The Proverbs 31 Project: Commenting July 5th on Proverbs 5:11-14

Got 31 days in the month?  

God's got 31 chapters in the book of Proverbs! 

What a coincidence!

For each date then, again this month, you will find commentary on a few verses from the corresponding chapter. There are 7 months in the year with 31 days, so I divided each chapter into 7 parts and spread them out so that each verse will be reviewed on the date related to its chapter by the same number name.  No, I am not deliberately trying to make this explanation complicated! (But, if you can explain my system any better than I have tried to do in the past three 31-day months, there is probably a proverb proclaiming your wisdom, and you will be recognized here for your high achievement!).

Below this introduction you will find the whole chapter representing today's date, with this month's verses highlighted in red, and my amateur comments for today low lighted in blue. Enjoy!

PROVERBS 5

Warning Against Adultery

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.

11) My life must be nearly spent then, for I do a lot of groaning.  Or perhaps, on the up side, it just means that the pains will only get worse!  Hmmm.

Anyway, those who ignore Solomon's wise counsel, and partake in sin freely and deliberately, will do some real groaning.  And not just from sore muscles and complaining joints.  Furthermore, I think this warning applies to more than just the sexual adulteries.  Adultery is really any act that violates a commitment to God's ways.  Yes, the wayward wife and the philandering husband (doncha just love our euphemisms?) will lose everything, but so will the thief and the drunkard and many others.  As we wander from God's directions, we wander into trouble.

12 You will say, “How I hated discipline!
How my heart spurned correction!

12) And then  "How I wish I could go back in time and be caught red-handed!  If only I could be arrested and punished and fined and humiliated and forced to admit that I was a sinner in need of a Savior!  And then saved.  And redeemed.  And live for God.  And avoid this depth of hell."

13 I would not obey my teachers
or turn my ear to my instructors.

13) "If only I had begun with the basics, accepted my place as a student of life, and learned what they longed to teach me."

14 And I was soon in serious trouble
in the assembly of God’s people.”

14) This sounds like he was "in the docks" in a court room.  I think there is probably no place more lonely, than standing in the shoes of a guilty defendant.  No matter how crowded the court, you stand there isolated before the only righteous Judge, God Himself.  Except, that is, for one other person: the Truth.  The Truth (Jesus Christ) will either condemn you in your sin, or advocate for your defense as one having been redeemed by His blood.  Your guilt will either fall upon you in that moment of judgement, or be taken on His shoulders.  It depends on you.  Will you receive His death and resurrection as offered for you, or take your own death and try to resurrect yourself? 

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.




[Anyone willing to author an explanation of my system, let me know, and if it makes more sense than my attempts (how could it not?) I will use it in October.]



By the way...MILLERWRITES copy is COPYRIGHTED. Why cut and paste when you can simply copy the link?