Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 5:15
Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.
15 19. The remedy against sin is to be found in the holy estate which God has ordained. “The resemblance between the two Books (the Song of Solomon and the Book of Proverbs) in their treatment of this subject is singularly striking.” Speaker’s Comm., ad loc.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The teacher seeks to counteract the evils of mere sensual passion chiefly by setting forth the true blessedness of which it is the counterfeit. The true wife is as a fountain of refreshment, where the weary soul may quench its thirst. Even the joy which is of the senses appears, as in the Song of Solomon, purified and stainless (see Pro 5:19 marginal reference).
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Pro 5:15
Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.
Spiritual resources
I. Man has independent spiritual resources.
1. He has independent sources of thought. Every sane man can and does think for himself.
2. He has independent sources of experience. No two have exactly the same experience.
3. He has independent powers of usefulness. Every man has a power to do some thing which no other can.
II. Man Is Bound To Use These Resources. Drink waters out of thine own cistern. Do not live on others self-drawing.
1. Honours our own nature.
2. Increases our own resources.
3. Contributes to the good of the universe. The man who gives only what he has borrowed from others adds nothing to the common stock. The subject–
(1) Indicates the kind of service which one man can spiritually render another.
(2) Suggests an effective method to sap the foundation of all arrogant assumptions. Let every man become self-helpful, and the influence of those who arrogate a lordship over the faith of others will soon die out.
(3) Presents a motive for thankfully adoring the great Creator for the spiritual constitution He has given us. We have resources, not of course independent of Him, the primal fount of all power, but independent of all creatures. (Homilist.)
Family joys
A painter lays down a dark ground to lean his picture on, and thereby bring its beauty out. Such is the method adopted in this portion of the Word. The pure delights of the family are about to be represented in the sweetest colours that nature yields–wedded love mirrored in running waters; surely we have apples of gold in pictures of silver here. And in all the earlier part of the chapter the Spirit has stained the canvas deep with Satans dark antithesis to the holy appointment of God. The Lord condescends to bring His own institute forward in rivalry with the deceitful pleasures of sin. How beautiful and how true the imagery in which our lesson is unfolded! Pleasures such as God gives to His creatures, and such as His creatures, with advantage to all their interests can enjoy–pleasures that are consistent with holiness and heaven, are compared to a stream of pure running water. And specifically the joys of the family are running waters out of thine own well. This well is not exposed to every passenger. It springs within, and has a fence around it. We should make much of the family and all that belongs to it. All its accessories are the Fathers gift, and He expects us to observe and value them. But because the stream is so pure, a small bulk of foreign matter will sensibly tinge it. The unguarded word, neglected thoughtfulnesses, or slovenly and careless ways. But careful abstinence from evil is only one, and that the lower, side of the case. There must be spontaneous outgoing activity in this matter, like the springing of flowers, and the leaping of a stream from the fountain. All the allusions to this relation in Scripture imply an ardent, joyful love. Husband and wife, if they are skilful to take advantage of their privileges, may, by sharing, somewhat diminish their cares, and fully double their joys. But we must take care lest the enjoyments of home become a snare. God is not pleased with indolence or selfishness. If the family is well ordered, ourselves will get the chief benefit, but we should let others share it. (W. Arnot, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 15. Drink waters out of thine own cistern] Be satisfied with thy own wife; and let the wife see that she reverence her husband; and not tempt him by inattention or unkindness to seek elsewhere what he has a right to expect, but cannot find, at home.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
This metaphor contained here, and Pro 5:16-18, is to be understood either,
1. Of the free and lawful use of a mans estate, both for his own comfort, and for the good of others. Or rather,
2. Of the honest use of matrimony, as the proper remedy against these filthy practices. This best suits with the whole context, both foregoing and following; and thus it is explained in the end of Pro 5:18. So the sense is, Content thyself with those delights which God alloweth thee, with the sober use of the marriage bed. Why shouldst thou ramble hither and thither, trespassing against God and men, to steal their waters, which thou mightest freely take out of thine own cistern or well. The ground of the metaphor is this, that waters were scarce and precious in those countries, and therefore men used to make cisterns and wells for their own private use. And the same metaphor of
waters, and of a pit, or well, is applied to things of this nature elsewhere, as Pro 23:27; Isa 48:1; 51:1.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
15-20. By figures, in whichwell, cistern, and fountain [Pro 5:15;Pro 5:18] represent the wife, andrivers of waters [Pr 5:16]the children, men are exhorted to constancy and satisfaction inlawful conjugal enjoyments. In Pr5:16, fountains (in the plural) rather denote the produceor waters of a spring, literally, “what is from a spring,”and corresponds with “rivers of waters.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Drink waters out of thine own cistern,…. Arguments being used to dissuade from conversation with an adulterous woman, taken from the disgrace, diseases, poverty, and distress of mind on reflection, it brings a man to; the wise man proceeds to direct to marriage, as a proper antidote against it: take a wife and cleave to her, and enjoy all the pleasures and comforts of a marriage state. As every man formerly had his own cistern for the reception of water for his own use, 2Ki 18:31; so every man should have his own wife, and but one: and as drinking water quenches thirst, and allays heat; so the lawful enjoyments of the marriage bed quench the thirst of appetite, and allay the heat of lust; for which reason the apostle advises men to marry and not burn, 1Co 7:9; and a man that is married should be content with his own wife, and not steal waters out of another cistern. The allusion may be to a law, which, Clemens of Alexandria t says, Plato had from the Hebrews; which enjoined husbandmen not to take water from others to water their lands, till they themselves had dug into the earth, called virgin earth, and found it dry and without water;
and running waters out of thine own well; the pure, chaste, and innocent pleasures of the marriage state, are as different from the embraces of an harlot, who is compared to a deep ditch and a narrow pit, Pr 23:27; as clear running waters of a well or fountain from the dirty waters of a filthy puddle; see Pr 9:17. Some interpret these words, and what follows, of persons enjoying with contentment the good things of life they have for the support of themselves and families; and of a liberal communication of them to the relief of proper objects; but not to spend their substance on harlots. Jarchi understands by the “cistern”, the law of Moses: but it may be better applied to the Scriptures in general, from whence all sound doctrine flows, to the comfort and refreshment of the souls of men; and from whence all doctrine ought to be fetched, and not elsewhere.
t Stromat. l. 1. p. 274.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The commendation of true conjugal love in the form of an invitation to a participation in it, is now presented along with the warning against non-conjugal intercourse, heightened by a reference to its evil consequences.
15 Drink water from thine own cistern,
And flowing streams from thine own fountain.
16 Shall thy streams flow abroad,
The water-brooks in the streets!
17 Let them belong to thyself alone,
And not to strangers with thee.
One drinks water to quench his thirst; here drinking is a figure of the satisfaction of conjugal love, of which Paul says, 1Co 7:9, , and this comes into view here, in conformity with the prevailing character of the O.T., only as a created inborn natural impulse, without reference to the poisoning of it by sin, which also within the sphere of married life makes government, moderation, and restraint a duty. Warning against this degeneracy of the natural impulse to the authorized within divinely prescribed limits, the apostle calls the wife of any one (cf. 1Pe 3:7). So here the wife, who is his by covenant (Pro 2:17), is called “cistern” ( )
(Note: The lxx translate , i.e., ( vid., Lagarde).)
and “fountain” ( ) of the husband to whom she is married. The figure corresponds to the sexual nature of the wife, the expression for which is ; but Isa 51:1 holds to the natural side of the figure, for according to it the wife is a pit, and the children are brought out of it into the light of day. Aben-Ezra on Lev 11:36 rightly distinguishes between and : the former catches the rain, the latter wells out from within. In the former, as Rashi in Erubin ii. 4 remarks, there are , in the latter . The post-biblical Hebrew observes this distinction less closely ( vid., Kimchi’s Book of Roots), but the biblical throughout; so far the Ker , Jer 6:7, rightly changes into the form , corresponding to the Arab. byar . Therefore is the cistern, for the making of which , Jer 2:13, and the well, for the formation of which , Gen 21:30, and , Gen 26:25, are the respective words usually employed ( vid., Malbim, Sifra 117b). The poet shows that he also is aware of this distinction, for he calls the water which one drinks from the by the name , but on the other hand that out of the by the name , running waters, fluenta ; by this we are at once reminded of Son 4:15, cf. 12. The offers only stagnant water (according to the Sohar, the has no water of its own, but only that which is received into it), although coming down into it from above; but the has living water, which wells up out of its interior ( , 15b, intentionally for the mere ), and is fresh as the streams from Lebanon ( , properly labi , to run down, cf. , placide ire , and generally ire ; Arab. zal , loco cedere, desinere ; Arab. zll , IV, to cause to glide back, deglutire , of the gourmand). What a valuable possession a well of water is for nomads the history of the patriarchs makes evident, and a cistern is one of the most valuable possessions belonging to every well-furnished house. The figure of the cistern is here surpassed by that of the fountain, but both refer to the seeking and finding satisfaction (cf. the opposite passage, Pro 23:27) with the wife, and that, as the expressive possessive suffixes denote, with his legitimate wife.
Pro 5:16 Here we meet with two other synonyms standing in a similar relation of progression. As denotes the fountain as to its point of outflow, so ( n. loci) means water flowing above on the surface, which in its course increases and divides itself into several courses; such a brook is called, with reference to the water dividing itself from the point of outflow, or to the way in which it divides, (from , Job 38:25), Arab. falaj (as also the Ethiop.) or falj , which is explained by nahar saghayr (Fl.).
(Note: The latter idea ( vid., under Psa 1:3) lies nearer, after Job 38:25: the brook as dividing channels for itself, or as divided into such; falj ( falaj ) signifies, according to the representation Isa 58:8, also like fajr , the morning-light (as breaking forth from a cleft).)
We cannot in this double figure think of any reference to the generative power in the sperma ; similar figures are the waters of Judah, Isa 48:1, and the waters of Israel flowing forth as if from a bucket, Num 24:7, where is the parallel word to , cf. also the proper name (from = from , diffluere ), aqua h.e. semen patris , and , Deu 28:30, = Arab. sajal (whence sajl = , situla ), which is set aside by the Ker . Many interpreters have by and been here led into the error of pressing into the text the exhortation not to waste the creative power in sinful lust. The lxx translates by ; but Origen, and also Clemens Alexandrinus, used the phrase , which is found in the Complut., Ald., and several codd., and is regarded by Lagarde, as also Cappellus, as original: the three Gttingen theologians (Ewald, Bertheau, and Elster) accordingly make the emendation . But that of the lxx was not added till a later period; the original expression, which the Syro-Hexapl. authorizes, was without , as also in the version of Aquila, without ( vid., Field). The Hebrew text also does not need . Clericus, and recently Hitzig, Zckler, Kamphausen, avoid this remedy, for they understand this verse interrogatively – an expedient which is for the most part and also here unavailing; for why should not the author have written ? Schultens rightly remarks: nec negationi nec interrogationi ullus hic locus , for (with Fleischer and von Hofmann, Schriftbeweis, ii. 2, 402) he regards Pro 5:16 as a conclusion: tunc exundabunt ; so that he strengthens the summons of Pro 5:15 by the promise of numerous descendants from unviolated marriage. But to be so understood, the author ought to have written . So, according to the text, as jussive continues the imper. (15a), and the full meaning according to the connection is this: that within the marriage relation the generative power shall act freely and unrestrained. and denote (Pro 1:20) the space free from houses, and the ways and places which lead towards and stretch between them; (from , Arab. khass , to split, seorsim ponere ) is a very relative conception, according as one thinks of that which is without as the contrast of the house, the city, or the country. Here is the contrast of the person, and thus that which is anywhere without it, whereto the exercise of its manly power shall extend. The two figurative expressions are the description of the libero flumine , and the contrast, that restriction of self which the marriage relation, according to 1Co 7:3-5, condemns.
Pro 5:17 That such matters as there are thought of, is manifest from this verse. As comprehends with the cause ( sperma ) the effect (posterity), so, in Pro 5:16, with the effusio roboris virilis is connected the idea of the beginnings of life. For the subjects of Pro 5:17 are the effusiones seminis named in Pro 5:16. These in their effects (Pro 5:17) may belong to thee alone, viz., to thee alone ( , properly in thy separateness) within thy married relation, not, as thou hast fellowship with other women, to different family circles, Aben-Ezra rightly regards as the subject, for he glosses thus: , and Immanuel well explains by . The child born out of wedlock belongs not to the father alone, he knows not to whom it belongs; its father must for the sake of his honour deny it before the world. Thus, as Grotius remarks: ibi sere ubi prolem metas . In the is continued. It is not thus used adverbially for , as in the old classic Arabic lyas for l’ (Fl.), but it carries in it the force of a verb, so that , according to rule, in the sense of = , continues it.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Conjugal Fidelity Enjoined. | |
15 Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well. 16 Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets. 17 Let them be only thine own, and not strangers’ with thee. 18 Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth. 19 Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love. 20 And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger? 21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings. 22 His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins. 23 He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.
Solomon, having shown the great evil that there is in adultery and fornication, and all such lewd and filthy courses, here prescribes remedies against them.
I. Enjoy with satisfaction the comforts of lawful marriage, which was ordained for the prevention of uncleanness, and therefore ought to be made use of in time, lest it should not prove effectual for the cure of that which it might have prevented. Let none complain that God has dealt unkindly with them in forbidding them those pleasures which they have a natural desire of, for he has graciously provided for the regular gratification of them. “Thou mayest not indeed eat of every tree of the garden, but choose thee out one, which thou pleasest, and of that thou mayest freely eat; nature will be content with that, but lust with nothing.” God, in thus confining men to one, has been so far from putting any hardship upon them that he has really consulted their true interest; for, as Mr. Herbert observes, “If God had laid all common, certainly man would have been the encloser.“–Church-porch. Solomon here enlarges much upon this, not only prescribing it as an antidote, but urging it as an argument against fornication, that the allowed pleasures of marriage (however wicked wits may ridicule them, who are factors for the unclean spirit) far transcend all the false forbidden pleasures of whoredom.
1. Let young men marry, marry and not burn. Have a cistern, a well of thy own (v. 15), even the wife of thy youth, v. 18. Wholly abstain, or wed.–Herbert. “The world is wide, and there are varieties of accomplishments, among which thou mayest please thyself.”
2. Let him that is married take delight in his wife, and let him be very fond of her, not only because she is the wife that he himself has chosen and he ought to be pleased with his own choice, but because she is the wife that God in his providence appointed for him and he ought much more to be pleased with the divine appointment, pleased with her because she is his own. Let thy fountain be blessed (v. 18); think thyself very happy in her, look upon her as a blessed wife, let her have thy blessing, pray daily for her, and then rejoice with her. Those comforts we are likely to have joy of that are sanctified to us by prayer and the blessing of God. It is not only allowed us, but commanded us, to be pleasant with our relations; and it particularly becomes yoke-fellows to rejoice together and in each other. Mutual delight is the bond of mutual fidelity. It is not only taken for granted that the bridegroom rejoices over his bride (Isa. lxii. 5), but given for law. Eccl. ix. 9, Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of thy life. Those take not their comforts where God has appointed who are jovial and merry with their companions abroad, but sour and morose with their families at home.
3. Let him be fond of his wife and love her dearly (v. 19): Let her be as the loving hind and the pleasant roe, such as great men sometimes kept tame in their houses and played with. Desire no better diversion from severe study and business than the innocent and pleasant conversation of thy own wife; let her lie in thy bosom, as the poor man’s ewe-lamb did in his (2 Sam. xii. 3), and do thou repose thy head in hers, and let that satisfy thee at all times; and seek not for pleasure in any other. “Err thou always in her love. If thou wilt suffer thy love to run into an excess, and wilt be dotingly fond of any body, let it be only of thy own wife, where there is least danger of exceeding.” This is drinking waters, to quench the thirst of thy appetite, out of thy own cistern, and running waters, which are clear, and sweet, and wholesome, out of thy own well,Pro 5:15; 1Co 7:2; 1Co 7:3.
4. Let him take delight in his children and look upon them with pleasure (Pro 5:16; Pro 5:17): “Look upon them as streams from thy own pure fountains” (the Jews are said to come forth out of the waters of Judah, Isa. xlviii. 1), “so that they are parts of thyself, as the streams are of the fountain. Keep to thy own wife, and thou shalt have,” (1.) “A numerous offspring, like rivers of water, which run in abundance, and they shall be dispersed abroad, matched into other families, whereas those that commit whoredom shall not increase,” Hos. iv. 10. (2.) “A peculiar offspring, which shall be only thy own, whereas the children of whoredom, that are fathered upon thee, are, probably, not so, but, for aught thou knowest, are the offspring of strangers, and yet thou must keep them.” (3.) “A creditable offspring, which are an honour to thee, and which thou mayest send abroad, and appear with, in the streets, whereas a spurious brood is thy disgrace, and that which thou art ashamed to own.” In this matter, virtue has all the pleasure and honour in it; justly therefore it is called wisdom.
5. Let him then scorn the offer of forbidden pleasures when he is always ravished with the love of a faithful virtuous wife; let him consider what an absurdity it will be for him to be ravished with a strange woman (v. 20), to be in love with a filthy harlot, and embrace the bosom of a stranger, which, if he had any sense of honour or virtue, he would loathe the thoughts of. “Why wilt thou be so sottish, such an enemy to thyself, as to prefer puddle-water, and that poisoned too and stolen, before pure living waters out of thy own well?” Note, If the dictates of reason may be heard, the laws of virtue will be obeyed.
II. “See the eye of God always upon thee and let his fear rule in thy heart,” v. 21. Those that live in this sin promise themselves secresy (the eye of the adulterer waits for the twilight, Job xxiv. 15); but to what purpose, when it cannot be hidden from God? For, 1. He sees it. The ways of man, all his motions, all his actions, are before the eyes of the Lord, all the workings of the heart and all the outgoings of the life, that which is done ever so secretly and disguised ever so artfully. God sees it in a true light, and knows it with all its causes, circumstances, and consequences. He does not cast an eye upon men’s ways now and then, but they are always actually in his view and under his inspection; and darest thou sin against God in his sight, and do that wickedness under his eye which thou durst not do in the presence of a man like thyself? 2. He will call the sinner to an account for it; for he not only sees, but ponders all his goings, judges concerning them, as one that will shortly judge the sinner for them. Every action is weighed, and shall be brought into judgment (Eccl. xii. 14), which is a good reason why we should ponder the path of our feet (ch. iv. 26), and so judge ourselves that we may not be judged.
III. “Foresee the certain ruin of those that go on still in their trespasses.” Those that live in this sin promise themselves impunity, but they deceive themselves; their sin will find them out, Pro 5:22; Pro 5:23. The apostle gives the sense of these verses in a few words. Heb. xiii. 4, Whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. 1. It is a sin which men with great difficulty shake off the power of. When the sinner is old and weak his lusts are strong and active, in calling to remembrance the days of his youth, Ezek. xxiii. 19. Thus his own iniquities having seized the wicked himself by his own consent, and he having voluntarily surrendered himself a captive to them, he is held in the cords of his own sins, and such full possession they have gained of him that he cannot extricate himself, but in the greatness of his folly (and what greater folly could there be than to yield himself a servant to such cruel task-masters?) he shall go astray, and wander endlessly. Uncleanness is a sin from which, when once men have plunged themselves into it, they very hardly and very rarely recover themselves. 2. It is a sin which, if it be not forsaken, men cannot possibly escape the punishment of; it will unavoidably be their ruin. As their own iniquities do arrest them in the reproaches of conscience and present rebukes (Jer. vii. 19), so their own iniquities shall arrest them and bind them over to the judgments of God. There needs no prison, no chains; they shall be holden in the cords of their own sins, as the fallen angels, being incurably wicked, are thereby reserved in chains of darkness. The sinner, who, having been often reproved, hardens his neck, shall die at length without instruction. Having had general warnings sufficient given him already, he shall have no particular warnings, but he shall die without seeing his danger beforehand, shall die because he would not receive instruction, but in the greatness of his folly would go astray; and so shall his doom be, he shall never find the way home again. Those that are so foolish as to choose the way of sin are justly left of God to themselves to go in it till they come to that destruction which it leads to, which is a good reason why we should guard with watchfulness and resolution against the allurements of the sensual appetite.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Fidelity is God’s Plan and Fir Better Way – Vs. 15-18
Verses 15-17 refer to the wife as a cistern or well (singular) from which the husband is refreshed and out of which flow blessings in the persons and influence of a family after God’s plan, Son 4:12; Son 4:15.
Verse 17 emphasizes that the family be one’s own, not offspring of strangers. Fathering illegitimate children violates a fundamental principle of God’s plan, 1Ti 5:14; Heb 13:4.
Verses 18-19 affirm (1) that the blessings of God rest upon marriage in accord with His divine plan and (2) that sexual delight is natural and right in such unions, Pro 18:22; Heb 13:4.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
TEXT Pro. 5:15-23
15.
Drink waters out of thine own cistern,
And running waters out of thine own well.
16.
Should thy springs be dispersed abroad,
And streams of water in the streets?
17.
Let them be for thyself alone,
And not for strangers with thee.
18.
Let thy fountain be blessed;
And rejoice in the wife of thy youth.
19.
As a loving hind and a pleasant roe,
Let her breasts satisfy thee at all times;
And be thou ravished always with her love.
20.
For why shouldest thou, my son, be ravished with a
strange woman,
And embrace the bosom of a foreigner?
21.
For the ways of men are before the eyes of Jehovah;
And he maketh level all his paths.
22.
His own iniquities shall take the wicked,
And he shall be holden with the cords of his sin.
23. He shall die for lack of instruction;
And in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.
STUDY QUESTIONS OVER 5:15-23
1.
What does Pro. 5:15 mean?
2.
What is the meaning of Pro. 5:16?
3.
Is it all right for a man to share his wife with others (Pro. 5:17)?
4.
Pro. 5:18 is a restatement of what previous verse?
5.
What is a hind, and what is a roe (Pro. 5:19)?
6.
Why should one embrace the bosom of a foreigner and be ravished with a strange woman (Pro. 5:20)?
7.
What does Pro. 5:21 mean?
8.
How is the bondage of sin brought out in Pro. 5:22?
9.
What is sin called in Pro. 5:23?
PARAPHRASE OF 5:15-23
Pro. 5:15-21.
Drink from your own well, my sonbe faithful and true to your wife. Why should you beget children with women of the street? Why share your children with those outside your home? Let your manhood be a blessing, rejoice in the wife of your youth. Let her charms and tender embrace satisfy you. Let her love alone fill you with delight. Why delight yourself with prostitutes, embracing what isnt yours? For God is closely watching you, and He weighs carefully everything you do.
Pro. 5:22-23.
The wicked man is doomed by his own sins; they are ropes that catch and hold him. He shall die because he will not listen to the truth; he has let himself be led away into incredible folly.
COMMENTS ON 5:15-23
Pro. 5:15. Instead of carrying on immorally, he counsels his son to get married, have his own mate, and partake of his own well and cistern. This is what he will do in other fields of life. He will have his own gardenhe will not steal out of his neighbors garden. He will have his own flowershe wont steal from his neighbors flower garden. Heb. 13:4 says, Let marriage be had in honor among all, and let the bed be undefiledthat which is sin outside of marriage is innocent within the bounds of marriage-for fornicators and adulterers God will judgethose who carry on immorally apart from or outside of the marriage bounds.
Pro. 5:16. The figurative language is still continued, and under the terms fountains and rivers of waters are to be understood children, the legitimate issue of lawful marriageThe meaning appears to be: Let thy marriage be blessed with many children, who may go abroad for the public good (Pulpit Commentary). Psa. 127:3-5 pictures such: Children are a heritage of Jehovah; And the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows in the hand of a mighty man, So are the children of youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them. And Psa. 128:3 : Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine, In the innermost parts of thy house; Thy children like olive plants, Round about thy table. The question form of our verse shows that a man should not beget illegitimate children.
Pro. 5:17. Do not consent to living with a wife who is unfaithful. This verse puts the thought into commandment form: it says, Dont share your mate with anybody else; and observation confirms that it seldom works out to keep living with an unfaithful mate in the hope that everything will ultimately turn out all right. Mate-trading is not only forbidden by this, but it is inevitably the ruin of marriage.
Pro. 5:18. This carries the same thought as Pro. 5:15, only in more explicit language. God has created you so you have all the possibilities of love and enjoyment at home. Ecc. 9:9 says, Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest. But people who lacked the character, conviction and conscience to behave themselves during their courtships often tire of one another during the years of marriage, and then the same lack of character and control causes them to become grumpy with each other and to seek immoral connections with others.
Pro. 5:19. Pulpit Commentary says, The loving hind and pleasant roe…descriptive of the grace and fascinating charms of the young wifeShe is to be the object of thy love and devotion, the one in whom thine affections are to find the fulfillment of their desires. The correctness of the above is brought out by the fact that the hind and the roe enter often into the erotic poetry of the East.
Pro. 5:20. Two great thoughts involved here: (1) Be ravished with your own wife; embrace your own sweet wife; who should be dearer to you than the one who is for you alone? (2) Dont be ravished by and dont embrace any other; it is wrong to do so; and the whole affair will let you down in time.
Pro. 5:21. Many passages show that no man, though he may try to slip around behind the back of his wife and carry on with some other woman, can conceal his deeds from God: The eyes of Jehovah run to and fro throughout the whole earth (2Ch. 16:9); Doth not he see my ways? (Job. 31:4); His eyes are upon the ways of a man, And he seeth all his goings (Job. 34:21); The eyes of Jehovah are in every place, Keeping watch upon the evil and the good (Pro. 15:3); Mine eyes are upon all their ways; they are not hid from my face, neither is their iniquity concealed from mine eyes (Jer. 16:17); …whose eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men, to give every one according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings (Jer. 32:19); They consider not in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness; now have their own doings beset them about; they are before my face (Hos. 7:2). For the statement, he maketh level all his paths, the Margin seems to fit the context and sense better: He weigheth carefully all his paths.
Pro. 5:22. Most people who follow unlawful pleasures think they can give them up whenever they please, but sin repeated becomes customary, custom soon engenders habit, and habit in the end assumes the form of necessity; the man becomes bound with his own cords and so is led captive by the devil at his will (Clarke). Iniquity is like an outlaw who overpowers a person and then keeps him by chaining him. Christ came to release all such: He hath sent me to proclaim release to the captives (Luk. 4:18).
Pro. 5:23. Not that he didnt have instruction but that he had instruction that he didnt heed, for in Pro. 5:12 he admitted, How have I hated instruction, And my heart despised reproof; Neither have I obeyed the voice of my teachers, Nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me! Sin is here called folly (a great folly) that takes one out of the path (astray) like a lost and wandering sheep and gets one off-course (like a wandering star for whom the blackness of darkness is reserved foreverJud. 1:13). Both God and decent people have always considered fornication and adultery a great sin.
TEST QUESTIONS OVER 5:15-23
1.
Is it wrong for husband and wife to enjoy the affectionate life (Pro. 5:15)?
2.
What does Pro. 5:16 forbid in question-form?
3.
Does God say it is all right to continue living with an unfaithful mate (Pro. 5:17)?
4.
What previous verse in this chapter is saying the same as Pro. 5:18?
5.
In what other literature were hind and roe used as symbolic of the grace and fascinating charms of love (Pro. 5:19)?
6.
What is forbidden in Pro. 5:20?
7.
Cite some other passages besides Pro. 5:21 that tell of Gods all-seeing eye.
8.
What does Pro. 5:22 emphasize about sin?
9.
Why is fornication called folly in Pro. 5:23?
POSSESSION OF HAPPINESS
A mans own success has much to do with his possession of happiness. Listen to three verses upon this subject: A man shall be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth: and the recompense of a mans hands shall be rendered unto him (Pro. 12:14). When a person has said the right thing and has done the right thing, it brings him personal satisfaction, and he enjoys the reward of right doing. A second passage states it so well, when it says, The desire accomplished is sweet to the soul (Pro. 13:19). When a person has launched out into a project and has accomplished it, how good it feels. To spend a day in carrying out well-laid-out plans is one of lifes greatest joys, and for the most part, it is an everyday privilege. A third passage reads: Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life (Pro. 13:12). When a person has planned for something and then finds that its realization cannot be at the time expected, it brings a letdown that is well described by the words, maketh the heart sick. All of us have sometime known what it is to be sick of heart over a deferred hope. But, the passage says it is a tree of life to us when that desire is realized. So, our successes and failures have much to do with our happiness or our lack of it.
But, there are other things that enter in also. Pro. 15:30 says, A good report maketh the bones fat, after it says, The light of the eyes rejoiceth the heart. Similarly-does Pro. 25:25 report, As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country, when one has been eagerly awaiting news, is just as exhilarating to his spirits.
Then, when ones spirit is bowed in sorrow, how good it is to have the comfort of another! Pro. 12:25 says, Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop: but a good work maketh it glad. And Pro. 16:24 says, Pleasant words are as any honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones. Such words, either uttered to us when our spirits need refreshment or uttered in the normal course of conversation, cast a spirit of cheerfulness about us which we all appreciate. Unpleasant words do quite the opposite.
A life of trust in God also brings happiness to a person. He that handleth a matter wisely shall find good: and whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is he (Pro. 16:20).
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(15-20) Drink waters out of thine own cistern . . .In these verses Solomon urges his disciples to follow after purity in the married life; he pictures in vivid terms the delights which it affords as compared with the pleasures of sin.
Out of thine own cistern.The strange woman, on the other hand, says, Stolen waters are sweet (Pro. 9:17). The same figure is employed in Son. 4:15, where a wife is compared to a fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon. In Jer. 2:13 God compares Himself to a fountain of living waters, and complains that Israel had deserted Him, and hewed out for themselves broken cisterns that can hold no water. This passage in Proverbs has in like manner often been interpreted as an exhortation to drink deeply from the living waters of the Holy Spirit given in the Word and Sacraments (Joh. 7:37).For ref. see Bishop Wordsworth.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
EXHORTATION TO CHASTENESS AND PROPER CONJUGAL DUTIES, Pro 5:15-23.
15-17. Drink waters Waters often stand for posterity. Num 24:7. Fountains, wells, and cisterns, in the East were regarded as of great importance. Hence they were largely used metaphorically for that which is noble, desirable, and even sacred. Compare Psa 68:26; Isa 43:1; Son 4:12; Gen 26:15-20; Jer 18:14. These verses, under an allegory, contain an exhortation to restrain the sexual appetite within the boundaries of thine own married life. The figure is eminently Oriental and vivid, but chaste; and the subject is treated with the utmost delicacy of language and purity of thought. By the fountains of Pro 5:16 is commonly understood lawful issue, of which a man need not be ashamed, but, on the contrary, lead them forth into the streets as his joy and pride. But some versions have a negative before the word fountains. Let NOT thy fountains, etc. Fountains then would mean our sexual gratifications, and they are forbidden here to rove. The sense would then harmonize well with the next verse, where the same thought is, after the Hebrew manner, presented under a fuller form. Zockler translates interrogatively: “Shall thy streams flow abroad as water in the streets?” So, also, Conant. There is no sign of the interrogative, but this is sometimes omitted, as in Psa 56:7.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Solomon Calls On His Son To Be Faithful To His True Wife, And To Obtain His Sexual Enjoyments From Her ( Pro 5:15-20 ).
In contrast Solomon now brings home to ‘his son’ (Pro 5:20) the joys of sexual fulfilment within marriage. He wants him to recognise that in marriage he has a unique sexual partner, and one who loves him in return. Here then is to be the real source of sexual enjoyment. Thus he exhorts him to find his sexual pleasures in his own wife. He must drink from his own source of refreshment, for in that case he alone will be the one who enjoys it. She will not give her favours to another. And she too will be blessed when he rejoices in her. Let him therefore drink of her and be wholly taken up with her, rather than going to strange women and foreigners whom he will have to share with others, who will not love him, and who will themselves get no real pleasure out of him.
This is presented in the form of a brief chiasmus leaving Pro 5:21-22 as an epilogue:
A Drink waters out of your own cistern, and running waters out of your own well. Should your springs be dispersed abroad, and streams of water in the streets?’ (Pro 5:15-16).
B Let them be for yourself alone, and not for strangers with you (Pro 5:17).
B Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth (Pro 5:18).
A As a loving hind and a pleasant doe, let her breasts satisfy you at all times, and be you ravished always with her love, for why should you, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a foreigner? (Pro 5:19-20).
Note that in A he is to drink water out of his own cistern and from his own well, rather than wasting his water by allowing it to stream out into the streets, and in the parallel he is to drink of his own wife’s breasts and love, and not allow his sexual accomplishments to be spread among strange women and foreigners. In B he is enjoy the sexual benefits of his wife for himself alone, for they are not be shared with others, and the consequence will be that he finds his blessing in her (or his wife will be blessed) and will find his enjoyment in the one who is the wife of his youth, his own spring.
Pro 5:15-16
‘Drink waters out of your own cistern,
And running waters out of your own well,
Should your springs be dispersed abroad,
And streams of water in the streets?’
Solomon opens this subsection with a vivid illustration. ‘Drink waters out of your own cistern’ must surely be explained in terms of ‘let her breasts satisfy you at all times’ (Pro 5:19). The cistern was a private source of water, not accessible to others without strict permission. Thus his wife and her sexual attributes are being seen as his source of sexual enjoyment, and his alone. The parallel ‘running waters out of your own well’ stresses the purity and satisfactory nature of the provision. Whereas the water from a cistern (a pit with a small opening at the top for storing water) might after a time become comparatively dirty and muddy, running water was always pure and wholesome. And note again the emphasis on ‘your own well’. The well would private and for the sole use of the householder, although it would be fed from a spring.
The change to the plural indicates the expression of a general situation and draws attention to the incongruity of people sharing their own private water supply (which was very precious in those days), and therefore of sharing the sexual favours of their wives. It is beyond comprehension. Indeed, to disperse their springs everywhere in widespread fashion or to pour springs of water into the streets would be to spread them so thinly that any enjoyment of them would be very temporary. Everyone would obtain quick enjoyment and then they would be gone. They would have no permanent container such as a cistern or a well enabling them to be retained for the future. He, of course, sees this as a suitable picture of a prostitute’s favours. A quick drink and she’s gone, for she is generally available. She is owned by no one.
Pro 5:17
‘Let them be for yourself alone,
And not for strangers with you,
Both their cisterns and their wells, and their wives’ sexual favours are to be for themselves alone. They are not to be freely available to strangers and foreigners living among them. This is, of course, the very opposite for prostitutes. (The point is not that strangers must not be allowed to drink from their cisterns and wells, once given permission, only that they are not open to being open to anyone. They are exclusive).
Pro 5:18
Let your bubbling spring be blessed,
And rejoice in the wife of your youth.’
By his ‘bubbling spring’ being blessed, when taken with the parallel, is an exhortation to the husband to bless his ‘bubbling spring’, that is his wife or the sexual provision that she supplies him with. He is to have eyes for no other. He must rejoice in the one whom he married while still a young man. In this regard we should note that Josiah and Amon, future kings of Israel, would marry at 14, whilst Jehoiachin would marry at 16. The Egyptians saw 15 as the marriageable age for men and 12 for women. Not all, however, were married as young as this e.g. David.
Pro 5:19-20
‘As a love-making deer and a graceful doe,
Let her breasts satisfy you at all times,
And be you sexually satiated always with her love.’
For why should you, my son,
Be sexually satiated with a strange woman,
And embrace the bosom of a foreigner?
The figure in Pro 5:15 is now clearly explained. As one interested in nature (as a means of instruction) he compares the young wife to ‘a lovemaking deer’ or a ‘graceful doe’. There is an important lesson in this in that it supports the idea that sexual enjoyment in marriage is natural and good. As with certain animals, so with man. Most men in those days would have seen female deer engaged in erotic lovemaking and would know of the graceful female mountain goats (probably ibexes), and seen them also love-making. Thus he too must engage in erotic love-making with his wife, whilst also recognising her gracefulness and feminine beauty. There is a recognition of both sexual satisfaction and female gracefulness.
In a similar way ‘his son’ must look to his wife’s breasts (or nipples) for satisfaction, and regularly be sexually satiated with her offered love. It is she from whom he should obtain his sexual satisfaction, not some strange woman or foreigner, who would dispense her favours and then be gone, leaving him dissatisfied.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Remedy: A Happy Marriage – This passage is describing the institution of holy matrimony. Marriage is called a well of water, running waters, fountains, rivers of waters, a loving hin and a pleasant roe. Water refreshes the soul, and sex refreshes the flesh; but genuine love in marriage refreshes the spirit, soul and body.
The pleasures of marriage outweigh the pleasures of fornication. The remedy for avoiding the strange woman is to pay attention to wisdom, staying far from the house of the adulteress, and focus on your wife as God’s source of satisfaction.
Contrasting the Adulteress with the Wife – The book of Proverbs gives a number of contrasts between the adulteress and the wife.
1. If the wife is called fresh, clean water in this passage, the whore is contrasted as a dirty ditch. Note:
Pro 23:27, “For a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit.”
Just as filthy water in a ditch is a source of worms and disease, so is a filthy whore a source of infectious disease.
2. The adulteress is called a “strange” woman. It is the strangeness of a whore that stands in direct contrast to “knowing” one’s wife.
Pro 5:15 Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.
Pro 5:15
Pro 5:15 Comments – Note that in this time period, a man that owned a well was truly blessed. For many neighbours did not have this privilege. Therefore, they find themselves always coming to the house of the one blessed with water and having to purchase it.
My wife grew up in a poor neighbourhood where many small houses were built together. Her father was one of the few homes with running water. The other neighbours were constantly coming over to purchase water from him, but the wicked person attempted to steal some water. This is symbolic of adultery. Note:
Pro 9:17, “ Stolen waters are sweet , and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. But he knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell.”
Pro 5:16 Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets.
Pro 5:16
If the fountain of water represents the man and woman in marriage, then the rivers of water represent their offspring and their overflow of blessings into the society. Rivers of water represent a multitude of children and the divine blessings that overflow into the lives of others. Their offspring will as well become blessings to others in the community.
1. The nation of Judah is said to have come forth out of the waters of Judah.
Isa 48:1, “Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah , which swear by the name of the LORD, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness.”
2. We see a similar picture of a river being dispersed from the throne of God in the book of Revelation.
Rev 22:1, “And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.”
In the book of Revelation, these waters represent the life, or provision, from God.
3. In contrast to the blessings of having many children from a loving wife, the man who commits whoredom will not be producing children, as noted in Hos 4:10.
Hos 4:10, “For they shall eat, and not have enough: they shall commit whoredom, and shall not increase : because they have left off to take heed to the LORD.”
Pro 5:15-16 Comments A Man’s Source of Refreshing – A man’s wife is his true source of refreshing, just as the well in his own yard is the proper source of physical refreshment with water (Pro 5:15). There is enough refreshment in a godly relationship with his wife to overflow and bless a multitude of others (Pro 5:16).
Pro 5:17 Let them be only thine own, and not strangers’ with thee.
Pro 5:17
Jdg 11:1-2, “Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valour, and he was the son of an harlot: and Gilead begat Jephthah. And Gilead’s wife bare him sons; and his wife’s sons grew up, and they thrust out Jephthah, and said unto him, Thou shalt not inherit in our father’s house; for thou art the son of a strange woman.”
We see this illustrated in the relationship of Ishmael with his father Abraham. Ishmael, the son of Abraham’s handmaid, was cast out of the family after he began to despise Isaac, his half brother.
Pro 5:18 Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.
Pro 5:18
Ecc 9:9, “ Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun , all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun.”
Mal 2:14-15, “Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the LORD hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth , against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant. And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth .”
Pro 5:19 Comments – There is a joy in early marriage, where the young wife is excited about taking care of her husband and giving him pleasure. They do things together and enjoy the hope of future happiness together. Unfortunately, the husband can easily take advantage of a wife’s desire to serve him and neglect to meet her needs. Such years of neglect leave a woman depressed and less responsive to her husband, so that she loses her beauty and youthful joy. Such immaturity in the husband leads him to look for a new wife, in whom is such youth and excitement. He blames his first wife, when in fact, he has been the cause of her demise.
Pro 5:19 Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love.
Pro 5:19
Act 9:36, “Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha , which by interpretation is called Dorcas : this woman was full of good works and almsdeeds which she did.”
Matthew Henry notes that the wealthy men would often keep these animals as pets in their homes to entertain them. [68] We see an illustration of this type of pet in 2Sa 12:3.
[68] Matthew Henry, Proverbs, in Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible, New Modern Edition, Electronic Database (Seattle, WA: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 1991), in P.C. Study Bible, v. 3.1 [CD-ROM] (Seattle, WA: Biblesoft Inc., 1993-2000), notes on Proverbs 5:15-23.
2Sa 12:3, “But the poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up: and it grew up together with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter.”
Note other Scriptural references to the roe in relation to love:
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.”
Son 2:17, “Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of Bether.”
Son 8:14, “Make haste, my beloved, and be thou like to a roe or to a young hart upon the mountains of spices.”
Pro 5:19 “let her breasts satisfy thee at all times” Comments – The breasts are both the seat of a woman’s emotions and the source of a man’s attraction. If a man is satisfied with his wife, then he will not be looking for the breasts of another. His affection for his wife’s breasts satisfies her sexual needs. Thus, a man’s physical attraction for his wife is an indicator of the strength of his relationship with her.
Scripture References – Note other similar Scriptures references:
Son 1:13, “A bundle of myrrh is my wellbeloved unto me; he shall lie all night betwixt my breasts.”
Son 4:5, “Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins, which feed among the lilies.”
Son 7:3, “Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins.”
Pro 5:19 “be thou ravished always with her love” – Comments – Here, we see the heart of a man in passionate love with his young bride. In order to keep this passion alive, we must follow the remedy that God gives us in this passage of Scripture. Otherwise, a man will find his eyes wandering to other fountains.
Pro 5:19 Comments – The word “let” used in Proverbs 519 indicates that it is a matter of a man’s will to decide whether to keep his bond strong with his wife, or to let his eyes and heart wander to a stranger. Thus, when someone says that his passions were beyond his control, he is denying the fact that he chose that path initially of his own free will, although this path may have led him into his passions and bondages.
The secular media today is trying to get the seductive woman in front of the eyes of the man so that he will watch their programs, or read their literature and thus, purchase the products that they advertise. The media simply wants his wealth and they use seduction to get access to it. But they must get the man’s eyes off of his wife and on other seductive women. They could care less if it destroys a marriage as long as they get their wealth.
I learned as a single man to turn my eyes away from seduction and not to meditate upon it. Otherwise, it could easily bring me into bondage.
Put simply, Pro 5:19 tells the husband to keep the fires of romance burning. A man’s physical attraction to his wife is an indication of the health of the marriage. Take her on a date. Do things for her to keep her beautiful and sexy. Buy her something romantic to wear for the bedtime hours. Because if the husband does not do it for his wife, then he may become tempted to do it for someone else, even if it is only in his imagination. A man must not neglect the romantic part of a marriage. My experience in marriage shows me that it is the man’s responsibility to keep romance alive, and if he does, the wife will follow his leading by acting and becoming sexy for her husband.
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Chastity Contrasted with Unchastity
v. 15. Drink waters out of thine own cistern and running waters out of thine own well, v. 16. Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad and rivers of waters in the streets, v. 17. Let them be only thine own, v. 18. Let thy fountain be blessed, v. 19. Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe, v. 20. And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, v. 21. For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and He pondereth all his goings, v. 22. His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, v. 23. He shall die without instruction,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Pro 5:15. Drink waters out of thine own cistern The allegory here begun is carried on through several verses. It has been differently understood; but the interpretation which seems most generally followed, is that of those who conceive that the wise man here subjoins a commendation of matrimony and the chaste preservation of the marriage-bed for the propagation of a legitimate offspring, to his dehortation from illegitimate practices and stolen waters; and Schultens observes, that no figure is more elegant, or more common among the easterns, than this. See Num 24:7. Isa 48:1; Isa 51:1. Jer 2:23. According to this sense of the allegory, the next verse must refer to children, and the meaning of the two verses is this, “Live with your wife faithfully and chastely, that you may see with pleasure a lovely and numerous family proceed from your house.” Some follow here the version of the LXX. Let not thy waters overflow, or be dispersed from thy fountain; and let thy waters run, or flow in thine own streets. They observe, that from Pro 5:3-15. Solomon dissuades his son from following strange women; and from Pro 5:15-20 advises him in figurative terms to confine himself to his own wife. The Vatican, Origen, Clement of Alexandria, Aquila, all read in the negative. See Houbigant’s notes.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well. Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets. Let them be only thine own, and not strangers with thee. Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth. Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love. And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger? For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings. His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins. He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.
If we read this passage spiritually it will not be the less beautiful afterwards, to take it literally; for in both views there is great loveliness in it. If Jesus be my fountain, and the church saith he is (Son 4:15 ) then from him, and in him, will all my springs be. And in this sense he will be my own: for as I am his by purchase and by gift; so Christ is mine by gift, and by marriage, having betrothed himself to his people forever. Hos 2:19 . And surely such an alliance will induce faithfulness both to the Lord, and to his people. Who takes a more effectual method to observe fidelity in all the departments of chastity, and the several branches of moral life, than the soul that is faithful to Jesus? Dear Lord! be thou to me all I need, and then by thy Spirit and the preventing and restraining influences of thy grace, I shall be following the apostle’s maxim both in thinking and in doing, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report. Phi 4:8 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Pro 5:15 Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.
Ver. 15. Drink waters out of thine own cistern. ] After other preservatives from fornication, as not to think of or speak with the harlot, not to come near the doors of her house, &c., but to consider the many mischiefs that follow upon it – a diseased body, a damned soul, a poor purse, &c. – here the wise man prescribeth wedlock as a remedy properly ordained by God for that end. 1Co 7:2 ; 1Co 7:9 And because not the having of a wife, but the loving of her keeps a man honest; therefore it follows, Pro 5:19 “Let her be as the loving hind,” &c.
And running waters.
a Hesiod. in Ergis.
Pro 5:15-19
Pro 5:15-19
THE CALL TO CHERISH HOLY LOVE IN MARRIAGE
“Drink waters out of thine own cistern,
And running waters out of thine own well.
Should thy springs be dispersed abroad,
And streams of waters in the streets?
Let them be for thyself alone,
And not for strangers with thee.
Let thy fountain be blessed;
And rejoice in the wife of thy youth.
As a loving hind and a pleasant doe,
Let her breasts satisfy thee at all times;
And be thou ravished always with her love.”
“Here the teacher passes to positive instructions on the sacred joy of a pure and happy marriage in terminology similar to the Song of Solomon.” “These verses are the heart of the chapter. They exalt the marriage relationship.” This emphasizes the God-given purpose of sexual powers and God’s containment of this blessing within the context of the family and his absolute prohibition of its promiscuous and sinful use otherwise. “Thou shalt not commit adultery” is God’s commandment in both the Old Testament and the New Testament.
“Thine own cistern … thine own well … thy fountain” (Pro 5:15; Pro 5:18). All of these metaphors are for one’s wife; and the “springs” and “streams” of Pro 5:16 are metaphors for one’s children. The adulterer’s children are “dispersed abroad” and found in the streets (Pro 5:16). He never knows where or how many they may be. “Promiscuous and unlawful sex relations throw doubt upon the paternity of children.
“The language here is frankly erotic, a rare emphasis in Scripture, but it is highly important to see sexual delight in marriage as a God-given blessing; and history confirms that when marriage is viewed merely as a business arrangement, not only is God’s bounty misunderstood, but human passion seeks other outlets.”
“As a loving hind and a pleasant doe” (Pro 5:19). Here we have other figurative references to a loving wife. “In the whole cycle of Arabian and Persian poetry the antelope (deer) and the gazelle are the chosen images of beauty. ; Act 9:36 tells us of a Christian woman named Dorcas, which means `gazelle’; and Tabitha is the Aramaic version of the same name.
Pro 5:15. Instead of carrying on immorally, he counsels his son to get married, have his own mate, and partake of his own well and cistern. This is what he will do in other fields of life. He will have his own garden-he will not steal out of his neighbors garden. He will have his own flowers-he wont steal from his neighbors flower garden. Heb 13:4 says, Let marriage be had in honor among all, and let the bed be undefiled-that which is sin outside of marriage is innocent within the bounds of marriage-for fornicators and adulterers God will judge-those who carry on immorally apart from or outside of the marriage bounds.
Pro 5:16. The figurative language is still continued, and under the terms fountains and rivers of waters are to be understood children, the legitimate issue of lawful marriageThe meaning appears to be: Let thy marriage be blessed with many children, who may go abroad for the public good (Pulpit Commentary). Psa 127:3-5 pictures such: Children are a heritage of Jehovah; And the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows in the hand of a mighty man, So are the children of youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them. And Psa 128:3 : Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine, In the innermost parts of thy house; Thy children like olive plants, Round about thy table. The question form of our verse shows that a man should not beget illegitimate children.
Pro 5:17. Do not consent to living with a wife who is unfaithful. This verse puts the thought into commandment form: it says, Dont share your mate with anybody else; and observation confirms that it seldom works out to keep living with an unfaithful mate in the hope that everything will ultimately turn out all right. Mate-trading is not only forbidden by this, but it is inevitably the ruin of marriage.
Pro 5:18. This carries the same thought as Pro 5:15, only in more explicit language. God has created you so you have all the possibilities of love and enjoyment at home. Ecc 9:9 says, Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest. But people who lacked the character, conviction and conscience to behave themselves during their courtships often tire of one another during the years of marriage, and then the same lack of character and control causes them to become grumpy with each other and to seek immoral connections with others.
Pro 5:19. Pulpit Commentary says, The loving hind and pleasant roe…descriptive of the grace and fascinating charms of the young wifeShe is to be the object of thy love and devotion, the one in whom thine affections are to find the fulfillment of their desires. The correctness of the above is brought out by the fact that the hind and the roe enter often into the erotic poetry of the East.
STUDY QUESTIONS – Pro 5:15-19
1. What does Pro 5:15 mean?
2. What is the meaning of Pro 5:16?
3. Is it all right for a man to share his wife with others (Pro 5:17)?
4. Pro 5:18 is a restatement of what previous verse?
5. What is a hind, and what is a roe (Pro 5:19)?
Pro 5:18, Pro 5:19, 1Co 7:2-5, Heb 13:4
Reciprocal: Deu 33:28 – the fountain Psa 128:3 – a fruitful vine Pro 18:22 – findeth a wife Son 4:12 – garden Mat 19:10 – General 1Pe 3:7 – ye
Pro 5:15. Drink waters out of thine own cistern The allegory here begun is carried on through several verses. It has been differently understood; but the interpretation which seems most generally followed, is that of those who conceive that the wise man here subjoins a commendation of matrimony, and the chaste preservation of the marriage- bed, for the propagation of a legitimate offspring, to his dehortation from illegitimate embraces, and stolen waters; and Schultens observes, that no figure is more elegant or more common among the easterns than this. Dodd. Bishop Patricks paraphrase on the verse is, Marry; and in a wife of thy own, enjoy the pleasures thou desirest, and be content with them alone; innocent, chaste, and pure pleasures; as much different from the other, as the clear waters of a wholesome fountain are from those of a dirty lake or puddle.
5:15 Drink waters out of {h} thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.
(h) He teaches us sobriety exhorting us to live of our own labours and to be beneficial to the godly who want.
The importance of fidelity 5:15-23
Pro 5:15-23 point out a better way, namely: fidelity to one’s marriage partner. Strict faithfulness need not result in unhappiness or failure to experience what is best in life, as the world likes to try to make us think. Rather, it guards us from the heartbreak and tragedy that accompany promiscuity. The figures of a cistern and a well (Pro 5:15) refer to one’s wife (cf. Son 4:15), who satisfies desire.
The Hebrew text favors taking Pro 5:16 as a positive statement ("Let your streams . . .") rather than as a question, as in the NASB. The meaning of Pro 5:17-18 then becomes, "The influence of the faithful man (His ’springs’) become a blessing to others." [Note: Kidner, p. 70.] Another view is that the springs and streams in view belong to the man being warned who might share them with a woman of the street. [Note: Ross, 929.]
". . . the wife is viewed not as child-bearer but as pleasure-giver." [Note: Toy, p. 114.]
The erotic language of Pro 5:19-20 may be surprising, but it shows that God approves sexual joy in marriage and it is a prophylactic against unfaithfulness (cf. 1Co 7:5; 1Co 7:9). A man can either find his exhilaration (Pro 5:19, i.e., sexual stimulation, also translated intoxication in Pro 20:1 and Isa 28:7) in his wife or in another woman. The same Hebrew word reads "go astray" in Pro 5:23 b. The issue is self-discipline empowered by God’s Spirit.
"We don’t really understand the meaning of the phrase ’God is love’ (1Jn 4:8) until we understand that life is fundamentally relationships. And plenitude of relationship is fullness of life. Paucity of relationship is impoverishment of life." [Note: Larsen, p. 39.]
"Lack of discipline" (RSV, Pro 5:23 a) is better than "lack of instruction." People usually do not become unfaithful to their spouses because they do not know better but because they do not choose better. [Note: See Zuck, pp. 239-43, for a summary of the revelation concerning man in Proverbs.]
". . . if the young man is not captivated [Heb. sagah] by his wife but becomes captivated with a stranger in sinful acts, then his own iniquities will captivate him; and he will be led to ruin." [Note: Ross, p. 931.]
"There is no ’free love’-only free exploitation." [Note: Larsen, p. 45.]
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)