He Who Would Lie...

(Pro 7:16 KJV) I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt.

Adultery again.  You would think that Solomon could find another topic.  Maybe it is so frequent because we need to be reminded.  Maybe is to so frequent to help us understand that the moral depravity of America today is nothing unusual.  I am reasonably sure that my sphere has very little going on, if any.  That does not mean that the culture is not guilty.

It also does not mean that we need to accept that as normal.  It does not mean that we need to accept it at all.  In the past few months two people in the broadcast media who were supposed to be solid conservatives have dumped their wives.  I don’t know what was involved.  In a real sense it is none of my business.  What is my business is accepting their opinions as readily as I did before.  If people can’t keep their marriages in order how can I expect them to be reliable on the news?

So?  Always walk with discernment.  One of the pastors I used to know used to jokingly say, “Don’t loan this man any money because he who would lie will also cheat.”  Or was it “he who will cheat will also lie”?  Either way, the principle is the same. 

Consequences

(Pro 6:35 KJV) He will not regard any ransom; neither will he rest content, though thou givest many gifts.

This might be a good verse to review at the beginning of most modern entertainment.  Lack of sexual boundaries is a common denominator in the secular media.  There seems to be no such thing as sexually transmitted disease, destroyed children and emotional trauma as a result of the so called “sexual freedom.”  They can criticize the prudes of the past all they want but they had lives filled with much more joy.  This verse reminds us that some sins cause greater calamities than others.  Contrary to those who talk about any tiny sin being enough to qualify us for hell, God has always regarded some as more evil than others.  If you don’t believe that then go compare the sacrifices and offerings necessary for different types of sin.

So?  Christians avoid sin.  When they fail they repent and get on with life.  We need to keep on the alert because the forgiveness of our fellow man may not come as readily as the forgiveness of God. 

Webster’s Jealousy

(Pro 6:34 KJV) For jealousy is the rage of a man: therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance.

“Jealousy” (7068).  This is not a word I think about much.  It is another one of those Hebrew words that can be used in a positive or negative way.  As I was looking at it I decided to access Webster’s 1828 dictionary in my software.  Since this is being used as a human emotion in response to adultery I thought one of the things Webster wrote was interesting.

“Jealousy is the apprehension of superiority.”

The cheating couple are both saying to the husband, “You are not good enough.”  When we experience this in any area of life it is a reflection of our feelings of inadequacy.  The reminder here is that adultery is sin, and a nasty one in the eyes of God and man.  The warning is that we need to make sure that we are not putting other people in that position. 

So?  There are a lot of behaviors we should avoid simply because they put other people in a compromising situation. 

Danger, Fantasy Ahead

(Pro 7:5 KJV) That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words.

I am still looking for specific ordinances that are being referred to in Proverbs.  This entire chapter seems to be focused on adultery but there is a strong indication that the adultery is not sexual as much as doctrinal.  The illustration can be applied literally but the context is figurative.  Both are causes for concern.  And in reality we are in more danger of doctrinal perversion than sexual pollution. 

I can’t think of anyone in my circle that I would accuse of actually cheating on their spouse.  It could be a lack of imagination or it could just be an awareness that the sexual promiscuity claimed by the world is more a fantasy than a reality.  At the same time I can find a vigorous selection of doctrinal issues from the foolish to the heretical.  Most people who attend church or claim to be Christian have some serious compromises in their belief system.  This comes from either ignoring the written word or deciding to discredit it based on their own wisdom.

So?  Each person has to self check.  The Holy Spirit will help but only if you want it. 

Anti-Wisdom

(Pro 5:23 KJV) He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.

As I continue looking for specific acts of unrighteousness I see a literal and a figurative focus in this verse.  The literal warning has to do with adultery.  It is clear that Solomon is passing on the word of the Lord about sexual sin. 

The figurative point is that false wisdom is the strange woman that is trying to seduce God’s people into committing spiritual adultery.  In Proverbs we see constant reference to the force of anti-wisdom trying to turn our heads, telling us we don’t need to be bound by God’s hang-ups, saying there is a way of compromise.  As this verse points out, that is the way of death.

So?  Our modern culture is all about watering down the standards of God.  He makes it very clear what He expects.  As always, the choice is ours. 

Waste Abounds

(Pro 6:26 KJV) For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread: and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life.

Wasted money.  Wasted resources.  Wasted lives.  This is a reminder that God expects us to be stewards of what we have.  The context is sexual sin but I don’t think the words necessarily mean prostitutes.  I think the context works just as well with the casual fling.  It is so easy to throw away everything we have built up in life and do it in a moment.

Here the danger is sex outside of marriage.  It could just as well be going for that one time shady business deal that is going to set you up and you promise not to do it again.  It could be the lie that gets you out of a tight spot but comes back to bite you. 

So?  Forgiveness is available.  Grace is a gift.  God is patient.  He also is not big on playing games and you can’t fool Him. 

Ad Antidote

(Pro 7:5 KJV) That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words.

How many of us don’t want anything to “keep” (8104) us from the “adulteress” or literally, “strange” (2114a) “woman” (802)?  I imagine most people would say they believe adultery is wrong and yet the common wisdom is that sex sells.  How often do I find myself taking a second look at a picture with a provocative woman in a prominent place?  It happens more often than I want to admit.  Satan knows our weaknesses and works them ruthlessly.  How do we emerge victorious?  By knowing the teachings of wisdom and following them. 

So?  One thing that sex will not sell is holiness and a saving status before Jesus.  We have many decisions to make and it starts with reading the directions. 

Share Not

(Pro 5:16 KJV) Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets.

The word picture being drawn here is of a cistern and the use of stored water.  The advice is to not throw away a valuable resources.  The literal application behind the figurative speech is to keep your affection and sexual contact within the bonds of marriage and not throw them out into the general public.  That seems pretty simple.

A cistern would obviously be limited in the water it will hold but I never stopped to think that even a well will run out of water if too many people are using it.  Stewardship applies to our sexual facet as well as our financial.  God blesses us and we are expected to use them in righteousness.

So?  Don’t waste your affection on those outside of your personal covenant.  Remember that water running down the street is dirty and gets dirtier as it runs. 

Time, Place, Participants

(Proverbs 7:18 KJV)  Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves.

Years ago, as a teenager, I was spending the night in someone else’s home.  I can’t remember how it all worked out but I observed one of the residents open the refrigerator, take out a bottle of milk and take a long drink, then put the bottle back on the shelf.  To be honest, I have done the same thing myself but I have never done it in a house full of people who might be accessing milk from that same bottle.  What might be a simple matter of laziness for a bachelor living alone becomes a health issue when you have a house full of people.

That is the situation here.  If this were a dialogue between a woman and her husband, yeah team.  It would be a wholesome, positive invitation.  It isn’t.  This is an invitation to step outside the bounds of God’s providential blessings and turn a great good into a great evil.  This is an invitation to sin based on time and participants.

So?  Will your day be full of blessings or perversions?  Often the difference is the choices we make. 

Not an Option

(Proverbs 6:29 KJV)  So he that goeth in to his neighbour's wife; whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent.

We have been slowly brainwashed by our culture.  It started during my youth with a justified concern that people who had suffered divorce were not being forgiven.  Often they were considered pariahs.  So church thinkers began to get us to work at including these unfortunate people.  That was important because God is in the business of restoring broken pots.  Somehow in the process we threw the baby out with the bath water.  Divorce is now no big deal and because of that it has become common.  The needle of morality kept moving until now we have people living in adultery who claim to be doing nothing wrong. 

We need to be reminded that divorce is one of those things that God hates.

(Malachi 2:16 KJV)  For the LORD, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away: for one covereth violence with his garment, saith the LORD of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously.

“Putting away” (7971) is the Hebrew term for divorce.  God hates it.  We have made it mainstream. 

So?  The point is that we need to take a God’s eye view of sexual sin and self centeredness.  If you are a disciple of Jesus certain things that may be legal and endorsed by our society are not an option.

One Foot in the Grave

(Proverbs 7:27 KJV)  Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death.

The action being discussed here is sexual sin.  For the young man it is fornication, for the woman, adultery.  They are both sin, plain and simple.  It is not a matter of sex before marriage being okay and cheating on your spouse isn’t.  It is not okay to violate God’s call to sexual purity as long as you are really in love.  People “living together” have one foot in the grave and don’t even know it.  I have a hard time believing they don’t know it but I guess if I can convince myself that the apple fritter I just ate won’t really make a difference then their appetites can give them the excuses they need to live in denial.

So?  God cares about how we live.  Sexual behavior is part of the deal.  Live upright and righteous.  Don’t make excuses; God doesn’t.

Pagan Variations

(Proverbs 6:26 KJV)  For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread: and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life.

Here we have two varieties of sexual sin.  The first is expressed by “whorish woman” (harlot NASB) (2182).  The second is “adulteress” (802).   There is a difference between a harlot and a prostitute.  The dictionary in my computer does not get into the nuance.  I had to go to Google and even there read with my mind working.  A harlot, or whore, is sexually active but is not necessarily paid.  A prostitute provide service for money.  This word is referring to women who get involved sexually for the fun of it.

The second term in context shows that the first one refers to single women.  “Adulteress” is a compound expression meaning “man’s wife”.  This is adultery.  In the Bible both are condemned.  In the Bible the man is also condemned.  There is no wiggle room.

Our post modern pagan culture still has some sense that adultery is wrong but is zealous about the innocence of pre-marital sex, “as long as you love each other”.  If you call yourself a follower of Jesus then you cannot accept that distortion.

So?  Know who you are in Christ.  Be pure and upright.  Don’t fall for it when others claim the status of saint and live in open sin.  As they say in some churches after reading the scripture, “Hear the word of the Lord”. 

Anatomical Allusions

(Proverbs 5:16 KJV)  Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets.

Solomon is playing with a lot of word pictures in this passage.  Such an approach makes many uncomfortable.  In his comments on verse 18, Adam Clarke says,

“How delicate and correct is the allusion here! But anatomical allusions must not be pressed into detail in a commentary on Scripture.”

One of the paraphrased “translations” puts this verse in an interesting way that gets at the point being made.

(Proverbs 5:16 CEV)  And don't be like a stream from which just any woman may take a drink.

Faithfulness and chastity are important to God.  Here the reference is to our sex life.  Other places it might refer to our leisure and intellectual pursuits.  God demands purity.

So?  The world mocks.  We are constantly bombarded with appeals to compromise.  Keep in mind that in some areas, compromise is sin.  Walk in righteousness.

Three in a Row

(Proverbs 7:5 KJV)  That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words.

As I read this I was struck by the fact that for three chapters Solomon has been putting a major emphasis on the dangers of adultery.  He also brings it up in other places, but three chapters in a row!

This can be an assurance that you are on the right road if you are being faithful.  You certainly won’t get that from our culture.  We are in a time when marriage and old fashioned ideas about sex are considered almost forms of mental illness.  Get used to it.  It will get worse.  The comfort is that God is not going to change His attitude.  Sex outside of marriage to your one wife is sin.

This can be a warning if you have been too immersed in your culture.  Don’t fall for the lie of your
TV screen, AMC theater or best seller. 

It can also be a reminder that God wants you to repent.

So?  Assurance, warning or call to repentance.  Take your pick.  Adultery is a sin. 

Much Choice

(Pro 7:21 KJV)  With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him.

How long does it take to reach “much” (many NASB) (7230)?  We all have situations where we are hit unexpectedly and do the wrong thing.  When a kid at school walks up to you and jabs his finger at your eye and then laughs, “Made you flinch!”  Yes, you did.  So what.  We have reactions.  God is very understanding of those situations.  The problem is in the continued temptations.

Anyone can be worn down in time.  Admit it.  Allow for it.  When a situation comes up that you would initially reject but in time might succumb, run.  Say, “No.”  Change direction.  Here the situation is sexual but the principle is not limited to that.  It could be something as common and ignored as gluttony.  It could be something as insidious as gossip. 

So?  The message is to make a decision to get away from the temptation.  You don’t need to stumble.  Sometimes it is our own fault.  Don’t fall for it.  The devil didn’t make you do it.

A Greater Sin

(Pro 6:33 KJV)  A wound and dishonour shall he get; and his reproach shall not be wiped away.

We tend to think of all sin as being equal and in once sense that is true.  We are told that breaking any part of the law has serious consequences.

(Matthew 5:19 KJV)  Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

At the same time some sins are more offensive to God than others.  Adultery, dealt with here, is not like other sins.  It is a “reproach” (2781) that will not be “wiped away” (blotted out NASB) (4229a).  Sexual sin is right up with idolatry to generate God’s wrath.  That is because both are aimed at intimate covenants. 

So?  Reject the conditioning of our popular culture.  Reject any sexual involvement outside of marriage.  You might find that easier if you change what you watch and read. 

Adultery = Destruction

(Pro 6:32 KJV)  But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul.

I will be honest with you.  I have never been seriously tempted to commit actual adultery.  I am sure I have “lusted in my heart” to a degree and Jesus says that is just as bad.  But to actually go out and get physically involved with a woman I was not married to?  Never happen.  It was hard enough getting involved with the woman I married.

Maybe you are different.  I think that most people have drunk the kool aide sold by the movies and literature and think that people are more sexually active than they are.  The point here is that the standard of God is simple, clear and eternal.  Adultery is a sin.  Adultery is sex outside of marriage.  Marriage is between a man and a woman. 

So?  Be aware that there is a massive campaign to destroy the institutions of marriage and the family.  Don’t buy into the lie either actively or passively.  The lie leads to destruction of you as a person, the family you have and the society you live in. 

Forbidden Knowledge

(Proverbs 22:14 KJV)  The mouth of strange women is a deep pit: he that is abhorred of the LORD shall fall therein.

The definition for “strange women” (adulteress NASB) (2114a) is basically “stranger.”  In the Hebrew there is one subset in the definition in which it means “prostitute” or “harlot.”  I can only assume that is the case here.  The NASB has several different words translated “adulteress.”  The KJV only uses the English word three times, never of this one.

In this case the idea is that two people are violating the marriage covenant.  In the Bible the act of sexual intercourse is often called “to know.”  It is the ultimate knowing.  It is yada, a word that is also used to describe knowing God.  Sex in marriage has that high a place in God’s plan.  To get involved outside marriage is a denial of that covenant and is second only to idolatry which you can think of as adultery toward God.

So?  There are commitments we make in life.  We make them to God.  We make them to our spouse.  We break that covenant at the risk of eternal hell.  Morality matters.  Faithfulness is a basic in the life of righteousness. 

Rejected Ransom

(Proverbs 6:35 KJV)  He will not regard any ransom; neither will he rest content, though thou givest many gifts.

This is part of a warning involving our interpersonal relations.  If you look back a few verses this involves someone who has committed adultery.  Solomon then proceeds to explain why there will not always be easy fixes. 

Adultery involves the ultimate betrayal and violation of trust.  The sexual relationship was designed by God as a one-to-one covenant.  It was to be life long.  I know that the modern attempt to water marriage down has a vow that says, “As long as we both shall love,” but the one that God endorses is “as long as we both shall live.”

So?  Some sins are avoidable.  There are no excuses.  You may find some type of forgiveness from the people you have wronged but you will never be able to restore the trust again.  Live in righteousness. 

A Ravishing Ugly

(Proverbs 5:20 KJV)  And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?

Why do men cheat on their wives?  Why do women look for love in the wrong places?  I am sure that there are many excuses but there are few reasons.  We hear, “She is cold.”  We cry, “He doesn’t understand me.”  We have a million “reasons.”  In reality they are excuses to justify doing what we think will be exciting.

This is really a rhetorical question.  You remember what a rhetorical question is, don’t you?  It is a question that has an obvious answer and does not expect a response.

The question is, “Why be stupid?”  It could be expanded to “Why throw away everything you have ever worked for and invested in for a few moments of fun?”

If you are a follower of Jesus the answer is obvious.  Who would chase their latest flame knowing it could put them in eternal flames?

So?  Be faithful.  Be chaste.  Be pure.  It is a minimum expectation, not a goal.