The Book of Proverbs

Chapter 5

Within every chapter of Proverbs, we find several teachings that King Solomon gave to his son as he was training him to be the future king of Israel , which we can implement them in our own lives here even in 2023.   We can take thee words of wisdom that came from God to Solomon to then apply to our lives so that we can receive godly wisdom in our life.

It seems that each time he meets with his son, he begins by stating something like this:  "My son, pay attention to my wisdom; and lend your ear to my understanding."  While he was attempting to feed him his knowledge, which supports the Mosaic Law, he was helping him gain understanding so that he could make wise choices in life.

As parents, that is our role - to teach our children the ways of the Lord.  Just as Solomon was feeding nuggets of truth to his son on a regular basis as little words of truth, he was purposing to get down into his son's heart truth that would become part of his thinking process. 

While we do see a lot of repeats throughout the Book of Proverbs, we see that throughout the Word of God that God is trying to instill his nuggets of truth into us, spoken in hundreds of ways, so that we too can get His truth down on the inside of our heart to become part of our thinking process?  We are familiar with the Scripture verse from Romans that says "faith comes by hearing and hearing, by the Word of God."  There is nothing wrong with repetition, because we are getting God's truth down into our heart a little at a time over and over and over again...until it becomes part of our thinking process. 

So what kind of wisdom, or nuggets of truth, does King Solomon have to say to us today as we dig into God's Word?

The Dangers of Sex

Proverbs 5:1 My son, pay attention to my wisdom;  Lend your ear to my understanding, ² That you may preserve discretion, and your lips may keep knowledge. ³ For the lips of an immoral woman drip honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil; but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.  ⁵ Her feet go down to death, her steps lay hold of hell. ⁶ lest you ponder her path of life—Her ways are unstable; you do not know them.

Obviously, King Solomon was warning his son to stay away from prostitutes - for they are capable of luring him by seduction to have sex.  

According to Strong's Concordance(H2114), a prostitute could be any woman who defames her body outside of the marriage bed, whether she gets paid or not.  It could be also be a foreign woman, which within paganism, men had sex with as a form of worship to the pagan idols at their temple regularly. 

 Not only was any form of fornication or adultery a sin against the Mosaic Law, God set it up as a form of protection for His people.  King Solomon is warning his son to stay away from any such kind of woman, even though being with her looks so inviting and enjoyable at the time.  Those beginning are exciting to begin with, but that kind of path of life can never be trusted and only leads to destruction, death, and hell.  It's an entrapment that pulls like a force that once engaged in, can't be undone and difficult to get out of.

What does that say to us today.  We do live in a world of sexual promiscuity all around us with the young and the old.  Teens are involving themselves in sex as part of the dating scene in many circles, and sex has becoming the norm of society.  Young adults having sex, living together with one another is the accepted mode of dating and courtship nowdays - even within certain Christian circles.  Marriages break up because of unfaithfulness of one or both partners. 

• Just because the world accepts this as normal and okay - in God's eyes, it is wrong - it is a sin against one's body, against the other person, and a sin against God.  Our God never changes, and when He set down His standard of behavior for His people, it is the same today as it was when He set it up thousands of years ago. 
• Any sex out of marriage is for the protection of the individual person, both parties, as well as protection of the family unit.  It is for the protection of certain diseases, unwanted pregnancies,  a lifetime of problems that should not have occurred.  Having any kind of sex outside of marriage can altar and ruin your life.  What God is saying here - don't even go down that path.  Don't enter into having sex at any point until marriage.  God is doing this for your protection.

For when you are faithful, doing things God's ways, in this area of sex, waiting until marriage,  God can then bless your relationship because you and your spouse will then become one flesh and sex can be enjoyed in the way that God intended.  

How we need to instill that over and over again within our children, our grandchildren, and whomever God puts under our care.  So, dear Christian friend, don't be afraid to speak lovingly the truth of what God is telling us here in His Word.  He loves us and wants to protect us, keeping us away from all kinds of problems in life.

The Prostitute

Proverbs 5:7  Therefore hear me now, my children, and do not depart from the words of my mouth.  ⁸ Remove your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house, ⁹ Lest you give your honor to others, and your years to the cruel one;  ¹⁰ Lest aliens be filled with your wealth, and your labors go to the house of a foreigner;

This is the second time in the Book of Proverbs that we see King Solomon speaking to more than one of his sons.  It could possibly be another teaching session with his children or a continuation of the conversation we saw in verses 1-6 of this chapter.  Either way, Solomon is reminding his children to not forget this important piece of wisdom.

King Solomon was teaching about the dangers of going to the home of a prostitute, as there were many around, and Solomon wanted his son(s) to know that his instruction was for their own protection.  Then he continues to warn them:  "For if you do not heed what I say to you, life will be cruel.  You will end up giving your money to that prostitute, and those like her, and pour out your hard-earned money to whatever needs will be required for you to keep up with that kind of lifestyle.  Strangers will enjoy your money, and you will have nothing in return.  Sons, that kind of lifestyle pulls like a force, and you will hate it when it is over.  Do you really want the best years of your life to be taken away from you for those short moments of pleasure that pulled you into this kind of mental anguish and poverty for a lifetime?"

Nothing has changed over the centuries.  This kind of lifestyle brings on all kinds of vices that pull one into a lifestyle of need and want because the pride and love of life has been stripped away from you and you can't get out.  It is a trap! 

• Today, we have street drugs that add to this kind of lifestyle, which is so prevelant out in the world.  Add sex, drugs, and probably alcohol to the mix, and that is a life of misery, destruction, and death.

While we don't think that we or anyone close to us, especially our children, could get so entrapped into such a lifestyle, think again.  It is all around us. 

• Our kids are being pulled in by their friends, and they are surrounded by it all the time.  Life out in the world is a lot harder for our kids today than it was for us when we were in our youth.  Everything that could destroy them is all around them everyday and Satan uses his trickeries meant to pull out kids into his traps continuously.  
• Because this kind of lifestyle pulls like a force, it ruins many people's lives.

¹¹ And you mourn at last, when your flesh and your body are consumed, ¹² And say:  “How I have hated instruction, and my heart despised correction! ¹³ I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined my ear to those who instructed me! ¹⁴ I was on the verge of total ruin, In the midst of the assembly and congregation.”

When one becomes older and looks back at his youth, it will be shown that rebellion in one's youth can be very destructive.  It can easily set the tone for a lifestyle of misery, poverty, and ruin.  And for many, it has! There are many who have left family, friends, and believers behind only to show the world what has happened to them.  They will look upon you with sadness and pity.  "A life ruined, they will say!"

Solomon is warning his son or sons what could happen to them at the end of their lives if they rebel against his teachings.  So then, parents, can we take these warnings of Solomon to keep lovingly warning our children over and over until they "get it," and then be their constant model for making the right kind of choices that honors and pleases God?  Remember, our kids watch and model us whether we like it or not?   And then, of course, pray, pray, pray for God's protection over them, putting them in God's hands.

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

God wants the best for His children, and He is simply trying to protect us from the evils of this world.  All he asks of us is to be faithful to His Word, and trust that He knows how to protect us from the evils of the world that is only meant to destroy us.

Warnings on Sexual Promiscuity