Archive for the ‘committing adultery’ Category


Proverbs 7:4-23  (4) Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” and call understanding your kinsman; (5) they will keep you from the adulteress, from the wayward wife with her seductive words. (6) At the window of my house I looked out through the lattice. (7) I saw among the simple, I noticed among young men, a youth who lacked judgment.  He was going down the street near her corner, walking along in the direction of her house at twilight, as the day was fading, as the dark of night set in.  Then out came a woman to meet him, dressed like a prostitute and with crafty intent.  She is loud and defiant, her feet never stay at home; now in the street, now in the squares, at every corner she lurks.) (13) She took hold of him and kissed him and with a brazen face she said:  I have fellowship offerings at home; today I fulfilled my vows.  So I came out to meet you; I looked for you and have found you! (16) I have covered my bed with colored linens from Egypt. (17) I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon. (18) Come let’s drink deep of love morning; let’s enjoy ourselves with love! (19) My husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey. (20)  He took his purse filled with money and will not be home till full moon.  (21)With persuasive words she led him astray; she seduced him with her smooth talk.  All at once he followed her like an ox gong to the slaughter, like a deer stepping into a noose (23) till and arrow pierces his liver like a bird darting into a snare, little knowing it will cost him his life.  

Proverbs 7:24-27 Now then my sons, listen to me; pay attention to what I say.  Do not let your heart turn to her ways or stray into her paths.  Many are the victims she has brought down; her slain are a mighty throng. Her house is a highway to the grave, leading down to the chambers of death.  

Although this advice is directed toward young men, young women should heed it as well.  The person who has no purpose in life is simple-minded (7:7). Without aim or direction an empty life is unstable, vulnerable to many temptations.  Even though the young man in this passage doesn’t know where he is going, the adulteress knows where she wants him.  Notice her strategies: she is dressed to allure men (7:10); her approach is bold (7:13); she invites him over to her place 7:16-18); she cunningly answers his every objection (7:19, 20); she persuades him with smooth talk (7:21); she traps him (7:23).  To combat temptation, make sure your life is full of God’s Word and wisdom. (7:4). Recognize the strategies of temptation, and run away from them-fast.  

You can take definite steps to avoid sexual sins.  First, guard your mind.  Don’t read books, look at pictures, or encourage fantasies that stimulate the wrong desires.  Second, keep away from settings and friends that tempt you to sin.  Third, don’t think only of the moment-focus on the future.  Today’s thrill may lead to tomorrow’s ruin.  


Here, again, is a warning not to go in unto a harlot.

The appropriate application of this drama is made in the admonition of these verses to avoid her deadly seduction.

A wise heart would not fall into this trap. This is just a warning to stay away from this evil woman. You would have to decline to get to her, for her place is in hell.

It is not just the weak men who fall, but strong men in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong thoughts for the wrong reasons.

Paid adulteresses have ruined many lives. There are many men whose lives have been totally destroyed by visiting this type woman.

There is no heavenly home for these women or the men they trick unless they repent and turn from their wicked ways. Death and destruction await her and her victims.


Proverbs 6:23-35 23″For these commands are a lamp, this teaching is a light, and the corrections of discipline are the way to life,”

The law is light. Those who live for the Lord walk in the light as He is in the Light. Godly people love instructions in righteousness.

These all identify the Word of God which provides the wisdom leading to abundant and eternal life.

Proverbs 6:24 “Keeping you from the immoral woman, from the smooth tongue of the wayward wife.”

Parental instruction in wisdom is crucial to strengthen a person against the strong attraction of sexual sin. By loving truth and being elevated to wisdom, men are not seduced by lying flattery.

Proverbs 6:25 “Do not lust in your heart after her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes.”

Sexual sin is rooted in lust (imagination of the sinful act), as implied in Exodus 20:17 and addressed by Christ in Matthew.

Matthew 5:28 “But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.”

Fluttering eyelids have been used by sinful women for centuries to draw men to them. Prostitution is as old as the Bible, itself. It has been condemned from Genesis to Revelation. The whole book of Hosea is about a whorish woman. The woman in the instance in Hosea is speaking of Israel being unfaithful to God. Adultery (either spiritual or physical) has always been condemned of God. These few verses here are warning against falling into this type of sin.

Proverbs 6:26 “for the prostitute reduces you to a loaf of bread, and the adulteress preys upon your very life.”

Here the smallest piece of bread demonstrates how the prostitute reduces the life of a man to insignificance, including the loss of his wealth, freedom, family, purity, dignity and even his soul.

Proverbs 6:27 “Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned? Proverbs 6:28 “Can a man walk on hot coasl without his feet being scorched?” Proverbs 6:29 “So is he who sleeps with another man’s wife; no one who touches her will go unpunished.”

Powerful metaphors are given here to describe the obvious danger and destructive consequences of adultery, showing that punishment is a natural and expected consequence.

We already touched on the dangers of living in sex sin in a previous lesson, but we see here that a man who touches his neighbor’s wife is in serious trouble with God. We spoke on the body being the temple of the Holy Ghost.

Verse 29 refers to a touch intended to inflame sexual passion. Paul uses the same expression with the same meaning in 1 Cor7:1.

Proverbs 6:30 “[Men] do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry;” Proverbs 6:31 “But [if] he be found, he shall restore sevenfold; he shall give all the substance of his house.”

In these verses, it is not saying that it is not a sin to steal. It is saying a person has sympathy for someone who is so hungry that he steals to feed himself. If he is caught, the person he stole from will be happy to not prosecute him, if he will pay back what he stole 7 times.

The stealing here is not nearly as serious as the sin of adultery that we read of in the next few verses. Adultery is compared to a starving thief, who, though it may cost all he has, can make restitution and put the crime behind him permanently/

Proverbs 6:32 “But a man who commits adultery lacks judgment; whoever does so destroys himself. 

But for the adulterer, there is no restitution as there was for the thief, as he destroys his soul.

Proverbs 6:33 “Blows and disgrace are his lot, and his shame will never be wiped away;”

Adultery is a cruel crime. Love for each other is the most precious gift a man and woman have on this earth except for the gifts of God. There is something very special about a man and his wife being one. To invade on this privacy of a man and his wife is without excuse.

Proverbs 6:34 “for jealousy arouses a husband’s fury, and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.”

Jealousy is a very strong emotion, especially when it has to do with infidelity or rape. Song of Solomon has a scripture that might express this better.

Song. 8:6 “Set me as a seal upon your heart, As a seal upon your arm; For love is as strong as death, Jealousy as cruel as the grave; Its frames are flames of fire, A most vehement flame.

Proverbs 6:35 “He will not accept any compensation; he will refuse the bribe, however great it is.”

A thief may satisfy his victim with an appropriate payment, but an offended husband cannot be bought off.

There is no money or gift that can repay this type of sinful act. The marriage of a man and his wife is likened unto the marriage of the Lord and His church. Just as anyone coming between the Lord and His church will not be permitted, neither is anyone to come between a man and his wife. It is unforgivable.


In a previous lesson, the young men were warned about not listening to this kind of woman with her flattering lips. Now we see in detail how she flatters and then convinces this foolish young man to come in unto her. She first says, “I am here by myself; my husband has gone and won’t be back till he spends all of that money he took with him”. He finally gives in to her flattering and goes in unto her. When the location, time and setting were allowed, the seduction was easy.


Women can overpower men – by words! Men crave hearing a woman’s praise, affection, and loyalty. A whore’s flattery is extremely dangerous. Wicked women use this power to entice men to sin; virtuous women use it to please, protect, and build up their husbands.

Solomon’s long parable about an adulteress seducing a young fool includes the power of her words tempting him to sin with her. Her speech is so powerful, she “caused him to yield” and “forced him” into sexual sin. He is fully guilty for sinning with her, but the wisdom of this proverb is to rightly grasp the danger and power of her flirting words.

In this perverse world, no matter how a woman dresses or acts, it is always the man’s fault for sexual problems. Sexual harassment occurs in only one direction for such weak minds and today’s courts. But the LORD and Solomon warned about women seducing and forcing men, and they were right. Women have power (Pr 6:24-25; 7:26; Eccl 7:26).

Whorish women create more sexual temptation for men than lewd men do for women (Pr 23:27-28). Only the basest of women are attracted to crude, forward, and lascivious men. Women are naturally protected by stronger inhibitions, need for commitment, families, laws, and social decorum. But what can protect men from a bold seductress? Proverbs!

Flattery is excessive praise used to seduce someone against his will. It is presenting a matter very favorably in order to make it more pleasant and to beguile the listener. Men love the praise of a woman, for winning the adoration, favor, and devotion of a woman is an instinctive drive placed in their hearts and loins by God. Evil women manipulate this desire in men to prey on them in their various schemes of seduction for selfish purposes.

Whatever inhibitions against sexual sin a man has – by religion, parental training, or noble character – he will often lose them due to the enticing and flattering speech of a desirable woman. The adoration of a woman is an elixir that only a few exceptional men can resist, and then only by the grace of God. Joseph may have resisted Potiphar’s wife, but he was an exception to the general rule of Scripture and human experience.

King Solomon often warned his son about the smooth and silky words of a whorish seductress (Pr 2:16; 5:3; 6:24; 7:5; 22:14). Wise men will take sober heed and avoid such women, before their lying words steal their souls and virtue. But here he has just described in detail the verbal approach of an adulteress enticing a naïve victim (Pr 7:13-20). His summary in this proverb states the case well. She forced the young man to yield!

Solomon described the whore as using an embrace, a kiss, and a bold, uninhibited face before her words (Pr 7:13). Then he gave a lengthy description of her much fair speech:

  1. I am really a good girl: I am no whore: sleeping with me will not be sin (7:14).
  2. I have made many preparations and have lots of things for a great time (7:14).
  3. My motives are very noble in wanting to share a great time with you (7:15).
  4. I have waited a long time and dreamed often of finding a man like you (7:15).
  5. I am so glad I found you, because I do not want to be with anyone else (7:15).
  6. It is so wonderful to be alone with you and feel the passion between us (7:15).
  7. I have wanted to meet you for a long time; I have made preparations (7:16).
  8. I have arranged things for the ultimate, perfect lovemaking between us (7:16).
  9. I know special things you will love, that other boring women overlook (7:17).
  10. I care about you more than any other woman, so I go to greater efforts (7:17).
  11. We surely have a love between us that no one else has ever had before (7:18).
  12. Let us fully experience the depths of this unique, special love we have (7:18).
  13. No woman has ever felt as strongly about any man as I feel for you (7:18).
  14. Our lovemaking will exceed all the lovemaking in the world’s history (7:18).
  15. The comfort and pleasure we can find in each other will be wonderful (7:18).
  16. Our love and pleasure will last all night – and all our lives – forever (7:18).
  17. Don’t worry about any risk, for my old man is on a long business trip (7:19).
  18. He loves business more than me: I need your love and body so much (7:19).
  19. There is no risk of getting caught; I have figured everything out for us (7:20).
  20. He has money, which he loves; we have a love his money cannot buy (7:20).

Young man, how strong was Samson? Was he stronger than any man? Indeed! He was stronger than you. But whores have slain many strong men (Pr 7:26). Delilah used words to destroy him, even though he knew she wanted to destroy him. Why could he not resist her? Because flattering words from a beautiful woman are too much for most men! Read about his weakness and helplessness before her manipulating flattery (Judges 16:4-21).

Young man, how wise was Solomon? Was he wiser than any man? Indeed! He was wiser than you. But whores have cast down and wounded many great men (Pr 7:26). Exotic women caused even Solomon to sin, against the good advice of his own proverbs (I Kgs 11:1-8; Neh 13:26). Among many nations there was no king like him, and God loved Him, but these women corrupted his great character by power over him (Eccl 7:26).

In avoiding the dangerous flattery of women, you must also guard against seducing words in notes, cards, emails, text messages, tweets, phone messages, letters, forums, or any other forms of communication. It does not matter how a woman’s words arrive in a man’s mind, they are powerful. She can communicate with you more easily today than ever before, and wisdom demands caution in all these new dangers of the 21st century.

Christian woman, guard your speech to men other than your father or husband. Be sober. Hate flirting or flattery. While praise is a wonderful thing, it is too powerful for you to give to men other than on rare occasions and with great discretion. But you should learn to use kind words and feminine adoration of your father and husband, for it can build a man’s soul and character to be the strong and noble creature God intended him to be.

Christian wife, why let the world’s women tempt your husband by your silence or prudery at home? A virtuous wife is skilful in all the arts of lovemaking (Pr 5:19; I Cor 7:1-5; Heb 13:4), including words that comfort, intrigue, arouse, and invite her husband. If you have not been taught such things, you need to read King Solomon’s Song! The book of Proverbs has lessons of wisdom, but his song describes two hot married lovers!

The subtle and damning nature of flattery is seen also in false religion, where good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of simple hearers to sell false doctrine (Rom 16:17-18; II Cor 2:17; 11:3-4,13-15; Col 2:4; II Pet 2:3,18). What is the protection? Look for the plain and simple churches of Jesus Christ with straightforward preaching of the Bible. Look for ministers who provide all things direct and honest (II Cor 4:2). Instead of pulpit manner, look for pulpit content. Instead of presentation, look for doctrine and instruction.


Proverbs 7:21With persuasive words she led him astray; she seduced him with her smooth talk. 

Women can overpower men – by words! Men crave hearing a woman’s praise, affection, and loyalty. A whore’s flattery is very dangerous. Wicked women use this power to entice men to sin; virtuous women use it to please, protect, and build up their husbands.

Solomon’s long parable about an adulteress seducing a young fool includes the power of her words tempting him to sin with her. Her speech is so powerful, she “caused him to yield” and “forced him” into sexual sin. He is fully guilty for sinning with her, but the wisdom of this proverb is to rightly grasp the danger and power of her flirting words.

In this perverse world, no matter how a woman dresses or acts, it is always the man’s fault for sexual problems. Sexual harassment occurs in only one direction for such weak minds and today’s courts. But the LORD and Solomon warned about women seducing and forcing men, and they were right. Women have power (Pr 6:24-25; 7:26; Eccl 7:26).

Whorish women create more sexual temptation for men than lewd men do for women (Pr 23:27-28). Only the basest of women are attracted to crude, forward, and lascivious men. Women are naturally protected by stronger inhibitions, need for commitment, families, laws, and social decorum. But what can protect men from a bold seductress? Proverbs!

Flattery is excessive praise used to seduce someone against his will. It is presenting a matter very favorably in order to make it more pleasant and to beguile the listener. Men love the praise of a woman, for winning the adoration, favor, and devotion of a woman is an instinctive drive placed in their hearts and loins by God. Evil women manipulate this desire in men to prey on them in their various schemes of seduction for selfish purposes.

Whatever inhibitions against sexual sin a man has – by religion, parental training, or noble character – he will often lose them due to the enticing and flattering speech of a desirable woman. The adoration of a woman is an elixir that only a few exceptional men can resist, and then only by the grace of God. Joseph may have resisted Potiphar’s wife, but he was an exception to the general rule of Scripture and human experience.

King Solomon often warned his son about the smooth and silky words of a whorish seductress (Pr 2:16; 5:3; 6:24; 7:5; 22:14). Wise men will take sober heed and avoid such women, before their lying words steal their souls and virtue. But here he has just described in detail the verbal approach of an adulteress enticing a naïve victim (Pr 7:13-20). His summary in this proverb states the case well. She forced the young man to yield!

Solomon described the whore as using an embrace, a kiss, and a bold, uninhibited face before her words (Pr 7:13). Then he gave a lengthy description of her much fair speech:

  1. I am really a good girl: I am no whore: sleeping with me will not be sin (7:14).
  2. I have made many preparations and have lots of things for a great time (7:14).
  3. My motives are very noble in wanting to share a great time with you (7:15).
  4. I have waited a long time and dreamed often of finding a man like you (7:15).
  5. I am so glad I found you, because I do not want to be with anyone else (7:15).
  6. It is so wonderful to be alone with you and feel the passion between us (7:15).
  7. I have wanted to meet you for a long time; I have made preparations (7:16).
  8. I have arranged things for the ultimate, perfect lovemaking between us (7:16).
  9. I know special things you will love, that other boring women overlook (7:17).
  10. I care about you more than any other woman, so I go to greater efforts (7:17).
  11. We surely have a love between us that no one else has ever had before (7:18).
  12. Let us fully experience the depths of this unique, special love we have (7:18).
  13. No woman has ever felt as strongly about any man as I feel for you (7:18).
  14. Our lovemaking will exceed all the lovemaking in the world’s history (7:18).
  15. The comfort and pleasure we can find in each other will be wonderful (7:18).
  16. Our love and pleasure will last all night – and all our lives – forever (7:18).
  17. Don’t worry about any risk, for my old man is on a long business trip (7:19).
  18. He loves business more than me: I need your love and body so much (7:19).
  19. There is no risk of getting caught; I have figured everything out for us (7:20).
  20. He has money, which he loves; we have a love his money cannot buy (7:20).

Young man, how strong was Samson? Was he stronger than any man? Indeed! He was stronger than you. But whores have slain many strong men (Pr 7:26). Delilah used words to destroy him, even though he knew she wanted to destroy him. Why could he not resist her? Because flattering words from a beautiful woman are too much for most men! Read about his weakness and helplessness before her manipulating flattery (Judges 16:4-21).

Young man, how wise was Solomon? Was he wiser than any man? Indeed! He was wiser than you. But whores have cast down and wounded many great men (Pr 7:26). Exotic women caused even Solomon to sin, against the good advice of his own proverbs (I Kgs 11:1-8; Neh 13:26). Among many nations there was no king like him, and God loved Him, but these women corrupted his great character by power over him (Eccl 7:26).

In avoiding the dangerous flattery of women, you must also guard against seducing words in notes, cards, emails, text messages, tweets, phone messages, letters, forums, or any other forms of communication. It does not matter how a woman’s words arrive in a man’s mind, they are powerful. She can communicate with you more easily today than ever before, and wisdom demands caution in all these new dangers of the 21st century.

Christian woman, guard your speech to men other than your father or husband. Be sober. Hate flirting or flattery. While praise is a wonderful thing, it is too powerful for you to give to men other than on rare occasions and with great discretion. But you should learn to use kind words and feminine adoration of your father and husband, for it can build a man’s soul and character to be the strong and noble creature God intended him to be.

Christian wife, why let the world’s women tempt your husband by your silence or prudery at home? A virtuous wife is skilful in all the arts of lovemaking (Pr 5:19; I Cor 7:1-5; Heb 13:4), including words that comfort, intrigue, arouse, and invite her husband. If you have not been taught such things, you need to read King Solomon’s Song! The book of Proverbs has lessons of wisdom, but his song describes two hot married lovers!

The subtle and damning nature of flattery is seen also in false religion, where good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of simple hearers to sell false doctrine (Rom 16:17-18; II Cor 2:17; 11:3-4,13-15; Col 2:4; II Pet 2:3,18). What is the protection? Look for the plain and simple churches of Jesus Christ with straightforward preaching of the Bible. Look for ministers who provide all things direct and honest (II Cor 4:2). Instead of pulpit manner, look for pulpit content. Instead of presentation, look for doctrine and instruction.


Under Gods Command

Proverbs 5:15 – Drink water from your own cistern, running water from your own well.

Love your wife! Make love to her only! Make your marriage the hottest in the world! You have no right to any other woman. You should not look on another woman, think about another woman, flirt with another woman, or ever touch another woman sexually.

Go for it! Today! This is God’s plan and will for your life. He wants you to have a great sex life with your great wife. “Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love” (Pr 5:19).

The true God knows life can be empty and frustrating, so He gave you one of His greatest gifts of creation: “Enjoy life with you wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun-all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun” (Eccl 9:9).

God created love, sex, and every aspect of the woman you need – your wife. He knows you need and want sex, so He chose the woman that is your wife to practice with until you are perfectly satisfied. All other women are off limits. “Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.” (Heb 13:4).

The Bible is the perfect love, marriage, and sex manual. God invented sex, so He has perfect knowledge about it. Have you read the Bible and heard it preached to maximize your marriage? If you have read and heard it preached, have you submitted to God’s sovereign, providential choice of your wife and His orders for how you should treat her?

Water, a precious blessing in the dry climate of the Middle East, is here a metaphor for sexual pleasure with a woman. Water satisfies thirst, is necessary for survival, and is very pleasing to a thirsty soul (Pr 25:25). Men drew fresh water from wells; they stored extra water in cisterns. Every man needed his own supply to protect himself and his family.

Men need the water of sexual pleasure, for God put a great desire and need in them for it (Gen 2:18; Deut 21:11; I Cor 7:2,5,9). Any exceptions confirm this well-known rule rather than modify or nullify it (Matt 19:10-12; I Tim 4:3; I Cor 9:5). Men will have sex one way or another, but God condemns all other creatures but one – your wife.

Men also crave food by God’s design, and they desire and enjoy His blessing of wine (Ps 104:14-15; Eccl 9:7), but drinking and eating without limitation or discipline are sin and folly (Pr 23:20). Men must hate and reject drunkenness or gluttony, and they should never forget that breaking God’s rules for sexual water is sin and deserves judgment.

A man’s own wife is a great gift from God, for which he should be thankful (Pr 18:22; 19:14). Consider Jacob: “And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her” (Gen 29:20). A man may drink deeply of sexual pleasure from his own wife only, not from any other woman, single or married.

No man should even consider the cisterns or wells of others, for the wife God picked for him is more than enough for his needs and happiness. To think upon the cisterns and wells of others is to sin and open the door for great folly (Pr 6:25; Job 31:1; Matt 5:28). Any woman is more than enough for any man, and God chose your wife for just you.

Are you disappointed or frustrated in your marriage? Do you agree with what has been written, but you personally are not experiencing it? Are you thirsty, and your wife seems to have run dry? Or you can see the water, but you seldom or never taste any of it? Is the water of your cistern and well now somewhat lukewarm and putrid, not appealing at all?

If the water supply at home is lacking in any way, maybe the pump needs priming. How do you prime the pump to bring forth running water? Treat your wife the way the Creator of love, sex, marriage, and women told you to treat her. It is that simple. God made her as perfect as a rose, but lack of sunshine, rain, soil, and nurture will cause her to close up.

God and Solomon order you to treat her as delicately and tenderly as a pet female deer, to be totally satisfied with her body, and to choose to greatly enjoy her lovemaking. “Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love” (Pr 5:19). God knows your wife. Try His way.

Paul told you to love your wife and to cherish and nourish her, like you do your own body (Eph 5:25-29). King Solomon wrote a love song that describes the passion and details of lovers and lovemaking. Have you read the Song of Solomon? Have you tried talking to your wife and treating her the way that this man treated his lover wife?

The strong warning intended by this proverb to limit yourself to your own wife includes use of pornography, which foolishly steals visual pleasure from another woman, causes discontentment with your woman, and hurts your woman’s confidence or desire to ever be the lover you need and want. Your wife will be as hot as you choose or help her to be.

Every Christian woman, every daughter of God, should be careful and faithful in making sure her husband drinks deeply, often, and pleasantly, lest she drive him to wells that are not his, due to bitterness or dryness in his own cistern and well (I Co 7:2-5). Let husbands and wives, with the husband leading the way in love, maximize the pleasure of marriage.


Under Gods Command

Proverbs 7:7 I saw among the simple, I noticed among the young men, a youth who lacked judgment

Stupid boy! Grow up! Do not let a whore use you like that. Do not let her destroy you. Do not go near her. Get away, now! Your soul, body, and reputation are at risk. You are playing with fire, and you will be burned (Pr 6:27-29), even if you are strong (Pr 7:26).

Solomon’s proverb used these words to begin his lengthy parable about an adulteress seducing a young man (Pr 7:6-23). He identified the character of the victim as a simple person, a youth, and a young man without understanding. Mature and wise young men will not fall for a whorish woman as easily, for they understand the danger and avoid her.

What is a simple person? It is a person who lacks ordinary sense or intelligence, more or less foolish, silly, or stupid. It includes being immature and naïve. Solomon used a vulnerable youth for his parable, because he had observed many foolish and stupid young men ruined by lascivious women. His goal was to get the attention of his son (Pr 7:1,24).

What is a youth? It is a person between childhood and adulthood. If childhood ends at puberty and adulthood begins at 30, then it is the 18 years between the ages of 12 and 30 (Num 4:3; I Chron 23:3; Luke 3:23). Solomon observed that both childhood and youth were vanity (Eccl 11:10). As a wise man, he had no regard for the age of 18 as indicating maturity. Any man that has lived to 30 knows that he thought like an infant at 18.

What is a young man void of understanding? He is a male before adulthood that has not grasped the seriousness of life, the consequences of sin, or the dangers of women. He thinks life is a game for pleasure without responsibility or punishment for foolish choices. He has no fear of God, so he chooses by feelings and lusts. The Bible teaches he ought to bear a yoke of hard labor in his youth (Lam 3:27) and sobriety is his chief duty (Tit 2:6).

Such young men are incredibly dangerous – to themselves! They need fathers that will keep them away from temptation, that will train them in righteousness, and that will warn them of the severe consequences of sexual sins. Young man, are you a stupid fool, or a sober and wise man? Father, have you taught and trained your son for life, or not?

Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction will drive it away (Pr 22:15). All the world’s psychologists can bark about the innocence of children and youth, but God inspired Solomon to write the truth. Wise parents will recognize their children’s inherent depravity and work hard to restrain it. If they do not do their duty, they will be soon shamed (Pr 29:15,17), and their son will die prematurely (Pr 23:13-14).

Paul warned Timothy about youthful lusts, when hormones are raging and the mind and soul are weak (II Tim 2:22). David asked God to forgive him the sins of his youth, when he had fallen to temptation (Ps 25:7). You should be a child in malice – holding no grudges, but a man in understanding – letting wisdom set your conduct (I Cor 14:20).

How can a young man save himself? “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word” (Ps 119:9). Especially Proverbs (Pr 1:1-5)!


Under Gods Command 

Proverbs 7:14 I have peace offerings with me; this day have I payed my vows.

Whores can be religious. They can even be found at church. Here Solomon described a strange woman – a whore, prostitute, or adulteress. She seduced her young victim by telling him of her religious activities: she was a good woman with high standards, including religious attendance; and she had the best of her sacrifices to share with him.

Peace offerings were split between worshipper and priest. Since the sacrificed item was perfect, the food resulting from it was of the highest quality (Pr 17:1; Lev 3:6; 22:21). It could have been equivalent to USDA Prime+. The part remaining with the worshipper was often shared with friends or used for feasts (Lev 7:15-16; 19:5-6; Deut 12:6-7).

Peace offerings were voluntary offerings to give thanks or pay vows (Lev 19:5). Even a whore can have a form of religion, which serves her selfish goals. It may sooth remains of her vexed conscience; it may disguise her immoral life with a show of religion; and it may assist her seduction of a virtuous young man (Pr 6:26). Or it may serve all three!

The strange woman in Solomon’s extended parable was no common street slut. She was a fine woman with financial means, of noble reputation, and good taste. She offered to share a joyful religious celebration with the young man. The Preacher did his best to warn his son that a whore may change conduct to seduce careful young men (Pr 5:6; Ec 7:26).

Here is a powerful seductress – an elegant and fine woman with character and spirituality to enhance her invitation to adultery. Men may fear prostitutes for their cold hearts, obvious financial motive, likelihood of disease, lack of cleanliness, frequent use, legal risk, and impersonal performance. The Preacher knew how to get to the heart of a matter.

What a fine invitation! She had no ulterior financial motive, for she provided the fare. She was a sensitive and sincere woman well received in the better circles of her city. She had much fine food, and her only ambition appeared a need for company. “Come,” she said, “I need you to complete this wonderful day and enjoy life’s fine things with me.”

Young man! Wake up! Open your eyes! Behind her invitation is a snare to take you down to death and hell (Pr 7:27). Once in the hold of her lascivious arms and under the spell of her flattering lips, you are lost without hope of recovery (Pr 5:22; 22:14; 23:27). Stay away! There are some temptations you can fight, but this temptation you must flee!

A form of religion to cover intentional sin compounds the crime (Pr 21:27). Rome offers many flattering pretensions of religion, but she is the great whore and mother of harlots and abominations of the earth (Rev 17:1-6), which has used vows of celibacy and poverty, both of which are contrary to the Bible, to defraud and destroy many. Beware!