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Commentary on Proverbs 5 verses 1–14
Here we have,
I. A solemn preface, to introduce the caution which follows, Pro 5:1, Pro 5:2. Solomon here addresses himself to his son, that is, to all young men, as unto his children, whom he has an affection for and some influence upon. In God's name, he demands attention; for he writes by divine inspiration, and is a prophet, though he begins not with, Thus saith the Lord. "Attend, and bow thy ear; not only hear what is said, and read what is written, but apply thy mind to it and consider it diligently." To gain attention he urges, 1. The excellency of his discourse: "It is my wisdom, my understanding; if I undertake to teach thee wisdom I cannot prescribe any thing to be more properly called so; moral philosophy is my philosophy, and that which is to be learned in my school." 2. The usefulness of it: "Attend to what I say," (1.) "That thou mayest act wisely - that thou mayest regard discretion." Solomon's lectures are not designed to fill our heads with notions, with matters of nice speculation, or doubtful disputation, but to guide us in the government of ourselves, that we may act prudently, so as becomes us and so as will be for our true interest. (2.) "That thou mayest speak wisely - that thy lips may keep knowledge, and thou mayest have it ready at thy tongue's end" (as we say), "for the benefit of those with whom thou dost converse." The priest's lips are said to keep knowledge (Mal 2:7); but those that are ready and mighty in the scriptures may not only in their devotions, but in their discourses, be spiritual priests.
II. The caution itself, and that is to abstain from fleshly lusts, from adultery, fornication, and all uncleanness. Some apply this figuratively, and by the adulterous woman here understand idolatry, or false doctrine, which tends to debauch men's minds and manners, or the sensual appetite, to which it may as fitly as any thing be applied; but the primary scope of it is plainly to warn us against seventh-commandment sins, which youth is so prone to, the temptations to which are so violent, the examples of which are so many, and which, where admitted, are so destructive to all the seeds of virtue in the soul that it is not strange that Solomon's cautions against it are so very pressing and so often repeated. Solomon here, as a faithful watchman, gives fair warning to all, as they regard their lives and comforts, to dread this sin, for it will certainly be their ruin. Two things we are here warned to take heed of: -
1.That we do not listen to the charms of this sin. It is true the lips of a strange woman drop as a honey-comb (Pro 5:3); the pleasures of fleshly lust are very tempting (like the wine that gives its colour in the cup and moves itself aright); its mouth, the kisses of its mouth, the words of its mouth, are smoother than oil, that the poisonous pill may go down glibly and there may be no suspicion of harm in it. But consider, (1.) How fatal the consequences will be. What fruit will the sinner have of his honey and oil when the end will be, [1.] The terrors of conscience: It is bitter as wormwood, Pro 5:4. What was luscious in the mouth rises in the stomach and turns sour there; it cuts, in the reflection, like a two-edged sword; take it which way you will, it wounds. Solomon could speak by experience, Ecc 7:26. [2.] The torments of hell. If some that have been guilty of this sin have repented and been saved, yet the direct tendency of the sin is to destruction of body and soul; the feet of it go down to death, nay, they take hold on hell, to pull it to the sinner, as if the damnations slumbered too long, Pro 5:5. Those that are entangled in this sin should be reminded that there is but a step between them and hell, and that they are ready to drop into it. (2.) Consider how false the charms are. The adulteress flatters and speaks fair, her words are honey and oil, but she will deceive those that hearken to her: Her ways are movable, that thou canst not know them; she often changes her disguise, and puts on a great variety of false colours, because, if she be rightly known, she is certainly hated. Proteus-like, she puts on many shapes, that she may keep in with those whom she has a design upon. And what does she aim at with all this art and management? Nothing but to keep them from pondering the path of life, for she knows that, if they once come to do that, she shall certainly lose them. Those are ignorant of Satan's devices who do not understand that the great thing he drives at in all his temptations is, [1.] To keep them from choosing the path of life, to prevent them from being religious and from going to heaven, that, being himself shut out from happiness, he may keep them out from it. [2.] In order hereunto, to keep them from pondering the path of life, from considering how reasonable it is that they should walk in that path, and how much it will be for their advantage. Be it observed, to the honour of religion, that it certainly gains its point with all those that will but allow themselves the liberty of a serious thought and will weigh things impartially in an even balance, and that the devil has no way of securing men in his interests but by diverting them with continual amusements of one kind or another from the calm and sober consideration of the things that belong to their peace. And uncleanness is a sin that does as much as any thing blind the understanding, sear the conscience, and keep people from pondering the path of life. Whoredom takes away the heart, Hos 4:11.
2.That we do not approach the borders of this sin, Pro 5:7, Pro 5:8.
(1.)This caution is introduced with a solemn preface: "Hear me now therefore, O you children! whoever you are that read or hear these lines, take notice of what I say, and mix faith with it, treasure it up, and depart not from the words of my mouth, as those will do that hearken to the words of the strange woman. Do not only receive what I say, for the present merely, but cleave to it, and let it be ready to thee, and of force with thee, when thou art most violently assaulted by the temptation."
(2.)The caution itself is very pressing: "Remove thy way far from her; if thy way should happen to lie near her, and thou shouldst have a fair pretence of being led by business within the reach of her charms, yet change thy way, and alter the course of it, rather than expose thyself to danger; come not nigh the door of her house; go on the other side of the street, nay, go through some other street, though it be about." This intimates, [1.] That we ought to have a very great dread and detestation of the sin. We must fear it as we would a place infected with the plague; we must loathe it as the odour of carrion, that we will not come near. Then we are likely to preserve our purity when we conceive a rooted antipathy to all fleshly lusts. [2.] That we ought industriously to avoid every thing that may be an occasion of this sin or a step towards it. Those that would be kept from harm must keep out of harm's way. Such tinder there is in the corrupt nature that it is madness, upon any pretence whatsoever, to come near the sparks. If we thrust ourselves into temptation, we mocked God when we prayed, Lead us not into temptation. [3.] That we ought to be jealous over ourselves with a godly jealousy, and not to be so confident of the strength of our own resolutions as to venture upon the brink of sin, with a promise to ourselves that hitherto we will come and no further. [4.] That whatever has become a snare to us and an occasion of sin, though it be as a right eye and a right hand, we must pluck it out, cut it off, and cast it from us, must part with that which is dearest to us rather than hazard our own souls; this is our Saviour's command, Mat 5:28-30.
(3.)The arguments which Solomon here uses to enforce this caution are taken from the same topic with those before, the many mischiefs which attend this sin. [1.] It blasts the reputation. "Thou wilt give thy honour unto others (Pro 5:9); thou wilt lose it thyself; thou wilt put into the hand of each of thy neighbours a stone to throw at thee, for they will all, with good reason, cry shame on thee, will despise thee, and trample on thee, as a foolish men." Whoredom is a sin that makes men contemptible and base, and no man of sense or virtue will care to keep company with one that keeps company with harlots. [2.] It wastes the time, gives the years, the years of youth, the flower of men's time, unto the cruel, "that base lust of thine, which with the utmost cruelty wars against the soul, that base harlot which pretends an affection for thee, but really hunts for the precious life." Those years that should be given to the honour of a gracious God are spent in the service of a cruel sin. [3.] It ruins the estate (Pro 5:10): "Strangers will be filled with thy wealth, which thou art but entrusted with as a steward for thy family; and the fruit of thy labours, which should be provision for thy own house, will be in the house of a stranger, that neither has right to it nor will ever thank thee for it." [4.] It is destructive to the health, and shortens men's days: Thy flesh and thy body will be consumed by it, Pro 5:11. The lusts of uncleanness not only war against the soul, which the sinner neglects and is in no care about, but they war against the body too, which he is so indulgent of and is in such care to please and pamper, such deceitful, such foolish, such hurtful lusts are they. Those that give themselves to work uncleanness with greediness waste their strength, throw themselves into weakness, and often have their bodies filled with loathsome distempers, by which the number of their months is cut off in the midst and they fall unpitied sacrifices to a cruel lust. [5.] It will fill the mind with horror, if ever conscience be awakened. "Though thou art merry now, sporting thyself in thy own deceivings, yet thou wilt certainly mourn at the last, Pro 5:11. Thou art all this while making work for repentance, and laying up matter for vexation and torment in the reflection, when the sin is set before thee in its own colours." Sooner or later it will bring sorrow, either when the soul is humbled and brought to repentance or when the flesh and body are consumed, either by sickness, when conscience flies in the sinner's face, or by the grave; when the body is rotting there, the soul is racking in the torments of hell, where the worm dies not, and "Son, remember," is the constant peal [plea?]. Solomon here brings in the convinced sinner reproaching himself, and aggravating his own folly. He will then most bitterly lament it. First, That because he hated to be reformed he therefore hated to be informed, and could not endure either to be taught his duty (How have I hated not only the discipline of being instructed, but the instruction itself, though all true and good!) or to be told of his faults - My heart despised reproof, Pro 5:12. He cannot but own that those who had the charge of him, parents, ministers, had done their part; they had been his teachers; they had instructed him, had given him good counsel and fair warning (Pro 5:13); but to his own shame and confusion does he speak it, and therein justifies God in all the miseries that were brought upon him, he had not obeyed their voice, for indeed he never inclined his ear to those that instructed him, never minded what they said nor admitted the impressions of it. Note, Those who have had a good education and do not live up to it will have a great deal to answer for another day; and those who will not now remember what they were taught, to conform themselves to it, will be made to remember it as an aggravation of their sin, and consequently of their ruin. Secondly, That by the frequent acts of sin the habits of it were so rooted and confirmed that his heart was fully set in him to commit it (Pro 5:14): I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly. When he came into the synagogue, or into the courts of the temple, to worship God with other Israelites, his unclean heart was full of wanton thoughts and desires and his eyes of adultery. Reverence of the place and company, and of the work that was doing, could not restrain him, but he was almost as wicked and vile there as any where. No sin will appear more frightful to an awakened conscience than the profanation of holy things; nor will any aggravation of sin render it more exceedingly sinful than the place we are honoured with in the congregation and assembly, and the advantages we enjoy thereby. Zimri and Cozbi avowed their villany in the sight of Moses and all the congregation (Num 25:6), and heart-adultery is as open to God, and must needs be most offensive to him, when we draw nigh to him in religious exercises. I was in all evil in defiance of the magistrates and judges, and their assemblies; so some understand it. Others refer it to the evil of punishment, not to the evil of sin: "I was made an example, a spectacle to the world. I was under almost all God's sore judgments in the midst of the congregation of Israel, set up for a mark. I stood up and cried in the congregation," Job 30:28. Let that be avoided which will be thus rued at last.
And you moan at the last, etc. To be prefixed from above, Lest perhaps. And the sense is: Therefore keep yourself chaste, lest you be forced to groan in punishments, when not only the carnal allurements pass away, but also with the body itself being left, the soul, which acted through the body, is compelled to render all things. Indeed, it often happens in this life that those who dissipated their possessions living luxuriously in youth, fall into poverty in old age. And as the heat of the flesh cools, and the flower of youth withers, they see others using their own goods, which they sold to lust, and, groaning with late repentance, say what follows:
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SUMMARY
Proverbs 5:11 issues a profound and somber warning about the inevitable and devastating long-term consequences of abandoning divine wisdom for the fleeting allure of illicit sexual pleasure. It vividly portrays the bitter anguish and deep regret that inexorably follow a life of moral compromise, culminating in the comprehensive decay and ruin of one's physical vitality, financial stability, social standing, and spiritual well-being. This verse serves as a stark and urgent reminder that choices carry irreversible repercussions, particularly when one disregards God's foundational counsel concerning purity, self-control, and marital fidelity.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Proverbs 5:11 employs several powerful literary devices to convey its urgent and sobering warning. The verse utilizes vivid Imagery, painting a stark picture of deep, guttural "mourning" and the gruesome, visceral sight of "flesh and body... consumed." This sensory language evokes a strong emotional response, making the consequences tangible and terrifying for the listener. The use of Parallelism with "thy flesh and thy body" serves to intensify the message, emphasizing the comprehensive and holistic destruction that awaits. This is a clear example of Synonymous Parallelism, where two phrases express the same core idea in slightly different words, reinforcing the totality of the physical and existential ruin. The phrase "at the last" functions as a form of Foreshadowing, building suspense and highlighting the delayed but inevitable nature of the consequences, contrasting sharply with the immediate, fleeting pleasures of sin. The overall tone is one of urgent Warning and solemn Exhortation, characteristic of wisdom literature, aiming to deter the listener from a destructive path by vividly depicting its bitter and unavoidable end.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Proverbs 5:11 stands as a stark testament to the biblical truth that sin, especially sexual immorality, carries severe and inescapable consequences. Theologically, it underscores God's inherent moral order and the immutable principle of sowing and reaping, where actions inevitably yield corresponding outcomes. It highlights the sanctity of the human body and the divine institution of marriage as foundational designs, deviations from which lead to profound personal and societal brokenness. The "consumption" of flesh and body can be understood not only physically but also as a spiritual wasting away—a loss of vitality, honor, and connection with God. This verse serves as a powerful call to holiness and discernment, urging believers to recognize the deceptive nature of sin's allure and to choose the path of wisdom and purity, which leads to genuine life and flourishing, rather than the path of self-destruction.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Proverbs 5:11 offers timeless and profound wisdom for every generation, urging us to cultivate foresight, discipline, and self-control in the face of temptation. It serves as a compassionate yet firm reminder that fleeting pleasures, particularly those outside of God's design, can lead to lasting pain, deep regret, and comprehensive ruin. In a world saturated with messages that normalize and even glorify sexual immorality and instant gratification, this verse calls us back to God's sacred design for purity, fidelity within marriage, and the sanctity of all relationships. It challenges us to consider the long-term trajectory of our choices, recognizing that true freedom and flourishing are found not in unrestrained indulgence but in disciplined living according to divine wisdom. Embracing this wisdom means actively choosing purity, diligently heeding the warnings of Scripture and wise counsel, and seeking God's empowering strength to resist temptations that promise immediate gratification but deliver ultimate devastation. Ultimately, this proverb encourages us to live wisely today to avoid the bitter mourning and comprehensive consumption of tomorrow, embracing the path that leads to genuine life, peace, and integrity in every facet of our being.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Is this warning exclusively about sexual sin?
Answer: While Proverbs 5 specifically targets the dangers of the "immoral woman" (adultery/promiscuity), the principles of "mourning at the last" and "flesh and body consumed" have broader, profound applications. The wisdom literature often uses specific, concrete examples to illustrate universal truths about the consequences of folly. Any persistent pattern of sin or ungodly living—whether it's greed, addiction, dishonesty, unchecked anger, or pride—can ultimately lead to profound regret, physical breakdown, financial ruin, and a consumed life. The verse serves as a powerful metaphor for the comprehensive devastation that results from any lifestyle that disregards God's wisdom and moral boundaries. It highlights that sin, by its very nature, is destructive to the whole person, not just one isolated aspect, impacting one's entire being and future.
What does "consumed" imply beyond just physical health?
Answer: The term "consumed" (H3615, kâlâh) is comprehensive, implying a total wasting away or depletion that extends far beyond mere physical health. While it certainly includes physical debilitation (e.g., sexually transmitted diseases, general loss of vitality from a dissolute life), it encompasses the consumption of one's financial resources (e.g., paying for illicit encounters, legal fees, loss of employment due to scandal, as hinted in Proverbs 5:10), reputation and honor (leading to social ostracization and shame, as explicitly stated in Proverbs 6:33), vitality and energy (a life drained by anxiety, guilt, and the relentless pursuit of fleeting pleasures), and even spiritual well-being (a hardening of the heart, a diminished capacity for joy, and a severed relationship with God, as implied in Isaiah 59:2). It signifies a life that has been utterly depleted, brought to nothing, and left in ruins by destructive choices.
How can one avoid this "mourning at the last" and the consumption of their life?
Answer: The book of Proverbs consistently points to wisdom as the primary and essential means of avoiding such a tragic end. This involves a proactive and intentional pursuit of God's ways:
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Proverbs 5:11, with its grim portrayal of the "mourning at the last" and the "consumed" flesh and body resulting from sin, finds its ultimate answer, profound hope, and redemptive fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus Christ. While the proverb warns of the inevitable consequences of straying from God's design, Christ offers a radical solution to the problem of sin and its destructive power. He is the very embodiment of divine wisdom, the living Word of God, the wisdom that Proverbs exhorts us to pursue above all else (1 Corinthians 1:30). Where human efforts to resist temptation often fail, leading to the very ruin described, Christ offers not merely freedom from sin's dominion but also freedom to live a new life of righteousness. He bore the full "consumption" of sin's curse on the cross, taking upon Himself the wages of our sin (Romans 6:23), so that we might not experience the ultimate "mourning at the last" of eternal separation from God. Through His substitutionary death and glorious resurrection, believers are offered new life, a new creation in Him (2 Corinthians 5:17), empowered by the Holy Spirit to walk in righteousness and purity, rather than being consumed by sin's destructive path (Romans 8:1-4). The solemn warning of Proverbs 5:11 thus powerfully points to our desperate need for a Savior who can rescue us from the bitter end of sin and lead us into a life of true flourishing, eternal joy, and integrity—a life that is truly preserved and not consumed, all by the grace and power of Christ.