Pitfalls of Immorality

Proverbs 5:1

I die devotional.

²⁷ Do not turn to the right nor to the left;
Turn your foot from evil.
¹ My son, give attention to my wisdom,
Incline your ear to my understanding;
² That you may observe discretion
And your lips may reserve knowledge.

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Wisdom, although from the mouth of Solomon, a man given over to the lust of his flesh that no man can overcome void the fear of God; these proverbs are of God our Father, not kept by Solomon, and given for our understanding. God means what He says, and we will do well to listen as David did.

1 Kings 11 —But King Solomon [defiantly] loved many foreign women—the [a]daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites. 2 They were of the very nations of whom the Lord said to the Israelites, You shall not mingle with them, neither shall they mingle with you, for surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods. Yet Solomon clung to these in love. 3 He had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines, and his wives turned away his heart from God. 4 For when Solomon was old, his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not perfect (complete and whole) with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. 5 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abominable idol of the Ammonites! 6 Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and went not fully after the Lord, as David his father did.

I think what happens to Solomon in 1 Kings 11 is a perfect parallel to this chapter in Proverbs because not even the wisest man that walked the face of the planet—until Christ our Lord—could resist the temptation of perverse beauty, a beauty that this chapter of Proverbs describes so well as a “…strange woman” (or “loose”, “foreign”, “adulterous”, etc.). Now, since the Lord our God, the God of all, has come, died, and resurrected in the Name of Jesus Christ so that the world might be saved through His Name; I’ll refer to this “strange woman” as, Seductress.

When you look at the featured photo you’ll see feminine hands, and the minds’ eye, undercover of night or… rather, more appropriate, under the covers of another god. Seductress might appear as beautiful as the stars shining bright like diamonds in the sky (don’t tell me you don’t know that song), but the pleasure she intends to experience is at the cost of our souls, the cost is death. The true God, the God of Wisdom, warns the consequences of such behavior. Wisdom, like a mother, a woman of honor and dignity, calls for our attention as sons, “My son…”. So it’s important I/we listen, and listen with application.

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RESOURCE

Proverbs 5 (NASB)—blueletterbible.org | biblegateway.com

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COMMENTARY

Chapter 5

Matthew Henry (P5-V1) Commentary
The scope of this chapter is much the same with that of ch. 2. To write the same things, in other words, ought not to be grievous, for it is safe, Phil. 3:1. Here is,

• I. An exhortation to get acquaintance with and submit to the laws of wisdom in general (v. 2).
• II. A particular caution against the sin of whoredom (v. 3-14).
• III. Remedies prescribed against that sin.
  • 1. Conjugal love (v. 15-20).
  • 2. A regard to God’s omniscience (v. 21).
  • 3. A dread of the miserable end of wicked people (v. 22, 23).

And all little enough to arm young people against those fleshly lusts which war against the soul.

Pro 5:1-14

Here we have,

• I. A solemn preface, to introduce the caution which follows, v. 1, 2. Solomon here addresses himself to his son, that is, to all young men, as unto his children, whom he has an affection for and some influence upon. In God’s name, he demands attention; for he writes by divine inspiration, and is a prophet, though he begins not with, Thus saith the Lord. “Attend, and bow thy ear; not only hear what is said, and read what is written, but apply thy mind to it and consider it diligently.” To gain attention he urges,
  • 1. The excellency of his discourse: “It is my wisdom, my understanding; if I undertake to teach thee wisdom I cannot prescribe any thing to be more properly called so; moral philosophy is my philosophy, and that which is to be learned in my school.”
  • 2. The usefulness of it: “Attend to what I say,”
    • (1.) “That thou mayest act wisely-that thou mayest regard discretion.” Solomon’s lectures are not designed to fill our heads with notions, with matters of nice speculation, or doubtful disputation, but to guide us in the government of ourselves, that we may act prudently, so as becomes us and so as will be for our true interest.
    • (2.) “That thou mayest speak wisely-that thy lips may keep knowledge, and thou mayest have it ready at thy tongue’s end” (as we say), “for the benefit of those with whom thou dost converse.” The priest’s lips are said to keep knowledge (Mal. 2:7); but those that are ready and mighty in the scriptures may not only in their devotions, but in their discourses, be spiritual priests.