Warning Against Immorality (Proverbs 5)

The Peril of Adultery

Warning Against Immorality

01 My son, pay attention to my wisdom;
00 Lend your ear to my understanding,
02 That you may preserve discretion,
00 And your lips may keep knowledge.
03 For the lips of an immoral woman drip honey,
00 And her mouth is smoother than oil;
04 But in the end she is bitter as wormwood,
00 Sharp as a two-edged sword.
05 Her feet go down to death,
00 Her steps lay hold of hell.
06 Lest you ponder her path of life--
00 Her ways are unstable;
00 You do not know them.

07 Therefore hear me now, my children,
00 And do not depart from the words of my mouth.
08 Remove your way far from her,
00 And do not go near the door of her house,
09 Lest you give your honor to others,
00 And your years to the cruel one;
10 Lest aliens be filled with your wealth,
00 And your labors go to the house of a foreigner;
11 And you mourn at last,
00 When your flesh and your body are consumed,
12 And say:
00 "How I have hated instruction,
00 And my heart despised correction!
13 I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers,
00 Nor inclined my ear to those who instructed me!
14 I was on the verge of total ruin,
00 In the midst of the assembly and congregation."

15 Drink water from your own cistern,
00 And running water from your own well.
16 Should your fountains be dispersed abroad,
00 Streams of water in the streets?
17 Let them be only your own,
00 And not for strangers with you.
18 Let your fountain be blessed,
00 And rejoice with the wife of your youth.
19 As a loving deer and a graceful doe,
00 Let her breasts satisfy you at all times;
00 And always be enraptured with her love.
20 For why should you, my son, be enraptured by an immoral woman,
00 And be embraced in the arms of a seductress?

21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD,
00 And He ponders all his paths.
22 His own iniquities entrap the wicked man,
00 And he is caught in the cords of his sin.
23 He shall die for lack of instruction,
00 And in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.

The purpose of Writing the book of Proverbs was to reveal the mind of God in matters high and lofty and in common, ordinary, everyday situations. It appears that no topic escaped King Solomon's attention. Matters pertaining to personal conduct, sexual relations, business, wealth, charity, ambition, discipline, debt, child-rearing, character, alcohol, politics, revenge, and Godliness are among the many topics covered in this rich collection of wise sayings.

Without wisdom, knowledge is nothing more than an accumulation of raw facts, influenced by emotional feelings. Many highly educated people are in positions of power in the United States, but very few of those educated leaders have the wisdom needed to rule properly.

One can say that they have been educated well beyond their intelligence. A cursory look at the court system will prove my point that knowledge without wisdom will only lead to an immoral society that eventually crumbles from within. Judges are supposed to be above the fray, and immovable to emotions. Instead, the vast majority of judges today are Godless individuals who are vacant of wisdom. So their rulings are totally based upon emotional feelings.

We the people are to blame, because we ignored God's guidance in appointing our leaders. Instead of putting leaders full wisdom in power, we instead chose those who would scratch our itchy ears to lead us.

Of the 31 Proverbs, only the first 24 were written by Solomon. King Hezekiah wrote 5, Proverbs 25 to 29, Agur wrote Proverb 30, and Lemuel wrote Proverb 31. Now many believe Lemuel was in fact King Solomon and Lemuel was just a nick name his Mother, Bathsheba gave him. We are told that Solomon write over 3000 Proverbs and composed 1000 songs, but the only Proverbs God decided to preserve for us are Proverbs 1-24. Like the New Testament epistle by James, it is impossible to get a chronological outline for a study since they all bounce from subject to subject.

Along with my daily routine of reading the Bible, I try to read through the book of Proverbs once a Month. It's an easy task when you consider there are 31 Proverbs. So all you need to know is what day of the Month it is. In the Months that have 30 days, or in the case of February, I just double up by reading more than one two proverb so I can begin the next month with Proverb 1 on the first again.