My son, pay attention to my wisdom; incline your ear to my insight, Sermons
I. GENERAL ADMONITION. (Vers. 1-3.) Similar prefaces to warnings against unchastity are found in Proverbs 6:20, etc.; Proverbs 7:1, etc. The same forms of iteration for the sake of urgency are observed. A fresh expression is, "That thy lips may keep insight." That is, let the lessons of wisdom be oft conned over; to keep them on the lips is to "get them by heart." "Consideration" (ver. 2), circumspection, forethought, are peculiarly needed in facing a temptation which wears a fascinating form, and which must be viewed in results, if its pernicious quality is to be understood. II. THE FASCINATION OF THE HARLOT. (Ver. 3; comp. Proverbs 2:16.) Her lips are honeyed with compliments and flattery (comp. Song of Solomon 4:11). Her voice is smoother than oil. A temptation has no power unless it is directed to some weakness in the subject of it, as the spark goes out in the absence of tinder. The harlot's power to seduce lies mainly in that weakest of weaknesses, vanity - at least, in many cases. It is a power in general over the senses and the imagination. And it is the part of the teacher to disabuse these of their illusions. In the word "meretricious" (from the Latin word for "harlot"), applied to spurious art, we have a witness in language to the hollowness of her attractions. III. THE RESULTS OF VICIOUS PLEASURES. (Vers. 4-6.) They are described in images full of expression. 1. As bitter like wormwood, which has a bitter, salt taste, and is regarded in the East in the light of poison. Or "like Dead Sea fruits, which tempt the taste, and turn to ashes on the lips." 2. As of acute pain, under the image of a sword, smooth on the surface, with a keen double edge to wound. 3. As fatal. The harlot beckons her guests as it were down the deathful way, to sheol, to Hades, the kingdom of the dead. 4. They have no good result. Ver. 6, correctly rendered, says, "She measures not the path of life; her tracks are roving, she knows not whither." The picture of a life which can give no account of itself, cannot justify itself to reason, and comes to a brutish end. IV. THE REMOTER CONSEQUENCES OF VICE. (Vers. 7-13.) A gloomy vista opens, in prospect of which the warning is urgently renewed (vers. 7, 8). 1. The exposure of the detected adulterer. (Ver. 9.) He exchanges honour and repute for public shame, loses his life at the hands of the outraged husband, or becomes his slave (comp. Proverbs 6:34). 2. The loss of property. (Ver. 10.) The punishment of adultery under the Law was stoning (Leviticus 20:10; Deuteronomy 22:22, sqq.). Possibly this might be commuted into the forfeiture of goods and enslavement to the injured husband. 3. Remorse. (Vers. 11-14.) Last and worst of all inflictions, from the Divine hand, immediately. In the last stage of consumption the victim of lust groans forth his unavailing sorrow. Remorse, the fearful counterpart of self-respect, is the mind turning upon itself, internal discord replacing the harmony God made. The sufferer accuses himself of hatred to light, contempt of rebuke, of disobedience to voices that were authoritative, of deafness to warning. No external condemnation is ever passed on a man which his own conscience has not previously ratified. Remorse is the last witness to Wisdom and her claims. To complete the picture, the miserable man is represented as reflecting that he all but felt into the doom of the public condemnation and the public execution (ver. 14). - J.
My son, attend unto my wisdom. The scope of the passage is a warning 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. We are warned —I. THAT WE DO NOT LISTEN TO THE CHARMS OF THIS SIN. 1. How fatal the consequences will be! The terrors of conscience. The torments of hell. 2. How false the charms are! The design is to keep them from choosing the path of life, to prevent them from being religious. In order thereunto, to keep them from pondering the path of life. II. THAT WE DO NOT APPROACH THE BORDERS OF SIN. The caution is very pressing. 1. We ought to have a very great dread and detestation of the sin. 2. We ought industriously to avoid everything that may be an occasion of this sin, or a step towards it. Those that would keep out of harm must keep out of harm's way. 3. We ought to be jealous over ourselves with a godly jealousy, and not be over-confident of the strength of our own resolutions. 4. Whatever has become a snare to us and an occasion of sin, we must part with at any cost (Matthew 5:28-30). III. THE ARGUMENTS ENFORCING THE CAUTION. The mischiefs that attend this sin. 1. It blasts the reputation. 2. It wastes the time. 3. It ruins the estate. 4. It is destructive to the health. 5. It will fill the mind with terror, if ever conscience be awakened.Solomon here brings in the convinced sinner reproaching himself and aggravating his own folly. He will then most bitterly lament it. ( Matthew Henry.) People SolomonPlaces JerusalemTopics Attend, Attention, Attentive, Bow, Ear, Incline, Insight, Listen, Pay, Teaching, Turn, Understanding, WisdomOutline 1. Solomon exhorts to wisdom3. He shows the mischief of unfaithfulness and riot 15. He exhorts to contentedness, generosity, and chastity 22. The wicked are overtaken with their own sins Dictionary of Bible Themes Proverbs 5:1 5887 inexperience Library The Cords of Sin'His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.'--PROVERBS v. 22. In Hosea's tender picture of the divine training of Israel which, alas! failed of its effect, we read, 'I drew them with cords of a man,' which is further explained as being 'with bands of love.' The metaphor in the prophet's mind is probably that of a child being 'taught to go' and upheld in its first tottering steps by leading-strings. God drew Israel, though Israel did not yield … Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture Last Things Sinners Bound with the Cords of Sin Sinners Bound with the Cords of Sin How the Silent and the Talkative are to be Admonished. How the Rude in Sacred Learning, and those who are Learned but not Humble, are to be Admonished. Twenty Second Sunday after Trinity Paul's Thanks and Prayers for Churches. "The Truth. " Some Generals Proposed. Thirdly, for Thy Actions. The Right Understanding of the Law Second Great Group of Parables. Proverbs Links Proverbs 5:1 NIVProverbs 5:1 NLT Proverbs 5:1 ESV Proverbs 5:1 NASB Proverbs 5:1 KJV Proverbs 5:1 Bible Apps Proverbs 5:1 Parallel Proverbs 5:1 Biblia Paralela Proverbs 5:1 Chinese Bible Proverbs 5:1 French Bible Proverbs 5:1 German Bible Proverbs 5:1 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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