Proverbs 5:1-14

CHAPTER 5
TEXT Proverbs 5:1-14

1.

My son, attend unto my wisdom;

Incline thine ear to my understanding:

2.

That thou mayest preserve discretion,

And that thy lips may keep knowledge.

3.

For the lips of a strange woman drop honey,

And her mouth is smoother than oil:

4.

But in the end she is bitter as wormwood,

Sharp as a two-edged sword.

5.

Her feet go down to death;

Her steps take hold on Sheol;

6.

So that she findeth not the level path of life:

Her ways are unstable, and she knoweth it not.

7.

Now therefore, my sons, hearken unto me,

And depart not from the words of my mouth.

8.

Remove thy way far from her,

And come not nigh to the door of her house;

9.

Lest thou give honor unto others,

And thy years unto the cruel;

10.

Lest strangers be filled with thy strength,

And thy labors be in the house of an alien,

11.

And thou mourn at thy latter end,

When thy flesh and thy body are consumed,

12.

And say, How have I hated instruction,

And my heart despised reproof;

13.

Neither have I obeyed the voice of my teachers,

Nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!

14.

I was well-nigh in all evil

In the midst of the assembly and congregation.

STUDY QUESTIONS OVER 5:1-14

1.

Why should a father teach his son (Proverbs 5:1)?

2.

How does Proverbs 5:2 say wisdom will show up?

3.

Comment on the 2 figures used in Proverbs 5:3.

4.

How is the end in Proverbs 5:4 different from what we read in Proverbs 5:3?

5.

Where does the evil woman's way go (Proverbs 5:5)?

6.

What kind of person is this woman (Proverbs 5:6)?

7.

What is the purpose of Proverbs 5:7 being where it is?

8.

Why is the instruction in Proverbs 5:8 so pertinent?

9.

How deeply does such a person usually get involved (Proverbs 5:9)?

10.

How would strangers be filled with his strength (Proverbs 5:10)?

11.

What does such living often do to one's body (Proverbs 5:11)?

12.

Whose instructions had not been heeded (Proverbs 5:12)?

13.

People learn, but sometimes it is too .............. (Proverbs 5:13).

14.

What is the meaning of Proverbs 5:14?

PARAPHRASE OF 5:1-14

1-6.

Listen to me, my son! I know what I am saying; listen! Watch yourself, lest you be indiscreet and betray some vital information. For the lips of a prostitute are as sweet as honey, and smooth flattery is her stock in trade. But afterwards only a bitter conscience is left to you, sharp as a double-edged sword. She leads you down to death and hell. For she does not know the path to life. She staggers down a crooked trail, and doesn-'t even realize where it leads.

7-14.

Young men, listen to me, and never forget what I-'m about to say: Run from her! Don-'t go near her house, lest you fall to her temptation and lose your honor, and give the remainder of your life to the cruel and merciless; lest strangers obtain your wealth, and you become a slave of foreigners. Lest afterwards you groan in anguish and in shame, when syphilis consumes your body, and you say, Oh, if only I had listended! If only I had not demanded my own way! Oh, why wouldn-'t I take advice? Why was I so stupid? For now I must face public disgrace.

COMMENTS ON 5:1-14

Proverbs 5:1. Life's experiences and learning bring to a father a degree of wisdom and understanding that he passes onto this children. Here is the same instruction found variously worded in Proverbs 1:8; Proverbs 2:1-2; Proverbs 3:1; Proverbs 3:21; Proverbs 4:1-2; Proverbs 4:10-13; Proverbs 4:20-21; Proverbs 6:20-21; Proverbs 7:1-3; Proverbs 7:24.

Proverbs 5:2. Discretion is good judgment in conduct and especially in speech. Preserve and keep are interchangable in the two statements of this verse. Great care should be exercised in our speech so that it always reflects discretion and knowledge.

Proverbs 5:3. Several lengthy sections of the first Chapter s of Proverbs are given to warning against immorality. Immorality has proven to be one of people's greatest pitfalls. Psalms 55:21 also speaks of wicked people's smooth speech (smooth as butter, softer than oil), False teachers also employ smooth and fair speech to succeed at their perverse ways (Romans 16:17-18). The warning of our verse about this woman's lips and mouth may be relative to her flattering words (see Proverbs 2:16; Proverbs 6:24), or it may be relative to her kisses (Proverbs 7:13).

Proverbs 5:4. Sinners fall for the pleasure involved while wisdom (the father in this verse) sees the end. The bitter end of such indulgence (bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword) is to be contrasted with the honey and oil of Proverbs 5:3. Solomon said, I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets and whose hands are bands: whoso pleaseth God shall escape from her; but the sinner shall be taken by her (Ecclesiastes 7:26).

Proverbs 5:5. A triple parallel: her feet and her steps, go down and take hold on, and death and Sheol. Before we go with somebody, it is the part of wisdom to find where she is going. Sin always leads to death: In the day that thou eatest these of thou shalt surely die (Genesis 2:17); They that practice such things are worthy of death (Romans 1:32); As through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin; and so death passed unto all men, for that all have sinned (Romans 5:12); the end of these things is death (Romans 6:23); Sin and death (Romans 8:2); Sin, when it is full grown, bringeth forth death (James 1:15). The body would come to death at which time the spirit would depart to Sheol (Hades). Proverbs 7:27 says, Her house is the way to Sheol, Going down to the chambers of death.

Proverbs 5:6. Consider Proverbs 4:26 in connection with this verse: Make level the path of thy feet, And let all thy ways be established. Our verse says such a woman never knows this way: she is unstable, undependable, and has nothing that she can hold onto. Man likes level ways to travel (they are so much easier than to be going up and going down hills), but such a woman knows nothing of the good road of life. And yet her kind has never neared extinction!

Proverbs 5:7. Another return to my sons (plural) instead of the customary my son (singular). The plural is used 3 times in Proverbs: here, Proverbs 4:1; Proverbs 7:24. Hearken to me, says the father and not to her! Depart from her but not from the words of my mouth.

Proverbs 5:8. The best way to keep from getting caught is to stay away from the trap. Quarantines are to keep people isolated from the problem. Eve said they were not even to touch the tree (Genesis 3:3). We are told to come...out from among them, to be separate, not even to touch the unclean thing (2 Corinthians 6:17). The pure Joseph did not even want to be around the seductive Potiphar's wife (Genesis 39:10).

Proverbs 5:9. Fornication is seldom a one-time matter (unless one repents). Usually (like with alcohol) one gets involved for years, and his good name (honor) is sacrificed. Immorality is cruel in what it does to the guilty, to his mate, and to his family.

Proverbs 5:10. Others will have the substance earned through strength and labor. Proverbs 6:26 says, On account of a harlot a man is brought to a piece of bread. The Prodigal Son had devoured his inheritance with harlots (Luke 15:13; Luke 15:30).

Proverbs 5:11. God has seen fit to visit immorality with the plague of various social diseases (venereal diseases such as syphilis, gonorrhea, and lymph granuloma). The father had foreseen the mourning sure to come, but a young man might not consider it because of the sinful pleasure that precede it.

Proverbs 5:12. A man suffering his last would have learned, but it would be too late to profit him. His father would probably be dead and gone by the time the prodigal wakened up to reality with a disease-ridden and ruined body, but his father's words would return to his mind with greater meaning. As he looks back, he sees that he actually hated and despised his father's instruction. Other instances of such: Proverbs 1:25; Proverbs 1:29; Proverbs 12:1.

Proverbs 5:13. Teachers implies that others besides his father had tried to counsel him. Surely his mother would have been one of them (Forsake not the law of thy motherProverbs 1:8). He had had good teachers (like many), but he was smarter than his teachershe followed his own ways!

Proverbs 5:14. Such was my shamelessness that there was scarcely any wickedness which I did not commit, unrestrained even by the presence of the congregation and assembly. The fact which the ruined youth laments is the extent and audacity of his sins (Pulpit Commentary).

TEST QUESTIONS OVER 5:1-14

1.

Where else in Proverbs is such instruction given (Proverbs 5:1)?

2.

What 2 words in Proverbs 5:2 are interchangeable in meaning?

3.

Where else besides Proverbs 5:3 does the Bible warn about smooth talk put out by evil people?

4.

What in Proverbs 5:4 is different from something in Proverbs 5:3?

5.

Where else besides Proverbs 5:5 does the Bible connect death with sin?

6.

Comment upon Proverbs 5:6.

7.

The father bids his son to hearken to him instead of to ............... (Proverbs 5:7).

8.

The father bids the son to forsake ............. instead of his instruction (Proverbs 5:7).

9.

How is the best way to keep from getting caught in a trap (Proverbs 5:8)?

10.

Comment on years in Proverbs 5:9.

11.

Comment on honor in Proverbs 5:9.

12.

Comment on cruel in Proverbs 5:9.

13.

Who wasted his substance with harlots (Proverbs 5:10)?

14.

What divine outcry against immorality shows forth in Proverbs 5:11?

15.

What mistake did the son make as he reflected on his case (Proverbs 5:12)?

16.

Comment on teachers (plural) (Proverbs 5:13).

17.

What is Proverbs 5:14 talking about?