Proverbs 5-7: The Path to Folly

Proverbs 5-7 Introduction

In our Proverbs 5-7 Bible study, we will discuss the three final speeches from Solomon to his son. All three address the seventh commandment given to Moses on Mount Sinai in Exodus 20

Exodus 20:14 ¹⁴ “You shall not commit adultery.

However, there are nuances to the Hebrew words used for the English word adultery.

What is the difference between na’aph, zanah, and zarah in Proverbs?

• Na’aph is a Hebrew word that means illicit sex between a man and a married or betrothed woman who was not his wife.
• Zanah means sexual immorality outside of marriage, most often prostitution. It was also used to describe spiritual adultery when Israel broke her covenant with God.
• Zarah or ishah zarah , the word used in Proverbs 5, means forbidden or foreign woman. It could be a prostitute, a loose woman, or a pagan woman.

Bible Bender

Here is the Bible Bender that shows how God delights in rewriting the outsider's story:

• Ruth 2:10, Ruth calls herself a nokhriyah, which means unfamiliar or foreigner.
• Proverbs 5:20 pairs zarah with nokhriyah. Together, the pair means the woman who isn’t yours, or the other woman, or the forbidden woman.
• Ruth 3:11, Boaz then calls Ruth an eshet chayil, a "woman of noble character," which is exactly the phrase that opens Proverbs 31:10.

In some Hebrew orderings of the Bible, including the Leningrad Codex, Ruth comes right after Proverbs instead of before it, which is brilliant. In that order, the Bible proceeds like this:

• Proverbs early chapters: Warning against the foreign woman.
• Proverbs ending: on a positive note by describing the noble woman.
• Ruth, the very next book, introduces a woman who calls herself unfamiliar or foreign, but who Boaz calls a noble woman! And Ruth becomes David's great-grandmother.

You may wonder why Proverbs pays so much attention to adultery.

Why did King Solomon write warnings against foreign women in Proverbs 5?

Adultery is disruptive to relationships. It was then, and it is now. It breaks them, and the repair is painful. This is a father-son conversation. For a son coming of age, sexual temptation could be the first big test of everything his father has taught him. It's where a lack of wisdom could start costing him something.

And then, of course, there is the irony of Solomon’s story. Solomon was Bathsheba's son, so his family history began after David's adultery in 2 Samuel 11. Solomon himself had 700 wives and 300 concubines. So technically not adultery and many were political alliances. But Deuteronomy 17:17 warned kings not to take many wives, “or his heart will be led astray.” And many were foreign or pagan. In 1 Kings 11:2, it says he loved them.

1 Kings 11:4 ⁴ As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been.

We don’t know whether he wrote these warnings about lust to his son out of regret or not. Either way, the book with his name on it warns about the very thing that undid him. Temptation to “love” other women.

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Scene 1: The Folly of the Forbidden Woman

Proverbs 5:1-23

¹ My son, pay attention to my wisdom, turn your ear to my words of insight, ² that you may maintain discretion and your lips may preserve knowledge. ³ For the lips of the adulterous woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil; ⁴ but in the end she is bitter as gall, sharp as a double-edged sword. ⁵ Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to the grave. ⁶ She gives no thought to the way of life; her paths wander aimlessly, but she does not know it.

⁷ Now then, my sons, listen to me; do not turn aside from what I say. ⁸ Keep to a path far from her, do not go near the door of her house, ⁹ lest you lose your honor to others and your dignity to one who is cruel, ¹⁰ lest strangers feast on your wealth and your toil enrich the house of another. ¹¹ At the end of your life you will groan, when your flesh and body are spent. ¹² You will say, “How I hated discipline! How my heart spurned correction! ¹³ I would not obey my teachers or turn my ear to my instructors. ¹⁴ And I was soon in serious trouble in the assembly of God’s people.”

¹⁵ Drink water from your own cistern, running water from your own well. ¹⁶ Should your springs overflow in the streets, your streams of water in the public squares? ¹⁷ Let them be yours alone, never to be shared with strangers. ¹⁸ May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth. ¹⁹ A loving doe, a graceful deer—may her breasts satisfy you always, may you ever be intoxicated with her love. ²⁰ Why, my son, be intoxicated with another man’s wife? Why embrace the bosom of a wayward woman?

²¹ For your ways are in full view of the Lord, and he examines all your paths. ²² The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare them; the cords of their sins hold them fast. ²³ For lack of discipline they will die, led astray by their own great folly.

Solomon’s Imagery: Honey

Solomon uses several types of imagery about the adulterous woman to get his point across to his son. He begins with food, something every boy can identify with! The adulterous woman drips honey, but in the end is bitter as gall. Gall is translated in Hebrew as wormwood, a plant notorious for its extreme, unpleasant bitterness. If the son in this scene is young, we could expect a disgusted yuck at this point and a mental note to avoid women altogether! This same imagery of honey appears in another book, most likely written by Solomon.

How does the imagery of honey compare between Proverbs 5:3 and Song of Songs 4:11?

In Hebrew, the two lines share the exact same phrase, nofet tittofnah, “dripping honey.” Same words, very different lips, and the point is that the woman’s sweetness is good if it comes from the right lips. Compare:

Proverbs 5:3 ³ For the lips of the adulterous woman drip honey,

Song of Songs 4:11 ¹¹ Your lips drop sweetness as the honeycomb, my bride;

Song of Songs 4:11 ¹¹ … milk and honey are under your tongue…

Next, the father returns to his earlier lessons from our last chapters about the difference between the good and evil path.

• The adulterous woman is on an evil path ⁶ She gives no thought to the way of life; her paths wander aimlessly, but she does not know it.
• And the son is to stay on a good path: ⁸ Keep to a path far from her, do not go near the door of her house,
• For if he doesn’t ¹¹ At the end of your life you will groan, when your flesh and body are spent.

Solomon’s Imagery: Water

Next up, Solomon uses water in verses 15-18. Five different water words appear in these four verses:

• Cistern (bor)
• Well (be'er)
• Springs
• Streams
• Fountain (maqor)

His advice to his son is to be content with his own cistern, aka wife. He is to be faithful to her and she to him. He will be blessed if he “Rejoices in the wife of your youth.” Again, the irony of this coming from a man of many wives. Can you imagine the son’s questions? Uh, Dad, which wife are you content with? Hopefully my mom.

Back to the use of water here. It is used throughout the Bible as a source of life, both physically and spiritually. The father is making a point that you are to drink good water from your own well, or wife. A fun fact is that wives were often found at wells.

• Isaac's servant met Rebekah at a well.
• Jacob met Rachel.
• Moses met Zipporah.
• Jesus offered "living water" to a woman with five husbands at a well in John 4.

Solomon’s Imagery: Intoxication

The last comparison Solomon uses regarding the adulterous woman relates to intoxication in verses 19-23. He uses one word but two directions: get swept off your feet by your spouse, or stagger off the path with another woman. This may be the best wordplay in the section. The verb used for intoxicated is shagah, and it means to reel, stagger, stray. It appears three times:

• Regarding a wife: " May you ever be intoxicated always with her love. "
• Regarding another man’s wife: " Why be intoxicated with another man’s wife?”
• At the end of the chapter, applying to cases, " In his great folly he goes astray. "

The choice is clear: there is a healthy option for intoxication here, and it is with your wife. His last warning in this speech is that God sees everything and every path His son takes. It is folly to take the wrong path and believe God has not witnessed it.

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Scene 2: The Path to More Folly: Debt, Laziness, and Deceit

Chapter 6 continues with what many commentators call an appendix or interlude to speech eight. For some reason, Solomon or another author added a few more warnings. As a parent, I can imagine Solomon was capitalizing on his son’s attention. Discussions about sex have a way of captivating the audience. Perhaps Solomon, a wise man, decided to quickly tack on a few other lessons regarding folly, including bad debt, laziness, and deceit.

Proverbs 6:1-19

¹ My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, if you have shaken hands in pledge for a stranger, ² you have been trapped by what you said, ensnared by the words of your mouth. ³ So do this, my son, to free yourself, since you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands: Go—to the point of exhaustion—and give your neighbor no rest! ⁴ Allow no sleep to your eyes, no slumber to your eyelids. ⁵ Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler. ⁶ Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! ⁷ It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, ⁸ yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest. ⁹ How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep? ¹⁰ A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest— ¹¹ and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man. ¹² A troublemaker and a villain, who goes about with a corrupt mouth, ¹³ who winks maliciously with his eye, signals with his feet and motions with his fingers, ¹⁴ who plots evil with deceit in his heart—he always stirs up conflict. ¹⁵ Therefore disaster will overtake him in an instant; he will suddenly be destroyed—without remedy. ¹⁶ There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: ¹⁷ haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, ¹⁸ a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, ¹⁹ a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.

Regarding debt: if the son is talked into pledging security for a neighbor's debt, he is to get out of it quickly. Putting up security means co-signing someone else's debt. Interestingly, there is a thread through the Bible of men who became security, and God used it for good.

• Judah offers himself as surety for Benjamin in Genesis 43:9
• Paul does the same for Onesimus in Philemon 18
• Jesus is called the engyos, the "surety" or "guarantor" of a better covenant in Hebrews 7:22.

Proverbs 6 says don't do it, because the debt could crush you. Jesus did it anyway and was crushed for us because we could not pay for our sin.

What does "go to the ant, you sluggard" mean in Proverbs 6:6?

Regarding laziness: look at the ants. They are self-motivated. They have no commander, and they never stop working. In other words, get moving, be diligent, or you will be poor. But don’t be anxious about it, because in Matthew 6:26 Jesus gives us another example from nature:

Matthew 6:26-27 ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

He says, do not worry. The two passages complement each other: diligence without anxiety. Work like the ant, trust like the bird.

The Deceitful Troublemaker

Regarding the deceitful troublemaker: they maliciously plot evil, but they will be destroyed. Why? Verses 12-15 describe the troublemaker, and verses 16-19 list the seven things God hates. And the two lists mirror each other.

The first 5 things God hates move down the body: eyes, tongue, hands, heart, feet. The same body parts the troublemaker uses in verses 12-14. The sixth is the false witness, and the seventh is the one who stirs up conflict with others. The "six, seven" pattern is a Hebrew numerical device. The seventh item is the climax. And it is the exact charge laid on the troublemaker in verse 14: he “always stirs up conflict.”

These seven sins create such darkness within us that they can engulf the light of Christ we are meant to shine for others.

Matthew 5:14-16 ¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Why does God hate the seven things listed in Proverbs 6:16-19?

God hates them because He loves the people they hurt, and because they dim the light He meant for us to shine. Notice who gets hurt. Nearly every one of these sins wounds another person: innocent blood, a false witness, and conflict in the community. They destroy our witness and any attempt we make to glorify God.

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Scene 3: Adultery is Self-Destructive

Proverbs 6:20-35

²⁰ My son, keep your father’s command and do not forsake your mother’s teaching. ²¹ Bind them always on your heart; fasten them around your neck. ²² When you walk, they will guide you; when you sleep, they will watch over you; when you awake, they will speak to you. ²³ For this command is a lamp, this teaching is a light, and correction and instruction are the way to life, ²⁴ keeping you from your neighbor’s wife, from the smooth talk of a wayward woman. ²⁵ Do not lust in your heart after her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes. ²⁶ For a prostitute can be had for a loaf of bread, but another man’s wife preys on your very life. ²⁷ Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned? ²⁸ Can a man walk on hot coals without his feet being scorched? ²⁹ So is he who sleeps with another man’s wife; no one who touches her will go unpunished. ³⁰ People do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his hunger when he is starving. ³¹ Yet if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold, though it costs him all the wealth of his house. ³² But a man who commits adultery has no sense; whoever does so destroys himself. ³³ Blows and disgrace are his lot, and his shame will never be wiped away. ³⁴ For jealousy arouses a husband’s fury, and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge. ³⁵ He will not accept any compensation; he will refuse a bribe, however great it is.

In these verses, the father is warning his son about adultery with a married woman or Na’aph. However, he compares adultery with a prostitute and adultery with another man's wife. And it seems as if the latter is worse.

Proverbs 6:26 ²⁶ For a prostitute can be had for a loaf of bread, but another man’s wife preys on your very life.

Why is adultery with another man's wife described as worse than visiting a prostitute in Proverbs 6:26?

Adultery with another man’s wife preys on your very life!

Proverbs 6:34 ³⁴ For jealousy arouses a husband’s fury, and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.

In the end, whoever engages in adultery will destroy himself. He will be struck physically and disgraced publicly. Solomon would be painfully familiar with these consequences. His father David lived both consequences. David’s Na’aph, or adultery with married Bathsheba, had the consequences of both.

• Physically: The child conceived in adultery died in 2 Samuel 12:18, and Nathan said the sword would never depart from David’s house (2 Samuel 12:10).
• Publicly: Nathan confronted David in private but said what David did in secret would be repaid “in broad daylight before all Israel” (2 Samuel 12:12). Fulfilled when Absalom took David’s concubines on the palace roof where David first saw Bathsheba (2 Samuel 16:22).

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Scene 4: Adultery is a Clandestine Path That Leads to Death

Proverbs 7:1-27

¹ My son, keep my words and store up my commands within you. ² Keep my commands and you will live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye. ³ Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart. ⁴ Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” and to insight, “You are my relative.” ⁵ They will keep you from the adulterous woman, from the wayward woman with her seductive words. ⁶ At the window of my house I looked down through the lattice. ⁷ I saw among the simple, I noticed among the young men, a youth who had no sense. ⁸ He was going down the street near her corner, walking along in the direction of her house ⁹ at twilight, as the day was fading, as the dark of night set in. ¹⁰ Then out came a woman to meet him, dressed like a prostitute and with crafty intent. ¹¹ (She is unruly and defiant, her feet never stay at home; ¹² now in the street, now in the squares, at every corner she lurks.) ¹³ She took hold of him and kissed him and with a brazen face she said: ¹⁴ “Today I fulfilled my vows, and I have food from my fellowship offering at home. ¹⁵ So I came out to meet you; I looked for you and have found you! ¹⁶ I have covered my bed with colored linens from Egypt. ¹⁷ I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon. ¹⁸ Come, let’s drink deeply of love till morning; let’s enjoy ourselves with love! ¹⁹ My husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey. ²⁰ He took his purse filled with money and will not be home till full moon.” ²¹ With persuasive words she led him astray; she seduced him with her smooth talk. ²² All at once he followed her like an ox going to the slaughter, like a deer stepping into a noose ²³ till an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird darting into a snare, little knowing it will cost him his life. ²⁴ Now then, my sons, listen to me; pay attention to what I say. ²⁵ Do not let your heart turn to her ways or stray into her paths. ²⁶ Many are the victims she has brought down; her slain are a mighty throng. ²⁷ Her house is a highway to the grave, leading down to the chambers of death.

The View from Solomon’s Window

Everyone learns in different ways. The father is covering all his bases to ensure his son does not fall into the trap of adultery. This time he describes how the scene of temptation plays out from the view out of his window. The play-by-play gives the son a vision of how temptation can happen to any young man who “has no sense.” The temptation describes a pattern well known to us. It is Eve’s pattern (Genesis 3:6), Achan’s (Joshua 7:21), and David’s on the rooftop (2 Samuel 11:2-4):

• I see it.
• I want it.
• I take it.
• I suffer for it.

The apostle James describes it with another pattern:

James 1:14-15 ¹⁴ but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. ¹⁵ Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

• Desire is conceived.
• Gives birth to sin.
• Sin grows.
• Gives birth to death.

These patterns are not just for sexual temptation but for every kind of temptation, and we all have them. The questions to ponder are:

• What are they?
• How have I guarded my heart against them?

The Picture Solomon Paints

The second thing I want to point out is that the picture Solomon paints ends with the young man following her. He follows her till death.

Proverbs 7:22-23 ²² … like an ox going to the slaughter, like a deer stepping into a noose ²³ till an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird darting into a snare, little knowing it will cost him his life.

A Wedding and a Funeral

And here is something else to think about that might be obvious to the Hebrew audience but not to us. Her bed smells like a wedding and a funeral. In Proverbs 7:17 she perfumes her bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. To a Hebrew ear, these are bridal scents. Song of Songs 4:14 names myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon together, and Psalm 45:8 perfumes a royal wedding robe with myrrh and aloes. Whether the author intended a funeral echo, we can’t know, but these spices were also used in burial. Recall that in John 19:39 Nicodemus brings myrrh and aloes to bury Jesus.

Proverbs 7:27 ²⁷ Her house is a highway to the grave, leading down to the chambers of death.

The word for chamber is chadar, the ordinary word for bedroom. The picture is deceptively gruesome. The woman is leading a young man down to her bedroom of death. It is the stuff of modern horror movies.

Darkness Grows

Another hidden use of imagery in these verses is that the darkness grows as he gets closer to sin, starting in verse 9. It is not apparent in the NIV version of the Bible. But in the Hebrew it reads: In the twilight, to the evening of the day, to the pupil of night, to deep darkness.

The growing sin tied to darkness echoes Judas’s story. In John 13 at the Last Supper:

John 13:30 ³⁰ As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night.

Then later still that night, in the Garden of Gethsemane, in Luke 22:

Luke 22:47-48 ⁴⁷ While he was still speaking a crowd came up, and the man who was called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him, ⁴⁸ but Jesus asked him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”

Luke 22:53 ⁵³ Every day I was with you in the temple courts, and you did not lay a hand on me. But this is your hour—when darkness reigns.”

And notice that both stories turn on a kiss. The woman kisses the young man (Proverbs 7:13), and Judas kisses Jesus. Jesus speaks here of spiritual darkness, but the real, unnatural climax to this story comes later. From noon until three in the afternoon, " darkness came over the whole land " (Mark 15:33) while Jesus hung on the cross.

The Contrast

The contrast between these examples is promising. The young man walks into darkness, and his death accomplishes nothing. Jesus walks into darkness, and His death brings life.

In Proverbs, the young man follows the woman " like an ox going to the slaughter, " with no idea where he's headed. At his arrest, Jesus, " knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out " (John 18:4) to meet them.

The fool walks into death without knowing it. Jesus walks into it knowing everything. If only we could know. We can, but it takes some work. It would be so easy if we had a visible light that dimmed in warning the further we walked into sin. But we don’t. However, God has not left us without light.

• Proverbs 6:23 already told us: “This command is a lamp, this teaching is a light.”
• Psalm 119:105 God’s Word is a lamp to our feet.
• John 8:12 Christ is the light of the world.

We can find our way if we stay on the path and follow Him.

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Group Discussion Questions for Proverbs 5-7

1. The pattern of temptation is: I see it, I want it, I take it, I suffer for it. How have you learned to recognize this subtle pattern of temptation in your own life before it leads to harmful consequences?
2. Solomon contrasts the diligence of the ant with trusting God like the birds. How can you practice hard work and diligence in your daily life without becoming anxious?
3. God has left us with light for our path so we can follow Him. When you feel your path growing dim, what’s one intentional way you can light it with the Word of God this month?

Show Notes

• God’s Wisdom for Navigating Life, by Timothy and Kathy Keller
• The Path to Good or Evil