Proverbs 5:15-20

Solomon Calls On His Son To Be Faithful To His True Wife, And To Obtain His Sexual Enjoyments From Her (Proverbs 5:15).

In contrast Solomon now brings home to ‘his son' (Proverbs 5:20) the joys of sexual fulfilment within marriage. He wants him to recognise that in marriage he has a unique sexual partner, and one who loves him in return. Here then is to be the real source of sexual enjoyment. Thus he exhorts him to find his sexual pleasures in his own wife. He must drink from his own source of refreshment, for in that case he alone will be the one who enjoys it. She will not give her favours to another. And she too will be blessed when he rejoices in her. Let him therefore drink of her and be wholly taken up with her, rather than going to strange women and foreigners whom he will have to share with others, who will not love him, and who will themselves get no real pleasure out of him.

This is presented in the form of a brief chiasmus leaving Proverbs 5:21 as an epilogue:

A Drink waters out of your own cistern, and running waters out of your own well. Should your springs be dispersed abroad, and streams of water in the streets?' (Proverbs 5:15).

B Let them be for yourself alone, and not for strangers with you (Proverbs 5:17).

B Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth (Proverbs 5:18).

A As a loving hind and a pleasant doe, let her breasts satisfy you at all times, and be you ravished always with her love, for why should you, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a foreigner? (Proverbs 5:19).

Note that in A he is to drink water out of his own cistern and from his own well, rather than wasting his water by allowing it to stream out into the streets, and in the parallel he is to drink of his own wife's breasts and love, and not allow his sexual accomplishments to be spread among strange women and foreigners. In B he is enjoy the sexual benefits of his wife for himself alone, for they are not be shared with others, and the consequence will be that he finds his blessing in her (or his wife will be blessed) and will find his enjoyment in the one who is the wife of his youth, his own spring.

Proverbs 5:15

‘Drink waters out of your own cistern,

And running waters out of your own well,

Should your springs be dispersed abroad,

And streams of water in the streets?'

Solomon opens this subsection with a vivid illustration. ‘Drink waters out of your own cistern' must surely be explained in terms of ‘let her breasts satisfy you at all times' (Proverbs 5:19). The cistern was a private source of water, not accessible to others without strict permission. Thus his wife and her sexual attributes are being seen as his source of sexual enjoyment, and his alone. The parallel ‘running waters out of your own well' stresses the purity and satisfactory nature of the provision. Whereas the water from a cistern (a pit with a small opening at the top for storing water) might after a time become comparatively dirty and muddy, running water was always pure and wholesome. And note again the emphasis on ‘your own well'. The well would private and for the sole use of the householder, although it would be fed from a spring.

The change to the plural indicates the expression of a general situation and draws attention to the incongruity of people sharing their own private water supply (which was very precious in those days), and therefore of sharing the sexual favours of their wives. It is beyond comprehension. Indeed, to disperse their springs everywhere in widespread fashion or to pour springs of water into the streets would be to spread them so thinly that any enjoyment of them would be very temporary. Everyone would obtain quick enjoyment and then they would be gone. They would have no permanent container such as a cistern or a well enabling them to be retained for the future. He, of course, sees this as a suitable picture of a prostitute's favours. A quick drink and she's gone, for she is generally available. She is owned by no one.

Proverbs 5:17

‘Let them be for yourself alone,

And not for strangers with you,

Both their cisterns and their wells, and their wives' sexual favours are to be for themselves alone. They are not to be freely available to strangers and foreigners living among them. This is, of course, the very opposite for prostitutes. (The point is not that strangers must not be allowed to drink from their cisterns and wells, once given permission, only that they are not open to being open to anyone. They are exclusive).

Proverbs 5:18

Let your bubbling spring be blessed,

And rejoice in the wife of your youth.'

By his ‘bubbling spring' being blessed, when taken with the parallel, is an exhortation to the husband to bless his ‘bubbling spring', that is his wife or the sexual provision that she supplies him with. He is to have eyes for no other. He must rejoice in the one whom he married while still a young man. In this regard we should note that Josiah and Amon, future kings of Israel, would marry at 14, whilst Jehoiachin would marry at 16. The Egyptians saw 15 as the marriageable age for men and 12 for women. Not all, however, were married as young as this e.g. David.

Proverbs 5:19

‘As a love-making deer and a graceful doe,

Let her breasts satisfy you at all times,

And be you sexually satiated always with her love.'

For why should you, my son,

Be sexually satiated with a strange woman,

And embrace the bosom of a foreigner?

The figure in Proverbs 5:15 is now clearly explained. As one interested in nature (as a means of instruction) he compares the young wife to ‘a lovemaking deer' or a ‘graceful doe'. There is an important lesson in this in that it supports the idea that sexual enjoyment in marriage is natural and good. As with certain animals, so with man. Most men in those days would have seen female deer engaged in erotic lovemaking and would know of the graceful female mountain goats (probably ibexes), and seen them also love-making. Thus he too must engage in erotic love-making with his wife, whilst also recognising her gracefulness and feminine beauty. There is a recognition of both sexual satisfaction and female gracefulness.

In a similar way ‘his son' must look to his wife's breasts (or nipples) for satisfaction, and regularly be sexually satiated with her offered love. It is she from whom he should obtain his sexual satisfaction, not some strange woman or foreigner, who would dispense her favours and then be gone, leaving him dissatisfied.