Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 5:3
For the lips of a strange woman drop [as] a honeycomb, and her mouth [is] smoother than oil:
3. strange woman] See Pro 2:16, note.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Smoother than oil – The same comparison is used in marginal reference to describe the treachery of a false friend.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Pro 5:3-5
For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb.
A strange woman
One outside of the true family bonds and relationships. This description has been regarded by expositors as having a double sense.
1. It is a portrait of a harlot, especially one of foreign extraction.
2. It is a representation of the allurements of unsound doctrine and corrupt worship.
I. We have here a description of the strange woman.
1. Her vile, unclean, flattering, enticing speech.
2. Her fate: her end bitter, physical suffering, mental anguish, spiritual distress.
II. A word to her.
1. You are somebodys child; think of the old time, etc.
2. You are ruining soul and body.
3. Ruining others as well.
4. The woman that was a sinner found mercy, and there is mercy for you. (Anon.)
Evil companionship
It would not be complaisance, but cowardice–it would be a sinful softness, which allowed affinity in taste to imperil your faith or your virtue. It would be the same sort of courtesy which in the equatorial forest, for the sake of its beautiful leaf, lets the liana with its strangling arms run up the plantain or the orange, and pays the forfeit in blasted boughs and total ruin. It would be the same sort of courtesy which, for fear of appearing rude and inhospitable, took into dock an infested vessel, or welcomed, not as a patient, but a guest, the plague-stricken stranger. (J. Hamilton, D. D.)
The consequences of profligacy
This chapter consists of caution and warning against licentiousness–the lawless and irregular indulgence of the passions–Youthful lusts that war against the soul. Inhumanity is the union of two opposite natures–the animal with the impulses and appetites of the brute, the spiritual with Godlike aspirations and capacities of intelligence and religion. Whatever may be the aspirations of the soul, we find there is an animal nature as really and truly us as the spiritual itself. In man the conjugal relation is associated with all pure ideas, and is the source and fountain of the purest joy; the family circle is the nursing-mother of all virtue. Licentiousness would subvert all these connections. The Jewish law was so framed as not to suffer any of the daughters of Israel to sink into harlotry; the text speaks of a strange woman, because such were usually persons from the surrounding nations.
1. There is nothing so expensive as sin. How many constitutions, how many fortunes have been blasted and wasted through early subjugation to lust!
2. God urges obedience to His laws by the happiness, purity, and beauty of a well-ordered, wise, and prudent conjugal connection. The young man is surrounded by Gods omniscience. If he does not ponder his ways, God will. Iniquity, and especially sins of this sort, tend to gain a fixed habit. There is nothing so utterly repulsive as the picture of one who has grown old in habits of grossness. (T. Binney.)
Her steps take hold on hell.
A beautiful hell
One memorable night, a young lad and an old Scotchman being in Paris together, found themselves in front of one of the dens of infamy; the fragrance of the spices of Araby seemed to float in the air, and the sound of music and dancing broke upon the ear. The glitter and dazzle of fairyland was at the door; and the Scotch boy said, What is that? The body of the friend to whom he spoke now moulders in the dust; the voice that answered is now singing praises to God on high; but the hand of that Scotchman came like a vice to the wrist of the lad who was with him, and the voice hardened to a tone that he never forgot, as he said, Man, that is hell! What! It was a new idea to the country lad. Hell with an entrance like that!–with all the colours of the rainbow; with all the flowers and beauty, and the witching scenery and attractions! I thought hell was ugly; I thought I would get the belch of sulphur at the pits mouth; I thought harpies on infernal wing would be hovering above the pit: but here like this? Yes, I saw above the gate–and I knew French enough to know what it meant–Nothing to pay. That was on the gate; but, though there be nothing to pay to get in, what have you to pay to get out? That is the question. Character blasted! soul lost! Mind that. Just examine your ways. Do not be taken in by the flowers and music, and the beautiful path that is at your feet this afternoon. (John Robertson.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 3. The lips of a strange woman] One that is not thy own, whether Jewess or heathen.
Drop as a honey-comb] She uses the most deceitful, flattering, and alluring speeches: as the droppings of the honey out of the comb are the sweetest of all.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
It concerns thee to get and to use discretion, that thou mayst be able to resist and repel those manifold temptations to which thou art exposed.
Drop as an honeycomb; her words and discourses are sweet, and charming, and prevalent.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3. (Compare Pr2:16). Her enticing promises are deceitful.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For the lips of a strange woman drop [as] an honeycomb,…. “Mulsa dicta”, “honey words”, as is Plautus’s e expression. The Septuagint and Arabic versions premise something here which is not in the Hebrew text,
“do not give heed to a wicked woman;”
and the Vulgate Latin version,
“to the fallacy of a woman:”
but there is no need to connect the words by such a supplement; since, as they lie, they give a reason why it was necessary to attend to wisdom and understanding, in order to act discreetly and speak knowingly; since there is so much danger of being drawn aside by a wicked woman, a lewd and adulterous one; the kisses of whose lips, her confabulations and songs, are as pleasing to the carnal senses of men as honey is sweet to the taste; she promises them a great deal of pleasure in her embraces, and in the enjoyment of her: so the poet f describes an agreeable voice to be sweeter than the honeycomb;
and her mouth [is] smoother than oil; her fair speeches, enticing words, and flattering fawning language, and amorous expressions, easily find their way and slide into the hearts of men, to prevail upon them to listen to her, and yield to her temptations. Gersom interprets this strange woman of the imaginative faculty; and Jarchi of heresy: it is applicable enough to the whore of Rome; who, by the blandishments of pomp and grandeur, and the allurements of wealth and riches, draws many into her idolatrous practices; which are spiritual adultery, signified by her golden cup, Re 17:4.
e Rudens, Act. 2. Sc. 3. v. 84. Poenulus, 1, 2. v. 112. f , Theocrit. Idyll. 21.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
V.
(3) Her mouth is smoother than oil.The experience of David also with Ahitophel (Psa. 55:21).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
3. Strange woman See note on Pro 2:16. The terms lips and mouth are, of course, used tropically speech, words. She uses persuasive, delusive, and fascinating arts and modes of speech. Compare Pro 7:14, etc.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Pro 5:3 For the lips of a strange woman drop [as] an honeycomb, and her mouth [is] smoother than oil:
Ver. 3. For the lips of a strange woman drop. ] Take heed therefore how thou exchange any words at all with her. But if thou be first set upon, as Joseph was by his mistress, and as Franciscus Junius a was by those impudent queans (harlots) at Lyons, in France (whither he was sent by his father for learning’s sake), who night and day solicited him; then to keep thee from the bitter sweet lips of these enchantresses, “let thy lips keep knowledge”; answer them (as Joseph did) with “the words of truth and soberness”; Act 26:25 with “gracious and wholesome words,” 1Ti 6:3 such as have a cooling and healing property in them; with Scripture language, which the devil and his agents cannot answer or away with. When, therefore, thou art tempted to this or any like sin, say No – I may not, I dare not; for it is forbidden in such a place, and again in such a place, “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” Gen 39:9 “Lo this is the way, walk in it.” Let thy lips keep knowledge, and it shall keep thee from the lips of a strange woman, though they drop as a honeycomb, and seem to have plenty of pleasure and sweetness in them.
Drop as a honeycomb.
a Jun. in Vita sua.
b Speed. xii. 10.
c De bono pudicit.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
a strange woman. Two words are used for “strange” and “stranger”: one, Hebrew. zur, an apostate Israelite woman gone over to the idolatrous impurities of heathen religion; the other nakar, a purely foreign woman of a similar character. The danger is religious rather than moral. Hence here it is zur. See note on Pro 2:16.
drop as an honeycomb = distil honey. The invitations of religious idolatry suit the tastes of the natural man.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Pro 5:3-6
Pro 5:3-6
DESCRIPTION OF THE LOOSE WOMAN
“For the lips of a strange woman drop honey,
And 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;
So that she findeth not the level path of life:
Her ways are unstable, and she knoweth it not.”
“The lips of a strange woman” (Pro 5:3). “This is any woman who is not thine own, whether Jewess or heathen.
“Drop honey” (Pro 5:3). This is a metaphor to describe the attractive proposals by which a prostitute solicits her victim. “Her suggestions sound reasonable, and what she is offering appears desirable; but such indulgence leads to remorse and death.” “Her very strangeness and looseness make her exciting and tempting. Such a person presents the young man, yes, any man, with a powerful sexual attraction.
“Her mouth is smoother than oil” (Pro 5:3). “David used the very same words of the metaphors found in this and in Pro 5:4 to describe the treachery of his friend Ahithophel in Psa 55:21.
The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart; his words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords. – Psa 55:21 AV.
“In the end she is bitter as wormwood” (Pro 5:4). The terrible consequences of sinful gratification of sexual desire are plainly stated in this chapter. “She may seem like honey; but those who have dealings with her find the abiding taste is wormwood, an insecticide exceedingly bitter. “Wormwood comes from a shrub of bitter taste, used in the preparation of absinthe, which is traditionally used as medicine for deworming (whence the name). “In Revelation, Wormwood became an eschatological abstraction Rev 8:10-11,” standing for the unspeakable sorrows falling upon the rivers and fountains of earth.
“In the end” (Pro 5:4). Yes, indeed, there is an end that follows sinful sexual gratification “There is an end (KJV), an afterward; and Proverbs does not allow us to forget it”! No human activity should be judged merely upon the basis of its initial result; it is the ultimate consequences, the final result, that must also be considered. And when such judgment is applied to this vice, only a fool could willingly indulge in it.
“Her feet go down to death … Sheol” (Pro 5:5). Sinful sexual relations literally bring death to myriads of mankind. Such diseases as syphilis and aids are almost exclusively acquired through illicit sex contacts; and it is simple truth that the prostitute’s (one of the offenders in this passage) feet go down to death, and her steps take hold of Sheol. “The word Sheol here is used as a synonym for death. The KJV renders this word as hell; but the New Testament word for the lake of fire is Gehenna, which does not appear in the Old Testament.
“She findeth not the level path of life” (Pro 5:6). “This verse may refer either to the pupil (as in KJV) or the adulteress (as in ASV), for the Hebrew does not distinguish.
“Her ways are unstable, etc.” (Pro 5:6). Cook noted that, “This verse describes the state of heart and soul which prostitution brings upon its victims: – the reckless blindness that will not think, tottering on the abyss, yet loud in defiant mirth, ignoring the dreadful future.
Pro 5:3. Several lengthy sections of the first chapters of Proverbs are given to warning against immorality. Immorality has proven to be one of peoples greatest pitfalls. Psa 55:21 also speaks of wicked peoples smooth speech (smooth as butter, softer than oil), False teachers also employ smooth and fair speech to succeed at their perverse ways (Rom 16:17-18). The warning of our verse about this womans lips and mouth may be relative to her flattering words (see Pro 2:16; Pro 6:24), or it may be relative to her kisses (Pro 7:13).
Pro 5:4. Sinners fall for the pleasure involved while wisdom (the father in this verse) sees the end. The bitter end of such indulgence (bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword) is to be contrasted with the honey and oil of Pro 5:3. Solomon said, I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets and whose hands are bands: whoso pleaseth God shall escape from her; but the sinner shall be taken by her (Ecc 7:26).
Pro 5:5. A triple parallel: her feet and her steps, go down and take hold on, and death and Sheol. Before we go with somebody, it is the part of wisdom to find where she is going. Sin always leads to death: In the day that thou eatest these of thou shalt surely die (Gen 2:17); They that practice such things are worthy of death (Rom 1:32); As through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin; and so death passed unto all men, for that all have sinned (Rom 5:12); the end of these things is death (Rom 6:23); Sin and death (Rom 8:2); Sin, when it is full grown, bringeth forth death (Jas 1:15). The body would come to death at which time the spirit would depart to Sheol (Hades). Pro 7:27 says, Her house is the way to Sheol, Going down to the chambers of death.
Pro 5:6. Consider Pro 4:26 in connection with this verse: Make level the path of thy feet, And let all thy ways be established. Our verse says such a woman never knows this way: she is unstable, undependable, and has nothing that she can hold onto. Man likes level ways to travel (they are so much easier than to be going up and going down hills), but such a woman knows nothing of the good road of life. And yet her kind has never neared extinction!
STUDY QUESTIONS – Pro 5:1-14
1. Comment on the 2 figures used in Pro 5:3.
2. How is the end in Pro 5:4 different from what we read in Pro 5:3?
3. Where does the evil womans way go (Pro 5:5)?
4. What kind of person is this woman (Pro 5:6)?
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
the lips: Pro 2:16, Pro 6:24, Pro 7:21, Rev 17:2-6
mouth: Heb. palate
smoother: Psa 55:21
Reciprocal: Gen 39:8 – refused Gen 39:10 – as she spake Lev 15:20 – General Jdg 11:2 – a strange Jdg 14:15 – Entice Jdg 16:5 – Entice Jdg 16:15 – How canst Ezr 10:44 – strange wives Job 31:9 – If mine Pro 7:5 – General Pro 20:16 – a strange Pro 22:14 – mouth Ecc 7:26 – I find 1Co 6:18 – Flee
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Pro 5:3-6. For the lips of a strange woman, &c. It concerns thee to get and to use discretion, that thou mayest be able to resist those manifold temptations to which thou art exposed; drop as a honeycomb Her words and discourses are sweet, pleasing, and prevalent. But her end is bitter as wormwood Her design, and the effect of that lewdness to which she entices men, are the sinners destruction. So that the beginning of this intercourse is not so sweet as the conclusion is bitter: after a short pleasure follows long pain, by the impairing mens health, strength, estates, and credit, which they cannot reflect upon without trouble and vexation, remorse of conscience, and anguish of spirit, for, like a sword that cuts on both sides, she wounds both mind and body. Her feet Her course, or manner of life, go down to death Lead those that follow her to an untimely, shameful, and miserable end. Her steps take hold on hell To have any, the least, converse with her, is to approach to certain, inevitable destruction. Lest thou shouldest ponder Though thou mayest think to make a retreat in time: thou wilt be deceived, she having more arts than thou canst ever know, (winding and turning herself a thousand ways,) to keep thee from so much as deliberating about thy return to a virtuous course of life.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
5:3 For the lips {a} of a strange woman drop [as] an honeycomb, and her mouth [is] smoother than {b} oil:
(a) That is, a harlot who gives herself to someone other than her husband.
(b) By oil and honey he means flattering and crafty enticements.