Solomon's first essay on Adultery:
Proverbs 5
1My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding:
2That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.
3For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil:
4But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword.
5Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.
6Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them.
7Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth.
8Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house:
9Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel:
10Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger;
11And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,
12And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;
13And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!
14I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.
15Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.
16Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets.
17Let them be only thine own, and not strangers' with thee.
18Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.
19Let 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.
20And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?
21For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings.
22His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.
23He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.
Analysis of the text:
Who is the strange woman?
A woman you simply just met.
A friend.
A foreigner.
That which is not of thy own.
Her mouth and lips are likened to oil and honey.
+her mouth is SMOOTHER than oil.
What do we know in this world that is smoother than oil? Oil is used as lubricant.
She will say things that are BEYOND smooth
If her lips are as an honeycomb, then it drops what? It drops honey. It drips honey. Not true honey, but false honey.
The key is that her lips are As a honeycomb. It is merely a disguise. A false honeycomb dripping with false honey.
This is a woman who is foreign, new, and out of her mouth proceeds seduction.
For honey and oil are rich ingredients, worthy to be desired.
Honey is sweet to taste. And yes I also did think that discussion of her mouth relates to something of a sexual nature. But I think in this particular instance it is related to flattery.
This woman will not seduce you with her appearance. But she will seduce you with her WORDS.
//
But her end (her true state) is bitter as wormwood.
How does a woman with a honeycomb lips (who is supposed to speak SWEET things become Bitter?
Sweet and bitter. Sweet makes you want to eat it. Bitter makes you want to spit it out. It's inedible. Plants manifest bitterness to protect themselves from predators. Things that are bitter are meant to be spat out, as poisons, inedible.
For out of her lips precedes flatteries: false words. Which will be coated in honey and smooth like oil. But her food is not true food.
It is the food of death (sharp as a razor blade)
A bitter and deadly poison.
Verse 5. Chapter 5. Five stands for death in the bible.
For her ways are that of death. And her steps are the steps that descend to HELL.
But she is crafty. She can switch it up. Her ways are moveable. She has not one doctrine but many. You cannot know her path, and when you follow her, you know not where you stand.
Remember our discussion on PATHS?
there is nothing immediately evil about an evil path, but this woman will take you there.
++
Ponder your path. Is it on the same path as that woman? If not, then good.
Examine thy path. Do you pass by the house of the strange woman?
Do you Coast by her house and her doors?
Depart, my son, from the door of her house. Know not of it. Know not where she lives.
The door of her house can also be interpreted as entry into her body. For the body is the temple and house of God. And the doorway therein can be likened to sexual intimacy.
VERSE 9
the price of Adultery.
1) path of death
2) true death and eternal damnation (Hell)
3) your honor
4) your time and resources
5) your wealth
6) possibly your health and body
#3 Honor. The loss of Honor leads to? Disgrace. Ashamedness. Ruin.
#4 all the earthly treasures you have stored up will be stolen by a thief. Idk if this thief is the strange woman, but someone will take away all that you have worked for. Including your house and children. The strange woman is associated with material loss.
#5 she will drain your finances. If she does not take money from you directly, you will still find yourself broke somehow. You will lose all that you possess for a taste of false honey.
#6 flesh is spent / body is consumed. She cares not for the health of your bones. You want to follow the flesh and seek the pleasures of the flesh? So the flesh will be pleasured and spent.
And when spent, with whatever harms it may expose to the body, this woman will drain your wealth AND your health.
Verse 12 ' 13' 14
This man realizes too late that he has been stripped of all that he had. His flesh is spent and his riches exacted.
This is an interesting end to his essay. The man at the end actually comes to his senses. He realizes that he had been a fool. This is where self loathing kicks in.
Verse 14 keyword is ALMOST. this man was ALMOST in all evil. He was almost completely devoured by the darkness. The only light that remains is to shine upon his foolishness.
Part 2 later.