PROVERBS CHAPTER 5 An exhortation to the study of wisdom, PROVERBS
5:1,2. To shun the company of strange women, PROVERBS 5:3. The
mischief of whoredom and riots, PROVERBS 5:14. In a married estate
exhorted to chastity in that state, and to rejoice with the wife of
his youth, PROVERBS 5:15. God's pon... [ Continue Reading ]
REGARD, or, _keep_, i.e. hold fast, as it is in the next clause.
_Discretion_; spiritual wisdom for the conduct of thy life, as this
word is used PROVERBS 1:4, and elsewhere in this book. THAT THY LIPS
MAY KEEP KNOWLEDGE; that by wise and pious discourses thou mayst
preserve and improve thy wisdom f... [ Continue Reading ]
It concerns thee to get and to use discretion, that thou mayst be able
to resist and repel those manifold temptations to which thou art
exposed. DROP AS AN HONEYCOMB; her words and discourses are sweet, and
charming, and prevalent.... [ Continue Reading ]
Her design, and the effect of that lewdness to which she enticeth men,
is the sinner's destruction.... [ Continue Reading ]
HER FEET; her course or manner of life.... [ Continue Reading ]
LEST THOU SHOULDEST PONDER THE PATH OF LIFE, to prevent thy serious
consideration of the way and manner of rescuing thyself from this
deadly course of life. MOVABLE; various and changeable. She transforms
herself into several shapes, to accommodate herself to the humours of
her lovers, and hath a th... [ Continue Reading ]
No text from Poole on this verse.... [ Continue Reading ]
Lest thine eyes affect thine heart, and her allurements prevail over
thee.... [ Continue Reading ]
THINE HONOUR; thy dignity and reputation, the strength and rigour of
thy body and mind, which is an honour to a man, and which are commonly
wasted by adulterous practices. UNTO OTHERS; unto whores, and their
husbands, and children, and friends. THY YEARS; the flower of thine
age, thy youthful years.... [ Continue Reading ]
STRANGERS; not only the strange women themselves, but bawds, panders,
and other adulterers, who are in league with them. THY LABOURS; wealth
gotten by thy labours.... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU MOURN AT THE LAST; bitterly bewail thy own madness and misery
when it is too late. THY FLESH AND THY BODY; thy flesh, even thy body;
the particle and being put expositively. CONSUMED by those manifold
diseases which filthy and inordinate lusts bring upon the body, of
which physicians give a ver... [ Continue Reading ]
HOW HAVE I HATED INSTRUCTION! oh what a mad beast have I been, to hate
and slight the fair warnings which were given me, and against mine own
knowledge, to run headlong into this pit of destruction! which are not
the words of a true penitent mourning for and turning from his sin,
but only of a man w... [ Continue Reading ]
OF MY TEACHERS; of my parents, and friends, and ministers, who
faithfully and seasonably informed me of those mischiefs and miseries
which now I feel.... [ Continue Reading ]
I WAS ALMOST IN ALL EVIL. Oh what a miserable man am I! There is
scarce any misery, in respect of estate, or body, or soul, into which
I am not already plunged. The words also are and may well be rendered
thus, _In a moment I am come into all evil_. In how little a time, and
for what short and momen... [ Continue Reading ]
This metaphor contained here, and PROVERBS 5:16, is to be understood
either,
1. Of the free and lawful use of a man's estate, both for his own
comfort, and for the good of others. Or rather,
2. Of the honest use of matrimony, as the proper remedy against these
filthy practices. This best suits with... [ Continue Reading ]
THY FOUNTAINS; thy children proceeding from thy wife, called _thy
fountain_, PROVERBS 5:18, and from thyself, as the Israelites are said
to come from the fountain of Israel, DEUTERONOMY 33:28 PSALMS 68:26.
Compare ISAIAH 51:1. And fountains are here put for rivers flowing
from them, as it is explain... [ Continue Reading ]
Hereby thou mayst be secured, that thou dost not father and leave
thine estate to other men's children; whereas the parents of harlots
children are common or uncertain.... [ Continue Reading ]
THY FOUNTAIN; thy wife, as the next clause explains it. BE BLESSED;
she shall be blessed with children; for barrenness was esteemed a
curse and reproach, especially among the Israelites. Or rather, she
shall be a blessing and a comfort to thee, as it follows, and not a
curse and a snare, as a harlot... [ Continue Reading ]
AS THE LOVING HIND, or, _as the beloved hind_, Heb. _the hind of
loves_; as amiable and delightful as the hinds are, either,
1. To their males, the harts; or,
2. To princes and great men, who used to make them tame and familiar,
and to take great delight in them, as hath been noted by many writers;... [ Continue Reading ]
Why wilt thou destroy and damn thyself for those delights which thou
mayst enjoy without sin or danger?... [ Continue Reading ]
BEFORE THE EYES OF THE LORD; God sees all thy filthy actions, though
done with all possible cunning and secrecy. He taketh an exact account
of all their doings, that he may recompense them according to the
kinds, degrees, numbers, and aggravations of all their unchaste
actions.... [ Continue Reading ]
In vain doth he think to disentangle himself from his lusts by
repenting when he grows in years, and to escape punishments; for he is
in perfect bondage to his lusts, and is neither able nor willing to
set himself at liberty; and if he do escape the rage of a jealous
husband, and the sentence of the... [ Continue Reading ]
WITHOUT INSTRUCTION; because he neglected instruction. Or, _without
correction or amendment_. He shall die in his sins, and not repent of
them, as he designed and hoped to do before his death. IN THE
GREATNESS OF HIS FOLLY; through his stupendous folly, whereby he
cheated himself with hopes of repen... [ Continue Reading ]