Avoid the Seductress
7: 1-27
A proverb is a short and memorable saying designed to be our blueprint for living in the world that ADONAI has created. It is important to note that proverbs are not promises; they are generally true principles, all other things being equal.
In Solomon’s eleventh teaching (to see link click Aj – Proverbs for the Youth) the king counsels his son to avoid the seductress. This is the last of four sets of instructions the father gives the son concerning proper sexual relationships: (1) Ap – Protection from Wicked People: Deliverance from the adulteress with seductive words; (2) 5:1-23; (3) Bh – Warning Against Adultery; and here (4). Previously, Solomon had warned us against sexual foolishness. But here in 7:1-27 he warns us about the strategies of sexual temptation. After looking at these strategies, we will then turn to the B’rit Chadashah to see the fuller relevance of it to us today – where we can all go for the love we crave.168
Like many of the lessons of the first part of the book, this one begins with an appeal to pay close attention to the teaching that follows. My son, follow my advice and store up my commands within you (7:1 NIV). Solomon saw something. He wanted his teenage son to see it too, so he could walk into adulthood fully alert. Obey my commands and you will live! Guard my instructions as the apple of your eye (7:2 Hebrew). For the son’s part, he is to guard this teaching as he would his own eyes. The father’s intention is to encourage his son to stay on the right path. The familiar phrase apple of your eye (Deuteronomy 32:10 and Psalm 17:8) refers to the pupil of the eye, which the ancients thought was a sphere like an apple. We protect our eyes because they’re priceless to us, and so should we honor and protect God’s Word by obeying it. Sexual sin often begins with undisciplined eyes and hands (Matthew 5:27-30), but the heart of the problem is . . . the heart. Tie them on your fingers as a reminder. Write them deep within your heart (7:3 NLT).169
He is to call Lady Wisdom (see Am – Lady Wisdom’s Rebuke of the Foolish), his sister. Love wisdom like a sister, make insight a beloved member of your family (7:4 NLT). If we love God’s wisdom as we love those in our family, we wouldn’t want to visit the house of the seductress.170 The purpose for developing an intimate relationship with Lady Wisdom is to block out an illicit relationship with the seductress. They will keep you from the adulterous woman, from listening to the flattery of a seductress (7:5 Hebrew). It is telling that the father mentions flattery as the first characteristic of the woman that might attract the son to an illegitimate relationship. It is not her beauty, but her appeal to the young man’s pride that is so dangerous.
The victim (7:6-9): The father now recounts a story to the son in order to make his point about the dangers of a relationship with a woman other than his wife. The first few verses simply set the scene. The father tells the son that he was looking into the street and noticed a young man who seemed to be minding his own business.171 While I was at the window of my house, looking through the curtain, I saw a simpleminded young man (1:4 and 22) who lacked common sense (7:6-7 NLT). The simpleminded person is related to the Hebrew verb meaning to be open. He is committed to keeping his options open, uncommitted, still exploring life, we might say. So this particular simpleton is feeling restless early one evening and takes a walk. He is curious. He has heard about a certain part of town (or certain sites on the Internet). So he goes there, probably thinking, “I’m strong, I can handle this. I need to see these things for myself anyway.”172 So, in his foolishness, he walked right into the area of temptation. He crosses the street near her corner, walking in the direction of her house. The path described as the one to her house, but doesn’t mean that he was heading to her house or even knows where her house is. But, the father is only the neighbor in the story. Twilight turns into evening, and finally night, dark and black (7:8-9 CJB). An omen of bad things to come.
The huntress (7:10-12): The father describes the event to his son as if it were unfolding before their eyes. Unexpectedly, almost as though she is lying to ambush him, the woman came out to meet him, dressed seductively with devious intent (7:10 NIV). She is not a prostitute, but she dresses like one. She keeps her real thoughts to herself. Her motives are hidden, and says what others want to hear or what she wants them to hear. This points out how dangerous she is. She doesn’t know what a relationship is. She has never experienced it. She can only role-play a relationship, but she never gives her heart away. Sex she gives, but herself she guards. This brainless young man has no idea what he is walking into.173 In terms of her actions, however, she is anything but silent. She is the brash, boisterous and defiant; the rebellious type. This description suggests just how much she lacks self-discipline. Never content to stay at home, she is out on the streets lurking at every corner looking for victims (7:11-12 Hebrew). Against her, the simpleminded fool has no chance. In the clutches of this scheming seductress, he is like puddy in her hands.174
The tactics (7:13:21): Then the father quotes the woman’s invitation to him. It begins with an unusual pick-up line, the ancient equivalent of, “I have just been to church.” She threw her arms around him and kissed him, and with a brazen look she said, “Just today I have made my peace offerings and fulfilled my vows” (7:13-14a NLT). She presents herself as a pious woman by covering her lust with sacred peace offerings (see the commentary on Leviticus Ak – The Peace Offerings: At Peace with God). An Israelite would know that some of the food offered in this way would be returned to the offeror to eat at home that day or the next.175 To understand her excuse, it is helpful to know that the peace offerings made during the festivities at the Temple (and earlier at the Tabernacle) were part of an occasion of joy (Numbers 10:10). This suggests that, just as people use religious holidays today as an excuse for debauchery, so the Seductress here was using a festival as an occasion for wallowing in wickedness. You’re the one I was looking for, and I have found you (7:15 ESV)! Her motives remain hidden. She also has no apparent feelings of shame as she crosses all godly sexual boundaries. Her religious activity was only a pretense, an effort to cloud any sense of wrongdoing that she had. Nothing this woman says can be believed.
My bed is spread with beautiful colored linens from Egypt. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon. Only the rich owned furniture in their homes in this world. So this guy thinks he’s hitting the jackpot. A beautiful woman, a great feast, a luxurious setting, exotic experiences are all just waiting for him. Her sexual enjoyment appeals to all the senses, not just touch and taste (the peace offerings), but also sight (the colored linens) and smell (myrrh, aloes and cinnamon).176 Like Potifar’s wife (see the commentary on Genesis Ji – Potiphar’s Wife said: Come to Bed with Me!), she doesn’t mince words, saying: Come, let’s drink our fill of “love” till morning; let us delight ourselves with caresses (7:16-18 NLT).
Her final argument aims to remove the young man’s fear of her husband catching them in adultery. You have nothing to fear for my husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey. He has taken his bag of money with him and will not be home until the moon is full (7:19-20 Hebrew). The offer was sin-with-no-regret. Her enticements are similar to Satan’s. Appealing to Eve’s lust for food and a sense of independent wisdom, the Adversary threw aside Eve’s reservation not to sin with the promise, “Nobody will ever know.”177 But if she is willing to betray her husband, why does Mr. Dimwit think she will be fair to him? When (not if) a man or woman tempts you with the assurance that no one will ever know, that person is really saying to you, “God doesn’t exist.” With persuasive words she led him astray; she seduced him with her smooth talk (7:21 NIV).
The kill (7:22-23): Finally, with her pathetic lies, she captures him. This young man, on impulse, falls for the temptation. Suddenly he followed her like an ox going to the slaughter, like a deer caught in a trap awaiting the arrow that would pierce his heart. He was like a bird flying into a snare, little knowing that it would cost him his life (7:22-23 NIV). But why like a dumb ox? Because the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). They just are. We cannot change that by any amount of wishful thinking. We must not think, “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.” It doesn’t. But by the time this young man feels the consequences, it will be too late.178
Thus, listen to me, my son, and pay attention to what I say. Solomon gave advice to his son to keep him out of the trap: Don’t be gullible, don’t let your heart turn to her ways or stray into her paths (7:24-25 NIV). In other words, stay far away. Don’t allow yourself to get close to falling into adultery. If the Adulteress comes and meets you on the road, turn the other way. Don’t walk in the red-light district if you want to avoid sin.179
He was not the only one. History is like a battlefield, with casualties of sexual foolishness lying everywhere. For she has been the ruin of many; numerous men have been her victims. It is no accident that Babylon’s most important female deity, Ishtar, was the goddess of love and war, because in this world of folly (see the commentary on First Corinthians An – The Foolishness of Worldly Wisdom), sex and violence have long gone together. But Ishtar is a powerful goddess. In our modern world, studies now show that pornography can rewire the brain with addictive power, taking us prisoner.180 The result being: Her house is the road to the grave (see Af – Sh’ol). Her bedroom is the den of death (7:26-27 NLT).
But we can be wired back for intimacy with ADONAI and real relationships with others through God’s redeeming love. It is not good enough for us to know how foolish we have been. We also need to know how good it really is to be loved. Maybe you have noticed that something is missing from this entire passage here in Proverbs. The word “God” doesn’t appear anywhere in the text. But elsewhere in the Bible we find out how good it is to be loved by Him.
Don’t you know that your bodies are parts of the Messiah? So, am I to take parts of the Messiah and make them parts of a prostitute? Heaven forbid (Hebrew: chalilah, meaning that’s a contradiction, it makes no sense)! Sexual relations involve a union; the man and the woman become one flesh. The most essential meaning of the phrase one flesh, is sexual union (Mt 19:4-6a). Don’t you know that a man who joins himself to a prostitute becomes physically one with her? For the TaNaKh says, “The two will become one flesh” (Gen 2:24), but the person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit (1 Cor 6:15-17). The believer who commits porneia ends up getting the Lord involved in the act because he and Messiah are one (Jn 14:18-23, 15:4 and 7). Since the believer is one with Him, and he is one with the prostitute, our Lord is placed in an unthinkable position in Paul’s reasoning. Messiah is not personally tainted with the sin, any more than the sunbeam that shines on a garbage dump is polluted. But His reputation is dirtied because of the association. Not good.181
As Ray Ortland explains in his commentary on Proverbs, the concept of being “born again” (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Bv – Jesus Teaches Nicodemus) is biblical, but it is often misunderstood. Many people need to be saved from their salvation. They have been “born again” in the sense that they have believed in Messiah by faith, but have failed to realize that there is a difference between ADONAI as savior and ADONIA as Lord. This is how First Corinthians 6:15-17 above shows us the difference.182
There is a difference between Messiah being the Savior of your life and Him being the Lord of your life. If you don’t surrender all the “sacred cows” of your life to Yeshua, then He is not the Lord of your life. You retain control of parts of your life that you don’t want to surrender. You might say, “Lord, I trust You with my marriage, but I need to be in control of my finances.” Or you think, “Lord, I trust You with my job, but I need to control my sex life.” If you think like that, you are only flirting with Him. You need to fully surrender. He loves you unconditionally even though you hold out on Him. But your relationship will suffer.
Here is what it means to be a believer. You become joined to the Lord Yeshua Messiah, in body and spirit, through His finished work on the cross. Through the baptism of the Ruach Ha’Kodesh, you are actually united with Messiah in such a way that what is true of Messiah is true of you, minus His deity (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Kt – I Am the True Vine). From head to toe, all that you are is not only for Messiah but also of Messiah. That includes your sexuality, married or single, because you are one with Messiah. You have been joined by grace to the Lord. You have been brought into union with the most loving Person in the universe. He is giving His love to you with all His passionate heart. The Bible is saying that Messiah and you have become one spirit, the way a married man and woman become one flesh. But to be one spirit is even more profound, more intimate, deeper and richer than to be one flesh. And Paul wrote to sinful believers. Throughout the B’rit Chadashah the Corinthian church was the biggest mess of all. Nevertheless, Messiah loves and redeems people that no one else can love. He loves you to this full extent. Will you believe it? Will you receive it? Will you make Him the Lord of your life and surrender everything to Him?
Dear heavenly Father, praise You that Your love is far more wonderful, more valuable, more comforting than any other joy, pleasure or earthly lover. Your steadfast love is such a great joy and comfort that it is better than life. David proclaimed what a comfort and rock of strength Your love was when he was in the midst of the wilderness and his life was in danger. David was comforted by knowing Your great love for him and he considered Your love even better than life! Since Your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips will praise You (Psalms 63:3).
You are never too busy for me. My help comes from ADONAI, Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip. Your Keeper will not slumber. Behold, the Keeper of Isra’el neither slumbers nor sleeps (Psalms 121:2-4). You delight in hearing and answering my prayers. Now this is the confidence we have before Him – that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have the requests we have asked from Him (First John 5:14-15). Your wisdom always gives the best and perfect answer. But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all without hesitation and without reproach; and it will be given to him (James 1:5).
Following Your love is the wisest thing to do. Other loves may look flashy for a short time but they will soon be over. Your love is both deep, wide and eternal! I pray that from His glorious riches He would grant you to be strengthened in your inner being with power through His Ruach, so that Messiah may dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to grasp with all the kedoshim what is the width and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Messiah which surpasses knowledge, so you may be filled up with all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:16-19). Thank You for offering me Your awesome love and having You as my heavenly Father. In Messiah Yeshua’s holy Name and power of His resurrection. Amen
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