For a complete audio file, click here.
Proverbs 7 is as close to a narrative as we will encounter in these Proverbs. The Proverb is framed by an introductory five lines and a conclusion of four lines. Between the introduction and the conclusion is a story of seduction that leads to death. A tragic story that reminds me of Homer’s Odyssey where Odysseus encounters the Sirens. Homer recalls the dangerous nature of the Sirens call as Odysseus orders all his men to put beeswax in their ears to not hear the intoxicating, seductive, and deadly song of the Sirens.
We are continuing the warning against sexual immorality through considering this Proverb. Our age is considered rampant with immorality, but the Proverbs demonstrates that the clarion call to flee sexual temptation is applicable at any age. The admonition is to store up the sayings of the wise father and live. The wise sayings of the father are to be closely guarded like a treasure. Notice the language in verse 2, keep my teaching as the apple of your eye. Teaching is the word Torah and the language apple of your eye comes from Deuteronomy. In Deuteronomy 32, in the Song of Moses, Moses recalls the great salvation God wrought for his people.
He found him in a desert land,
and in the howling waste of the wilderness;
he encircled him, he cared for him,
he kept him as the apple of his eye.
Like an eagle that stirs up its nest,
that flutters over its young,
spreading out its wings, catching them,
bearing them on its pinions,
the LORD alone guided him,
no foreign god was with him. (Deuteronomy 32:10–12, ESV)
The God who rescued his people now encourages us by warning of the dangers of seduction. He, through the indwelling Holy Spirit that has been poured upon our hearts through Jesus, provides a way of escape from all temptation (1 Cor. 10:13). He who rescued then will rescue us in each moment. The call is for us to turn to him in faith and live.
Keep the commandments as the apple of your eye, bind them on your fingers, in other words, keep them close at hand, write them on the tablet of your heart, let these commandments be constant urging within you. The father wants his son to keep house with wisdom, say to wisdom ‘You are my sister,’ and call insight your intimate friend. Be close and intimate with wisdom, not seduction.
Becoming intimate with wisdom will keep you from being intimate with what is forbidden. Intimacy with wisdom means life. Intimacy with what is forbidden is the way of death.
Verses 6-23 tells a story of a poor fellow who falls prey to the seductive adulteress. This Proverbs should be considered before one is tempted to watch porn before one is tempted to consider an extra-marital affair or to engage in any form of sexual immorality. Proverbs 7:23 sums up the message of falling prey to seduction, he does not know that it will cost him his life.
Then comes the end. After the tragic story of the death trap of seduction comes the moral of the story. Let not your heart turn aside to her ways; do not stray into her paths, for many a victim has she laid low, and all her slain are a mighty throng. Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death.