The Strange Woman
During the past few months we have been discussing marriage and the importance of parents teaching their children about sex, dating, women and men, and how to avoid the pitfalls of life.
Last month we began discussing Proverbs chapter 5. In this chapter David is talking to his son Solomon about the ways of life. He is teaching Solomon that there are good women and bad women in the world. Chapter 5 of Proverbs is divided as follows: verses 1 through 14 are a warning against the wrong type of women or the wrong type of affair. The first half of the chapter actually degenerates as does your life if you hook up with the wrong type of people. Verse 15 to the end of the chapter talks about drinking waters out of your cistern and how God has ordained marriage to be uplifting and edifying and that everything in the marriage life should get increasingly better.
God has ordained marriage to be uplifting and edifying.
Beginning in verse 1 of Proverbs chapter 5 we read, "My son, attend unto my wisdom and bow thine ear (or literally submit) to my understanding; that thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge." Notice, it is the Word that gives children discretion. When a child has the Word in his heart, he will be able to discriminate between right and wrong. Whenever situations arise in the life of a child who knows the Word of God, that Word in his heart will rise up inside of him and he will have a sensitivity in his spirit that will tell him right from wrong.
Notice , it is the Word that 4ives children discretion.
Verse 3 continues, "For the lips of a strange woman drip as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil. Last month we discussed the adulteress and pointed out that the adulteress is not after money or possessions. The adulteress woman is after everything you are. We're not talking about a one night stand. We're talking about an affair that goes on week after week and month after month. We're talking about an affair in which there is a continual draining of the life out of you until your life is destroyed.
In verse 3 of Proverbs 5, David is warning Solomon about the prostitute. The world today says that you need to experiment so that you'll be good and prepared when your wife comes along - that is a lie from the pits of hell.
Again, verse 3 says, "For the lips of the strange woman ( the prostitute) drip as an honeycomb, and her mouth (her kisses) are smoother than oil: But her end (of the affair) is bitter as wormwood (a drug that has a bite to it) sharp as a two-edged sword. Not only does involvement with the prostitute destroy your soul, or your capacity to love, it will also destroy your body. Verse 5 says, "Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell." Verse 5 would be better translated, "Her seductive feet lead to death and her steps embrace the grave." David is in essence saying, "Now listen to me carefully son, you might think you're having fun for an evening, you might think this woman is going to show you things you've never seen before ... maybe she's going to do things to you that you've never thought of before, but you listen to me son, you are one nail in her coffin closer to death. Her ultimate, final, greatest performance is going to be an affair with death. Son, you are just another in a
The world today says that you need to experiment so that you'll be good and prepared when your wife comes along . . .that is a lie from the pits of hell.
long line of one night stands until she comes to her greatest performance of all. She's going to have an eternal affair with death. Son, you took her to a bed, but death is going to take her to a coffin. Day-by-day, moment-by-moment, affair by-affair she is going downhill, downhill, downhill until she will finally end up on her back in a coffin and one of these days death will have an affair with her forever. But son, it's going to rob you too. Son, all you're doing is tearing yourself down and contributing to her death by doing this.
The eight kings who followed Solomon's reign led Israel to the point where God was not even mentioned anymore.
Proverbs 5, verse 5 says, "Her (seductive) feet go down (lead) to death. In the ancient world, unlike today, the feet were the main part of the body used by a woman for seduction. The women would attach small bells to their feet and would put jewellery around their feet to attract men. They also practised small seductive steps to attract a man and lead him off.
Verse 6 says, "Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are movable, that thou canst not know them." David is saying, "Son, before you get involved with anyone like that, stand back and ponder. This woman, (the prostitute) is never in the same spot twice. She might tell you beautiful flowery words about how great you are, but all she's after is your money.
The line she gives you is the line she's given to every other man before you. She is an expert at lines. She can tell you how great you are, how perfect you are, how handsome you are, and son, a few days later you might try to find her and you won't be able to. One day you might run into her on the street somewhere and she'll have another man on her arm. She won't even remember your name and she'll be feeding him the same lines she fed you. David is laying it on the line with Solomon, and yet, Solomon did not heed his father's advice. Solomon recovered before the end of his life, but he did much destruction to himself and to Israel. The eight kings who followed Solomon's reign led Israel to the point where God was not even mentioned anymore. The seeds of this degeneration were sown by Solomon.
First Kings chapter 11, verses 1 and 2 say, "But King Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughters of Pharoah, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites; of the nations concerning which the Lord said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go into them, neither shall they come in unto you." This is a direct command the Lord gave them in Exodus 34:16 and Deuteronomy 7:3. God was not so much against an interracial marriage as He was against mingling with an apostate nation. It was for spiritual reasons they weren't supposed to mingle with these people. But, not only did Solomon mingle with them, he took their priestesses and their princesses to be his wives.
Verse 2 of First Kings 11 continues, "You shall not go into them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love. " "Clave" is the past tense of "cleave" which means sex. The only reason Solomon had all those women
When God's Word is in you, you can't wait to be alone with Him.
was for sex. Verse 3 says, "And he had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines." The princesses were called "strange women" in verse one because in these nations, sex was their god. The highest women in the nation (the princesses) were prostitutes because of the religion of those nations. If Solomon had 300 concubines (a concubine is a mistress) and had sex every day, it would have taken him almost 3 years to go through that many women.
In Proverbs chapter 2, verses 10 and 11, David again warns Solomon with the wisdom of God's Word. It says, "When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul; Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee." Wisdom and the understanding of God's Word give your children discretion. With the Word comes discretion, and with wisdom comes an accuracy to discern between good and evil.
Verses 16 through 19 of Proverbs 2 continues, "To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words, which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God. For her house (of prostitution) inclines unto death, and her paths unto the dead. None that (habitually) go unto her return again (recover) neither take they hold of the paths of life." The deeper you get involved with this woman, the deeper the hook goes and the harder it is to recover.
Proverbs 9:13 explains what the strange woman is really like. This passage begins, "A foolish woman is clamorous: (loud and noisy) ..." She might seem sweet and quiet but her real personality is loud and clamorous. She is rebellious and that is found by her attitude and her words. Verse 13 continues, ':.. she is simple (stupid) and knoweth nothing." This woman may seem smart in the ways of life, but she doesn't have any knowledge because she does not fear the Lord, and the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. If you don't know any of the Word of God, you don't know anything. This woman doesn't have the right type of knowledge - - the type of knowledge that leads to eternal life.
Verses 14 and 15 of Proverbs 9 continue, "For she sitteth at the door of her house, on a seat in the high places of the city, to call passengers who go right on their ways." Notice that this woman rarely stays home. She has a restless spirit. She is very insecure and she has trouble being alone. She can't stand to be at home. Women, listen very carefully (especially those of you who are married and are housewives) because there is something wrong when you can't stand to be at home. The world cannot satisfy restlessness and the longer it continues, the more it opens the door for Satan to tempt you and seduce you. Restlessness indicates that there is a lack and void of
What is it that turns bread eaten in secret into gravel? Guilt.
the understanding of God's Word. When God's Word is in you, you can't wait to be alone with Him, but if you habitually have to be out, something is wrong.
Verse 16 of the same passage says, "Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither; and as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, stolen wafer is sweet." God has established the woman with "waters" to refresh one man. The reason that the waters are "stolen" is because they do not belong to this man. He is stealing waters that rightfully belong to another man. "Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant" In other words, this
The most beautiful thing about a woman is that she reflects glory back to the man.
verse is saying that there is something mysterious, exciting, and fun about this strange woman. Verse 18 continues, "But he knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell." This woman has a long list of successes and they are all lying flat on their backs in the coffin.
Proverbs chapter 20 talks about bread eaten in secret. Verse 17 says, "Bread of deceit is sweet to man: but afterward his mouth shall be filled with gravel. What is it that turns bread eaten in secret into gravel? Guilt. Guilt always turns a good time into a horrible time.
That which was sweet for the moment has a bitter bite in the end. This is saying, "Oh, it might be fun for the moment son, but how long did the moment last? Ten minutes - - 15 minutes - - 30 minutes? Is thirty minutes of pleasure worth years of guilt?" Proverbs 5:6 says, "Son, consider her ways and ponder the path of her life.” The end of that verse says that you will never figure her out.
Proverbs chapter 30, verses 18 and 19 say, "There be three things which are too wonderful for me, yea, four which, which I know not: The way of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent upon a rode; the way of a ship in the midst of the sea; and the way of a man with a maid. " How in the world are these all related to each other? None of them leave trails. Have you ever tried to follow eagle tracks? They don't leave tracks. What about a serpent when he leaves the rock? When a ship goes by, there may be a trail for a moment, but in short time, it is covered over and you don't even know the ship was there. It says in this verse, "... so is the way of a man with a maid (or a young woman who is void of understanding).
He seduces her, he has relations with her, and after he's gone there's no more trail. Notice verse 20 of the same chapter, "Such is the way of an adulteress woman; she eateth (partakes in sex), she wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness." Notice that after it is all over she denies the whole thing and says it never happened. In the end you're the one who has been taken, and she doesn't even leave a trail.
Look again at Proverbs 5, verses 7-9: "Hear me now therefore, 0 ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth. Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house: Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel. " The word "honour" is actually the Hebrew word "glory". The most beautiful thing about a woman is that she reflects glory back to the man. David is saying, "Son, when you give that glory God gave you to a woman who cannot possibly reflect it back, you'll give it out and give it out until one day you will run out of glory and have no more to give. She can't reflect back the glory God has intended for you to share with one righteous woman.
Verse 10 continues, "Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth (sexual strength); and thy labours be in the house of a stranger;" The word "labours" actually refers to your paycheques. God gave you your strength and your financial prosperity and Satan will try to steal it a little at a time through the strange woman.
Proverbs 5:11 says, "And thou mourn (groan) at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed." The word "flesh" refers to your whole body and the word "body" refers to your sexual organs. The prostitute will end up in the grave, but your body and your sexual organs will be destroyed until, at the last,
you mourn or groan.
Verse 12 of Proverbs 5 continues, "And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof" This is rejection of parental authority. Verse 13 says, "And have not obeyed the Voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!" Not only has he rejected the instruction and reproof of his parents, he has also rejected the instruction of those who have instructed him in the Word of God.
Proverbs 5:14 says, "I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly (society)." First of all, your sins will find you out among believers around you, and then, your name will be destroyed among society. You may lose your job and your reputation because your sin will eventually come out in the end. But, verse 15 says, "Drink waters out of thine own cistern (covered well). David is saying to Solomon, "Son, God has a well prepared for you that will refresh you for the rest of your life. Reflected glory will take you from glory to glory to glory so that life will be as God has ordained it and you will be blessed.