104. The Path to Death

Proverbs 5-7

Proverbs chapters 5-7 enlarge on the difference between wisdom and foolishness and, according to the author of these chapters, the climax of foolishness is adultery; the first example is adultery with a harlot and the second is adultery with "the neighbour's wife".

For at the window of my house, I looked out through my lattice. I saw among the simple ones. I discerned among the youths a young man void of understanding (foolish), passing through the street near her corner, he went the way to her house, (stay away from there) in the twilight, in the evening of the day, in the middle of the night and in the darkness. Behold, there a woman met him with the attire of a prostitute, and with crafty intent. She is loud and defiant. Her feet don’t stay in her house. Now she is in the streets, now in the squares, and lurking at every corner. So she caught him, and kissed him. With an impudent face she said to him:  ... I came out to meet you, to diligently seek your face, and I have found you (any man would have suited her purpose, these words were just flattery). 

Come, let’s take our fill of loving until the morning. Let’s solace ourselves with loving. For my husband isn’t at home. He has gone on a long journey. ...” With persuasive words, she led him astray. With the flattering of her lips, she seduced him. He followed her immediately, as an ox goes to the slaughter, as a fool stepping into a noose. Until an arrow strikes through his liver, the ancients thought of the liver as the seat of passion; we would use the word, heart, to express the same meaning. Pulpit Commentary.

Now therefore, sons, listen to me. Pay attention to the words of my mouth. Don’t let your heart turn to her ways. Don’t go astray in her paths, for she has thrown down many wounded. Yes, all her slain are a mighty army. A mighty army of men has fallen victim at her bedside. Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the rooms of death. 7:6-27 World English Bible.

For the commandment, the seventh commandment: You shall not commit adultery. Ex. 20:14, is a lamp; and the law (of Moses) is light; ... to keep you from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman. Prov.6:23-24

For the lips of a strange woman drip honey, and her palate is smoother than oil; 5:3  Wisdom ... and knowledge ... will deliver you from the strange woman, the stranger who flatters with her words. 2:9-10. Do not lust after her beauty in your heart; nor let her take you with her eyelids. 6:25.  Many a man has fallen victim to a sweet talker, especially if she is pretty; one who knows how to flatter.

For by means of a harlot a man comes to a piece of bread.  6:26.  that strangers not be filled with your strength, and your labors be in the house of a stranger; 5:10. Why would you spend your hard earned money on a prostitute so that she can share it with her friends; with those people who are strangers to you?

Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? 6:27.  The modern version of this is: You play with fire you're gonna get burned.  This was true in Solomon's day and it is just as true now.
   
but afterward she is as bitter as wormwood.  Wormwood is very bitter and is used to flavour the drink: absinthe.  For health reasons this drink is illegal in some countries.   But prostitutes who are as bitter as wormwood are allowed everywhere.

Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell, lest you should meditate on the path of life, (she certainly does not want you to think of taking the high moral path) her tracks are movable.  She will change her tactics if she feels she is losing her grasp on you.

Remove your ways far from her, and do not come near the door of her house. 5:3-8.  Do not even walk in "the red light district" just to see what it is like there.  The temptations there, for a young man, are just too strong.  Do you pray, lead me not into temptation?  Then, answer your own prayer and do not go there, because your adversary the Devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking someone he may devour; 1 Peter 5:8.  The devil will entice you into her house, and after that "one thing leads to another".

But he does not know that ... her guests are in the depths of hell. 9:18

and you moan when your end comes, when your flesh and muscle are eaten away, 5:11.  The woman who abandons herself to prostitution soon contracts, and generally communicates, that disease, which, above all others, signs the speediest and most effectual passport to the invisible world. Clarke.