of reason! And can anything be more so than the unrestrained gratification of impure desires, with which reason is so far from concurring, that men are obliged to lull its keen remonstrances in the tumult of passion and the hurry of sensual pursuits?
3. It opposes the laws of society—those universal laws of justice, honour, and virtue, upon which all society is founded, and upon the due observation whereof the happiness and the permanence of society depends. Nothing conduces more to corrupt the morals and deprave the minds of youth than the unrestrained gratification of impure and lustful desires; nothing conduces more to spread a general corruption of manners; nothing more affects and harms the nearest and dearest interests of men; nothing introduces more distressful injuries; and nothing is a greater prejudice or discouragement to just and honourable marriage.
4. It opposes the Divine laws. The Divine instructions inform man of the true state of his nature, of his dignity, fall, and possible restoration. Man is informed that his triumph is sure and his reward inestimable if, superior to sense and to appetite, he improves the Godlike principle of reason and virtue in him and purifies himself, even as his God, his great pattern and exemplar, is pure. There are some considerations peculiar to the Christian religion, drawn from the “Inhabitation of God’s Holy Spirit in the bodies of believers as His temples,” and from their being incorporated by faith as living members into the pure and immaculate body of Jesus Christ. Can men be so senseless as to defile this holy temple? What can the gratification of youthful lusts bestow, adequate to the loss, to the misery which it will assuredly occasion? Neither the laws of God nor of man are founded in fancy or caprice. No precept is imposed with a view to command or prohibit aught that was unessential to their well-being.
   II. How inimical the vice of impurity is to the best interests of ourselves and of our neighbours! What ever youth would wish to arrive at true honour and true happiness must scorn with a noble fortitude the allurements of the harlot pleasure, and implicitly follow the counsels of pure virtue. The practice of impurity never can, never did or will, produce aught but thorns and briars, “mischiefs” and “miseries,” to others and to ourselves. One peculiar and aggravating circumstance of malignity in this vice is that the perpetration of it involves the ruin of two souls. You cannot be singly guilty. Have pity on yourselves! Have pity on the companions of your sin! The seductions of innocence can never be adequate to the end proposed. It is a complicated guilt. All gratifying of lustful passions must be in a high degree injurious to their fellow-creatures, and particularly to the unhappy partners of their guilt. And the vice of impurity is peculiarly noxious and prejudicial to ourselves, to the mind, body, estate, and reputation. (W. Dodd, LL. D.)

Proverbs 7:27
Her house is the way to hell.
The way to hell
An energetic expression. It is not the place itself, but the way to it. In this ease what is the difference between the way and the destination? The one is as the other, so much so that he who has entered the way may reckon upon it as a fatal certainty that he will accomplish the journey and be plunged into “the chamber of death.” No man means to go the whole length. A man’s will is not destroyed in an instant; it is taken from him, as it were, little by little, and almost imperceptibly; he imagines that he is as strong as ever, and says that he will go out and shake himself as at other times, not knowing that the spirit of might has gone from him. Is there any object on earth more pathetic than that of a man who has lost his power of resistance to evil, and is dragged on, an unresisting victim, whithersoever the spirit of perdition may desire to take him? It is true that the young man can plead the power of fascination; all that music, and colour, and blandishment, and flattery can do has been done: the cloven foot has been most successfully concealed; the speech has been all garden, and paradise, and sweetness, and joy; the word hell, or perdition, has not been so much as mentioned. This is what is meant by seduction: leading a man out of himself, and from himself, onward and onward, by carefully graded processes, until fascination has accomplished its work, and bound the consenting soul in eternal bondage. (J. Parker, D. D.).

Proverbs 7
Fifteenth Address. Chap. Pro_7:1-27. The Evil Woman
The subject of the last section of the foregoing chapter (Pro_6:20-35) is continued throughout this chapter. An earnest call to obedient attention (Pro_7:1-4) is followed by a graphic description of the subtle tempter and her victim, as in a drama acted before the eyes (Pro_7:5-23), and by a solemn dissuasive based upon the ruinous consequences of yielding (Pro_7:24-27).

Proverbs 7:1-27
The following commentary covers Chapters 1 through 9.
There are two very distinct parts in this book. The first nine chapters, which give the great general principles; and the proverbs, properly so called, or moral aphorisms or sentences, which indicate the path in which the wise man should walk. At the end of the book is a collection of such made by Hezekiah.
Let us examine the first part. The grand principle is laid down at the outset-the fear of the Lord on the one side, and on the other the madness of self-will, which despises the wisdom and instruction that restrain it. For, besides the knowledge of good and evil in respect of which the fear of the Lord will operate, there is that exercise of authority in God’s created order which is a check on will (the origin of all disorder), as that confided to parents and the like. And these are carefully insisted on, in contrast with independence, as the basis of happiness and moral order in the world. It is not simply God’s authority giving precepts, nor even His statements of the consequence of actions, but the order He has set up in the relationships He has established amongst men, especially of parents, subjection to them is really owning God in His order. It is the first commandment with promise.
There are two forms in which sin, or the activity of man’s will, manifests itself-violence and corruption. This was seen at the time of the deluge. The earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. Satan is a liar and murderer. In man, corrupt lusts are even a more abundant source of evil. In chapter 1 violence is pointed out as the infringement of those obligations which the will of God has laid upon us. But wisdom cries aloud that her voice may be heard, proclaiming the judgment of those who despise her ways.
Chapter 2 gives us the result of subjection of heart to the words of wisdom, and an earnest search after it-the knowledge of the fear of Jehovah, and the knowledge of God Himself. He who applies himself to this shall be kept: he shall not only have no part with the wicked man, but he shall be delivered from the deceitful woman-from corruption. The judgment of the earth and the prosperity of the righteous are declared.
The latter principle being established, chapter 3 shews that it is not human sagacity or the prudence of man which imparts the wisdom here spoken of. Neither is it the ardent desire after prosperity and happiness, manifesting itself in crooked ways; but the fear of Jehovah and subjection to His word supply the one clue to guide us safely through a world of wickedness which He governs.
Chapter 4 insists on the necessity of pursuing wisdom at whatever cost; it is a path of sure reward. It warns against all association that would lead the contrary way and into ruin, adding that the heart, the lips, and the feet are to be watched.
Chapter 5 returns in detail to the corruption of heart that leads a man to forsake the wife of his youth for another. This path demoralises the whole man. But the eyes of Jehovah are upon the ways of man.
In chapter 6 wisdom will not be surety for another. It is neither slothful, nor violent, nor deceitful. The strange woman should be avoided as fire: there is no reparation for adultery. In chapter 7 the house of the strange woman is the path to the grave. To curb oneself, to be firm in resisting allurements, looking to Jehovah and hearkening to the words of the wise-such are the principles of life given in these chapters.
Chapter 8. The wisdom of God is active. It cries aloud; it invites men. Three principles distinguish it-discretion, or the right consideration of circumstances, instead of following self-will; hatred of evil, which evidences the fear of Jehovah; and detestation of arrogance and hypocrisy in man. It is by wisdom that kings and princes rule; strength, counsel, and sound wisdom, and durable riches, are found in it. Moreover Jehovah Himself has acted according to His own perfect discernment of the right relations of all things to each other; that is to say, He created them according to the perfection of His own thoughts. But this leads us farther; for Christ is the wisdom of God. He is the centre of all relations, according to the perfections of God; and is in Himself the object of God’s eternal delight. The everlasting wisdom of God is revealed and unfolded in Him. But this is not the only link. If Christ was the object of God the Father’s delight, as the centre and fulness of all wisdom, men have been the delight of Christ, and the habitable parts of Jehovah’s earth. It is in connection with men that Christ is seen, when considered as uniting and developing in Himself every feature of the wisdom and the counsels of God. The life that was in Him was the light of men. Christ is then the object of God the Father’s delight. Christ ever found His joy in God the Father, and His delight with the sons of men, [1] and in the earth inhabited by men. Here then must this wisdom be displayed. Here must the perfection of God’s ways be manifested. Here must divine wisdom be a guide to the conduct of a being subject to its direction. Now it is in Christ, the wisdom of God, that this is found. Whoso hearkens to Him finds life. Observe here that, all-important as this revelation is of the display of God’s wisdom in connection with men, we do not find man’s new place in Christ, nor the assembly here. She is called away from this present evil age to belong to Jesus in heaven. Christ cannot actually yet rejoice in the sons of men, if we take their state into account. When He takes possession of the earth, this will be fully accomplished-this will be the millennium. Meantime He calls on men to hear His voice. The principle of a path to be followed by hearkening to the words of wisdom is one of the greatest importance for this world, and of the most extensive bearing. There is the path of God, in which He is known. There is but one. If we do not walk in it, we shall suffer the consequences, even if really loving the Lord.
But in fact (chapter 9) wisdom has done more than this; it has formed a system, established a house of its own, upheld by the perfection of well-regulated and co-ordinate solidity. It is furnished with meat and wine; the table is spread; and, in the most public manner, wisdom invites the simple to come and partake, while pointing out to them the right way in which life is found. There is another woman; but before speaking of her, the Spirit teaches that instruction is wasted on the scorner; he will but hate his reprover. Wisdom is wise even in relation to its enemies. There is progress for the wise and the upright, but the beginning of it is the fear of Jehovah. This is its fundamental principle.
But scoffing is not the only character of evil. There is the foolish woman. This is not the activity of love which seeks the good of those who are ignorant of good. She is clamorous, sitting in the high places, at the door of her house, seeking to turn aside those who go right on their ways, and alluring those that have no understanding into the paths of deceit and sin; and they know not that her guests are the victims of death. Such are the general instructions which God’s warning wisdom gives us.
Note #1
So He became a man, and the unjealous testimony of the angels on His birth is, glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good pleasure in men. Man would not have Him, and the special relationship of His risen place as man with God, “my Father and your Father, my God and your God,” and that of the assembly was formed, but His delight was in that race; for the time it was not peace on earth but division, but even after the millennium the tabernacle of God will be with men, where we have both the special relationship and the general blessing.

Proverbs 7:1-27
Proverbs 7 – The Story of Seduction
A. The importance of valuing wisdom.

1. (1-4) Keeping God’s word and a father’s wisdom close.
   My son, keep my words,
   And treasure my commands within you.
   Keep my commands and live,
   And my law as the apple of your eye.
   Bind them on your fingers;
   Write them on the tablet of your heart.
   Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”
   And call understanding your nearest kin,
   a. My son, keep my words: As in the previous two sections warning against sexual immorality (Pro_5:1-4; Pro_6:20-24), Proverbs 7 begins with an emphasis on keeping and understanding God’s word and a father’s wisdom.
   b. Keep my commands and live: The implication is not that Bible reading provides a magical protection against sexual immorality. Yet if a person does keep God’s written commands, they will not carry out this sin – and the keeping of the commands begins with knowing them, treasuring them, and meditating on them.
   i. As the apple of your eye: “The familiar phrase ‘apple of your eye’ (v. 2) refers to the pupil of the eye which the ancients thought was a sphere like an apple. We protect our eyes because they’re valuable to us, and so should we honor and protect God’s Word by obeying it.” (Wiersbe)
   c. Write them on the tablet of your heart: Solomon counseled his son to have a living, breathing relationship with the word of God. It should not be only on his mind but also in his heart. He should love the word as his sister and nearest kin.
   i. Morgan spoke of the power of truly regarding wisdom as a sister or nearest kin. “Thousands of men are kept from evil courses by the love and friendship of sisters, and women friends. Recognizing this, the father counsels his son to find strength against the seductions of evil, by cultivating that kind of defensive and defending familiarity with wisdom, which is typified by this love of a sister and of pure women.”
2. (5) The benefit of keeping God’s word and a father’s wisdom close.
   That they may keep you from the immoral woman,
   From the seductress who flatters with her words.
   a. That they may keep you from the immoral woman: The wisdom and power of God’s word help to keep us from the immoral woman (or man). From God’s word we learn the deception and strategy of sin and temptation. We learn the end result of sin and the wonderful benefits of obedience. God’s word imparts the spiritual light and strength we need to obey God in this difficult area.
   i. The task of keeping men and women from sexual immorality sometimes seems impossible. This is due to many factors, including:

• A secular, sexually saturated and permissive culture.
• The widespread availability of pornography.
• The disconnection of sex from pregnancy and reproduction.
• Laws making divorce easy and impossible to contest.
• Social media technology making anonymous meetings easier.
• Widespread prosperity that lessens the financial impact of family breakups.
• The large and growing gap between the time of puberty and the average time people get married.
  ii. These factors are not all unique to the present day; Christianity was founded in a very sexually permissive culture. Yet they highlight the great need for Christian men and women to rely on the power and wisdom of God’s word to remain pure. It also means that such purity, even in the sense of rededication to purity, is a great sacrifice and gift to the honor and glory of God.
  b. From the seductress who flatters with her words: Immorality speaks and has words to draw us into sin. We need the corresponding and greater power of God’s words to keep us from the immoral woman (or man).
  B. A story of seduction.

1. (6-9) The young fool seeks the immoral woman.
   For at the window of my house
   I looked through my lattice,
   And saw among the simple,
   I perceived among the youths,
   A young man devoid of understanding,
   Passing along the street near her corner;
   And he took the path to her house
   In the twilight, in the evening,
   In the black and dark night.
   a. At the window of my house: As a skilled storyteller, Solomon explained how one day he looked out his window and saw a man passing along the street. The man was simple, young, and devoid of understanding.
   b. Simple: As in Pro_1:4; Pro_1:22, this isn’t stupidity, but inexperience and gullibility. The simple are uneducated in the ways of wisdom and need instruction. As Phillips commented on Pro_1:4, the simple man has his mind open, but in a gullible and dangerous way.
   c. Among the youths, a young man: The idea is repeated twice for emphasis. This man does not have the experience of years to help guide him in the path of wisdom. He has all the passions, energy, and overconfidence of youth, and none of the wisdom the decades can bring.
   i. Of course, it is not only the young man who faces the challenge of purity; men and women of every age have their own challenges to pure living. Yet these are often more severely felt in the life of the young man.
   ii. Even when a young man has the desire for moral purity, there are many things that may make it difficult for a him to receive and live God’s wisdom. These include:

• Youthful energy and sense of carelessness.
• The lack of life wisdom.
• The desire for, and gaining of, independence.
• Physical and sexual maturity that may run ahead of spiritual and moral maturity.
• Money and the freedom that it brings.
• Young women who may – knowingly or unknowingly – encourage moral impurity.
• The spirit of the age that both expects and promotes moral uncleanness for young men.
• The desire to be accepted by peers who face the same challenges.
  iii. The world tells us, “Have your good time when you are young; get it all out of your system. When you are older you can settle down and be religious and proper.” Yet God’s wisdom can make (or should make) a huge difference in the life of a young man.
  iv. God wants to spare the young man (and the older man) the bondage of sin. This reflects upon the power of experience to shape our habits. Surrender to any temptation; transfer it from the realm of mental contemplation to life experience, and that temptation instantly becomes much more difficult to resist in the future. Each successive experience of surrender to temptation builds a habit, reinforced not only spiritually, but also by brain chemistry. Such ingrained habits are more and more difficult to break the more they are experienced, and it is almost impossible to break such habits without replacing them with another habit.
  d. Devoid of understanding: Because he is simple and young, his reservoir of wisdom and understanding is empty. He is the one who must, at all costs, get wisdom (Pro_4:5-7).
  i. “Young, inexperienced, featherbrained, he is the very sort to need arming with borrowed wisdom.” (Kidner)
  ii. Psa_119:9 gives remarkable wisdom to the young man: How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word.
  e. He took the path to her house: With his lack of wisdom and experience, this man was an easy target for the immoral woman. Under the cover of the black and dark night, he was foolish enough to pass alongherstreet, then foolish enough to go near her corner. Soon he took the path to her house.
  i. Given those conditions, it isn’t difficult to finish the story. We know how it ends when someone positively pursues temptation in this manner. As part of the disciples’ prayer, we are to pray do not lead us into temptation (Mat_6:13). This one leads himself into temptation with sad and familiar results.
  ii. The black and dark night: “Foolish men think to hide themselves from God, by hiding God from themselves.” (Trapp)

1. (10-12) Meeting the immoral woman.
   And there a woman met him,
   With the attire of a harlot, and a crafty heart.
   She was loud and rebellious,
   Her feet would not stay at home.
   At times she was outside, at times in the open square,
   Lurking at every corner.
   a. There a woman met him: Before he could actually reach her house, the immoral woman met him. She wasn’t a prostitute, but she dressed like one (the attire of a harlot) and had the heart of one (a crafty heart). For her, sex was a transaction, not an experience of intimacy in marriage.
   i. “Her bold attire matches her bold approach, for a harlot knows no shame (Pro_30:20). Her outward dress, which seems to promise her victim her body, conceals her secret intention to use him to gratify her own lusts.” (Waltke)
   ii. “Outwardly, she keeps nothing back; she is dressed, as we say, to kill; inwardly, she gives nothing away (10b, literally ‘guarded of heart’, meaning either hard, unyielding, or close, secretive).” (Kidner)
   b. She was loud and rebellious: If the simple man cared to notice, this was not a woman of good and dignified character. Her heart or her body would not stay at home but looked for love and satisfaction outside the home.
   i. Rebellious: “Indicates her rebellion against propriety for a life of profligacy. The original meaning of the verbal root can still be recognized in the imagery of the stubborn cow (Hos_4:16); she chafes at restraint and revolts against the rules of proper society.” (Waltke)
   c. Lurking at every corner: Her availability and willingness for sex excited the young man. She wasn’t hard to find or arrange a meeting with. His wisdom and ability to resist temptation would be tested by the presence of a willing and available woman.
   i. “She is continually exposing herself, and showing by her gait and gestures what she is, and what she wants.” (Clarke)
   ii. When it comes to sexual purity, some people are outwardly pure because they have lacked, in their perception, low-risk opportunities. If a person quickly fails when they do encounter a willing and available partner for sexual immorality, it shows they were ready to fall and something was wrong even when they were, for a time outwardly pure.
2. (13-18) The seductive promises of the immoral woman.
   So she caught him and kissed him;
   With an impudent face she said to him:
   “I have peace offerings with me;
   Today I have paid my vows.
   So I came out to meet you,
   Diligently to seek your face,
   And I have found you.
   I have spread my bed with tapestry,
   Colored coverings of Egyptian linen.
   I have perfumed my bed
   With myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
   Come, let us take our fill of love until morning;
   Let us delight ourselves with love.
   a. So she caught him and kissed him: The idea is that she trapped him, and this is an accurate description of how many are ensnared in a sexually immoral relationship. They are pleased to be caught, and then soon feel trapped.
   b. With an impudent face she said to him: The sexually immoral person shows a certain defiance and impudence. They insist on their way and their gratification. It was with this sense of arrogant defiance that she spoke the following words.
   c. I have peace offerings with me: The sexually immoral woman Solomon described was not against religion, just against the moral code of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. She favored a god who would receive her peace offerings while she lived as she pleased when it came to her sexual desires.
   i. “She pretends religion to her filthy practices…. So did King Edward IV’s holy whore, as he used to call her, that came to him out of a nunnery when he used to call for her.” (Trapp)
   ii. “She dared not play the harlot with man until she had played the hypocrite with God and stopped the mouth of her conscience with her fellowship offerings.” (Gurnall, cited in Bridges)
   iii. “Much light is cast on this place by the fact that the gods in many parts of the East are actually worshipped in brothels, and fragments of the offerings are divided among the wretches who fall into the snare of the prostitutes.” (Clarke)
   iv. The mention of peace offerings also suggested the food at her home would be good. “That she had plentiful and excellent provisions at her house for his entertainment. For the peace-offerings were to be of the best flesh, Lev_22:21, and a considerable part of these offerings fell to the offerers’ share, wherewith they used to feast themselves and their friends.” (Poole)
   d. I came out to meet you, diligently to seek your face: By instinct or experience, the seductress knew the power of making this simple young man feel desired. She could catch him by displaying that she wanted him. For many people, that is all the seduction they need.
   i. “She appeals to the young man’s male ego as she flatters him and makes him think he’s very special to her. What she’s offering to him she would never offer to anyone else!” (Wiersbe)
   e. I have spread my bed with tapestry: She went on to allure him with the anticipation of the sensory experience, and that directly connected with her bed. She told the simple young man that he would experience wonderful touches, smells, and pleasures.
   i. “She designs to inflame his lust by the mention of the bed, and by its ornaments and perfumes.” (Poole)
   ii. Myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon: “She now stimulates him with aphrodisiac smells; all three names for perfumes in this verse are also found in Son_4:14 as odiferous images of sexual love.” (Waltke)
   iii. With myrrh, aloes: “This might have minded the young man that he was going to his grave; for the bodies of the dead were so perfumed. Such a meditation would have much rebated his edge, cooled his courage.” (Trapp)
   f. Let us take our fill of love until morning: Her invitations became more and more explicit, though still clouded in the misused word love. She offered him a kind of love, but certainly not the best or lasting love. It would be a delight and even last until morning, but bring pain, misery, and death in the end.
   i. Adam Clarke on verse 18: “The original itself is too gross to be literally translated; but quite in character as coming from the mouth of an abandoned woman.”
3. (19-21) The successful seduction.
   For my husband is not at home;
   He has gone on a long journey;
   He has taken a bag of money with him,
   And will come home on the appointed day.”
   With her enticing speech she caused him to yield,
   With her flattering lips she seduced him.
   a. For my husband is not at home: This makes clear what was hinted at before, that this was not a harlot but an adulterous woman. She betrayed her husband, her honor, her marriage vow, and her faithfulness to God.
   i. She was careful to refer to her husband in ways that would not awaken the conscience of her target. She did not give her husband a name, and “she represents my husband by ‘the man’, not by ‘my husband.’” (Waltke)
   b. He has gone on a long journey: The final piece of her plan of seduction was to persuade the young, simple man that this was safe and would have no consequence. Many people are willing to commit sexual immorality when they feel there is little or no risk of being discovered, showing that their commitment to purity is rooted in external motivations, not internal motivations.
   c. With her enticing speech she caused him to yield: At the end of it all, her seduction was successful. With her enticing speech and her flattering lips she convinced the simple young man to sin with her sexually. She used words and actions to successfully walk her victim through these steps of seduction:

• A well-chosen target (simple…a young man devoid of understanding, 7:7).
• Available to meet (the path to her house…a woman met him, 7:8, 7:10).
• Provocatively clothed (with the attire of a harlot, 7:10).
• Of bad character (loud and rebellious, 7:11).
• Looking to trap and seduce (she caught him, 7:13).
• Free with physical affection (kissed him, 7:13).
• Gave some recognition to religion (peace offerings…paid my vows, 7:14).
• Pursuit to make one feel desired (I came out to meet you, diligently, 7:15).
• Promise to please the senses (I have spread my bed…I have perfumed my bed, 7:16-17).
• Invitation to her bed (I have spread my bed…I have perfumed my bed, 7:16-17).
• Promises of love, delight, and sensual pleasure (let us take our fill of love until morning; let us delight ourselves with love, 7:18).
• Persuasion that the risk of discovery is very low (my husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey, 7:19).

1. (22-23) The painful price of the immoral woman.
   Immediately he went after her, as an ox goes to the slaughter,
   Or as a fool to the correction of the stocks,
   Till an arrow struck his liver.
   As a bird hastens to the snare,
   He did not know it would cost his life.
   a. Immediately he went after her: The woman presented by Solomon in Proverbs 7 would be very difficult to resist. This is why we anticipated that he went after her as soon as he started on the path towards her house (Pro_7:8). Such strong temptation can be overcome by the power and presence of Jesus in the believer, but it is even better to keep one’s self from the temptation itself.
   b. Immediately: There was no delay. We sense he begged to be tempted this way, and so had no strength to stand against it.
   i. “Suddenly (Pro_3:25; Pro_6:15) fixes the moment of decision and implies that the gullible acted without reflection but allowed his glands to do his thinking for him.” (Waltke)
   c. As an ox goes to the slaughter: The promise of the sexually immoral woman and the anticipation of the simple young man was for sensual pleasure and delight. What was really waiting for him was slaughter; he was like an animal ripe for sacrifice or like a fool for the correction of the stocks.
   i. “As the ox goes to the slaughter, unconscious of his fate, perhaps dreaming of rich pasture, or as a fool goes to the stock, careless and unfeeling, so does this poor deluded victim rush on with pitiable mirth or indifference.” (Bridges)
   ii. Till an arrow struck his liver: “The arrow piercing the liver may refer to the pangs of a guilty conscience that the guilty must reap along with spiritual and physical ruin.” (Ross)
   iii. Like an ox…as a bird: “Human beings are the only creatures in God’s creation who can choose what kind of creatures they want to be. God wants us to be sheep (Psa_23:1; John 10; 1Pe_2:25), but there are other options, such as horses or mules (Psa_32:9), or even hogs and dogs (2Pe_2:22).” (Wiersbe)
   d. He did not know that it would cost his life: The simple young man chose to only see and anticipate the sensual excitement and pleasure waiting for him with the sexually immoral woman. He did not reckon on the cost involved or supposed that the only cost came from being discovered.
   i. “The temptress promises sexual love without erotic restraint, but she refuses to make the fundamental commitment of self to him that is required of true love. Her sort of eroticism leads to complications, even death, and so it must be rejected.” (Waltke)
2. (24-27) Learning from the immoral woman.
   Now therefore, listen to me, my children;
   Pay attention to the words of my mouth:
   Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways,
   Do not stray into her paths;
   For she has cast down many wounded,
   And all who were slain by her were strong men.
   Her house is the way to hell,
   Descending to the chambers of death.
   a. Now therefore, listen to me: The lesson had been presented, and needed a conclusion to reinforce the principle. The father once again asked for the attention of his children to this important matter.
   b. Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways: Solomon understood that adultery and sexual immorality begin in the heart. They don’t begin in the hormones or glands, and they don’t begin in the heart in a romantic sense. In the sense that the heart describes our deepest loves and desires, a heart that does not properly love and desire God, but loves and desires pleasure more, will turn aside to sexual immorality.
   c. Do not stray into her paths: If the heart is turned aside towards sexual immorality, the feet will find it easy to stray in that direction. It is far better for the line of godliness to be drawn at the heart; but if it is not, then it should be drawn at the path.
   d. For she has cast down many wounded: Many, many people have had their reputations, their health, their money, and even their lives destroyed by sexual immorality. Many of these were strong men or women. God’s word and a father’s wisdom teach us to learn from their disaster and not repeat it for ourselves.
   i. “The language of v. 26 is military in tone. The lady who was so desirable has slain whole armies.” (Garrett)
   ii. Strong men: “Atsumim, which we render
   strong men, may be translated heroes. Many of those who have distinguished themselves in the field and in the cabinet have been overcome and destroyed by their mistresses. History is full of such examples.” (Clarke)
   iii. “The valour of man hath oft been slaved by the wiles of a woman. Witness many of your greatest martialists, who conquered countries, and were vanquished of vices.” (Trapp)
   e. Her house is the way to hell: That wasn’t how she saw it or described it (Pro_7:16-18), but it was true. Wisdom teaches us that things are not as they are often presented or perceived. Rare is the person who willingly, knowingly takes the way to hell and descends to the chambers of death. The power of temptation and the tempter lies in concealing this result, and wisdom sees what is concealed.
   i. “Her bedroom is no ballroom, but a battlefield where corpses lie about and from where many are sent to the Netherworld.” (Gemser, cited in Waltke)
   ii. “In the hour of sin”s glamor it is good for the soul to look through to the end which is in Sheol and the chambers of death. When the voice of the siren is heard, it is good to pause and listen to the moan of the breakers on the shore of darkness and death, for to that shore the way of impurity assuredly leads.” (Morgan)

Proverbs 7:1
CONTENTS
In this Chapter under the representation of an harlot, the deception that is practised upon our fallen nature is strikingly set forth, and the departure from God in sin and uncleanness is in strong colours painted.
Pro_7:1-5 My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee. Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye. Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart. Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; and call understanding thy kinswoman: That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words.
The Chapter is opened in a general preface, by way of preparing the mind for the subject that is to follow. And there are several endearing titles made use of, by way yet more of enforcing the subject. But what I would particularly request the Reader to attend to in those appellations of sister and kinswoman, is the very interesting matter they contain considered with an eye to Christ. Jesus, in the song of loves calls his church his sister, as well as his spouse. For as he took upon him our common nature, so he hath declared that whosoever doeth the will of his Father which is in heaven, the same is his brother, and sister, and mother. See Son_4:9; Mat_12:50. And as Christ hath condescended to put himself into all relations with his people, so he authorizeth his people to look up to him under all relations. But we must not stop here in contemplating the nature of the relationship, but go on and consider the cause for which the Lord hath put himself’ into these condescending affinities, and is not ashamed to call his people brethren; namely, that they may come to him under these characters, in order to be kept by him from spiritual fornication and every species of apostacy. Blessed Jesus! it is delightful to see how thy people are kept by thee, and that in thee all their security is found.

Proverbs 7:6-23
For at the window of my house I looked through my casement, And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding, Passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house, In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night: And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart. (She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house: Now is she without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner.) So she caught him, and kissed him, and with an impudent face said unto him, I have peace offerings with me; this day have I payed my vows. Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee. I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves. For the goodman is not at home, he is gone a long journey: He hath taken a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed. With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him. He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks; Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life.
Who can read this account, and call to mind the numberless scenes of a like nature that are going on every day in every town, city, and perhaps even village of the whole world, in the different transactions of sin and uncleanness, but must feel affected. Who that knows in himself what fallen nature is, or beholds in others the dreadful instances of the deceitfulness of the human heart, but must tremble. And who that conceives what a mass of such perpetrations of wickedness is continually coming up before God, but must be humbled to the very dust of the earth in the consciousness of universal depravity. Alas! what is man in his highest attainments. But is there not beside the particular feature of sin in uncleanness here pointed out, is there not a spiritual subject opened to our meditation in relation to our whole nature departing from Christ our husband? Jesus has gone for a little space, and the good man will return at the time appointed. But while the bridegroom tarrieth we all slumber and sleep. Oh! Lord keep the souls of thy redeemed in the hour, and from the power of temptation. Let us not go forth as the daughter of Jacob did to see the daughters of the land, so as to seek danger and then fall by it; but make us chaste keepers at home, and living upon Jesus. (Gen_34:1-2; Mat_25:5)

Proverbs 7:24-27
Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye children, and attend to the words of my mouth. Let not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths. For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been slain by her. Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death.
The conclusion is very beautiful and striking. And if we behold Christ as speaking to his people in these words, there is somewhat truly affectionate and interesting to work upon the mind in due attention to them. The obedience to what is here said, in leading to Christ, is life. The disobedience is, and must be death. Rom_6:23.

Proverbs 7:27
REFLECTIONS
MY soul! pause over this chapter. Behold what a strong and affecting representation it holds forth of the carnal, graceless, and ungodly. In every state, and in every stage of life, they are the same. Young persons, from the heat of youth, and corruption of nature, are most exposed to the awful ruin here set forth; but all periods of life are open to the particular and special temptations of it. And is this human nature altogether! Are such portraits of it taken from life? Do all prefer the momentary enjoyment of the body, to the everlasting welfare of the soul! Can nothing but fleshly lusts which war against the soul satisfy them? And is it, my soul, a most certain and unquestionable truth, that they that are in the flesh cannot please God. Pause, my soul! and in contemplating such a picture of human life, see whether what Paul saith of the Corinthians doth not correspond, to thy case and circumstances. ..and such were some of you.
Lord! give me to hear and feel what the close of this sweet chapter utters, and from henceforth to attend to the words of my God. And oh! ye young men, see, from what is here set forth, the danger to which you are exposed, and flee youthful lusts which war against the soul. I have written unto you young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abideth in you. Oh! think how blessed it must be to re member the Creator in the days of youth. And what a blessedness in having Christ for a portion, that the age of life may be accompanied with grace, and the knowledge and enjoyment of Jesus become the portion forever.