Introduction: “‘Thou shalt not commit adultery’ or the seventh commandment, would be a good title for chapter 5, and there are two parts of this chapter, viz: The unholy passion to be shunned (vs. 1-14) in contrast with the holy love to be cherished (vs. 15-23),” [Carroll]. Sex drive is a powerful force in most people, and the temptation to a misuse of it is a very common one. Here is a warning against this.

Proverbs 5:1 “My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow the ear to my understanding.” “Solomon’s lectures are not designed to fill our heads with matters of nice speculation, or doubtful disputation, but to guide us in the government of ourselves,” [M. Henry]. Once again there is an appeal to the young to take heed to the wisdom of the parents, who have much more experience and learning in the ways of the world.

Proverbs 5:2 “That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.” Here, as in Proverbs 1:4; 2:11; and 3:21, “discretion” means “thoughtfulness” —the necessary thing to escape the subtle snares that Satan lays for the thoughtless. In every temptation, we need to think beyond the momentary pleasure, and consider what will be the consequences if we yield. Here the thought is the same as in Proverbs 2:11, 16. Discretion and knowledge is needed to overcome the subtle and flattering words of the immoral woman who allures with smooth words, as in verse 3.

Proverbs 5:3 “For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil.” The press agents for sin always picture it in beautiful hues, never in the awful blackness that is its real characteristic. A sample of this woman’s sales-pitch for sin is found in Proverbs 7:7-21. Alas, how many have been persuaded by the sweetness and smoothness of a tongue given over to the service of sin and Satan. Only the oil of the gracious Spirit’s leading can counteract the appeal of this sweetness and smoothness.

Proverbs 5:4 “But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.” Her promises of sweet pleasure become, in reality, bitterly poisonous, yea, fatally so in many cases, for the sin of fornication is a sin against one’s own body, (1 Cor. 6:18). Often the “love triangle” ends in murder of one or more of the parties involved, (Prov. 7:22-23), for jealousy is a fire hard to put out, (Prov. 6:32-35; Song of Sol. 8:6-7). The “two-edged sword” here is the woman’s sharp temptations to evil, but God’s Word, the only antidote to temptation, is sharper than any two-edged sword, (Heb. 4:12).

Proverbs 5:5 “Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.” In Proverbs 2:19 it was warned that those who go in unto such women do not take hold on the paths of life; here it is shown where her paths do lead. “Death” speaks of the destruction of the body, and “hell” the destruction of the soul. Behold, then, the high cost of low living; it is not profitable either physically nor spiritually. Sin, of whatever sort it is, is always a downward path that grows more slippery the further one goes in it, (Ps. 73:18-19; Jer. 23:12).

Proverbs 5:6 “Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them.” She constantly lies, meeting each situation with a new lie to keep her victim from pondering his duty to leave her and return to truth and morality. Fornicators generally are characteristically liars as well, using flattery and deceit to gain their own ends, (Prov. 2:16; 7:21). This is so true that it is proverbial that men have a “line” that they use on women. Here, the strange woman changes her “ways” lest her victim should realize what she really is, and escape from her. Of course, this characteristic she receives from her father, (John 8:44).

Proverbs 5:7 “Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth.” Two dangers are here expressed: (1) Refusing to hear the warning. (2) Hearing, but forsaking it by yielding to the entreaties of the immoral woman. Hearing alone is not enough: the advise must be acted upon, else it is worthless. Yet, how quickly is advice spurned from our parents because we conceitedly think that we already know it all. We harm ourselves most of all when we refuse to hear.

Proverbs 5:8 “Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house.” “The nearer we approach temptation, the more alluring it becomes, and the weaker becomes our spiritual strength. Our safety is in flight,” [Faussett]. “Such tinder there is in the corrupt nature that is madness, upon any pretense whatever, to come near the sparks,” [M. Henry]. We are often admonished to “flee” from temptation, (1 Cor. 6:18; 10:14; 1 Tim. 6:11; 2 Tim. 2:22). Sin often comes about by first looking upon it, then lusting after it, then committing it. We can cut it off in its first stage by fleeing from it.

Proverbs 5:9 “Lest thou give thine honor unto others, and thy years unto the cruel.” An honorable person is one who does not transgress or violate the persons, property or the rights of others. The adulterer destroys his own honor when he violates his own or others’ marriage vows, for he shows himself to be totally selfish, with concern only for his own pleasure irregardless of whom he hurts. This dishonor is spoken of in 6:33-35. “Cruel” means fierce, and is associated with mercilessness, (Jer. 6:23; 50:42), a good definition of the wronged husband of the adulteress.

Proverbs 5:10 “Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labors be in the house of a stranger.” Suggesting perhaps that this “strange woman” —the adulteress—is not really interested in the man, but rather in his wealth. Thus, this sin tends, not only to take away the honor and the life, but also the estate. In our modern world, blackmail of adulterous business men is commonplace, and there are numerous schemes to accomplish this. Remembering that adultery was a capital crime in Israel, (Lev. 20:10), this was a weighty tool for a wronged husband to hold over a transgressor.

Proverbs 5:11 “And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed.” Sin, though so very appealing at the first, always causes mourning “at the last;” i.e., when its consequences are finally in. This suggests bodily dissipation as a result of this sin. Until very recently, venereal diseases ravaged without check, and many lives were destroyed, or at least made worthless and miserable, and while penicillin has cured many of these, yet new strains have developed recently which are immune to it. Many inmates of insane asylums are there because of venereal diseases.

Proverbs 5:12 “And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof.” Though he would not then be instructed in the wisdom of his father, yet in time he will be compelled sorrowfully to admit his folly, and perhaps when it is too late. “Hatred of having the truth told him, and a heart and will despising reproof, he now sees were his ruin. O that men would discern their truest interest whilst the day of grace lasts!” [Faussett]. Folly can only be covered up so long, and it will finally be manifest, but the longer it is denied and covered up, the greater it becomes. His own folly will at last convince the sinner. Better to be informed and reformed now than to be conformed to the world until one is spiritually deformed.

Proverbs 5:13 “And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!” The proud fool’s humbling confession continues. Now he sees the true wisdom that lay in his parents’ and other teachers’ instruction, but now the damage has been done to him, and he is bereft of strength, wealth, honor, health, and perhaps even of life itself. Many flatter themselves that they shall not always continue in such sin, but will one day— perhaps when passion has burned low—cease from sin, but they fail to realize that sinful habits become so deeply rooted in the character that human strength cannot eradicate them. One of the terrors of hell will be the many appetites that men have created for themselves which will be impossible to satisfy in hell.

Proverbs 5:14 “I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.” This indicates, not only the extent of the evil that one will confess, but also the hardness of the heart after prolonged indulgence. “There was scarcely any sin that I did not engage in; and this, in the midst of the congregation and assembly—i.e., openly, shamelessly, in the assembly for worship, where of all places I should have abstained from evil,” [Faussett]. Cf. this very practice in Numbers 25:1-6; 1 Samuel 2:22; Ezekiel 8:5-18. So long as one is ashamed of his sin, there may be hope for him, but there is little hope for the one who sins openly and unashamedly. Only judgment and final irremediable humiliation await such.

 

Introduction: This whole chapter is a warning against giving rein to unbridled passions such as are latent in every person. Today’s lesson reveals God’s kindness and concern for mankind in giving a proper antidote to this sin.

Proverbs 5:15 “Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.” Having shown the great danger and evil in fornication, Solomon is now moved to declare the remedy for this danger, and he does so in symbolic language, which the Eastern mind prefers more than we do. “As all desire resembles thirst, to drink water means to gratify desire, and the woman is compared to a well. Embrace thine own wife, and enjoy her love alone. Enjoy only lawful pleasures,” [Faussett]. Lawful Marriage and its pleasures are the divine antidotes to fornication, (1 Cor. 7:1-2). Cisterns and wells were generally the only two sources of water in the East, and almost every house had a cistern to catch rainwater, (2 Kings 18:31). Jesus used “drink” in a spiritual sense of satisfying spiritual thirst, (John 6:35, 53-56).

Proverbs 5:16 “Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets.” As the wife is likened to a well, or to a cistern, so “fountains” and “rivers” represent children, which are regarded as special blessings from the Lord, (Ps. 127:3ff; 128:3; Zech. 8:3-5), and barrenness was considered as a reproach, (1 Sam. 1:2, 5-11). Godly children are always a credit to their parents, but sinful children are a curse to them, (Prov. 10:1, 5; 15:20; 17:25; 19:13, 26). The mother is said to be “saved,” i.e., to live on and on, in her children “if they continue in faith, love and holiness,” (1 Tim. 2:15), but if they are wicked, then she would be better not to have lived at all than to have produced a brood of evil-doers. Since children are waters that issue from the fountain of a man and a woman, what they are reflects back directly on their parents, for the waters shall be as the fountain is, (Jam. 3:11). Children are to honor their parents, and in no better way can they do this, than by godly living.

Proverbs 5:17 “Let them be only thine own, and not strangers’ with thee.” The marriage relationship ought to be such that no question will exist as to whose the children are. Some modern marriage relations are so mixed up that the children are “his” “hers” “ours” and “theirs.” In ancient times in polygamous marriages, as there was much rivalry between the wives, so there was between the children. See this in David’s case. However, the context, as well as “strangers” may suggest that the reference is to the illegitimate son of the “strange woman”, (v. 3). While the father is duty bound to acknowledge and care for all of his children, even those illegitimately born, yet his first duty is to see that he has none but legitimate children, by remaining faithful to his wife. Illegitimate marital affairs are almost always an indication of immaturity and insecurity.

Proverbs 5:18 “Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.” There is no justification for the common practice of a man leaving his wife of his youth for a younger companion, nor even for temporary unfaithfulness to her. See the reference to the “wife of thy youth” in Malachi 2:14-16. Clearly marriage is meant to be a happy state for both parties, for “blessed” (happy) refers to the wife (thy fountain), while “rejoice” refers to the husband. It takes effort and concern on both sides, however, for married folk will have troubles to contend with, (1 Cor. 7:28). It is selfishness on one or both partners’ parts that destroy marriages. God gives favor to married folk, (Prov. 18:22), but His judgment is upon the fornicators. “‘Rejoice with,’ or ‘in the wife of thy youth’, stands in beautiful contrast to verse 11, ‘And thou mourn at the last,’” [Faussett].

Proverbs 5:19 “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.” “Mutual delight is the bond of mutual fidelity. Let him be fond of his wife and love her dearly. If thou wilt suffer thy love to run into excess, let it be only of thy own wife,” [M. Henry]. Nowhere does the Bible put any limitations or restraints upon conjugal love; indeed, it is pronounced to be “honorable in all, and the bed undefiled,” (Heb. 13:4), but a solemn warning is sounded against unfaithfulness. Strangely, the puritans distorted marriage love so as to consider it sinful, and were so strict as to even forbid men to kiss their wives in public. This Satanic distortion of God’s blessing resulted in people eventually going to the opposite extreme and practicing and justifying all sorts of immorality. “Be ravished” is literally “err thou always” etc. , so that the thought is, if thou would go to excess, let it not be with a strange woman, but with thine own wife.

Proverbs 5:20 “And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger.” Alas, how Satan beguiles people into believing that forbidden things are always sweeter, (Prov. 9:17). Mankind’s very first sin was brought about by this very reasoning, (Gen. 3). It is part of the fallen nature of man now that he is intrigued and excited by that which is forbidden to him, as if he thought that God would allow to him only the inferior and worthless, and would forbid him that which is best. Thus, most sin is yielded to through disbelief of God’s love and benevolent care for our best interests, and is a reflection upon God’s benevolent character. “Ravish” is the same Hebrew word as in verse 19. Why err in this way when the cost is so high, and the detection is so sure, at least so far as the Lord is concerned, (v. 21), that there can be no profit in it.

Proverbs 5:21 “For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and he pondereth all his goings.” “The eyes of the Lord” refer to His omniscience (all knowledge), (Ps. 11:4; Prov. 15:3; Zech. 4:10). There is nothing that goes on anywhere in the world, but that the Lord knows all about it. “God sees it in a true light, and knows it with all its causes, circumstances, and consequences,” [M. Henry]. Many people act as if they thought God was confined to His temple in heaven, outside of which He knew nothing of what was going on, but not even the darkest night can hide men’s activities from the eyes of the all-seeing One, (Ps. 139:1-16)(See especially v. 12). “As the argument in the first clause is from the omniscience of God, so that in the second is from His justice, — ‘He pondereth’ —i.e., He weighs in an even balance, and will reward ‘all men’s goings,’” [Faussett]. Good reason why the question of verse 20 is asked: it is folly to sin when one cannot be hidden.

Proverbs 5:22 “His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.” Sin is always a great snare: it is always habit forming, for it is character forming. “As sin is its own punishment, escape is impossible to the unchanged sinner (Rev. 22:11). The licentious flatter themselves that in old age, when the passions are less fiery, they will easily extricate themselves from the dominion of their lusts, and repent and seek salvation,” [Faussett]. But see Job 20:11. The sinner will not forsake his sins: but he hopes that his sins will forsake him in old age, but it never works that way. Sin persisted in, forms a sinful character which binds him in his wickedness. God needs no prison for the wicked, for they are bound in their own darkness and wickedness which can be taken away only by the abounding grace of God, (Rom. 5:20-21). If this is rejected by men, there remains no more remedy for sin, but only certain judgment, (Heb. 10:26-29). It is part of the deceptiveness of sin, that man is always led to believe that there will always be time for repentance later on after he has fully drunk of sin to the full.

Proverbs 5:23 “He shall die without instructions; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.” Here is the just consequence of his having hated instruction and reproof, (v. 12); he dies in his evil and goes out into eternal bonds of iniquity. God only gives the sinner what he has desired all his lifetime—to be left alone in his sins. Of course, the sinner has refused to consider the eternal consequences of sin, and so does not expect to receive his just dues. So completely does sin blind men! Sin first blinds, then binds, and finally leave man grinding in the prison house, as pictured in Samson’s life, (Judges 16:21). These are the consequences of the sins of marital infidelity, which Solomon would warn his sons of.