Proverbs 5:15-23

This is the last reading until August 1st! Have a blessed summer.

Rachel Workman: ¹⁵ Drink water from your own cistern,
    running water from your own well.Very good advice.
¹⁶ Should your springs overflow in the streets,
    your streams of water in the public squares?
¹⁷ Let them be yours alone,
    never to be shared with strangers. Again good advice.
¹⁸ May your fountain be blessed,
    and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth.
¹⁹ A loving doe, a graceful deer—
    may her breasts satisfy you always,
    may you ever be intoxicated with her love. I love these verses.
²⁰ Why, my son, be intoxicated with another man’s wife?
    Why embrace the bosom of a wayward woman? My thoughts exactly. And it goes both ways. Men and woman.

²¹ For your ways are in full view of the Lord,
    and he examines all your paths.
²² The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare them;
    the cords of their sins hold them fast. Sin has consequences. It's not always just about knowing you've sinned against God. The sin itself can cause a series of events that are unstoppable.
²³ For lack of discipline they will die,
    led astray by their own great folly.

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John Burnett:  ¹⁵ Drink water from your own cistern,
    running water from your own well.
¹⁶ Should your springs overflow in the streets,
    your streams of water in the public squares?
¹⁷ Let them be yours alone,
    never to be shared with strangers.
¹⁸ May your fountain be blessed,
    and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth.  I am blessed beyond belief.
¹⁹ A loving doe, a graceful deer—
    may her breasts satisfy you always,
    may you ever be intoxicated with her love.
²⁰ Why, my son, be intoxicated with another man’s wife?
    Why embrace the bosom of a wayward woman?

²¹ For your ways are in full view of the Lord,
    and he examines all your paths.  People, especially men, forget that you are never alone when we are sinning, even if it is in our thought life.
²² The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare them;
    the cords of their sins hold them fast.
²³ For lack of discipline they will die,
    led astray by their own great folly. 

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Krista Cook:  ¹⁵ Drink water from your own cistern,

    running water from your own well.
¹⁶ Should your springs overflow in the streets,
    your streams of water in the public squares?
¹⁷ Let them be yours alone,
    never to be shared with strangers.
¹⁸ May your fountain be blessed,
    and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth.
¹⁹ A loving doe, a graceful deer—
    may her breasts satisfy you always,
    may you ever be intoxicated with her love.

- Marriage is meant to be "til death do us part".  Cherish that relationship and treat it and one another as God had planned from the beginning.

²⁰ Why, my son, be intoxicated with another man’s wife?
    Why embrace the bosom of a wayward woman?

²¹ For your ways are in full view of the Lord,
    and he examines all your paths.
²² The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare them;
    the cords of their sins hold them fast.
²³ For lack of discipline they will die,
    led astray by their own great folly.

Proverbs 5:7-14

John Burnett:  ⁷ Now then, my sons, listen to me;
    do not turn aside from what I say.
⁸ Keep to a path far from her,
    do not go near the door of her house,  Men do this all the time.  They see how close they can get before they think they are stepping over the line.  Problem is most of the time they do step over the line in their thought life and even messing with temptation is a sin because God commands us to flee temptation.
⁹ lest you lose your honor to others
    and your dignity^[a] to one who is cruel,
¹⁰ lest strangers feast on your wealth
    and your toil enrich the house of another.
¹¹ At the end of your life you will groan,
    when your flesh and body are spent.
¹² You will say, “How I hated discipline!
    How my heart spurned correction!
¹³ I would not obey my teachers
    or turn my ear to my instructors.
¹⁴ And I was soon in serious trouble
    in the assembly of God’s people.”  This is so true today but people do not realize how much trouble they are in.

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Mike Grimm:  ⁷ Now then, my sons, listen to me;
    do not turn aside from what I say.
⁸ Keep to a path far from her,
    do not go near the door of her house, Stay away from evil women like this. Don't even go near her house. She will bring nothing but disappointment. Stay honorable. If you were to get involved with her, you would lead an unhappy life.
⁹ lest you lose your honor to others
    and your dignity to one who is cruel, There is no lasting happiness to be found with this type of woman. This is speaking of spending hard earned money on a prostitute and then getting some terrible disease in the process. Right now, people are dying everywhere from diseases caused by adultery. In many cases, there is no cure. Why risk playing “AIDS Roulette?”
¹⁰ lest strangers feast on your wealth
    and your toil enrich the house of another.

¹¹ At the end of your life you will groan,
    when your flesh and body are spent.
¹² You will say, “How I hated discipline!
    How my heart spurned correction!
¹³ I would not obey my teachers
    or turn my ear to my instructors. At the end of our lives it will be too late to ask for advice. When desire is fully activated people don’t want advice—they want satisfaction. The best time to learn the dangers and foolishness of going after forbidden sex (or any other form of sin) is long before the temptation comes. We must act on what God wants and not what our heart feels. Resistance is easier if the decision has already been made. We can’t wait to see what happens. We must prepare for temptation by deciding now how we will respond when we face it.

¹⁴ And I was soon in serious trouble
    in the assembly of God’s people.”

Along the path that leads to death there are many pitfalls for the person who becomes entangled with the strange woman. Verse 9 warns that the son’s strength will be given to strangers. Derek Kidner, in his book Proverbs (p.70) puts it very pointedly when he writes, "loose living…dissipates irrevocably the powers a man has been given to invest. He will wake up to find that he has been exploited by his chosen circle, with whom he had no real ties (9, 10), condemned by his conscience (11-13), and on the brink of public ruin (14)." One only has so much strength and time, only so much energy and passion, and it is tragic to pour out those precious resources on relationships that are temporary. Whether the son is entangled with the temple prostitute or the idolatrous wife he has no hope of the kind of covenant relationship God designed for him. When one comes to the realization that all his life’s energy has been poured into an eternally empty relationship nothing but bitterness can result. But that bitterness can only be directed against yourself because you are the one who makes the choices.

Pursuit of the strange woman not only risks devastating disease; it also undercuts one’s ability to enter wholesome and faithful relationships. The deception and disobedience wrapped up in making impurity look presentable is a cancer that destroys one’s ability to make the honest and vulnerable commitments that sustain a Christian marriage. One is left with only self-accusation, "I hated discipline. I would not obey. I refused to listen."

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Tomorrow’s reading for Proverbs 5:15-23

¹⁵ Drink water from your own cistern,
    running water from your own well.
¹⁶ Should your springs overflow in the streets,
    your streams of water in the public squares?
¹⁷ Let them be yours alone,
    never to be shared with strangers.
¹⁸ May your fountain be blessed,
    and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth.
¹⁹ A loving doe, a graceful deer—
    may her breasts satisfy you always,
    may you ever be intoxicated with her love.
²⁰ Why, my son, be intoxicated with another man’s wife?
    Why embrace the bosom of a wayward woman?

²¹ For your ways are in full view of the Lord,
    and he examines all your paths.
²² The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare them;
    the cords of their sins hold them fast.
²³ For lack of discipline they will die,
    led astray by their own great folly.

Proverbs 5:1-6

Rachel Workman: My son, pay attention to my wisdom;
    listen carefully to my wise counsel.
² Then you will show discernment,
    and your lips will express what you’ve learned.
³ For the lips of an immoral woman are as sweet as honey,
    and her mouth is smoother than oil.
⁴ But in the end she is as bitter as poison,
    as dangerous as a double-edged sword.
⁵ Her feet go down to death;
    her steps lead straight to the grave.^[a]
6 For she cares nothing about the path to life.
    She staggers down a crooked trail and doesn’t realize it.

Nothing good comes from sexual discrepancies of any sort. There isn't a gift that God has given us that is more abused than sex. It's very disheartening.

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John Burnett:  5 My son, pay attention to my wisdom,
    turn your ear to my words of insight,
² that you may maintain discretion
    and your lips may preserve knowledge.
³ For the lips of the adulterous woman drip honey,
    and her speech is smoother than oil;  This is what the voice sounds like when temptation is trying to talk you into sinning with your eyes and thoughts.
⁴ but in the end she is bitter as gall,
    sharp as a double-edged sword.
⁵ Her feet go down to death;
    her steps lead straight to the grave.  Serious consequences and again we have reference to the sinner being blind as to what is happening to them.
⁶ She gives no thought to the way of life;
    her paths wander aimlessly, but she does not know it.

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Krista Cook:  My son, pay attention to my wisdom;
    listen carefully to my wise counsel.
² Then you will show discernment,

- We all need to be praying for spiritual discernment each day and most definitely teaching our kids how to be discerning in all they are faced with.

    and your lips will express what you’ve learned.
³ For the lips of an immoral woman are as sweet as honey,
    and her mouth is smoother than oil.
⁴ But in the end she is as bitter as poison,
    as dangerous as a double-edged sword.
⁵ Her feet go down to death;
    her steps lead straight to the grave.^[a]
6 For she cares nothing about the path to life.
    She staggers down a crooked trail and doesn’t realize it.

- Beware of those who only talk the talk but do not walk the walk.  Actions speak much louder than words.

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Mike Grimm:  5 My son, pay attention to my wisdom,
    turn your ear to my words of insight,
² that you may maintain discretion
    and your lips may preserve knowledge.
³ For the lips of the adulterous woman drip honey,
    and her speech is smoother than oil; This “adulteress” is a prostitute. Proverbs includes many warnings against illicit sex for several reasons. First, a prostitute’s charm is used as an example of any temptation to do wrong or to leave the pursuit of wisdom. Second, sexual immorality of any kind was AND still is extremely dangerous. It destroys family life. It erodes a person’s ability to love. It degrades human beings and turns them into objects. It can lead to disease and unwanted children. Third and I think most importantly, sexual immorality is against God’s law.

⁴ but in the end she is bitter as gall,
    sharp as a double-edged sword. No good comes out of marital infidelity. No good comes from disregarding God’s covenant. No good comes from thinking oneself an exception to the standards of faithfulness and obedience that God has laid down for both marriage and relationship with Him. God has constructed the universe with moral structures as unbreakable as the scientific laws that govern matter and energy. The Biblical commands to sexual purity, marital fidelity, and spiritual holiness were not given to restrict life and take away joy. They were given because God created for wholeness and holiness, because purity and focus and joy are only possible when we live within the structures of the moral universe God has created. Proverbs did not philosophize about this in theological or abstract terms. The author simply warns of the devastating consequences of wrong sexual choices.
⁵ Her feet go down to death;
    her steps lead straight to the grave.
⁶ She gives no thought to the way of life;
    her paths wander aimlessly, but she does not know it.

Verses 5-14 catalog some of the consequences of succumbing to the strange woman. That the first consequence mentioned in verse 5 is "death" which should be a sobering thought to all of us. As the Old Testament writers often did, the author went straight to the bottom line. Following the footsteps of the strange woman would lead to the grave.

We all need to be on guard against those who use flattery and smooth speech (lips that drip honey) that would lead us into sin. The best advice is to take a detour and even avoid conversation with such people.

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Tomorrow’s reading for Proverbs 5:7-14  

Now then, my sons, listen to me;
    do not turn aside from what I say.
⁸ Keep to a path far from her,
    do not go near the door of her house,
⁹ lest you lose your honor to others
    and your dignity^[a] to one who is cruel,
¹⁰ lest strangers feast on your wealth
    and your toil enrich the house of another.
¹¹ At the end of your life you will groan,
    when your flesh and body are spent.
¹² You will say, “How I hated discipline!
    How my heart spurned correction!
¹³ I would not obey my teachers
    or turn my ear to my instructors.
¹⁴ And I was soon in serious trouble
    in the assembly of God’s people.”