Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 9:13
A foolish woman [is] clamorous: [she is] simple, and knoweth nothing.
13. A foolish woman ] Rather, The foolish woman. Lit . A woman of folly. Some would render (e.g. R.V. marg.) Folly, as a personification, over against Wisdom ( Pro 9:1), but the introduction of the word “woman” here, which is wanting there, and the language of Pro 9:17 seem to make it clear that one particular form of vice, and not vice in the abstract, is again in view.
clamorous ] Comp. Pro 7:11, where the same Heb. word is used.
simple ] Lit. simplicity. She is simplicity itself, in its worst aspect, entirely without safeguard or restraint, see Pro 1:4, note.
knoweth nothing ] leaves entirely out of consideration the consequences of her action. Comp. “he knoweth not,” &c., Pro 9:18.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Pro 9:13-18 . The Introduction, or first main division of the Book, ends with the contrasted picture of Folly. She too has her house, at the door of which she sits ( Pro 9:14); she too, though the charm of secrecy is added to her enticements ( Pro 9:17), is seen flaunting shamelessly, in the high places of the city ( Pro 9:14), and bruits abroad her noisy invitation, not only to attract the vicious ( Pro 9:16), but to beguile, if it may be, the passers by who are going right on their way ( Pro 9:15).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The picture of the harlot as the representative of the sensual life, the Folly between which and Wisdom the young man has to make his choice (Pro 9:3 note). Simple, in the worst sense, as open to all forms of evil. Knoweth nothing, ignorant with the ignorance which is willful and reckless.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Pro 9:13-15
A foolish woman is clamorous.
The foolish woman
This might be understood, in all truth, of the strange woman with her enticements; but I am strongly inclined to interpret the passage of Folly as an allegorical personage set in contrast with Wisdom–Folly under all the forms and phases which it assumes in the world; all being included under this personification that entices from the gates of that house where Wisdom receives and entertains her guests. The characteristics of this second personage are the reverse of those of Wisdom. They are ignorance and thoughtless emptiness: what is wanting in solid and substantial ideas is made up by loud clamour and noisy importunity. She, too, hath builded her house. She, too, hath provided her entertainment. She, too, invites her guests. The houses are over against each other–on opposite sides of the way. Wisdoms is on the right hand; Follys on the left. They are thus in the vicinity of each other; it being the very purpose of Folly to prevent, by her allurements, those who pass by from entering the doors of Wisdom. Each addresses her invitations, and uses–but from very different motives–every art of persuasion. Folly presents all her captivating allurements to the lusts and passions of corrupt nature; and she shows her skill in seduction by holding out, in promise, the secret enjoyment of forbidden sweets. There are pleasures in sin. It is from these that its temptations arise. Alas! Folly has the heart of man wholly on her side. (R. Wardlaw.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 13. A foolish woman is clamorous] Vain, empty women, are those that make most noise. And she that is full of clamour, has generally little or no sense. We have had this character already, see Pr 7:11. The translation of the Septuagint is very remarkable: , , “A lewd and foolish woman shall be in need of a morsel of bread.”
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
A foolish woman; by which he understands, either,
1. Folly, which is opposite to that wisdom of which he hath been so long discoursing; and so it may include all wickedness, either in principle, as idolatry, heresy, &c., or in practice. Or,
2. The harlot; which, with submission, seems most probable to me, partly because all the following description exactly agrees to her, especially what is said Pro 9:17, as also Pro 9:18, which in effect was said of the harlot before, Pro 2:18; 5:5; and partly because such transitions from discoursing of wisdom, to a discourse of harlots, are frequent in Solomon, as we have seen, Pro 2:16; 5:3; 7:5.
Is clamorous; speaks loudly, that she may be heard; and vehemently, that persons might be moved by her persuasions.
Knoweth nothing; to wit, aright, nothing that is good, nothing for her good, though she be subtle in little artifices for her own wicked ends.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
13. foolish womanorliterally, “woman of folly,” specially manifested by suchas are described.
clamorousor, “noisy”(Pr 7:11).
knoweth nothingliterally,”knoweth not what,” that is, is right and proper.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
A foolish woman [is] clamorous,…. Some by this woman understand folly itself, as opposed to wisdom; others blind reason, ignorant of divine things; others carnal sensual pleasure, which entices and draws men to that which is evil; others heresy and superstition; others the old serpent, the devil; she seems to be the same with the strange woman and harlot before described, Pr 2:16, c. and being set in direct opposition to Wisdom, or Christ, seems to design antichrist, who is described in the book of the Revelation as the great whore and all the characters here agree with the same. Antichrist is represented as a “woman”, Re 17:3; and is “foolish”; for whatever worldly cunning and craft, and wicked subtlety, there may be in the Romish antichrist, yet he is destitute of all spiritual wisdom and knowledge; and is “clamorous” and noisy, has a mouth speaking great swelling words of vanity and blasphemy, boasting of infallibility, works of supererogation, merits, miracles, wealth, and riches; and very pressing and importunate to gain proselytes to his religion; the priests and Jesuits are compared to noisy, clamorous, croaking frogs, Re 16:13;
[she is] simple, and knoweth nothing; a woman of follies, extremely foolish and simple, and most grossly ignorant; knows nothing that is good, as the Targum; that is, spiritually good; knows not God aright; is without the fear and love of him, and faith in him; nor knows Christ, and the way of righteousness and life by him; nor the Spirit of God, and the operations of his grace upon the heart; nor the Gospel, and the doctrines of it; nor the ways, worship, and ordinances of God. The Septuagint and Arabic versions are, “she knows not shame”; but is bold and impudent, having a whore’s forehead, and on it written, “Mystery, Babylon, the mother of harlots, and abominations of the earth”, Re 17:5.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The poet now brings before us another figure, for he personifies Folly working in opposition to Wisdom, and gives her a feminine name, as the contrast to Wisdom required, and thereby to indicate that the seduction, as the 13th proverbial discourse (chap. 7) has shown, appears especially in the form of degraded womanhood:
13 The woman Folly [ Frau Thorheit ] conducts herself boisterously,
Wantonness, and not knowing anything at all;
14 And hath seated herself at the door of her house,
On a seat high up in the city,
15 To call to those who walk in the way,
Who go straight on their path.
The connection of is genitival, and the genitive is not, as in , Pro 6:24, specifying, but appositional, as in ( vid., under Isa 1:8). [boisterous] is pred., as Pro 7:11: her object is sensual, and therefore her appearance excites passionately, overcoming the resistance of the mind by boisterousness. In 13b it is further said who and how she is. she is called as wantonness personified. This abstract , derived from , must be vocalized as ; Hitzig thinks it is written with a on account of the following u sound, but this formation always ends in ijjuth , not ajjuth . But as from as well = as is formed, so from as well like or like , , as (instead of which is preferred) can be formed; Kimchi rightly ( Michlol 181a) presents the word under the form . With (Pro 14:7) poetic, and stronger than , the designation of the subject is continued; the words (thus with Mercha and without Makkeph following, is to be written, after Codd. and old editions) have the value of an adjective: and not knowing anything at all ( = , as Num 23:3; Job 13:13, and here in the negative clause, as in prose ), i.e., devoid of all knowledge. The Targ. translates explanatorily: not recognising , the good; and the lxx substitutes: she knows not shame, which, according to Hitzig, supposes the word , approved of by him; but means always pudefactio , not pudor . To know no would be equivalent to, to let no shaming from without influence one; for shamelessness the poet would have made use of the expression . In the declaration regarding the subject beginning with is continued: Folly also has a house in which works of folly are carried one, and has set herself down by the door ( as , Pro 8:3) of this house; she sits there . Most interpreters here think on a throne (lxx , used especially of the sella curulis ); and Zckler, as Umbreit, Hitzig, and others, connecting genitiv. therewith , changes in 14b the scene, for he removes the “high throne of the city” from the door of the house to some place elsewhere. But the sitting is in contrast to the standing and going on the part of Wisdom on the streets preaching (Evagrius well renders: in molli ignavaque sella ); and if and house-door are named along with each other, the former is a seat before the latter, and the accentuation rightly separates by Mugrash from . “According to the accents and the meaning, is the acc. loci: on the high places of the city, as Pro 8:2.” (Fl.). They are the high points of the city, to which, as Wisdom, Pro 9:3, Pro 8:2, so also Folly, her rival (wherefore Ecc 10:6 does not appertain to this place), invites followers to herself. She sits before her door to call (with Munach, as in Cod. 1294 and old editions, without the Makkeph), those who go along the way (genitive connection with the supposition of the accusative construction, transire viam , as Pro 2:7), to call (invite) (to be pointed with raphatum and Gaja going before, according to Ben-Asher’s rule; vid., Methegsetz. 20), those who make straight their path, i.e., who go straight on, directly before them (cf. Isa 57:2). The participial construction (the schemes amans Dei and amans Deum ), as well as that of the verb (first with the dat. and then with the accus.), interchange.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Invitation of Folly. | |
13 A foolish woman is clamorous: she is simple, and knoweth nothing. 14 For she sitteth at the door of her house, on a seat in the high places of the city, 15 To call passengers who go right on their ways: 16 Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: and as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, 17 Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. 18 But he knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell.
We have heard what Christ has to say, to engage our affections to God and godliness, and one would think the whole world should go after him; but here we are told how industrious the tempter is to seduce unwary souls into the paths of sin, and with the most he gains his point, and Wisdom’s courtship is not effectual. Now observe,
I. Who is the tempter–a foolish woman, Folly herself, in opposition to Wisdom. Carnal sensual pleasure I take to be especially meant by this foolish woman (v. 13); for that is the great enemy to virtue and inlet to vice; that defiles and debauches the mind, stupefies conscience, and puts out the sparks of conviction, more than any thing else. This tempter is here described to be, 1. Very ignorant: She is simple and knows nothing, that is, she has no sufficient solid reason to offer; where she gets dominion in a soul she works out all the knowledge of holy things; they are lost and forgotten. Whoredom, and wine, and new wine, take away the heart; they besot men, and make fools of them. (2.) Very importunate. The less she has to offer that is rational the more violent and pressing she is, and carries the day often by dint of impudence. She is clamorous and noisy (v. 13), continually haunting young people with her enticements. She sits at the door of her house (v. 14), watching for a prey; not as Abraham at his tent-door, seeking an opportunity to do good. She sits on a seat (on a throne, so the word signifies) in the high places of the city, as if she had authority to give law, and we were all debtors to the flesh, to live after the flesh, and as if she had reputation, and were in honour, and thought worthy of the high places of the city; and perhaps she gains upon many more by pretending to be fashionable than by pretending to be agreeable. “Do not all persons of rank and figure in the world” (says she) “give themselves a greater liberty than the strict laws of virtue allow; and why shouldst thou humble thyself so far as to be cramped by them?” Thus the tempter affects to seem both kind and great.
II. Who are the tempted–young people who have been well educated; these she will triumph most in being the ruin of. Observe, 1. What their real character is; they are passengers that go right on their ways (v. 15), that have been trained up in the paths of religion and virtue and set out very hopefully and well, that seemed determined and designed for good, and are not (as that young man, ch. vii. 8) going the way to her house. Such as these she has a design upon, and lays snares for, and uses all her arts, all her charms, to pervert them; if they go right on, and will not look towards her, she will call after them, so urgent are these temptations. (2.) How she represents them. She calls them simple and wanting understanding, and therefore courts them to her school, that they may be cured of the restraints and formalities of their religion. This is the method of the stage (which is too close an exposition of this paragraph), where the sober young man, that has been virtuously educated, is the fool in the play, and the plot is to make him seven times more a child of hell than his profane companions, under colour of polishing and refining him, and setting him up for a wit and a beau. What is justly charged upon sin and impiety (v. 4), that it is folly, is here very unjustly retorted upon the ways of virtue; but the day will declare who are the fools.
III. What the temptation is (v. 17): Stolen waters are sweet. It is to water and bread, whereas Wisdom invites to the beasts she has killed and the wine she has mingled; however, bread and water are acceptable enough to those that are hungry and thirsty; and this is pretended to be more sweet and pleasant than common, for it is stolen water and bread eaten in secret, with a fear of being discovered. The pleasures of prohibited lusts are boasted of as more relishing than those of prescribed love; and dishonest gain is preferred to that which is justly gotten. Now this argues, not only a bold contempt, but an impudent defiance, 1. Of God’s law, in that the waters are the sweeter for being stolen and come at by breaking through the hedge of the divine command. Nitimur in vetitum–We are prone to what is forbidden. This spirit of contradiction we have from our first parents, who thought the forbidden tree of all others a tree to be desired. 2. Of God’s curse. The bread is eaten in secret, for fear of discovery and punishment, and the sinner takes a pride in having so far baffled his convictions, and triumphed over them, that, notwithstanding that fear, he dares commit the sin, and can make himself believe that, being eaten in secret, it shall never be discovered or reckoned for. Sweetness and pleasantness constitute the bait; but, by the tempter’s own showing, even that is so absurd, and has such allays, that it is a wonder how it can have any influence upon men that pretend to reason.
IV. An effectual antidote against the temptation, in a few words, v. 18. He that so far wants understanding as to be drawn aside by these enticements is led on, ignorantly, to his own inevitable ruin: He knows not, will not believe, does not consider, the tempter will not let him know, that the dead are there, that those who live in pleasure are dead while they live, dead in trespasses and sins. Terrors attend these pleasures like the terrors of death itself. The giants are there–Rephaim. It was this that ruined the sinners of the old world, the giants that were in the earth in those days. Her guests, that are treated with those stolen waters, are not only in the highway to hell and at the brink of it, but they are already in the depths of hell, under the power of sin, led captive by Satan at his will, and ever and anon lashed by the terrors of their own consciences, which are a hell upon earth The depths of Satan are the depths of hell. Remorseless sin is remediless ruin; it is the bottomless pit already. Thus does Solomon show the hook; those that believe him will not meddle with the bait.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
(Pro 9:13-18)
The six closing verses present a contrast of the evils of the foolish woman with the virtues of wisdom set forth in the first six verses of this chapter:
1) The foolish woman has her house, but it is not the splendid structure of seven pillars builded by wisdom, Vs. 1 and 14.
2) She sitteth at the door to entice the passersby, Vs. 14 and 15.
3) She seeks the simple and persons lacking understanding that wisdom also seeks, Vs. 4 and 16; Pro 1:20; Pro 1:22-23; Pro 8:1; Pro 8:5.
4) But her purpose is evil. She suggests as did the adulteress of Pro 7:18-19 that forbidden pleasure practiced in secret is more enjoyable; and if done in secret, no one will know, Vs. 17; Pro 20:17. ,
5) Verse 18 – reveals the reality that there is no escape from the eye of God; and that He has declared a severe penalty for this sin, Pro 2:18; Pro 5:5; Pro 7:27; Psa 139:12; Job 34:22; Amo 9:2-3.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.
Pro. 9:13. A foolish woman, rather, the woman of folly, an exact opposition of the personified wisdom of the former part of the chapter. Clamorous, violently excited (Zckler).
Pro. 9:15. Who go right on their ways. Who are going straightforward in their paths (Stuart).
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Pro. 9:13-18
THE FEAST OF FOLLY
That which strikes one upon reading this description is the analogy and the contrast which it presents to the feast of Wisdom.
I. Its analogies.
1. Both appeal to elements in the nature of man. Man is a compound, a complex being. He possesses a moral nature, a conscience, which can be satisfied only with moral truth and goodness, to which Wisdom appeals with her wine and bread of Gods revelation, and whose cravings they alone are able to appease. And he has sinful inclinations and passions which hanker after forbidden things, to which Folly appeals when she sets forth the attractions of her stolen waters and her bread eaten in secret (Pro. 9:17). Gods wisdom and love are shown in appealing to the first, and Satans cunning and malice are manifested in the adaptation of his appeal to the second.
2. Both invite the same kind of character, viz., the simple, the inexperienced, those who have not tasted the sweets of godly living, yet know not from experience that the dead are in the house of Folly, that her guests are in the depths of hell (Pro. 9:18). Two potters may be desirous of possessing the same lump of clay in order to fashion it each one after his own desire. It is now a shapeless mass, but they know its yielding and pliable nature renders it capable of assuming any form, of taking any impress, which they may please to impart to it. The inexperienced in the experimental knowledge of good and evil are very much like potters clay; and here Wisdom and Folly, God and the devil, holiness and sin, stand side by side bidding for the clay, the one desiring to fashion out of it a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the Masters use (2Ti. 2:21), and the other anxious to make it a vessel of wrath fitted to destruction (Rom. 9:22).
3. Both invite to the feasts through those who possess powers of persuasion. Though in the first Wisdom herself does not go forth, but sends her maidens, and in the second the woman herself goes out into the streets, yet they both belong to the sex which is, by common consent, allowed to be most skilled in the art of persuasion. History is full of instances of their power to influence for good and evil. There have been many Lady Macbeths, both in public and private life, and many handmaids of the Lord whose influence has been as mighty on the side of good. Both Wisdom and Folly possess ambassadors whose persuasive powers are mighty.
4. They utter their invitations in the same places. Wisdom crieth upon the high places of the city (Pro. 9:3). Folly sitteth at the door of her house, on a seat in the high places of the city (Pro. 9:14). They both give invitations where they are most likely to obtain guests. In the places where many congregate are found the greatest variety of characters and those who have the most varied wants, and as in such places those who have wares of any kind to sell are sure of finding some to purchase, so the ambassadors of Divine wisdom and the emissaries of evil are certain, where the multitudes are gathered together, to find some to listen to their respective voices.
5. Both use the same words of invitation, and offer the same inducements. A feast is promised in both cases, i.e., both inviters promise satisfactionenjoymentto their guests. If a man coins bad money he must make it look as near as possible like the gold or he would not get anyone to accept it. It is only afterwards that his dupe finds that it lacks the ring of real gold. So the tempter to evil must make the advantages he professes to dispense look as much like real good as he possibly can. The false friend will often-times adopt the phraseology of the true, and will never be wanting in arguments to win his victim. The incarnate wisdom of God reminded His disciples that they might, in this respect and in others, learn something from the children of this world, who, in some matters, are in their generation wiser than the children of light (Luk. 16:8).
6. Both make the invitation wide and free. Whoso is the word used by both. The kingdom of darkness, as well as the kingdom of light, is willing to gather of every kind (Mat. 13:47). The only condition is Enter in and partake of the banquet prepared.
II. The Contrasts.
1. In the character of the inviters. In the one case they are maidens, emblematical (as we saw in considering the first feast) of purity; in the other she who invites is evidently a bold and wanton woman, identical with the one described in chapters 5 and 7 (compare Pro. 5:6; Pro. 7:11-12, with Pro. 9:13-14). Each one who invites is an embodiment of the principles ruling in the house to which she invites; each one sets forth in her own deportment what will be the result of accepting the respective invitations. So that, although the words used may be similar, the simple might be warned from the difference in aspect and demeanour of those who use them.
2. In the place to which the simple are invited. In the former case, says Zckler, it is to a splendid palace with its columns, to a holy temple of God; in the latter to a common house, a harlots abode, built over an entrance to the abyss of hell. The first invitation is to the abode of a righteous king, where law, and order, and peace reign; the second is to an abode of lawlessness and self-seeking, and consequently of incessant strife and misery. Those who dwell in the first are ever magnifying the favour by which they were permitted to enter; the inhabitants of the latter are eternally cursing those by whose persuasions their feet were turned into the path which leads to death.
3. Wisdom invites to what is her own; Folly invites to that which belongs to another. Wisdom hath killed her beasts and mingled her wine; she cries, Come, eat of my bread (Pro. 9:2; Pro. 9:5). Folly saith to her victim, Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant (Pro. 9:17). The first is therefore a lawful meal: its dainties may be enjoyed with a full sense that there is no wrong done to oneself, or to any other creature in the universe, by participating in it. It may be eaten publicly; there is no reason for concealmentno sense of shame. But the guests of Folly are all wronging themselves, and wronging God, and wronging their fellow-men by sitting down at her table. And they feel that it is so even when the waters taste the sweetest, and the bread the most pleasant. Hence their banquet is a secret one, for it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret (Eph. 5:12). Hence they love darkness rather than light; they hate the light, lest their deeds should be reproved (Joh. 3:20-21).
4. The contrast in the results. There are poisonous fruits which are pleasant to the taste, but which lead to sickness and death. And there are bitter herbs which are not palatable, but which bring healing to the frame. Some of Wisdoms dishes are seasoned with reproof and rebuke (Pro. 9:8), but the outcome of listening to her call is an increase of wisdom and a lengthening of days and years (Pro. 9:9-11). The feast of Folly is sweetened with flattery (chap. Pro. 2:16; Pro. 7:21). The lips of the tempter drop as an honey-comb (chap. Pro. 5:2), but there is a deadly poison in the dish. Eating of her food brings a man down into a devil; the bread and wine of Wisdom nourishes and strengthens him until he becomes equal unto the angels of God (Luk. 20:26).
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Pro. 9:1-18. The prototypical relation of the contents of this chapter to our Lords parables founded on banquets (Mat. 22:1-14; Luk. 14:16-24) is evident, and therefore its special importance to the doctrines of the call of salvation.Langes Commentary.
Pro. 9:13. Clamorous, that is, so bustling as to allow no time for repentance (see 5, 6), like Cardinal Mazarin, of whom it was said that the devil would never let him rest. The sinner is so hurried along in the changes of life, as apparently to unsettle any attempted reformation. Knows nothing; an expression grandly doctrinal. The impenitent is blankly dark. Ecc. 6:5 represents the perishing as like an untimely birth. He hath not seen the sun, nor known anything. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned (1Co. 2:14). Where can Wisdom be found? says the inspired man (Job. 28:14-22). The depth saith, It is not in me; and the sea saith., It is not with me. The woman of folly is blankly ignorant; for the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and if she has not the beginning, then mental light, if she have any, must be but as darkness (Mat. 6:23).Miller.
A foolish woman is clamorous, and hath many words, but they are words only, for she knoweth nothing; the folly of sin is clamorous, and maketh many promises of pleasure and contentment, but they are promises only, and she performeth nothing.Jermin.
Pro. 9:15. Her chief aim is to secure the godly, or those inclined to become so; for she is secure as to others, and therefore takes no great trouble in their case.Fausset.
Even the highway of God, though a path of safety, is beset with temptation. Satan is so angry with none as with those who are going right on.Bridges.
Pro. 9:16. Wisdom sets up her school to instruct the ignorant: Folly sets up her school next door to defeat the designs of Wisdom. Thus the saying of the satirist appears to be verified:
Wherever God erects a house of prayer,
The devil surely builds a chapel there;
And it is found, upon examination,
The latter has the larger congregation.Defoe.
Adam Clark.
Folly does not invite the scorners, because she is secure of them, but only the simple, i.e., those who are such in the judgment of the Holy Spirit. Scripture expresses not what she says in outward words, but what is the reality. Whosoever turns in to her is a simpleton. Cartwright takes it that she calls the pious simple. Pro. 9:15 favours this.Fausset.
Pro. 9:17. Folly shows her skill in seduction by holding out, in promise, the secret enjoyment of forbidden sweets. Alas! since the entrance of sin into the world, there has been among mankind a sadly strong and perverse propensity to aught that is forbidden, to taste what is laid under an interdict. The very interdiction draws towards it the wistful desires, and looks, and longings of the perverse and rebellious heart.Wardlaw.
The power of sin lies in its pleasure. If stolen waters were not sweet, none would steal the waters. This is part of the mystery in which our being is involved by the fall. It is one of the most fearful features of the case. Our appetite is diseased. Oh, for the new tastes of a new nature! Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness. When a soul has tasted and seen that the Lord is gracious, the foolish woman beckons you toward her stolen waters, and praises their sweetness in vain. The new appetite drives out the old.Arnot.
Many eat that on earth that they digest in hell.Trapp.
Indirect ways best please flesh and blood. Sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence (Rom. 7:8). We take this from our first parents, a greedy desire to eat of the forbidden fruit. All the other trees in the garden, although the fruit were as good, would not satisfy them. Such is the corruption of our nature, that we like best what God likes worst.Francis Taylor.
Pro. 9:18. Of course he knows not. If the sinner only knew that he were already dead, he might wake up with a bound to the work of his salvation.Miller.
All sinful joys are damned up with a but. They have a worm that crops them, nay, gnaws asunder their very root, though they shoot up more hastily and spread more spaciously than Jonahs gourd. When all the prophecies of ill success have been held as Cassandras riddles, when all the contrary minds of afflictions, all the threatened storms of Gods wrath could not dishearten the sinners voyage to these Netherlands, here is a but that shipwrecks all; the very mouth of a bottomless pit, not shallower than hell itself. As man hath his sic, so God hath His sed.T. Adams.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(13) A foolish woman.Rather, the Foolish woman; Folly personified, in opposition to Wisdom described above.
Clamorous.Not of dignified mien, as her rival.
Simple.Heb., simplicity, i.e., she is simplicity itself.
And knoweth nothing.And so leaves room for all evil to enter in and dwell with her (Mat. 12:45); thus she perishes, like Israel, for lack of knowledge (Hos. 4:6).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
CONTRASTIVE PICTURE OF WISDOM’S OPPONENT THE SEDUCTIVE HARLOT, Pro 9:13-18.
The foolish woman of this passage is vividly drawn in contrast with the hhokmah, Wisdom, and may be taken as the type or incarnation of carnal pleasure, or the immoderate and unlawful indulgence of the appetites and passions. As in the preceding verses Wisdom was represented as a pure and queenly woman, enthroned in a palace, inviting all uninstructed ones to enjoy with her a pure, intellectual, and spiritual feast, the result of which would give vigour, long life, and happiness; so the opposite, this “foolish woman,” who knoweth nothing at all that is useful or virtuous this woman, , ( esheth kesilouth.) woman of follies the representative of ignorant sensuality, is also placed upon her seat, , ( kisse,) a throne. She sits in state at the door of her house, (Jer 3:2; Gen 38:14,) and that house in the most public place; in the very places where the maidens of Wisdom invite men to the feast of knowledge. Pro 9:3. She sits there with her lascivious arts and speech to divert men from intellectual and moral culture, and to overwhelm them in sensual pleasures. Comp. Pro 7:11, seq.
The Appeal Of Woman Folly To The Naive ( Pro 9:13-18 ).
There is no suggestion that Woman Folly’s house is opulent or well-provisioned. And indeed she herself is described as ‘turbulent’ and ‘knowing nothing’. She may make a show of being like wisdom (she is on a seat in the high places of the city), but she rather offers ‘stolen waters’ (illicit sexual enjoyment) and ‘bread in secret’ (surreptitious pleasure). And whilst her house is also opened up to those who are naive and lacking in understanding (compare Pro 9:4), they never get beyond that stage. They do not ‘live’ and walk in the way of understanding, rather, like her, those who come to her know nothing. They die. For they ‘do not know’ that in her house are the ‘shadows’ (rephaim) of the dead, and that her guests are in the depths of the grave-world.
Like all the Prologue this is presented chiastically:
A The woman Folly is noisy (disquieted), she is naive, and knows nothing, and she sits at the door of her house, on a seat in the high places of the city (Pro 9:13-14).
B To call to those who pass by, who go right on their ways, “Whoever is naive, let him turn in here” (Pro 9:15-16 a).
B And as for him who is void of understanding, she says to him, “Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant” (Pro 9:16-17).
A But he does not know that the shades of the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol (Pro 9:18).
In A the woman Folly knows nothing and the door of her house is in the high places of the city, and in the parallel those who enter her house also ‘do not know’ and her house proves to be in the depths of Sheol. The exaltation that she offers is spurious. In B she appeals to the naive to ‘turn in here’ and in the parallel we find the terms of her offer which are to those lacking in understanding, and are stolen waters and bread in secret.
Pro 9:13-14
‘The woman Folly is noisy (vociferous),
She is naive, and knows nothing,
And she sits at the door of her house,
On a seat in the high places of the city,’
In contrast with Woman Wisdom, Woman Folly is noisy but empty. She is all bluster and no content. She makes a lot of noise, but is naive and knows nothing, that is, has nothing positive to offer in her words. Whereas wisdom has spoken positively and given guidance and direction, Folly has nothing of any importance to say. All she can do is use enticing words. For she too is naive. She too is lacking in wisdom and understanding.
She sits at the door of her house, on a seat, in the high places of the city. Thus like Woman Wisdom her house is in the high places of the city. But whereas Wisdom was active and outgoing, Folly sits on her seat. She is seeking to make herself impressive. And she calls to men from there. She has no urgency, only enticement. The fact that she has a seat to sit on, a rarity in those days (people would normally sit on stools or cushions), brings out that she is a woman of status. It may be that this is to be seen as one of her enticements.
Pro 9:15-16
‘To call to those who pass by,
Who make straight their ways,
“Whoever is naive,
Let him turn in here.”
The people whom she calls to are the naive and gullible. Whilst seeking to walk in straight ways, (they are therefore not open sinners), they are open to the tempting voice. She too cries, ‘whoever is naive let him turn in here’ (compare Pro 9:4 a). She is trying to make herself look and sound as much like Wisdom as possible.
Pro 9:16-18
And as for him who is void of understanding,
She says to him,
“Stolen waters are sweet,
And bread (eaten) in secret is pleasant.”
But he does not realise that the shadows of the dead are there,
That her guests are in the depths of Sheol.’
Like Ms Wisdom, Ms Folly speaks to ‘him who is void of understanding’ (Pro 9:4 b), in other words the one who is vaguely going on through life without having established the principles by which he will live. She also offers drink and food, but in her case it is not principles by which to live, and find life, but temptations which lead to death. Rather than mingled wine which speaks of that growth in understanding which will enable him to walk in the way of understanding, she offers ‘stolen waters’, illicit sexual pleasures enjoyed behind her husband’s back. Instead of solid spiritual food she offers ‘bread in secret’, indicating the same furtive, illicit sex, the illicit pleasure of adultery. She offers ‘the pleasures of sin for a season’ (Heb 11:25).
And what the young man does not realise is that ‘the shadows of the dead (rephaim) are there’. He is not moving on to life (Pro 9:6 a), but lies in a bed that has been occupied by many others, who have gone on into the depths of Sheol. For ‘the wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23). He is moving from being a naive young man to being a scorner and a fool.
‘The shadows of the dead.’ The word is rephaim, which elsewhere speaks of the shadowy forms of the dead existing in the grave world who will not rise (Isa 14:9; Isa 26:14).
Invitation From the Foolish Woman to Dine Pro 9:13-17 gives us the final call of the foolish woman to come and dine. This passage also gives wisdom’s final warning before the journey begins (Pro 9:18).
Why would the lengthy introduction of Proverbs 1-9 spend so much time describing and warning the readers about the harlot, both here and in Pro 6:20 to Pro 7:27? Perhaps because this is the one area that trapped and deceived Solomon, the wisest man that ever lived. It is one of the areas that most often trap young men.
Pro 9:13 A foolish woman is clamorous: she is simple, and knoweth nothing.
Pro 9:14 Pro 9:15 Pro 9:16 Pro 9:17 Pro 9:17 Most sources of water came from wells, which belonged to individuals. Therefore, these wells were sources of strife and contention with those who claimed the ownership. This verse alludes to the fact that stolen water was sweeter than water from common wells that was gotten without difficulty. Illustration:
Gen 26:19-22, “And Isaac’s servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of springing water. And the herdmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac’s herdmen, saying, The water is ours: and he called the name of the well Esek; because they strove with him. And they digged another well, and strove for that also: and he called the name of it Sitnah. And he removed from thence, and digged another well; and for that they strove not: and he called the name of it Rehoboth; and he said, For now the LORD hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.”
Pro 9:17 “and bread eaten in secret is pleasant” – Word Study on “bread” – Strong says the Hebrew word “bread” ( ) (H3899) means, “food, bread, grain.”
Word Study on “eaten in secret” The Hebrew word “eaten in secret” is ( ), the plural of ( ) (H5643), and it means, “covering.” The Enhanced Strong says it is used 36 times in the Old Testament, being translated in the KJV as, “ secret 12, secretly 9, covert 5, secret place 3, hiding place 2, backbiting 1, covering 1, disguiseth 1, privily 1, protection 1.”
Comments – The Hebrew phrase literally reads, “bread of secret (is) pleasant,” thus “hidden bread is pleasant.”
NIV, “food eaten in secret”
Rotherham, “a secret mean”
A most basic meal would consist of bread and water, which are both mentioned in this verse. The meal is figurative of devouring substance that belongs to someone else. Thus being stolen, it had to be devoured in secret.
Pro 9:17 Comments – Pro 9:17 is simply saying that sin brings pleasure to the fleshly makeup of man, but only for a season, until divine judgment comes. The author of Hebrews calls it “the pleasures of sin,” which is but for a season (Heb 11:25).
Heb 11:25, “Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;”
Pro 20:17 tells us that same thing, that the bread of deceit is sweet at first, but brings its bitter rewards at a later date.
Pro 20:17, “Bread of deceit is sweet to a man; but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel.”
This meal is offered to those who refuse to dine with wisdom in Pro 9:1-6. This meal is for the fool, though he does not know that it will cause him death. It is interesting to note that Satan is constantly trying to get mankind to seek things without following the divine laws of sowing and reaping. Satan makes people think that they can violate God’s laws and get by with it, but God’s laws work to being judgment as well as blessings.
Note that wisdom invites us to dine on meat and wine, which is the food of a king. When we serve the Lord, He gives us His best. In contrast, the foolish woman can only offer simple bread and water. The world cannot offer us the best because it is not able to match the blessings that God gives His children. Therefore, the strange woman tells us that her meal is pleasant and good. The world packages its meal to look attractive, when in fact, it is simple and unfulfilling. The world calls its meals “stolen” and “sweet” in order to add an appeal to something that lacks appeal. This is deceitful bread and water, and not the water that God gives so we will never thirst again.
Pro 9:17 Illustration – As a college student, I attended the University of Florida in central Florida. On day in 1977, on a long trip returning from Miami to Gainesville, we pulled over by the side of the road, ran into an orange grove, and filled the back of the car with stolen oranges. As a youth, it was exciting to have stolen something and eaten it secretly in our apartment back on campus. We even purchased an automatic orange juice squeezer to make orange juice from all of those oranges that we could not eat. It would have been cheaper for us to have gone to the grocery store and bought the orange juice. But the thrill of an adventure was in our hearts, and consuming “stolen waters” was more exciting.
As in the Garden of Eden, the forbidden fruit appears more tasty that the fruit of all of the other trees which were freely given to Adam and Eve.
Pro 9:18 But he knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell.
Pro 9:18 Illustration – The billboard along the road in Kampala, Uganda advertises Nile Beer. It shows the picture of a bottle of beer with a pretty girl standing beside it. The idea is to get men to purchase such beer believing that this lifestyle brings pretty girls. The trick is to repackage the offer of “bread and water” so that it appeals to the passions of such men. So, these deceived men go to the nightclubs and drink this beer while looking for such women. Some women attend these nightclubs hoping to find a relationship with a man; but relationships are far from the mind of these men. In the newspaper, an article describes one lady returning home late one night from such a club. She was assaulted outside her home and raped as a result of the men she had been hanging out with at the club. However, this nightclub did not want its named mentioned in the newspaper that described this tragedy, since it will hurt its reputation. This game is played out every day in a society. The “strange woman” markets her goods by repackaging them into an attractive offer, so that her victims do not know that it leads to the depths of hell.
Pro 9:18 Illustration – The end of Samson began when he went in to the harlot.
Jdg 16:1, “Then went Samson to Gaza, and saw there an harlot, and went in unto her.”
Conclusion to Pro 1:1 to Pro 9:18 – Why is this section the longest one in the book of Proverbs? Perhaps the reason lies in the fact that man’s daily walk in wisdom requires him to constantly recognize and hear wisdom’s call in order to make the right decisions each day. In a similar way, the longest section in the book of Ecclesiastes is the section on indoctrination, which lists practical wisdom to fear God (Pro 7:1 to Pro 11:8), since the underlying theme of the book is the keeping of God’s commandments in the fear of the Lord. Thus, the Preacher takes the time to list these commandments.
The Banquet of Folly
v. 13. A foolish woman is clamorous, v. 14. For she sitteth at the door of her house, v. 15. to call passengers who go right on their ways, v. 16. Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither, v. 17. Stolen waters are sweet, v. 18. But he, Pro 9:13. A foolish woman, &c. We have here another allegorical picture, describing Folly under the person of a harlot, who fascinates with her enticements, and offers also her dainties to her guests; but dainties tainted with the most subtil poison. The Hebrew, rendered a foolish woman, is more strong; the woman of folly eisheth keisiluth, folly herself bearing the character of a harlot. You have the image of concupiscence, and pleasure, whom all the philosophers have represented under this idea. Her characters, expressed to the life, are, 1. That she is obstreperous, tumultuous, in a perpetual heat and restlessness of passion. 2. That she is petaiuth, madness itself; mere dissoluteness and deception; and 3. She cares not whatever happens. It is an aposiopesis, which expresses the highest degree of atrociousness. Schultens. Dr. Grey would render it, A woman of folly is clamorous, and knoweth not shame.
A foolish woman is clamorous: she is simple, and knoweth nothing. For she sitteth at the door of her house, on a seat in the high places of the city, To call passengers who go right on their ways: Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: and as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, 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.
We have in these verses the contrast to what was given in the former part of the chapter. Under the figure of a foolish woman, meaning ignorance altogether, is set forth the rival of Christ, the god of this world, blending the human mind with the delusions of his several temptations. 2Co 4:4 . The similitude of sitting at the door of her house to call passengers, who are going the right way, to turn aside, and the proposals she makes of stolen waters and bread in secret; these are most apt representations of the devices of Satan. For I would have the Reader observe that the call here given, is given to such as are going the right way. Yes! Satan never gives any interruption to his servants, while going the wrong way in his drudgery. While the strong man armed keepeth the palace, the goods are in peace. Luk 11:21 . But if wisdom’s call be heard among the household of Satan, where the Lord Jesus causeth it to be heard, for we all, (saith an apostle,) had our conversation in times past with the children of disobedience. Eph 2:2-3 . No sooner doth a poor sinner attempt to run out of his kingdom, than all hell is up in arms to bring him back. And what a correspondence is here made of stolen waters and bread in secret, rendered pleasant to the lusts of the flesh and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. 1Jn 2:16 . And how surely are the wages of sin death. Rom 6:23 .
Pro 9:13 A foolish woman [is] clamorous: [she is] simple, and knoweth nothing.
Ver. 13. A foolish woman is clamorous. ] This woman is “folly,” as that woman sitting in the ephah is “wickedness.” Zec 5:7 Lavater is of the opinion, that as by wisdom is meant Christ, so by this foolish woman here is meant antichrist, to whom therefore he finally fitteth and applieth all the following words.
Is clamorous. A foolish woman. The contrast is with Pro 9:1. Hebrew. kesil. See note on Pro 1:7.
nothing = nothing whatever.
Pro 9:13-18
The Harlot once again Identified (Pro 9:13-18):
“The foolish woman is clamorous; She is simple, and knoweth nothing” (Pro 9:13). Wisdom is put in juxtaposition to the simple as she is personified as a “foolish woman” of adultery. The “foolish woman” is identified as: “Clamorous” i.e., noisy, rowdy, boisterous, and riotous (opposite of the calm and quite disposition of the wise)… Solomon identified her as a harlot at Pro 7:10-11. She is “simple” (identified previously as lazy, arrogant, void of understanding…) She “knows nothing” that she ought to know that would bring her life. While wisdom is knowledge and understanding this foolish woman represents ignorance and lacking understanding.
“And she sitteth at the door of her house, On a seat in the high places of the city, To call to them that pass by, Who go right on their ways:” (Pro 9:14-15). The lazy sloth of ignorance and riotous living sits at her house immodestly dressed calling to the passer by people with no shame for her wickedness. Notice that Wisdom was in all places pleading to be heard while the foolish woman sits at her house and calls to those who pass by.
“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, And bread eaten in secret is pleasant. But he knoweth not that the dead are there; That her guests are in the depths of Sheol” (Pro 9:16-18). The simple will find entertainment and pleasure with her and so he “turns in” or gives heed to her call of filth. Solomon, through this chapter, is illustrating the fact that man is given a choice as to what call they obey (see Pro 9:4). The words of the adulterous are, “Stolen waters are sweet and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.” Recall that a woman is referred to as a man’s well or cistern (container) at Pro 5:15. Those who drink out of their own well are faithful to their mate. Those who drink “stolen waters” have gone into the “strange woman.” This woman’s water is stolen by the simple in that he commits adultery with the woman whom he is not married to. Her water and bread of adultery are “pleasant” to the wicked.
The simple rush into the pleasures of sin not pausing to recognize the death trap he enters (see Pro 7:22; Pro 7:27). Those mighty men who have fallen by her seductive and immodest ways are in the “depths of Sheol” (i.e., the place where the worm dies not and the fire is not quenched – see Mar 9:44-48).
Pro 7:11, Pro 21:9, Pro 21:19, 1Ti 6:4, *marg.
Reciprocal: Gen 39:8 – refused Lev 15:20 – General Job 2:10 – as one Pro 11:22 – is without Pro 12:11 – he that followeth Pro 14:1 – the foolish Eze 16:30 – weak Dan 3:4 – aloud
Pro 9:13. A foolish woman, &c. Here we have another allegorical picture, describing folly under the person of a harlot, who fascinates with her enticements, and offers also her dainties to her guests; but dainties tainted with the most subtle poison. The Hebrew, , is literally, the woman of folly, or folly herself compared to a woman, and bearing the character of a harlot. This is opposed to that wisdom of which he has been so long discoursing, and so may include all wickedness, whether in principle or practice. Is clamorous Speaks loudly that she may be heard, and vehemently that persons may be moved by her persuasions. She is simple, and knoweth nothing Namely, aright; nothing that is good, nothing for her good, though she be subtle in little artifices for her own wicked ends.
9:13 A {l} foolish woman [is] clamorous: [she is] simple, and knoweth nothing.
(l) By the foolish woman, some understand the wicked preachers, who counterfeit the word of God: as appears in Pro 9:16 which were the words of the true preachers as in Pro 9:4 but their doctrine is as stolen waters: meaning that they are men’s traditions, which are more pleasant to the flesh than the word of God, and therefore they themselves boast of it.
3. Folly’s feast 9:13-18
Pro 9:1-6 personify wisdom in the figure of a lady preparing a feast and issuing invitations. Pro 9:13-18 personify folly in the guise of a harlot doing the same thing. The contrasts between these sections are full of nuances. Pro 9:4; Pro 9:16 are almost identical invitations. The end of this book contains another picture of a wise woman (Pro 31:10-31).
In view of what God has revealed so far about wisdom, any person can determine just how wise or how foolish he or she may be. This is not a mystery. It has little to do with intelligence but everything to do with commitment. If a person recognizes divine revelation as such and decides to understand it, submits to it, and lives by it the best he can, he is wise. On the other hand, if he rejects God’s Word and decides to live his life with no regard to what God has said, he is a fool.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
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)