Last week we looked at Proverbs 9 in which Solomon contrasts Lady Wisdom with Lady Folly. Solomon attempts to make the choice between Wisdom and Folly as clear and as obvious as possible in the hopes of helping us to make the right choice. Would that it were that simple, amen, as making such an obvious choice between Lady Wisdom and Lady Folly as Solomon described them in Proverbs 9? Sometimes the choice is that obvious, as the Apostle Paul pointed out in Romans 7: “For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do” (v. 17). In other words, he knows the right thing to do and the wrong thing to do but he struggles with making the right decision. But Solomon also knows and tries to warn us that we can be totally hijacked and taken unawares by sin. [Read Proverbs 7.]
So many of the commentaries and articles that I read suggest that the young man hanging out in a group of other “simple ones” was somehow hanging around the edges of the group and wanders off in the hopes of running into this mysterious and exotic woman. I don’t think so. Solomon describes him as hanging out in a group when he wanders off … clueless. In the Hebrew, the language that Solomon uses suggests that he has just wandered off from the group and is ‘sauntering’ or ‘strolling’ down the street … totally unaware of where he is going … just mindlessly wandering down this street and that until he finds himself on the street where a married woman is lying in wait. Solomon says that he passes along the street near her corner, “taking the road to her house” (Proverbs 7:8) but one could argue whether or not he knew that or he just happened to wander blindly onto the street where she happens to live. The fact that he is “simple” … the fact that he is just mindlessly wandering away from the group … suggest to me that he just happened to make a wrong turn without realizing it … which is often how we accidentally wander into sin, amen? Just sauntering along, strolling through life, when we blindly or accidentally find ourselves in a situation we neither expected nor were we prepared for.
We’ve all watched those nature shows and channels on TV and the internet, haven’t we, and watched lions hunting. They lie in hiding, waiting for their unsuspecting prey to get close enough for them to strike. I love how Solomon sets up the scene. The narrator is looking out the window of his or her house. The window is covered with lattice, which allows the narrator to look out his or her window and observe what was about to take place without the principal players in this drama being able to see him or her. The simple young man doesn’t know who lives on this street or the danger that’s about to pounce on him but the person looking out the window does and he or she knows what’s about to happen to this poor unsuspecting victim. “I observed among the youths, a young man without sense” … in other words … someone without a clue as to the danger he is in … “passing along the street near her corner” (Proverbs 7:8). Where do prostitutes hang out? On corners? Why? So they can call to and attract as many customers as possible … and I imagine that the person looking out the window has seen this woman standing on the corner many, many times and watched her lure many simple, innocent young men into her trap. Remember how Solomon describes Lady Folly in Proverbs 9: “The foolish woman is loud; … she sits at the door of her house, on a seat at the high places of the town, calling to those who pass by …’You who are simple, turn in here!’” (vv. 13-16).
Right on cue, the woman comes out of her house and begins her “sales pitch.” Like Lady Folly in Proverbs 9, she is loud … decked out like a prostitute … wily of heart … restless … her feet do not stay at home … now in the street, now in the squares, and at every corner she lies in wait (Proverbs 7:10-12). It’s funny but so many commentaries and articles point out that she uses words to entice the simple young man but here she does more than just use words … she uses her body … she dresses suggestively … she seizes him and kisses him (Proverbs 7:13) … and then invites him into her bedroom to make love. Sin begins with words, with thoughts, with an invitation but almost always ends in us taking some kind of physical action, amen? The thought of stealing a candy bar leads to the act of stealing the candy bar … or, as Jesus pointed out, thoughts of lust lead to actual acts of adultery (Matthew 5:27-28). “With much seductive speech she persuades him,” says Solomon, “with her smooth talk, she compels him. Right away, he follows her” (Proverbs 7:21-22). Right away … without a whimper or a word of protest … without a moment of doubt or hesitation … without a trace or hint of suspicion … he follows her … again, clueless to the danger that awaits him once he enters her bedroom … which Solomon describes aa trap where he will be slaughtered like an ox or a deer or a bird caught in a hunter’s snare.
I mentioned watching lions hunting on nature shows earlier. So long as the gazelle stays within the herd, it’s relatively safe. The herd knows there’s lions and hyenas hiding somewhere in the bushes … so they stay close to one another. But … there’s always that one gazelle that sees as a delicious clump of grass just a few feet away from the herd and the temptation is too great and it leaves the herd and starts nibbling on the grass. His friends call to him, warning of the danger that lurks in the bushes but, hey, he’s fast … he’s pretty sure that he can get back to the herd before the lion can get to him … and he’s right. “See, fellas, no problem.” But the next day they leave the herd to nibble some more … and the next … and each day they get a little further from the herd … and the lions patiently crouch in the bushes and wait until the day that the gazelle is too far from herd … and then they pounce … just as this lady has pounced on this simple young man who has strayed away from the group.
She does nothing but tell lies. She tells the simple young man that she has been waiting for him, that she has prepared everything for him … her couch or bed is ready, covered with expensive sheets and a bright, colorful, luxurious bedspread … sprayed with perfume … all ready for a night of passion … just for him. But the truth is that he meant no more to her than all the other men … including her husband … that she has lured off the streets and into her bedroom.
I mean, think about it. She comes right out and admits that she is cheating on her husband … who is away on business so that he can provide her with the house, the bed, the sheets, and the perfume that she is using to lure this poor sap into her trap. He’s so blinded by her and by her invitation to experience a night of delight that he doesn’t put two-and-two together and realize that she is openly admitting that she is an adulteress. Why would she be loyal to him when she isn’t even loyal to her own husband, right? She uses the fact that her husband is going to be gone for a month to lure her simple young victim into thinking that he’s safe, that they won’t get caught … just like the gazelle who wanders further and further away from the herd and thinks that he is safe when the truth is that lions are very, very patient.
Here’s the thing … sin … or Satan … is a liar, right? She says that she’s been waiting for “him,” but the truth is that she has been waiting for anyone to wander into her clutches and fall for her trap. She says that her husband is away on business and won’t be back for a month … but how do we know that’s true, amen? He could just be at the office. He could just be out at the market or working out in the fields. He could show up any second. How do we even know that she is married, for that matter? Maybe her so-called husband is a ploy. Any self-respecting person would hear that she is married and run away from there as fast as possible … but those who don’t run away … well, she knows that she has them hook, line, and sinker, follow me? The fact of the matter is that this simple young man has no clue if what’s she is saying is true or not. He is so blinded by his lust that he hears only what he wants to hear. She puts out the honey and waits for a fly … any fly at all … to land and get stuck in her sweet trap.
Does he really believe that she has been eagerly seeking him? He must, despite the fact that she openly admits that she is married and very willing to cheat on her husband with him. Sin says “I care for you … I love you … I want you” … when, in reality, sin only cares for herself. She will use whatever, whomever, to satisfy her lust for control or power or destruction and though Solomon doesn’t say so, the suggestion to me is that she’ll toss him aside when she is done with him … where upon she will once again take to her corner to lure in yet another fresh victim … and another … and another.
Solomon says that all of this took place at “twilight in the evening, at the time of night and darkness” (Proverbs 7:9). Twilight is the time that the lions come out to hunt. It is too hot to chase after gazelle or game in the heat of the day. Besides, it is easier to hide and blend in with the landscape when it is dusk and the sunlight is fading but there is still enough light for the lion to see his prey. Like the lion, the woman can catch and eat her prey and go to sleep with a full belly. “Come,” she says to her victim, “let us take our fill of love until morning” (Proverbs 7:18) … meaning that she will have her fill and probably cast out what’s left of him in the morning. Or, they’ll both have their fill but he, like the fatted calf, will be the one that will get slaughtered.
Twilight is the time between day and night. For the writers of the Bible, day and light represents ‘wisdom’ and darkness represents ‘ignorance’ … the perfect time for sin to pounce on this poor, unsuspecting young man. Twilight … the time between daytime and nighttime … the time between total light and total darkness … the time between wisdom and ignorance … is the perfect time to trap someone and mislead them into taking the road to ruin and destruction. They are old enough to begin challenging and questioning the teachings of their childhood but haven’t yet experienced enough of the world to get to know and respect its many hidden dangers … even though, like Solomon, our parents and our teachers and our spiritual guides have tried hard to warn us. And you don’t have to be a young person to fall into this trap. You can be in your 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s and still find yourself in the vulnerable position of “twilight” … caught in between daylight and darkness … of knowing and not knowing … of knowing a little but not knowing enough to keep you from making a bad decision like this poor simple sap, amen?
In verse 14, the woman tells the simple young man that she had “to offer sacrifices” and “pay her vows” … she “had” to offer sacrifices and “pay her vows.” Two kinds of offerings were made at the Temple … guilt offerings and thanks offerings. She makes it sound as though she offered the LORD a thanks offering at the Temple in anticipation of God sending this simple fool to her in answer to her prayers. But maybe … and this is just my speculation … she had to go to the Temple to make a guilt offering for either the sin that she had recently committed or the sin that she was about to commit … or both, amen?
Verse 14 suggests something much more sinister and, well, sinful to me. During a “shelamin” or “peace” or “thank offering,” the sacrifice was divided between Jehovah, the priests, and the person who brought the offering. Part of the sacrifice was burned on the altar … another part of the sacrifice was given to the priest … and the rest of the sacrifice was given to the person who was making the offering … who would then take it home, where they would hold a solemn ceremonial feast and eat it with their family. This woman is taking the offering that she made at the Temple … be it a sin or thanksgiving offering … and has invited a stranger to share it with her instead of her husband.
In verse 17, she tells the simple young man that she has perfumed her bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. Clearly the mention of the expensive bedsheets and the perfume were meant to purvey a feeling or sense of sensual delight but I think it was meant to signify something greater … God’s house … the Temple … which was lavish … built with expensive stone and wood … covered in gold … the entrance to the most holy inner-sanctum … the Holy of Holies … covered by a thick, gorgeous curtain of blue, purple, and crimson yarns and fine twisted linen, embroidered with needlework of cherubim (Exodus 26:31, 36).
The idea of burning the sacrifice was two-fold. Once the offering was consumed … either by fire or by the priests or by the person offering the sacrifice … it was gone … it could not be taken back. We couldn’t eat the offering with God so God commanded us to burn it so that the smoke would rise up to Heaven and He could smell it and know that we were thinking of Him and making a sacrifice to Him.
There was another fragrance that was pleasing to the LORD … a special perfume. “Take the finest spices,” the LORD commanded Moses, “of liquid myrrh … sweet smelling cinnamon … aromatic cane … and olive oil … you shall make of these of these a sacred anointing oil blended as by the perfumer; it shall be a holy anointing oil…. You shall say to the Israelites, ‘This shall be my holy anointing oil throughout your generations. It shall not be used in any ordinary anointing of the body, and you shall make no other like it in composition; … Whoever compounds any like it or whoever puts any of it on an unqualified person shall be cut off from the people’” (Exodus 30:23-25, 31-33).
The adulteress in Proverbs 7 uses these to lure this young victim into her house … away from the house of the LORD … under the guise that everything was safe and sacred. She had made her sacrifices … she had paid her vows … she had decked her bedchamber with expensive sheets and scented her bed with sacred spices and perfume … and her husband … the Lord of the manor was away on business and would never know. Sadly, Solomon, who is watching this from behind a lattice-covered window and has seen many a good young man and woman succumb to the wiles and allure of Folly will also succumb to idolatry. The LORD warned Solomon, just as Solomon is now warning us, to avoid marrying women from foreign lands who practiced pagan religions. Unfortunately, Solomon didn’t listen to God’s advice nor did he listen to his own God-granted wisdom. “For when Solomon was old,” says the Bible, “his wives turned away his heart after other gods; and his heart was not true to the LORD his God … For Solomon followed Astarte the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites … So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the LORD” (1st Kings 11:4-6) … going so far as to build altars for his pagan wives and burning incense and offering sacrifices to their gods. As a result, God would tear the kingdom from Solomon and give part of the kingdom to one of Solomon’s sons and the rest to some other unnamed person (1st Kings 11:11, 13). So you see, even Solomon … who had the ‘wisdom’ to ask God for ‘wisdom’ … who had seen many a fine person succumb to the wiles of Folly and sin … was himself taken in by her invitation and enticed by her offer of sensual pleasure … convinced that he, unlike the countless other victims he had seen fall prey to her wiles would escape unscathed and undetected by her husband … who, in this case, is Yahweh, Israel’s husband. He fails to heed his own advice.
At the beginning of Proverbs 7, he calls us to keep his word and to store up his commandments … to bind them on our fingers … write them on the tablet of our hearts … and live. We are to get to know God’s wisdom intimately … like a sister or an intimate friend … so that we may keep from the loose or evil woman and not be fooled or beguiled by her smooth words. “And now, my children, listen to me and be attentive to the words of my mouth,” he commands us at the end of his proverb. Don’t end up like an ox being led to slaughter, don’t be like a stag caught in a trap, or a bird rushing into a snare “not knowing that it will cost [you your] life” (Proverbs 7:22-23). “Do not let your hearts turn aside to her ways; do not stray into her paths, for many are those she has laid low, and numerous are her victims. Her house is the way to Sheol, doing down to the chambers of death” (Proverbs 7:25-27).
I got drunk for the first time sometime in October of 1971 … at a party. I didn’t take that drink thinking that I would ever become an alcoholic. I was at a party. It was fun. I, like the simple young man in Solomon’s proverb, was clueless about the danger that I was in. Like the woman in our proverb today, sin was loud … parties are loud … fun is loud … people laughing and drinking and having a good time is loud, right? I fell in love with booze that night … and like the lady in Proverbs 7, I thought that she loved me … “so now I have come out to meet you,” the lady says to the simple young man, “to seek you eagerly, and I have found you!” (Proverbs 7:15). And that’s how I felt the first time I got drunk. I had found “IT” … “IT” had found me … and we were going to have lots and lots of fun together … and be together forever.
I thought that alcohol and I had a good thing going and for a long time we did have a lot of fun together. But over time, it went from being a good-time friend and companion to being my Lord and master … and the transformation was so sneaky and subtle that I didn’t notice what was happening until it was too late. Like the gazelle at the beginning of my sermon, I was part of a herd, if you will. I was part of a family. I grew up in the church. I was in the choir. Attended MYF. I was involved in scouting right up to until I graduated from high school. I had watched all the movies in health class warning me of the dangers of alcoholism and drug addiction … but the dangers that they described … while they seemed logical and made sense … they were still kind of nebulous and abstract. Like the young man in Solomon’s proverb, I was simple … not stupid … just naive and inexperienced. I hadn’t had much experience in the world. I hadn’t experienced being chased by a lion … yet … felt its hot breath on my neck. Like that gazelle, I nibbled on … or smoked … every green clump of grass that I saw … getting further and further from the herd … who were shouting, “Look out, you idiot! There are lions everywhere, you fool!” “Ah, nothing to worry about,” I would explain, “they’ll never get me. I’m too smart and too fast. I know exactly how far I can go and still make it safe back to the herd.” Without realizing it, every day I was getting just a hair further and a hair further away from the herd until one day … BAM! … a lion sprang out of nowhere … it seemed … and grabbed me by the neck. While it held me in its jaws, I cried out, “HELP!” Wisely, no one in the herd came out to save me lest the lion drop me and attack them or some other lions grabs them by the neck. Like Paul, I cried out: “Who can save me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24) … and that’s when Jesus showed up, wrestled with the lion trying to save my life … only to have the lion drop me and attack Him and kill Him instead.
I believe … no, I know! … that Folly’s house is “the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death” (Proverbs 2:27) … that the adulteress’ path is strewn with the bodies of her victims because I barely escaped from her alive myself. Today, I stay in the middle of the herd. I am the one calling out to those who think that they can wander from the herd and make it back alive. I show them the claw marks on my back and pray that they don’t have to feel the lion’s breath on their back or feel its jaws clamping down on their necks like I did. They could spare themselves from a painful death or serious mauling if they keep in the center of the herd and do what Solomon says and keep the Lord’s commandments and the Lord’s teachings in the apple of their eye.
The “apple of their eye” is a beautiful way of commanding us to keep God and His Word in the center of our lives. The “apple” of our eye is the pupil … which is what lets light into our eyes and makes it possible for us to see. It’s what lets light in. If we keep our eye on God’s commandments … if we keep our eyes focused on God’s teaching … if we bind them on our fingers and write them on the table of our hearts … then we will live. We won’t be simple. We won’t just wander aimlessly down strange streets and paths. We will know about the lions and fear them and stay close to God and the herd. I know that when the adulteress tells me that she’s been waiting for me … that she loves me and cares for me and wants to be with me … when she tells me that she has gone out of her way and made special arrangements to that we can be alone … happy together forever … that her husband is away on business and we will never get caught … I’ll know that she is lying … I’ll know that she cares nothing for me … that I’m not special … that I’m just another victim for her to use and throw out with tomorrows trash … and that she’ll be back on her corner kissing some other poor fool and telling them the same lies that she told me.
Solomon told us that we should treat ‘wisdom’ like a sister and call ‘insight’ our intimate friend. We should see God’s laws, God’s commandments, God Word as though they were our best friends. We should hold them closer than a blood relative. We should love them as much … and maybe even more … than we love our own family. We should be hanging out with God’s Word, with God’s Law, with God’s instruction as much as we hang out with our family and friends on a daily basis.
The Hebrew in verse 2 that mentions keeping Solomon’s teaching as the “apple” our eyes is also a really beautiful and informative play on words. The Hebrew word “ishon” means “pupil” or the center of the eye. It also means “little man.” When someone looks you in the eye or you look someone in the eye, you not only see the pupil but you also see a “little man” in their pupil … you see a reflection of whatever or whomever their eye is looking at in the world. Who is the “ishon” … who is the “little man” or the “little person” … being reflected in the apple of your eye? Is it the adulteress? Or is it Jesus Christ?
