Posted by Jeff Short on November 24, 2016 · 1 Comment
For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been slain by her.
– Proverbs 7:26
This verse shows the true way of wisdom, to look past the short-term gain proposed and look well to the end of the way. The end of the way is where many have been pierced and many thrown down. The urgent warning comes home that it’s not only weak simpletons but many strong men have been undone by her. This verse emphasizes the wisdom in staying away and avoiding and not seeking to grapple with her as though you are the one who will succeed.
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Posted by Jeff Short on September 24, 2016 · 1 Comment
He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.
– Proverbs 5:23
Instruction points to restraint, or self-discipline as we would say. The way of folly, and here great folly, is the way of death (Proverbs 10:21; 14:32). To go astray means to err or even to reel. It picks up the notion of being ravished from the previous verses. This sort of folly is completely senseless and ultimately ruinous. This is the grim consequence and what lies at the end of the road that wisdom will consider.
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Posted by Jeff Short on September 6, 2016 · 1 Comment
Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.
– Proverbs 5:5
Feet and steps continue the theme of a path or way, which stands for the course of life. These are continually contrasted in this first section of Proverbs. The strange woman presents a companion picture to the way of the evil man warned against earlier (Proverbs 2:12). Death and hell continue the death symbol from the sword in the previous verse. The warning of death is pointed and has two main senses. First, it is hyperbole for a life that is destroyed through adultery. Rarely does adultery end in physical death, but it certainly ends in destroying lives. Second, death in Proverbs is often in consideration of the spiritual and contrasting from the eternal life of wisdom. The strange woman’s is not a good way and the wise will not begin in it.
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Posted by Jeff Short on September 5, 2016 · 1 Comment
But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword.
– Proverbs 5:4
End means future and is a stern reminder there is an after, as Kidner pointed out. She may at first appear with smooth sweetness and delicious promises of where she is going but the reality is opposite. Rather than sweetness is bitterness, and rather than smoothness is sharpness. Solomon uses two figures to illustrate how all adulterous activity must end. Wormwood is usually related to bitterness and is a symbol of suffering in Scripture (Deuteronomy 29:18). The sword is obviously a symbol of death as that is what her house inclines to and her path leads to (Proverbs 2:18).
Solomon demonstrates the nature of wisdom in this warning. Wisdom considers and weighs. Wisdom looks to the end or the outcome of a path and not just the exciting prospect at the beginning. In relation to the strange woman, Solomon intends for this end to be considered before she is ever met in person (Proverbs 5:8).
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Posted by Jeff Short on June 27, 2016 · 1 Comment
For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead.
– Proverbs 2:18
The way of the strange woman ends in destruction. The underlying Hebrew in this verse presents difficulties for interpreters, but the overall point is that the way of the strange woman is the way of death. Inclineth means to sink down. Her house and her path go down to death and the dead. The word for dead here indicates the shades of the departed or spirits of the dead. That is the company to be joined by going into her house (Proverbs 9:18). To go her way is to choose death and give up life.
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Proverbs 7:26
Posted by Jeff Short on November 24, 2016 · 1 Comment
For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been slain by her.
This verse shows the true way of wisdom, to look past the short-term gain proposed and look well to the end of the way. The end of the way is where many have been pierced and many thrown down. The urgent warning comes home that it’s not only weak simpletons but many strong men have been undone by her. This verse emphasizes the wisdom in staying away and avoiding and not seeking to grapple with her as though you are the one who will succeed.– Proverbs 7:26
Listen to the Proverbs sermon series
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Filed under 7, Proverbs, Short Comments · Tagged with Commentary, Death, Proverbs, Strange Woman, Temptation