Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 7:6
For at the window of my house I looked through my casement,
6. casement ] Or, lattice, R.V., as the same Heb. word is translated in A.V. in Jdg 5:28, the only other place in which it occurs.
Pro 7:7-9 . A few graphic strokes draw the picture of the victim. He is not yet positively vicious; but his feeble moral character ( Pro 7:7), his thoughtless running into danger ( Pro 7:8), and the perilous hour he chooses ( Pro 7:9), conspire to render him an easy prey.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Casement – The latticed opening of an Eastern house, overlooking the street (compare Jdg 5:28).
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 6. I looked through my casement] The casement is a small aperture in a large window, or a window opening on hinges. Here it means the lattice, for they had no glass windows in the East. And the latticed windows produced a double advantage:
1. Making the apartments sufficiently private; and
2. Admitting fresh air to keep them cool.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
This is either an historical relation, or rather a parabolical representation of that which frequently happened.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6. Foror, “Since,”introducing an example to illustrate the warning, which, whether anarrative or a parable, is equally pertinent.
windowor, “opening”
lookedliterally,”watched earnestly” (Jud5:28).
casementor, “lattice.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For at the window of my house,…. This is either an historical account of a matter of fact known to Solomon, or a parable made by him, setting forth the cunning artifices of an harlot, the folly and weakness of a young man ensnared, and the ruin he is brought into by her. As Solomon was a public magistrate, he is here represented as a private observer of the behaviour of his subjects, as sitting in his palace at a window, at the small windows of it, as the Targum, where he could see and not be seen himself; near to which was an harlot’s house; for they generally get about the courts of princes, where they make their prey;
I looked through my casement; or “lattice” c; the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions: understand this of the harlot looking out of the window of her house and through the casement, when she spied a young man, as follows; but this agrees not with the Hebrew text, which carries it to Solomon; though a greater than he may be designed, the omniscient God, who looks through the windows and lattice of heaven, and beholds all the actions of the children of men; those that are most private, and done in the dark; and Christ the Son of God, whose “eyes [are] like unto aflame of fire”, to look through all the darkness of Popery, represented by the Thyatirian church state; into all the intrigues of the Romish harlot, and behold all the follies of those that commit fornication with her, Re 2:18.
c “per cancellum meum”, Montanus; “per cancellos”, Tigurine version, Michaelis.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
How necessary it is for the youth to guard himself by the help of wisdom against the enticements of the wanton woman, the author now shows by a reference to his own observation.
6 For through the window of my house,
From behind the lattice I looked out;
7 Then saw I among the simple ones,
Discerned among the young people, a youth devoid of understanding.
refers indeed to the immediately following clause, yet it actually opens up the whole following exemplification. The connection with Pro 7:5 would be closer if instead of the extended Semitic construction it were said: nam quum …prospicerem vidi , etc. (from , to bore through) is properly a place where the wall is bored through. .hguor (from = Arab. shaniba , to be agreeable, cool, fresh) is the window-lattice or lattice-window, i.e., lattice for drawing down and raising up, which keeps off the rays of the sun. signifies primarily to make oneself long in order to see, to stretch up or out the neck and the head, , Arab. atall , atal’a , and tatall’a of things, imminere , to overtop, to project, to jut in; cf. Arab. askaf of the ostrich, long and bent, with respect to the neck stretching it up, sakaf , abstr. crooked length. And is thus used, as in Arab. duna , but not b’ad , is used: so placed, that one in relation to the other obstructs the avenue to another person or thing: “I looked forth from behind the lattice-window, i.e., with respect to the persons or things in the room, standing before the lattice-window, and thus looking out into the open air” (Fleischer). That it was far in the night, as we learn at Pro 7:9, does not contradict this looking out; for apart from the moon, and especially the lighting of the streets, there were star-lit nights, and to see what the narrator saw there was no night of Egyptian darkness. But because it was night 6a is not to be translated: I looked about among those devoid of experience (thus e.g., Lwenstein); but he saw among these, observed among the youths, who thus late amused themselves without, a young man whose want of understanding was manifest from what further happened. Bertheau: that I might see, is syntactically impossible. The meaning of is not determined by the following, but conversely stands under the operation of (= , Neh 13:7), characterizing the historic aorist. Regarding , vid., at Pro 1:4. is the masc. of , Arab. benat in the meaning maiden. has in correct texts, according to the rules of the accents, the raphatum.
(Note: Regarding the Targ. of Pro 7:6-7, vid., Perles, Etymologische Studien, 1871, p. 9.)
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Foolish Young Man; Enticements of the Adulteress. | |
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 paid 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.
Solomon here, to enforce the caution he had given against the sin of whoredom, tells a story of a young man that was ruined to all intents and purposes by the enticements of an adulterous woman. Such a story as this would serve the lewd profane poets of our age to make a play of, and the harlot with them would be a heroine; nothing would be so entertaining to the audience, nor give them so much diversion, as her arts of beguiling the young gentleman and drawing in the country squire; her conquests would be celebrated as the triumphs of wit and love, and the comedy would conclude very pleasantly; and every young man that saw it acted would covet to be so picked up. Thus fools make a mock at sin. But Solomon here relates it, and all wise and good men read it, as a very melancholy story. The impudence of the adulterous woman is very justly looked upon, by all that have any sparks of virtue in them, with the highest indignation, and the easiness of the young man with the tenderest compassion; and the story concludes with sad reflections, enough to make all that read and hear it afraid of the snares of fleshly lusts and careful to keep at the utmost distance from them. It is supposed to be a parable, or imagined case, but I doubt it was too true, and, which is worse, that notwithstanding the warning it gives of the fatal consequences of such wicked courses it is still too often true, and the agents for hell are still playing the same game and with similar success.
Solomon was a magistrate, and, as such, inspected the manners of his subjects, looked often through his casement, that he might see with his own eyes, and made remarks upon those who little thought his eye was upon them, that he might know the better how to make the sword he bore a terror to evil-doers. But here he writes as a minister, a prophet, who is by office a watchman, to give warning of the approach of the enemies, and especially where they lie in ambush, that we may not be ignorant of Satan’s devices, but may know where to double our guard. This Solomon does here, where we may observe the account he gives,
I. Of the person tempted, and how he laid himself open to the temptation, and therefore must thank himself if it end in his destruction. 1. He was a young man, v. 7. Fleshly lusts are called youthful lusts (2 Tim. ii. 22), not to extenuate them as tricks of youth, and therefore excusable, but rather to aggravate them, as robbing God of the first and best of our time, and, by debauching the mind when it is tender, laying a foundation for a bad life ever after, and to intimate that young people ought in a special manner to fortify their resolutions against this sin. 2. He was a young man void of understanding, that went abroad into the world, not principled as he ought to have been with wisdom and the fear of God, and so ventured to sea without ballast, without pilot, cord, or compass; he knew not how to depart from evil, which is the best understanding, Job xxviii. 28. Those become an easy prey to Satan who, when they have arrived to the stature of men, have scarcely the understanding of children. 3. He kept bad company. He was a young man among the youths, a silly young man among the simple ones. If, being conscious of his own weakness, he had associated with those that were older and wiser than himself, there would have been hopes of him. Christ, at twelve years old, conversed with the doctors, to set young people an example of this. But, if those that are simple choose such for their companions as are like themselves, simple they will still be, and hardened in their simplicity. 4. He was sauntering, and had nothing to do, but passed through the street as one that knew not how to dispose of himself. One of the sins of filthy Sodom was abundance of idleness, Ezek. xvi. 49. He went in a starched stately manner, so (it is said) the word signifies. He appeared to be a nice formal fop, the top of whose accomplishments was to dress well and walk with a good air; fit game for that bird of prey to fly at. 5. He was a night-walker, that hated and scorned the business that is to be done by day-light, from which the evening calls men in to their repose; and, having fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, he begins to move in the twilight in the evening, v. 9. And he chooses the black and dark night as fittest for his purpose, not the moonlight nights, when he might be discovered. 6. He steered his course towards the house of one that he thought would entertain him, and that he might be merry with; he went near her corner, the way to her house (v. 8), contrary to Solomon’s advice (ch. v. 8), Come not night the door of her house. Perhaps he did not know it was the way to an infamous house, but, however, it was a way that he had no business in; and when we have nothing to do the devil will quickly find us something to do. We must take heed, not only of idle days, but of idle evenings, lest they prove inlets to temptation.
II. Of the person tempting, not a common prostitute, for she was a married wife (v. 19), and, for aught that appears, lived in reputation among her neighbours, not suspected of any such wickedness, and yet, in the twilight of the evening, when her husband was abroad, abominably impudent. She is here described, 1. By her dress. She had the attire of a harlot (v. 10), gaudy and flaunting, to set her off as a beauty; perhaps she was painted as Jezebel, and went with her neck and breasts bare, loose, and en deshabille. The purity of the heart will show itself in the modesty of the dress, which becomes women professing godliness. 2. By her craft and management. She is subtle of heart, mistress of all the arts of wheedling, and knowing how by all her caresses to serve her own base purposes. 3. By her temper and carriage. She is loud and stubborn, talkative and self-willed, noisy and troublesome, wilful and headstrong, all tongue, and will have her saying, right or wrong, impatient of check and control, and cannot bear to be counselled, much less reproved, by husband or parents, ministers or friends. She is a daughter of Belial, that will endure no yoke. 4. By her place, not her own house; she hates the confinement and employment of that; her feet abide not there any longer than needs must. She is all for gadding abroad, changing place and company. Now is she without in the country, under pretence of taking the air, now in the streets of the city, under pretence of seeing how the market goes. She is here, and there, and every where but where she should be. She lies in wait at every corner, to pick up such as she can make a prey of. Virtue is a penance to those to whom home is a prison.
III. Of the temptation itself and the management of it. She met the young spark. Perhaps she knew him; however she knew by his fashions that he was such a one as she wished for; so she caught him about the neck and kissed him, contrary to all the rules of modesty (v. 13), and waited not for his compliments or courtship, but with an impudent face invited him not only to her house, but to her bed.
1. She courted him to sup with her (Psa 7:14; Psa 7:15): I have peace-offerings with me. Hereby she gives him to understand, (1.) Her prosperity, that she was compassed about with so many blessings that she had occasion to offer peace-offerings, in token of joy and thankfulness; she was before-hand in the world, so that he needed not fear having his pocket picked. (2.) Her profession of piety. She had been to-day at the temple, and was as well respected there as any that worshipped in the courts of the Lord. She had paid her vows, and, as she thought, made all even with God Almighty, and therefore might venture upon a new score of sins. Note, The external performances of religion, if they do not harden men against sin, harden them in it, and embolden carnal hearts to venture upon it, in hopes that when they come to count and discount with God he will be found as much in debt to them for their peace-offerings and their vows as they to him for their sins. But it is sad that a show of piety should become the shelter of iniquity (which really doubles the shame of it, and makes it more exceedingly sinful) and that men should baffle their consciences with those very things that should startle them. The Pharisees made long prayers, that they might the more plausibly carry on their covetous and mischievous provisions. The greatest part of the flesh of the peace-offerings was by the law returned back to the offerers, to feast upon with their friends, which (if they were peace-offerings of thanksgiving) was to be all eaten the same day and none of it left until the morning, Lev. vii. 15. This law of charity and generosity is abused to be a colour for gluttony and excess: “Come,” says she, “come home with me, for I have good cheer enough, and only want good company to help me off with it.” It was a pity that the peace-offerings should thus become, in a bad sense, sin-offerings, and that what was designed for the honour of God should become the food and fuel of a base lust. But this is not all. (4.) To strengthen the temptation, [1.] She pretends to have a very great affection for him above any man: “Therefore, because I have a good supper upon the table, I came forth to meet thee, for no friend in the world shall be so welcome to it as thou shalt, v. 15. Thou art he whom I came on purpose to seek, to seek diligently, came myself, and would not send a servant.” Surely he cannot deny her his company when she put such a value upon it, and would take all this pains to obtain the favour of it. Sinners take pains to do mischief, and are as the roaring lion himself; they go about seeking to devour, and yet pretend they are seeking to oblige. [2.] She would have it thought that Providence itself countenanced her choice of him for her companion; for how quickly had she found him whom she sought!
2. She courted him to lie with her. They will sit down to eat and drink, and then rise up to play, to play the wanton, and there is a bed ready for them, where he shall find that which will be in all respects agreeable to him. To please his eye, it is decked with coverings of tapestry and carved works, exquisitely fine; he never saw the like. To please his touch, the sheets are not of home-spun cloth; they are far-fetched and dear bought; they are of fine linen of Egypt, v. 16. To gratify his smell, it is perfumed with the sweetest scents, v. 17. Come, therefore, and let us take our fill of love, v. 18. Of love, does she say? Of lust she means, brutish lust; but it is a pity that the name of love should be thus abused. True love is from heaven; this is from hell. How can those pretend to solace themselves and love one another who are really ruining themselves and one another?
3. She anticipated the objection which he might make of the danger of it. Is she not another man’s wife, and what if her husband should catch them in adultery, in the very act? he will make them pay dearly for their sport, and where will the solace of their love be then? “Never fear,” says she, “the good man is not at home” (v. 19); she does not call him her husband, for she forsakes the guide of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God; but “the good man of the house, whom I am weary of.” Thus Potiphar’s wife, when she spoke of her husband, would not call him so, but he, Gen. xxxix. 14. It is therefore with good reason taken notice of, to Sarah’s praise, that she spoke respectfully of her husband, calling him lord. She pleases herself with this that he is not at home, and therefore she is melancholy if she have not some company, and therefore whatever company she has she may be free with them, for she is from under his eye, and he shall never know. But will he not return quickly? No: “he has gone a long journey, and cannot return on a sudden; he appointed the day of his return, and he never comes home sooner than he says he will. He has taken a bag of money with him, either,” (1.) “To trade with, to buy goods with and he will not return till he has laid it all out. It is a pity that an honest industrious man should be thus abused, and advantage taken of his absence, when it is upon business, for the good of his family.” Or, (2.) “To spend and revel with.” Whether justly or not, she insinuates that he was a bad husband; so she would represent him, because she was resolved to be a bad wife, and must have that for an excuse; it is often groundlessly suggested, but is never a sufficient excuse. “He follows his pleasures, and wastes his estate abroad” (says she), “and why should not I do the same at home?”
IV. Of the success of the temptation. Promising the young man every thing that was pleasant, and impunity in the enjoyment, she gained her point, v. 21. It should seem, the youth, though very simple, had no ill design, else a word, a beck, a wink, would have served, and there would have been no need of all this harangue; but though he did not intend any such thing, nay, had something in his conscience that opposed it, yet with her much fair speech she caused him to yield. His corruptions at length triumphed over his convictions, and his resolutions were not strong enough to hold out against such artful attacks as these, but with the flattery of her lips she forced him; he could not stop his ear against such a charmer, but surrendered himself her captive. Wisdom’s maidens, who plead her cause, and have reason on their side, and true and divine pleasures to invite men to, have a deaf ear turned to them, and with all their rhetoric cannot compel men to come in, but such is the dominion of sin in the hearts of men that its allurements soon prevail by falsehood and flattery. With what pity does Solomon here look upon this foolish young man, when he sees him follow the adulterous woman! (1.) He gives him up for gone; alas! he is undone. he goes to the slaughter (for houses of uncleanness are slaughter-houses to precious souls); a dart will presently strike through his liver; going without his breast-plate, he will receive his death’s wound, v. 23. It is his life, his precious life, that is thus irrecoverably thrown away, he is perfectly lost to all good; his conscience is debauched; a door is opened to all other vices, and this will certainly end in his endless damnation. (2.) That which makes his case the more piteous is that he is not himself aware of his misery and danger; he goes blindfold, nay, he goes laughing to his ruin. The ox thinks he is led to the pasture when he is led to the slaughter; the fool (that is, the drunkard, for, of all sinners, drunkards are the greatest fools) is led to the correction of the stocks, and is not sensible of the shame of it, but goes to it as if he were going to a play. The bird that hastes to the snare looks only at the bait, and promises herself a good bit from that, and considers not that it is for her life. Thus this unthinking unwary young man dreams of nothing but the pleasures he shall have in the embraces of the harlot, while really he is running headlong upon his ruin. Though Solomon does not here tell us that he put the law in execution against this base harlot, yet we have no reason to think but that he did, he was himself so affected with the mischief she did and had such an indignation at it.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
The Weakness of the Young
(Pro 7:6-9)
Verses 6-9 reveal the need of the naive, inexperienced young man for protection. He wanders where time and place favor temptation. It is twilight when light wanes and shadows conceal. He wanders aimlessly in the street where the strange woman seeks a companion.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.
Pro. 7:7. Simple, inexperienced.
Pro. 7:8. Went, moved leisurely, sauntered.
Pro. 7:9. In the black and dark night, literally, in the apple, or pupil of the night.
Pro. 7:10. Literally, a woman, the attire of a harlot, with no connecting word between, as though the woman were nothing but such a dress. Subtil, guarded. Wordsworth renders her heart is like a walled fortress.
Pro. 7:11. Stubborn, rather boisterous, ungovernable.
Pro. 7:14. The offerings here named are those of thanksgiving for blessings received. Of such offering, which, in accordance with the law (Lev. 7:16), must be eaten by the second day, the guests partook, so that a rich feast is here offered to the young man under the garb of religious usage.
Pro. 7:16. With carved works, rather, variegated coverlets of Egyptian linen.
Pro. 7:20. The purse, etc., indicating long delay; the day appointed, rather, the day of the full moon.
Pro. 7:22. Straightway. The Hebrew implies that he had at first hesitated, until the fear of his to take the decisive step was overcome by evil appetite, and he now, with passionate promptness, formed the vile purpose and executed it at once, to cut off all further reflection. Here is evidently a stroke in the picture of the profoundest psychological truth (Langes Commentary). The latter clause of the verse is literally, and as fetters for the punishment of a fool. It has been variously rendered. Many expositors read, As the obstinate fool is suddenly caught and held fast by a trap lying in a forbidden path, so has the deceitful power of the adulteress caught the young man.
Pro. 7:23. The liver stands here as representative of the vitals in general as in Lam. 2:11, as in some instances the heart, or again, the reins (Psa. 16:7; Psa. 73:21, etc.). According to Delitzsch, the liver is here made prominent as the seat of sensual desire. Since the ancient Greeks, Arabians, and Persians, in fact, connected this idea with the organ under consideration, this view may be received as probably correct (Langes Commentary). Knoweth not that it is for his life, i.e. that his life is at stake.
NOTE ON THE SIGNIFICATION OF THE STRANGE WOMAN OF THIS CHAPTER, AND OF MANY KINDRED PASSAGES IN THE BOOK.Although most modern commentators attach no other meaning to this woman than that which would occur to the general reader, there are some who, as will be seen from the comments, agree with most of the early expositors in attaching to the representation an ideal meaning also. Wordsworth, referring to the original meaning of the word mashal, or proverb (see preface), says, By a consideration of the proper meaning of this word mashal, used in the title of this book, and by reflecting on the use made of it in the Gospels, we are led to recognise in the Proverbs or Parables of Solomon not only moral apothegms for practical use in daily life, but to ponder deeply upon them as having also a typical character and inner spiritual significance concerning heavenly doctrines of supernatural truth, and as preparing the way for the evangelical teaching of the Divine Solomon, Jesus Christ, in parables on the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven. Following out this principle of interpretation, he continues, As in Solomons delineation of Wisdom we recognised Christ, so in the portraiture of the strange woman, who is set in striking contrast to Wisdom in this book, we must learn to see something more than at first meets the eye. Doubtless we must hold fast the literal interpretation, and must strenuously contend for it;. but in the gaudy and garish attire and alluring cozenage of the strange woman we may see a representation of the seductive arts with which the teachers of unsound doctrine, repugnant to the truth of Christ, endeavour to charm, captivate, and ensnare unwary souls, and to steal them away from Him. There is a harlotry of the intellectthere is an adultery of the soul, and this harlotry and adultery are not less dangerous and deadly than the grossest sins and foulest abominations. Indeed they are more perilous, because they present themselves in a more specious and attractive form. Hengstenberg, commenting on Ecc. 7:26, says, There are strong grounds for thinking that the woman of the Proverbs is the personification of heathenish folly, putting on the airs of wisdom and penetrating into the territory of the Israelites. The key to Pro. 2:16-17, is Jer. 3:4-20. In Proverbs 5. the evil woman must needs be regarded as an ideal person, because of the opposition in which she is set to the good woman, Wisdom. If Wisdom in chap. Pro. 7:4-5, is an ideal person, her opponent must be also. In chap. 9. again, the evil woman is put in contrast with Wisdom;. the explanation is, in fact, plainly given in Pro. 7:13. Last of all, in chap. Pro. 22:14, we read, The mouth of the foreigner is a deep pit, etc. That the writer here treats of false doctrine is clear from the mention of the mouth. Nah. 3:4, presents an analogous instance of such a personification. To the woman here, corresponds in Rev. 2:20 : the woman Jezebel, a symbolical person. Miller, as will be seen in the suggestive comments on chap. Pro. 2:16, looks upon this woman as an emblem of impenitence.
The following comment is by Professor Plumptre: The strange woman, the stranger, may mean simply the adulteress, as the strange gods the strangers (Deu. 32:16; Jer. 3:13), are those to whom Israel, forsaking her true husband, offered an adulterous worship. But in both cases there is implied also some idea of a foreign origin, as of one who by birth is outside the covenant of Israel. In the second word used, this meaning is still stronger. It is the word used of the strange wives of Solomon (1Ki. 11:1-8), and of those of the Jews who returned from Babylon (Ezra 10.), of Ruth, as a Moabitess (Rth. 2:10), of heathen invaders (Isa. 2:6). Whatever form the sin here referred to had assumed before the monarchy (and the Book of Judges testifies to its frequency), the intercourse with Phnicians and other nations under Solomon had a strong tendency to increase it. The kings example would naturally be followed, and it probably became a fashion to have foreign wives and concubines. At first it would seem this was accompanied by some show of proselytism. The women made a profession of conformity to the religion of their masters. But the old leaven breaks out. They sin and forget the covenant of their God. The worship of other gods, a worship in itself sensual and ending in the foulest sin, leads the way to a life of harlotry. Other causes may have led to the same result. The stringent laws of the Mosaic code may have deterred the women of Israel from that sin, and led to a higher standard of purity than prevailed among other nations. Lidonian and Tyrian women came, like the Asiatic hetaer at Athens, at once with greater importunity and with new arts and fascinations to which the home-born were strangers.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Pro. 7:6-27
A PICTURE DRAWN FROM LIFE
The woman depicted here has been before us twice before. (See on chap. Pro. 2:16-19 and Pro. 6:24). We will therefore confine ourselves in this chapter to the picture of her dupe. He fully justifies his right to the title here given to him, viz., a young man void of understanding.
I. Because he did not wait for temptation to seek him, but went where he knew it would meet him. Those who carry gunpowder upon their persons ought never to go into a blacksmiths forge, ought never even to approach the door lest some sparks fall upon them. How much more foolish is he who, knowing that there is a tendency to sin within him, seeks out the place where the spark will be fanned into a flame. This young man is found near the corner of the house of the temptress, he went the way to her house.
II. He goes to ruin with his eyes wide open. The womans character is plainly written upon her dress and upon her face. There is no pretence at disguise. She boasts of her infidelity to her husband. Yet he yields to her invitation; yet he believes her professions of attachment to himself. The most silly fish that swims will not bite if the steel hook gleams through the bait, but this simpleton takes the hook without any bait. The ox resists when he feels that he is being driven to death, but this fool goes deliberately to the house of death. He walks into the snare which he knows has been the death of myriads of his fellow creatures. The remedy for this folly is found in Pro. 7:1-4.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Pro. 7:6-27. From the earlier and copious warnings against adultery the one now before us is distinguished by the fact, that while chapter 5. contrasted the blessings of conjugal fidelity and chaste marital love with unregulated sexual indulgence, and chapter Pro. 6:20-35 particularly urged a contending against the inner roots and germs of the sin of unchastity, our passage dwells with special fulness upon the temptations from without to the transgression of the sixth commandment. It also sets forth the folly and the ruinous consequences of yielding to such temptations, by presenting an instructive living example Aside from the fact that it is nocturnal rambling that delivers the thoughtless idle youth into the hands of temptation (Pro. 7:9), and aside from the other significant feature that after the first brief and feeble opposition, he throws himself suddenly and with the full energy of passion into his self-sought ruin (Pro. 7:22, comp. Jas. 1:15), we have to notice here chiefly the important part played by the luxurious and savoury feast of the adulteress, as a co-operating factor in the allurement of the self-indulgent youth (Pro. 7:14 seq.). It is surely not a feature purely incidental, without deeper significance or design, that this meal is referred to as preceding the central or chief sin; for, that the tickling of the palate with stimulating meats and drinks prepares the way for lust is an old and universal observation (comp. Exo. 32:6; 1Co. 10:17, as also similar passages from the classical authors).Langes Commentary.
Apart from the external blandishments which are portrayed in this passage, there belongs to them a power of internal deception the most fallacious and insinuatingand this not merely because of their strength, and of their fitness to engross the whole man when once they take possession of him, and so to shut out all reflection and seriousnessthose counteractives to evil passions; but because of their alliance with, and the affinity which they bear to, the kindly and benevolent and good feelings of our nature. As the poet sayshimself a wild and wayward, and most dangerously seductive writerthe transition is a most natural one, from loving much to loving wrong. Let all such affections be sedulously kept at bay, and the occasions of them shunned and fled from, rather than hazarded and tampered with. Let them never be wilfully encountered, or presumptuously braved and bid defiance to, lest the victory be theirs; and no sooner do they win the heart than they war against the soul.Chalmers.
Pro. 7:5. This woman not only represents the harlot and the adulteress literally, but is also a figure of whatever seduces the soul from God, whether in morals or religion, and whether in doctrine and practice, or in religious worship.Wordsworth.
Strange, indeed, if she alienate us from the very God that made her, and stir the jealousy of the very Being that gives us our power to love her. (Hos. 2:8).Miller.
Pro. 7:6. God is ever at His window, His casement is always open to see what thou dost.Jermin.
Pro. 7:8. Circumstances which give an occasion to sin are to be noticed and avoided. They who love danger fall into it. The youth (as Pro. 7:21 shows) did not go with the intention of defiling himself with the strange woman, but to flatter his own vanity by seeing and talking with her, and hearing her flatteries. It is madness to play with Satans edged tools.Faussett.
The beginning of the sad end. The loitering evening walk, the unseasonable hour (Job. 24:15; Rom. 13:12-13); the vacant mind. The house was empty, and therefore ready for the reception of the tempter (Mat. 12:44-45), and soon altogether in his possession. How valuable are self-discipline, self-control, constant employment, active energy of pursuit, as preservatives under the Divine blessing from fearful danger.Bridges.
Pro. 7:7-9. The first character appears on the scene, young, simple in the bad sense of the word; open to all impressions of evil, empty-headed and empty-hearted; lounging near the place of ill-repute, not as yet deliberately purposing to sin, but placing himself in the way of it; wandering idly to see one of whose beauty he had heard, and this at a time when the pure in heart would seek their home. It is impossible not to see a certain symbolic meaning in this picture of the gathering gloom. Night is falling over the young mans life as the shadows deepen.Plumptre.
Pro. 7:9. He thought to obscure himself, but Solomon saw him; how much more God, before whom night will convert itself into noon, and silence prove a speaking evidence. Foolish men think to hide themselves from God, by hiding God from themselves.Trapp.
Pro. 7:10. A careless sinner shall not need to go far to meet with temptation. The first woman met with it almost as soon as she was made, and who meets not everywhere with the woman Temptation?Jermin.
Pro. 7:14. Though I indulge in amours, do not think I am averse to the worship of God; nay, I offer liberally to Him: He is now therefore appeased, and will not mind venial offences.Cartwright.
It is of course possible that the worship of Israel had so degenerated as to lose for the popular conscience all religious significance; but the hypothesis stated above (see note at the beginning of chapter), affords a simpler explanation. She who speaks is a foreigner who, under a show of conformity to the religion of Israel, still retains her old notions, and a feast-day is nothing to her but a time of self-indulgence, which she may invite another to share with her. If we assume, as probable, that these harlots of Jerusalem were mainly of Phnician origin, the connection of their worship with their sin would be but the continuation of their original cultus.Plumptre.
An awful portraiture of the mystery of iniquity. It is applicable also to corrupt churches, especially to the spiritual harlot described by St. John in the Apocalypse. She professes zeal for Gods house and service, while she is offending Him by heretical doctrine, and insulting Him by the fascinations of idolatrous worship, with which she beguiles unwary souls to commit spiritual fornication with her. (See Rev. 17:1-5; Rev. 18:9). As Bede says, following in the steps of Basil and others: All the description which is here given is true, in a literal sense, of the meretricious allurements of an adulteress; but it is to be interpreted also spiritually. False doctrine tricks herself out with the embellishments of worldly rhetoric and spurious philosophy, and is ever lurking at the corners of the streets, to allure and deceive the simple, and to caress them with her embraces; and she makes religious professions. She has her couch adorned with heathen embroidery, and yet sprinkled with the odours of spiritual virtues; but Christ says of her in the Apocalypse, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds (Rev. 2:22).Wordsworth.
The immoral devotionist.
1. The absurd conduct of those who indulge in immorality, and think to compound with God for so doing, by paying Him outward forms of worship.
2. All external observances vain and useless unless they are accompanied with purity of heart, and real goodness of life. True religion is an end, and all external observances are only means leading to that end. (See Mic. 6:5). Agreeably to this St. Paul assures us that the end of the Christian revelation is to-teach men to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world (Tit. 2:12). And Christ assures us that no ceremonious method of atonement without practical goodness will entitle us to the rewards of Christianity (Mat. 7:21). All duties enjoined by God can be enjoined by Him only for the good they do us. Can a man be profitable unto God, as he that is wise is profitable to himself? (Job. 22:2). And in which way can we possibly conceive how an immoral man can reap any benefit from the mere forms and ceremonies of religion. Is there any reason to think that God will accept this religious flattery instead of purity of life? No, rather it is an aggravation of his crimes. (See Isa. 1:11.)N. Ball.
Pro. 7:15. O how diligent is wickedness, thinking that thing never done soon enough which is too soon done at any time! O how diligent a helper is Satan of wickedness, administering all opportunities for it! And, therefore, as the harlot seeketh diligently, so she findeth readily. Which is the shame of religion in many that profess it, and who are so slow in the performance of religious duties, as if they were both servants and masters, and had the commandments of God at their own command, to do them at their pleasure; which is a great reason that they are so ill observed. But if they would use their own diligence, they should find God much more diligent to give a blessing to it.Jermin.
Pro. 7:16. Her coverings of tapestry could not cover her naughtiness, her carved work could not embellish her own deformed work, her white Egyptian linen could not make white her black Egyptian soul.Jermin.
Pro. 7:17. This might have minded the young man that he was going to his grave, for the bodies of the dead were so perfumed. Such a meditation would much have rebated his edgecooled his courage.Trapp.
Pro. 7:18. But what if death draw the curtains, and look in the while? If death do not, yet guilt will.Trapp.
Pro. 7:19. Instead of saying, My husband, she contemptuously calls him the goodman, as though he were unconnected with her.Fausset.
Man may not be at home, but God is always at home, whose house is the world: man may be gone a far journey, but Gods journey is at once to be everywhere; His farthest off, to be present always. She talketh that the goodman was not at home, but the good woman was not at home rather; she saith that her husband was gone a far journey, but she herself was gone much farther from her duty. If she had been at home, to have heard her conscience the home reprover of wickedness, the goodman, though not at home, had not been so much wronged; if she had not gone far from her covenant, her husband, though gone far, had still been near and present in her heart.Jermin.
Our hearts must be guarded against the admission of sin by stronger motives than the fear of detection and disgrace, for artful solicitors to evil will easily baffle such restraints as these. Joseph might have expected his masters favour by complying with the wishes of his mistress, but the motive that induced him to decline her company was irresistible,How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?Lawson.
Pro. 7:22. He goeth to the slaughter when he thinketh he goeth to the pasture; or as those oxen brought forth by Jupiters priests, with garlands unto the gates, but it was for a slain sacrifice (Act. 14:13).Trapp.
The butchers yard would show the meaning of this first similitude. In every sort of way the ox may be coaxed, or, in turn, may be desperately beaten, and apparently to no purpose. But though he may stand, ox-like, like a rock, yet the experienced herdman knows that he will suddenly start in. This is his nature. One inch may cost a hurricane of blows; but at a dash, as the butcher expects, he will suddenly rush in to his doom.Miller.
Pro. 7:25. Cut off the beginnings of desire. The first trickling of the crevasse is the manageable, and, therefore, more culpable, period of the difficulty.Miller.
Pro. 7:26. As Solomon himself subsequently was (Neh. 13:26). So Samson and David previously. It is better to learn by the awful example of others than by our own suffering. Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other.Fausset.
The house of the harlot had been compared before to the grave, to the world of the dead; now it is likened to a battle-field strewn with the corpses of armed men. The word speaks rather of the multitude than of the individual strength of those who have perished.Plumptre.
In a figurative sense, some of the greatest teachers of Christendom have been seduced by the allurements of heresy, and have been cast down from their place in the firmament of the Church, like stars falling from heaven.Wordsworth.
The valour of men hath oft been slaved by the wiles of a woman. Witness many of your greatest martialists, who conquered countries, and were vanquished of vices. The Persian kings commanded the whole world, and were commanded by their concubines.Trapp.
The secret thought that one can saunter toward her house (Pro. 7:8), and at any time turn back, is cruelly met by most discouraging examples. The whole passage is the more impressive, if we consider it as a warning against confidence in strength, and particularly grand, if we mark the second clause All men are strong, and strong in the most substantial sense. All men, saved, are princes (Rev. 1:6); and they are offered the second place in Gods kingdom (Isa. 61:7). All men are bone of Christs bone; all men are born with a birthright to be kings and priests, if they choose to be, and brothers of Emmanuel.Miller.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
6. Casement Lattice or window-slats, like our Venetian blinds, made to keep out the sun and rain, but to admit the air. The Israelites had no glass.
Looked through The original implies to bend forward or lean over, as people often do in looking from a window. It describes close and interested watching and listening. Comp. Jdg 5:28; Psa 14:2.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
A Detailed Description Of The Seduction Of The Naive Young Man By The ‘Strange Woman’ ( Pro 7:6-23 ).
This account divides up into three, what the father observes of the naive young man’s actions (Pro 7:6-13), what the strange woman says to the naive young man (Pro 7:14-20), and the resulting response of the young man (Pro 7:21-23). It is presented chiastically:
A For at the window of my house, I looked forth through my lattice, and I beheld among the naive ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding, passing through the street near her corner, and he went the way to her house, in the twilight, in the evening of the day, in the pupil of the night and in the darkness (Pro 7:6-9).
B And, see, there met him a woman, with the attire of a prostitute, and wily of heart, (She is clamorous and wilful, her feet do not remain in her house, now she is in the streets, now in the broad places, and lies in wait at every corner) (Pro 7:10-12).
C So she caught him, and kissed him, and with an impudent face she said to him, “Sacrifices of peace-offerings are with me, this day have I paid my vows, therefore I have come forth to meet you, diligently to seek your face, and I have found you (Pro 7:13-15).
D I have spread my couch with carpets of tapestry, with striped cloths (embroidered stuff) of the yarn of Egypt (Pro 7:16).
D I have perfumed my bed, with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon (Pro 7:17).
C Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning, let us solace ourselves with loves, for the man is not at home, he is gone a long journey, he has taken a bag of money with him, he will come home at the full moon (Pro 7:18-20).
B With her much fair speech she causes him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she drives him along (Pro 7:21).
A He goes after her immediately, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as one in fetters to the correction of the fool, until an arrow strikes through his liver, like a bird hurries to the snare, and does not knows that it is for his life (Pro 7:22-24).
Note that in A the young man is drawn to her house, and in the parallel he follows her there. In B she is ready with her wiles, and in the parallel she drives him along with her wiles. In C she flirts with him and says that she has been looking for him, and in the parallel she calls him to go with her for love-making. Centrally in D she has laid her seductive and foreign trap.
Pro 7:6-9
‘For at the window of my house,
I looked forth through my lattice,
And I beheld among the naive ones,
I discerned among the youths,
A young man void of understanding.
Passing through the street near her corner,
And he took strides towards the way to her house,
In the twilight, in the evening of the day,
In the middle (pupil) of the night and in the darkness.’
In very descriptive words Solomon pictures himself as looking through a window (an open space in the wall, probably covered with lattice work) on the second floor of his house (the ground floor would have no windows) and watching a group of youths who were standing aimlessly around and had little to do (naive ones). As he watched he saw a naive young man, ‘void of understanding’ (i.e. lacking in wisdom), detach himself from them and wend his way towards the prostitute’s house on the corner of the street. The young man has waited for darkness to descend. To that extent he is aware of his folly. The verb ‘took strides’ seems to suggest the activity of someone showing off to his fellows (walked pompously). But it should be noted that he stops short of actually entering her house. The picture is psychologically true to life, portraying the cockiness of a young man wanting to show off to his friends, whilst not being quite so sure when he actually approaches his goal. It requires the wiles of the prostitute to achieve this.
It was twilight. The sun had gone down and darkness was advancing. The repetition brings home the slowly gathering darkness. The ‘pupil’ of the night may signify blackness, or the time when the eye has to acclimatise because it is growing dark. There may here be the hint that he was walking into darkness.
Pro 7:10-12
‘And, see, there met him a woman,
With the attire of a prostitute, and watchful of heart,
(She is unruly and wilful,
Her feet do not remain in her house,
Now she is in the streets, now in the broad places,
And lies in wait at every corner).’
In contrast is the woman. She has been scouring the town looking for just such a person. She has walked the streets and visited the open square in front of the city gate and waited at corners. She is dressed as a prostitute (possibly in order to disguise her true identity) and watchful of heart. She is unruly (clamorous) and wilful. She is not prepared to stay quietly at home in the dark hours sewing like other women. She is a rebel at heart, and is taking the opportunity of her husband’s absence to enjoy some illicit sex. But she does not want everyone to know it.
On the other hand ‘in the streets — in the broad places — at every corner’ may indicate that she is a fictitious person who represents a number of prostitutes. He may be saying that they were to be found everywhere.
Pro 7:13-15
‘So she caught him, and kissed him,
And with an impudent face she said to him,
Sacrifices of peace-offerings are with (upon) me,
This day have I paid my vows.
Therefore I came forth to meet you,
Diligently to seek your face, and I found you.’
Note how she tries to indicate her personal interest in him. He is the one that she has been looking for! So she seizes him, kisses him, and invites him to a private feast. The impudent face may indicate that at this point she unveils for him. The mention of ‘sacrifices of peace offerings’ indicate a coming feast. The flesh of a peace offering was eaten by the offerer and his/her family. The plural may have in mind that she will have received a number of portions of meat from it. And it is because she has this feast, with no one to share it, that she has come looking for him. She is even trying to give the impression that his going with her will be a kind of religious celebration connected with making an offering to YHWH and making vows to Him. To the naive young man it even begins to seem respectable.
Pro 7:16-17
‘I have spread my couch with coverlets of tapestry,
With striped cloths (or ‘embroidered stuff’) of the yarn (linen) of Egypt,
I have perfumed my bed,
With myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.’
But as she reels in her catch she offers even greater delights. Her couch has been prepared ready to receive him. She has spread coverlets over it, made of embroidered linen material from Egypt, (probably red in colour, indicating her status), so that they can feast together as they lie on them in comfort. It is intended to sound mysterious and romantic. But to the godly Israelite the mention of Egypt would bring to mind the insidious lure of Egypt (Exo 16:3; Num 11:5). Solomon no doubt hoped that the ‘young man’ whom he was addressing would hopefully take warning.
And not only was there a couch with Egyptian coverlets, there was also a bed perfumed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon (compare Son 4:14). Such a bed would only be owned by the wealthy. And once they had feasted he would share her bed. He was to enjoy every luxury.
Myrrh was a fragrant gum-resin obtained by tapping Arabian or African balsam trees. It was mentioned at Ugarit. Aloes were obtained from the eaglewood tree in south-east Asia and North India. Cinnamon was obtained from the bark of the cinnamon tree. They were all very valuable and spoke of great luxury, although, of course, she may have been exaggerating the delights in store. But the naive young man would be mesmerised..
Pro 7:18-20
‘Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning,
Let us solace ourselves (or ‘make each other delighted’) with loves,
For the man is not at home,
He is gone a long journey,
He has taken a bag of money with him,
He will come home at the full moon.’
She calls him to a feast of love. They can make love (sexual love) all night, without any likelihood of interference. It will be a feast of love. And they can delight each other, with each other’s love (loves, the same word as used by Wisdom in chapter 8) hour by hour until the morning.
And it will be quite safe, for ‘the man’ is at present not at home. He is away for some time. He has gone on a long trip, with a bag full of silver, and is not due back until the full moon. So the young man can be sure that he will not arrive unexpectedly and catch them at it. Note the cold description of her husband as ‘the man’ and not as ‘my husband’. The naive young man is not to think that he is interfering in a love match. It may also indicate her own cold-heartedness.
Pro 7:21-23
‘With her much fair speech she causes him to yield,
With the flattering of her lips she coerces him along.
He goes after her immediately,
As an ox goes to the slaughter,
Or as one in fetters to the correction of the fool,
Until an arrow strike through his liver,
As a bird hurries to the snare,
And knows not that it is for his life.’
With her fair speech she breaks down his resistance, and with her smooth lips she coerces or ‘forces’ him to accompany her. But as we know he was already on the way to her house, so she has a willing victim. That is why he accompanies her immediately. So there is a clever paralleling of the enticements of the woman, and the folly of the young man. But what Solomon’s ‘son’ is to recognise is that really the naive young man is as an ox that is going unaware to the slaughterhouse. He may see himself as a powerful and virulent ox, but really he is heading to his death. He is like a man in fetters (the fetters of sin and lust) being dragged helplessly to what Solomon sees as the physical punishment arising from his foolish behaviour, unaware that shortly an arrow will be shot through his liver as he is executed. He is unaware that he is going to his execution. (A particular instance of such an event may be in Solomon’s mind). He is like a bird hurrying into the snare, not realising that it will lead to the loss of its life, just as the young man is hurrying into the honeytrap, not realising that it is to his death (compare Pro 5:3-5). These pictures and their consequences may well indicate that he can only expect the death penalty for his behaviour, as required by the Torah. Notice the downward movement. The strong and virulent ox, the prisoner restricted by fetters, the foolish flapping bird. He may think of himself as a young ox, but really he is a man in fetters, yes, and even a foolish helpless bird. And in all cases only death awaits.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Setting: Alluring the Five Sense-Gates Pro 7:6-13 describes the setting in which the story unfolds. The adulteress sees a young man in the street and immediately sets upon him to capture his five sense-gates.
Pro 7:6 For at the window of my house I looked through my casement,
Pro 7:6
Jdg 5:28, “The mother of Sisera looked out at a window , and cried through the lattice , Why is his chariot so long in coming? why tarry the wheels of his chariots?”
Son 2:9, “My beloved is like a roe or a young hart: behold, he standeth behind our wall, he looketh forth at the windows , shewing himself through the lattice .”
Pro 7:7 And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding,
Pro 7:7
Pro 7:8 Passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house,
Pro 7:8
Application Today, we should give our children clear boundaries of what they can do and where they can go and how they can and cannot behave. We should nurture their Christian growth, while helping them to contruct healthy boundaries by their own choices. A young, immature Christian without a sense of boundaries will wander down the wrong street and be seduced as easily as a non-believer. Both have not boundaries and endanger themselves.
Pro 7:9 In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night:
Pro 7:9
Illustration Living in the mission field, I often see Americans or Europeans visiting Africa and looking for a boy friend or girl friend, doing things that they would not do in their home town because no one is watching.
Pro 7:10 And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart.
Pro 7:10
Pro 7:11 (She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house:
Pro 7:11
With her loud mouth, the harlot enters the second sense-gate of the naive young man, his ears.
Pro 7:12 Now is she without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner.)
Pro 7:11-12
Pro 7:13 So she caught him, and kissed him, and with an impudent face said unto him,
Pro 7:13
1Ti 2:9, “In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;”
Pro 7:13 Comments – She has gained access to the man’s eyes by her seductive dress and gained access into his ears by her loud talk. Now she touches him in order to arouse his sense of touch and she kisses him to arouse the sense of taste. Her body is probably perfumed to arouse the sense of smell. Thus, she is attempting to seduce the man by arousing all five of his sense-gates.
Illustration – During my first year as a Seminary student (1980-81), I went out on the streets of Fort Worth with other students to hand out Gospel tracts and to witness. I remember one Friday night in the area of town called “Cowtown,” I was handing out tracts and a prostitute wrapped her arms around my neck and was about to kiss me. I quick pushed her back and began to witness to the group of people with her. Surely this verse accurately describes the behavior of the adulteress woman.
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Pro 7:6. I looked through my casement Through the lattice. In Palestine they had no glass to their windows; they closed them with lattices or curtains.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
For at the window of my house I looked through my casement, And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding, Passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house, In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night: And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart. (She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house: Now is she without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner.) So she caught him, and kissed him, and with an impudent face said unto him, I have peace offerings with me; this day have I payed my vows. Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee. I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves. For the goodman is not at home, he is gone a long journey: He hath taken a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed. With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him. He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks; Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life.
Who can read this account, and call to mind the numberless scenes of a like nature that are going on every day in every town, city, and perhaps even village of the whole world, in the different transactions of sin and uncleanness, but must feel affected. Who that knows in himself what fallen nature is, or beholds in others the dreadful instances of the deceitfulness of the human heart, but must tremble. And who that conceives what a mass of such perpetrations of wickedness is continually coming up before God, but must be humbled to the very dust of the earth in the consciousness of universal depravity. Alas! what is man in his highest attainments. But is there not beside the particular feature of sin in uncleanness here pointed out, is there not a spiritual subject opened to our meditation in relation to our whole nature departing from Christ our husband? Jesus has gone for a little space, and the good man will return at the time appointed. But while the bridegroom tarrieth we all slumber and sleep. Oh! Lord keep the souls of thy redeemed in the hour, and from the power of temptation. Let us not go forth as the daughter of Jacob did to see the daughters of the land, so as to seek danger and then fall by it; but make us chaste keepers at home, and living upon Jesus. (Gen 34:1-2 ; Mat 25:5 )
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Pro 7:6 For at the window of my house I looked through my casement,
Ver. 6. I looked through my casement. ] Little did this young fool think whose eye was upon him, less did he heed the all-seeing eye of Heaven. Solomon was observing his subjects’ carriages, and found a miscarriage. Magistrates, as they have many eyes upon them (whence also they have their name in the Hebrew tongue), a so they are to have their eyes upon many, watching when other men sleep, and observing what other men slight. The poets feign that Jupiter overlooks the world, and that Somnus or sleep, dared never come near him. “A king that sitteth in the throne of judgment scattereth away all evil with his eyes.” Pro 20:8
a Nagid a Neged, quod in eam omnes conieciant oculos.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Pro 7:6-23
Pro 7:6-23
A REALISTIC PICTURE OF HOW IT HAPPENED
“For at the window of my house
I looked forth through my lattice;
And I beheld among the simple ones,
I discerned among the youths,
A young man void of understanding,
Passing through the street near her corner;
And he went the way to her house,
In the twilight, in the evening of the day,
In the middle of the night and in the darkness.
And, behold, there met him a woman
With the attire of a harlot, and wily of heart.
(She is clamorous and willful;
Her feet abide not in her house:
Now she is in the streets, now in the broad places,
And lieth in wait at every corner).
So she caught him, and kissed him,
And with an impudent face she said unto him:
Sacrifices of peace-offerings are with me;
This day have I paid my vows.
Therefore came I forth to meet thee,
Diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee.
I have spread my couch with carpets of tapestry,
With striped cloths of the yarn of Egypt.
I have perfumed my bed
With myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
Come, let us take our fill of love till the morning;
Let us solace ourselves with loves.
For the man is not at home;
He is gone on a long journey:
He hath taken a bag of money with him;
He will come home at the full moon.
With her much fair speech she causeth him to yield;
With the flattering of her lips she forceth him along.
He goeth after her straightway,
As an ox goeth to the slaughter,
Or as one in fetters to the correction of a fool;
Till an arrow strike through his liver;
As a bird hasteth to the snare,
And knoweth not that it is for his life.”
“I looked forth through my lattice” (Pro 7:7). “This ancient window was something comparable to our Venetian blinds.
“I beheld among the simple ones” (Pro 7:7). “The word simple is here used in the bad sense for `empty-headed, empty-hearted.’ He was hanging around a place of danger at a time when the pure in heart would have been seeking the security of their home.
“And he went the way to her house” (Pro 7:8). “Like meets like; the seduction is complete,
“In the twilight, in the evening … in the middle of the night … in darkness” (Pro 7:9). The mention of these different times suggests that the young man continued to walk up and down in front of the woman’s house. “Also, there is a symbolical meaning in these pictures of the advancing gloom. As the shadows deepen, night is also falling over the young man’s life.
“A woman with the attire of a harlot” (Pro 7:10). This woman was not a professional harlot; she was merely taking advantage of her husband’s absence to gratify her lust; and her bold aggressiveness in this suggests that this kind of conduct on her part had become habitual. “The fact of this woman being married technically distinguishes her from the harlot proper who was unmarried.
“Now she is in the streets, now in the broad places” (Pro 7:12). “It is no common street-walker who is designated here, but the licentious married wife who is no better than such a strumpet when she walks about searching for a lover.
“Sacrifices of peace-offerings are with me; … I have paid my vows” (Pro 7:14). “This woman here uses the technical words of Lev 3:1 for peace-offerings. This type of offering was required to be shared with the priest and the worshipper, the worshipper being required to eat his portion on the day it was offered. What the woman was saying here was that she had a lot of good food that needed to be eaten at once. Of course, this also was mentioned in order to cast a religious aroma over the evil deed she contemplated. “The law required that the peace-offering was to be eaten on the day of the offering (Lev 7:16). Thus, the very first part of this temptation was the offering of a sumptuous meal in the woman’s house. “She is alluring the young man by saying that her refrigerator is full, that the man of the house is out of town; that they can have their fling and no one will ever know. No one except God!
It is uncertain whether this woman was an Israelite or not. “She need not be an Israelite. Oh yes, she mentioned `paying her vows’ and certain peace-offerings; but there is a real possibility that the vows mentioned here, “Refer to the proceeds of sacred prostitution associated with pagan cults, and vowed to some goddess of fertility.
Tate accepted this suggestion and pointed out that, “This woman was the very most dangerous threat possible for this young man. She was a religious threat because of her connection and practice with the fertility cults; she was not the ordinary prostitute, but a wealthy and presumably respected woman. She was the very paradigm of the seductive promiscuous woman. Tate gives us this sketch of the seductive woman here, an account that he credited to McKane:
“She was the wife of a well-to-do merchant, a man who traveled away from home for long periods of time on business. She, like her husband, was likely a foreigner and probably a devotee of an Astarte cult, passionate, lonely, restless, and careless of her reputation.
“For the man is not at home” (Pro 7:19). “There seems to be a note of scorn here; the woman did not say `my husband,’ but `the man.’
“He goeth after her … as an ox to the slaughter” (Pro 7:22). Harris gives his own paraphrase of this: “The obstinate fool is suddenly caught and held fast by a trap lying in a forbidden path, so has the deceitful power of the adulteress caught the young man.” The young man does not know that it will cost him his life. As the ox led to the slaughter is unaware of what will happen, so those who violate God’s law are often unaware of the ultimate consequences.
Pro 7:6. To show the greatness of the danger presented by the seductions of the temptress, the writer introduces…an actual example of what had passed before his own eyes (Pulpit Commentary). Latticework was used over windows and other areas by crossing laths over each other for privacy (so one could look out without being seen), to keep the welcome flow of breeze coming in while keeping the hot rays of the sun out, and for decorative purposes. It was through such that the father had looked out upon the sad spectacle that he mentions.
Pro 7:7. The simple are the inexperienced, who are easily led astray (Pulpit Commentary). Other passages connecting the simple and those void of understanding with immorality: He that commiteth adultery with a woman is void of understanding (Pro 6:32); Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: As for him that is void of understanding, she saith to him, Come, eat ye of my bread, And drink of the wine which I have mingled. Leave off, ye simple ones, and live; And walk in the way of understanding (Pro 9:4-6); Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither; And as for him that is void of understanding, she saith to him, Stolen waters are sweet (Pro 9:16-17). This verse shows that what one does is known and read by others.
Pro 7:8. He wasnt aware of how dangerous it was to him to be found in her area. This verse sounds like he purposely went to her house with the idea of immorality, but the pressure she put on him (beginning in Pro 7:13) does not bear this out.
Pro 7:9. Wickedness seems to come to life when darkness begins to set in: The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, Saying, No eye shall see me (Job 24:15); They that are drunken are drunken in the night (1Th 5:7). The devils dens of iniquity are all open at night.
Pro 7:10. Her attire catches the eye at once and identifies her-compare Gen 38:14. In Rev 17:4 the harlot is arrayed in purple and scarlet and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls; and in the present case the female is dressed in some conspicuous garments, very different from the sober clothing of the pure and modest (Pulpit Commentary). Wily means subtle. She cannot be believed: her lures are in reality all lies!
Pro 7:11. Pro 9:13 also mentions her being clamorous, meaning loud and boisterous-something that a good woman is not (1Pe 3:4). This is why she is so forward. Being wilful means she is stubborn and disobedient. Ungovernable…In Hos 4:16…the same word is used of a wild heifer that will not submit its neck to the yoke (Lange). She does not stay in the house, for she is out working her dirty trade.
Pro 7:12. She knows no shame. She goes out where people are to snare men.
Pro 7:13. Very reminiscent of Potiphars wife: She caught him by his garment saying, Lie with me (Gen 39:12). On impudent face the Hebrew indicates that she strengthened her countenance, assumed the most confident look she could, endeavored to appear friendly and sincere (Clarke).
Pro 7:14. When one had made a peace-offering to God, he (she) was allowed to take of portion of the meat home (Lev 3:1-5). She was planning a delicious meal (a banquet for two) to which she invites the young man. The religious nature of the feast is utterly ignored or forgotten. The shameless woman uses the opportunity simply as a convenience for her sin (Pulpit Commentary).
Pro 7:15. Here is an instance of flattery that is so characteristic of her and which is warned against several times: That flattereth with her words (Pro 2:16); To keep thee from the evil woman, From the flattery (Pro 6:24). Notice that flattery is always connected with the early part of each instance-with the alluring phase of her operation.
Pro 7:16. Wicked women have employed every means involving beauty, fragrance, etc., beautifying themselves, their clothing, and their quarters to entice men. Bait for the trap!
Pro 7:17. And here comes the fragrance!
Pro 7:18. All of this is to get him to come. Dealing with the Hebrew, Clarke says, Let us revel in the breasts, for the first statement; for the second: Let us gratify each other with loves, with the utmost delights. And then he remarks: This does not half express the original, but I forbear…The original itself is too gross to be literally translated, but quite in character as coming from the mouth of an abandoned woman.
Pro 7:19. She takes care of any fear that he might have of her husband. The young man would realize that Jealousy is the rage of a man; And he will not spare in the day of vengeance. He will not regard any ransom; Neither will he rest content though thou givest many gifts (Pro 6:34-35). But she begins assuring him that her husband will know nothing about the matter: he is not at home; he has gone on a long journey.
Pro 7:20. The assurances continue: he has plenty of money with him for his long trip (probably a merchandising trip); he will not be home again until the full moon. Sinners always have everything taken care of, they think, but have you not noticed that they still get caught every so often? The trouble is, they think no further than not getting caught by people. But all the while God is watching and on judgment will open the book of each persons life and judge him (or her) out of those books according to ones works (Rev 20:12).
Pro 7:21. What about her flattery of him? What about her tapestried couch? What about her perfumed bed? What about her assurances that it was safe? All this caused him to yield. The lips of a strange woman drop honey, And her mouth is smoother than oil (Pro 5:3). The young man evidently didnt give in easily, knowing it would be wrong. But how many times temptation wins over knowledge! Clarke observes, With her blandishments and lascivious talk, she overcame all his scruples and constrained him to yield. This would appear to be the first time he had yielded to this temptation-but it would it be the last time? But he isnt the only one: She hath cast down many wounded (Pro 7:26).
Pro 7:22. Once a person has given in inwardly, there is nothing to keep him from proceeding to the evil act itself: He goeth after her straightway. But how does he go? He sees himself as one on the verge of satisfying his curiosity concerning what happens in sex, of one who is about to experience lifes greatest thrill in an exciting setting. The pleasure, not the punishment, of sin is uppermost in his mind at the moment. But in reality he is going as an ox goeth to the slaughter (Her house inclineth unto death, And her paths unto the dead (Pro 2:18); Her mouth is smoother than oil: But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death; Her steps take hold on Sheol (Pro 5:3-5); He knoweth not that the dead are there; That her guests are in the depths of Sheol (Pro 9:18). Our verse also indicates that he is in for a beating, for he goes after her as one in fetters to the correction of the fool.
Pro 7:23. Other figures of suffering and death continue: an arrow through the liver, a bird caught in a trap. With all the promises that sin makes and with what actually follows, no wonder Heb 3:13 speaks of the deceitfulness of sin, and the devil (who is behind every temptation) is proven to be the liar that Jesus said he was (Joh 8:44). The mess he is getting his life into, the shame that he will bear in honorable society, the trouble he will involve himself in with sinned-against husbands throughout the years, the danger he will bring to the stability of his own house, the disease he will encounter in his own body, the early death he will bring upon himself, and the eternal Hell in which he will suffer forever and ever are the real outcomes of such sin.
STUDY QUESTIONS – Pro 7:6-23
1. Describe such a window of their times as is suggested in Pro 7:6.
2. Are we all simple when young (Pro 7:7)?
3. What verse in Proverbs says to stay completely away from her (Pro 7:8)?
4. What does the Bible say about sinning and darkness (Pro 7:9)?
5. Why is her heart described as wily (Pro 7:10)?
6. Why is she also described as clamorous (Pro 7:11)?
7. What were their broad places (Pro 7:12)?
8. Why is face described as impudent (Pro 7:13)?
9. What is Pro 7:14s connection with the subject under consideration (Pro 7:14)?
10. Was she really looking for him personally (Pro 7:15)?
11. Why all of this (Pro 7:16)?
12. Would we put cinnamon in our beds (Pro 7:17)?
13. What young man in the Bible successfully resisted such talk (Pro 7:18)?
14. Was she, then, a married woman (Pro 7:19)?
15. Why tell him what she did in Pro 7:20?
16. Does the fact that he did not give in easily indicate that he knew it was wrong (Pro 7:21)?
17. Was this his view at the moment (Pro 7:22)?
18. When would this have been (Pro 7:23)?
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
at the: Gen 26:8, 2Sa 6:16
casement: Eshnav, rather a lattice, so called from the Arabic shanaba, ” to be cool,” because of its use in keeping the apartments cool.
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
SIMPLETONS ATTRACT SEDUCERS
At the window of my house I looked through my casement, and beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding.
Pro 7:6-7
From Solomons observation we learn:
I.The special perils of great cities.
II.The evil of late hours.
III.The danger of foolish company.
IV.No mans understanding can be called thoroughly sound till it has been brought under the power of the truth as it is in Jesus.
Illustration
It was in the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night that Solomon witnessed those scenes from his palace window that almost brought a blush to his cheek. As darkness settles down upon the city, vice creeps forth from her lurking-place, and foul vermin in human form crawl the streets. All the demons of the pit hold high carnival. Now is the time for unlawful pleasures and mad convivialities and lascivious revelry. Young men, beware of late hours. Leave that latch key at home; you do not need it. That best of friends, the Lord Jesus Christ, offers you His supporting hand.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Pro 7:6-10. For I looked through my casement Hebrew, , per fenestellam meam, my little window, or lattice, rather. For in Palestine they had no glass to their windows: they closed them with lattices or curtains. This may either be considered as an historical relation, or a parabolical representation of that which frequently happened. I beheld among the simple ones Among the fools; a young man void of understanding , destitute of a heart, a body without a mind, one as ignorant and foolish as they; one whose youth, and heat, and strength, made him more subject to those passions which are termed by the apostle youthful lusts, and who wanted both judgment and experience, as well as grace, to keep him from such courses. Passing through the street Sauntering and idle, perhaps in quest of amusement; near her corner The corner of the street where the adulteress lived. And he went the way to her house Walked carelessly on till he came near her house. It is not said that he intended to visit her, or even that he knew she lived there; but he was loitering about in a place where he had no business, and at an unseasonable hour. Scott. In the evening When, the day-labour being ended, he was at leisure for any thing; and when such strumpets used, and, alas! still use, to walk abroad for prey; in the black and dark night Hebrew, , when night and darkness were yet in embryo, or just beginning, as Dr. Waterland interprets the words. And behold, there met him a woman Thus through idleness he was led into temptation. This woman was not a prostitute, for she was a married woman, (Pro 7:19,) and, for aught that appears, lived in reputation among her neighbours, not suspected of any such wickedness. She was now, however, dressed in the attire of a harlot And her carriage and conduct were agreeable to her quality and design; and she was subtle of heart As she showed in her following discourse, wherein she proposes all things which might invite him to comply with her desire, and conceals whatsoever might discourage him.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
7:6 {b} For at the window of my house I looked through my casement,
(b) Solomon uses this parable to declare their folly, who allow themselves to be abused by harlots.