Proverbs 7:1-27
1 My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee.
2 Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye.
3 Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart.
4 Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; and call understanding thy kinswoman:
5 That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words.
6 For at the window of my house I looked through my casement,
7 And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths,a a young man void of understanding,
8 Passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house,
9 In the twilight, in the evening,b in the black and dark night:
10 And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart.
11 (She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house:
12 Now is she without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner.)
13 So she caught him, and kissed him, and with an impudent face said unto him,
14 I have peace offerings with me; this day have I payed my vows.
15 Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee.
16 I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt.
17 I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
18 Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves.
19 For the goodman is not at home, he is gone a long journey:
20 He hath taken a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed.
21 With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him.
22 He goeth after her straightway,c as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks;
23 Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life.
24 Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye children, and attend to the words of my mouth.
25 Let not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths.
26 For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been slain by her.
27 Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death.
He continues his exhortation to the son in chapter 7. Still talking about these women that are the wrong sort.
My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee. Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the pupil of your eye. Bind them upon your fingers, write them on the table of your heart. Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; and call understanding thy kinswoman: That they may keep thee from the strange woman, and from the stranger who flatters with her words (Proverbs 7:1-5).
So keep the commandments. Say to wisdom, "Thou art my sister." Be wise, my son.
For at the window of my house I looked through the casement, and I beheld among the simple ones, and I discerned among the young people, a young man who was void of understanding, and he was passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way towards her house, and in the twilight, and in the evening, and in the black and the dark night: And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of a harlot, subtile of heart. (She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house: Now is she without, now she's in the streets, she's lying in wait at every corner.) So she caught him, and she kissed him, and with an impudent face she said unto him, I have made my peace offerings; this day I have paid my vows (Proverbs 7:6-14).
Which was declaring, "I am ceremonially clean. I have gone, you know, I've had my period." And after the period a woman was then to bring the peace offering to offer, and now you're ceremonially clean for sexual relationships. Now this to me is interesting. It is an interesting kind of a paradox. Here she is observing the law for purification, following the law. "I've paid my vows, you know, and I brought my peace offerings. I have my peace offerings, paid my vows and all, you know. So I'm now ceremonially clean. I'm able to have intercourse." And yet a harlot, yet seeking to entice a man. And this strange paradox of obedience to the law, and yet disobedience to God. And unfortunately, we observe this strange paradox so often.
In the religious circles where somehow we have a weird kind of a twisted judgment, thinking that because I've gone to church, because I've done my righteous thing, that I now have some kind of a license to do the unrighteous thing. And this admixture of light and darkness, walking after the Spirit and trying to live after the flesh. Trying to please God and still following the lust of my own flesh. It's an incongruency. And yet we see it so often in the religious circles where people are trying to get this strange admixture of the flesh and the Spirit.
So here she is. "I've done my peace offering, and I've got it with me. I've paid my vows. Come to my house, you know, my husband's gone. He took a bag of money. He's gone on a trip. He's not going to be back 'til the new moon. So, you know, come on over." And how wrong it is. How often some of the young people from the College and Career or Singles fellowship tell about meeting someone here. And because they met them in church, they figured that they would be morally upright and all, and how that the guys just keep trying to come on when they're out on a date or something. And though they come to church and they'll read the Word and they'll sing the choruses, they'll raise their hands and all, and yet turn right around, and you get out in the car or something and they're trying to make advances that are improper advances. These things ought not to be, that weird kind of an inconsistency.
"So she caught him, she kissed him, and with an impudent face she said to him, 'I have a peace offering with me; this day I have paid my vows.'"
Therefore I came to meet you, and I diligently sought you until I found you. And I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestries, with the carved works, of fine linen from 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 (Proverbs 7:15-18).
Now here again is a total misconception that prevails to the present day. Somehow people have a weird terminology calling sexual intercourse love. It can be an expression of love. But it is generally, when outside of marriage always an expression of lust. And so rather than saying, "Come, let's take our fill of love," in reality you should say, "Come, let's take our fill of lust. Let's seek to fulfill the desires of our flesh."
There isn't true love in that. True love is giving, not seeking to receive. Seeketh not its own. But yet people have classified this love from the time of Proverbs and they still do today. "Oh, we made love last night." No, that's degrading to the term of love. Unless, as I say, it's as God has ordained within the sacred bonds of marriage and it becomes that beautiful expression between husband and wife, where as God said, "The two become one flesh" (Genesis 2:24).
For my husband is not at home, he's gone on a long journey: He has taken a bag of gold with him, he's not going to come back until the appointed day. And so with her fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him. And he's going after her straightway, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a fool goes to the correction of the stocks; Until a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hastes to the snare, and he knows not that it is for his life. Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye children, 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, and going down to the chambers of death (Proverbs 7:19-27).
So in speaking of and warning his son concerning the whorish woman, first of all, he makes mention of the fact that she can bring a man to a crust of bread. Oh, I think of the lives and the homes and the values that have been destroyed by these kind of women. All of the homes that are suffering today because some little gal's flirting in the office. Flattering, telling you how smart you are, how strong you are, how macho you are. And you get home and your wife is maybe saying, "Why don't you ever want to do anything, you know? And when you going to mow the lawn? You're so lazy, you know." And you're getting this kind of a crossfire. Pretty soon, you've imagined yourself to be in love, and pretty soon you're brought to a crust of bread. Destroyed. "She has cast down many wounded, many strong men have been slain by her." Oh, God, I think of the many strong men who have been slain by the weakness of their own flesh. "Her house is the way to hell." "