Proverbs 5
-Here in this important chapter of Scripture, Solomon warns his son and sons to stay morally pure in regards to their wives as they live out the course of their lives. Again, he purports giving attention, inclining their ear, observing discretion, and reserving knowledge in wisdom. “For the lips of an adulteress drip honey and smoother than oil is her speech; 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 of Sheol. She does not ponder the path of life; her ways are unstable, she does not know it (Proverbs 5:1-6).” In other words, what looks like a great time will end in disaster; don’t be lured into a terrible deal.
-Solomon goes on to say to his sons that they should listen to him and not depart from his wisdom on this matter. He tells them to stay far away from these sleazy women, never going near her house. Else, they would give their strength to others and their years to the cruel one (the devil). Consequences for this kind of activity, he warned, would typically be severe. Strangers would be filled with the strength that God intended for them as sons of the king, and their hard-earned goods would go to the house of an alien. There would be groaning at their final end, when their flesh and body would likely be consumed by venereal disease. At that point, they would realize that their father was absolutely right, and they would bemoan, “How I have hated instruction! And my heart spurned reproof! I have not listened to the voice of my teachers, nor inclined my ear to my instructors!” Solomon also offers a potential, shameful after-thought when he proclaims, “I was almost in utter ruin in the midst of the assembly and congregation (Proverbs 5:7-14).” Solomon was attempting, as a good father should, to head off trouble before it ever began. He was an extremely wise man trying to stave off disaster with his boys.
-After explaining the negative side of immorality, he gives the positive alternative in devotion to the wife of one’s youth. He says, “Drink water from your own cistern and fresh water from your own well. Should your springs be dispersed abroad, streams of water in the streets? Let them be yours alone and not for strangers with you. Let the fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth.” Then he gets really romantic with colorful language expressing the graces and beauty of enjoying one’s own wife. If his sons would love them with exhilaration, that would be the reward of a life filled with wisdom. Exhilaration with an adulteress and the embrace of the bosom of a foreigner should not even be considered by the prudent. Solomon reminds his sons that God’s eyes are on all mankind, and He watches over all his paths. A person’s iniquities will capture him, “and he will be held with the cords of his sin.” A person will die from lack of prescriptive instruction, and if not careful, go astray in the greatness of his folly (Proverbs 5:15-23).
-*Application* As men, we should always be exhilarated with the wife that God has given, for most of us, in our youth. We should be enthralled and ever expanding our devotion into every area including their personalities, emotions, physical attributes, gifts, talents, affections, and so much more. I’m discovering new and wonderful things every day in my relationship with the wife with which the LORD has blessed me. It is wonderful to have such an intimate relationship. God is about faithfulness and lasting relationships with contentment, true love, and unrelenting passion. He wants us to love our wives as He does His church (Ephesians 5:25-33, Colossians 3:19). Fornication, lust, adultery, homosexuality, or any other perversion of God’s institution of covenant marriage is an abomination before Him, and amounts to idolatry (Exodus 34:15-16, Ezekiel 6:9). Meditate on this and pass it along to our son, or sons, if we have them.
Verse to Memorize: Proverbs 5:18
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