August 31 – Proverbs 5:1-14

Main Focus: Sexual Folly

Proverbs is an Invitation to Wisdom. The wise (grounded in the fear of the Lord) and the foolish (despising such wisdom and instruction). The appeals consist of:

1. A father exhorting a son to seek wisdom and warning him against the ruin that comes from folly.
2. Wisdom (personified as a woman) calling on all who will listen to seek her.
3. A final contrast of the two paths represented by Lady Wisdom and Lady Folly (9:1-18).

Proverbs 5 gives a brief but powerful presentation of the essentials of biblical teaching on sexual ethics. It asserts that sexual pleasure is good but that it must be confined to marriage (vv.15-20). The passage concludes with a brief account of the woes that befall the immoral man (vv.21-23). Of course other sexual dangers exist such as a woman being tempted by an immoral man and the wise person applies this counsel by making the appropriate adaptations.

One of the purposes of attending to wisdom is that the son’s lips may guard knowledge, that is, his lips should not let anything go out from them that is inconsistent with true knowledge and wisdom. In contrast, the lips of a forbidden woman are flattering (they drip honey) and her words are persuasive (her speech is smoother than oil), but her own end proves her words to be hollow and destructive.
These elements of instruction are repeated in one way or another throughout the book: recognize the right path and seek to stay on it. Taking in words of wisdom is itself a part of the path, as is the good sense to keep one’s feet on the path by avoiding evil (keep your way far from her.). It’s worth noting, as much as there is Lady Folly there is also Lady Wisdom. It’s the literary device of personification to make the attributes “come alive”. Men are just as foolish and just as wise.

Verses 9-10 begin the description of consequences for failing to heed the instruction of vv.7-8. Following the lures of the forbidden woman results in having what is meant for enjoyment being given over to others, and also produces regret over the wasting of body and soul and shame within the corporate body. Although the terms in vv.9-10 could refer to the husband and family of the woman with whom adultery would be committed, they need not be understood as referring exclusively to them. Proverbs often describes the foolish path as one that squanders the very good it deceptively offers.