Proverbs 7
1 My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee.
2 Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye.
3 Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart.
4 Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; and call understanding thy kinswoman:
5 That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words.
6 For at the window of my house I looked through my casement,
7 And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding,
8 Passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house,
9 In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night:
10 And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart.
11 (She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house:
12 Now is she without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner.)
13 So she caught him, and kissed him, and with an impudent face said unto him,
14 I have peace offerings with me; this day have I payed my vows.
15 Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee.
16 I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt.
17 I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
18 Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves.
19 For the goodman is not at home, he is gone a long journey:
20 He hath taken a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed.
21 With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him.
22 He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks;
23 Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life.
24 Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye children, and attend to the words of my mouth.
25 Let not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths.
26 For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been slain by her.
27 Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death.
(Scripture taken from the King James Version, 1987 printing. The KJV is public domain in the United States. To read this passage from The Message, go to www.biblegateway.com and do a passage lookup.)
The book of Proverbs is full of references to avoiding adulterous and seductive women, and the consequences if you don’t. And this is certainly one of those chapters! But today I would like to use the adulterous woman in these scriptures as a metaphor for deception of any kind. You see, we all are an “adulterous woman” at one time or another… or we are seduced by one. Your friend says, “my parents are out of town, I’ve got booze, and everybody is coming over, so you come, too!” Or your mom tells you that the clothes you want to wear are too revealing and the makeup is too heavy, so you dress to please her until you get out of the house, and then you find a restroom or a friend’s bedroom or a car and change into the clothes you like and add more makeup (or if you are a guy, you put on that muscle shirt and the torn jeans your parents forbid).
If you are a little older and out of the house, your seduction may be the ice cream treat you know you shouldn’t have. Your doctor has told you to avoid rich sugary desserts, but you drive past the local fast food place or ice cream store, and it seems to say, “Your doctor isn’t here… he/she will never know… stop and have some!”
Or maybe you’ve been convinced to go with friends to a casino for a weekend of “innocent fun.” You find yourself being lured by the slots and the gaming tables and the lights and the noise and the laughter (and maybe a drink or two), and you’ve blown the $100 that was to be your limit, but a voice inside you keeps saying that your “big win” is just around the corner. You’ve got your ATM card or your credit card in your wallet or purse, and you can almost feel it calling to you. You think of a million things you could do with a chunk of cash if you win and probably a half dozen reasons why you should not tap into your savings.
What will you do? Will you say a prayer and ask God to give you strength and resolve to resist the temptation, or will you give in to the seductions of whatever stubborn and loud “adulteress” is calling your name. Remember what this scripture says… many a strong man has been slain, and the road to the adulteress’s house leads straight to hell, so choose carefully!
©2007 Debbie Robus
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