Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them.
This verse is splendid counsel and a faithful, intensely practical warning from God, and heeding such warnings saves men from destruction. It belongs to instruction that calls for slow, thoughtful reading because of its deep wisdom. Its warning against condemned sins ought to take hold on the hearts of both men and women, yet the latter part of the chapter is not fit to be read aloud in a mixed assembly of men and women.
The “her” is the adulterous, immoral woman as flatterer, and the warning concerns sexual temptation and sexual immorality generally, including a married woman’s allure drawing a man who yields to an illicit attraction. Her ways are moveable in that they are unstable, shifting, and difficult to recognize or discern, so they cannot be known or safely followed. A person following them may not recognize the danger or where they lead.
Those ways keep a person from pondering and considering the path of life and cannot be trusted to lead toward life, but lead away from life. The path of wisdom is the path of life, while rejecting instruction and reproof in favor of deception leads to spiritual disease and death. Her seductive charm draws a person by a false step into sin and then into despair, remorse, ruin, and a life of shame. Therefore a young person should heed the chapter’s instruction rather than trust those ways.
The warning applies to men and women, married and single, because many influences can awaken and distort sexual desire. Young women especially need to be warned about these moral dangers.
This verse is splendid counsel and a faithful, intensely practical warning from God, and heeding such warnings saves men from destruction. It belongs to instruction that calls for slow, thoughtful reading because of its deep wisdom. Its warning against condemned sins ought to take hold on the hearts of both men and women, yet the latter part of the chapter is not fit to be read aloud in a mixed assembly of men and women.
The “her” is the adulterous, immoral woman as flatterer, and the warning concerns sexual temptation and sexual immorality generally, including a married woman’s allure drawing a man who yields to an illicit attraction. Her ways are moveable in that they are unstable, shifting, and difficult to recognize or discern, so they cannot be known or safely followed. A person following them may not recognize the danger or where they lead.
Those ways keep a person from pondering and considering the path of life and cannot be trusted to lead toward life, but lead away from life. The path of wisdom is the path of life, while rejecting instruction and reproof in favor of deception leads to spiritual disease and death. Her seductive charm draws a person by a false step into sin and then into despair, remorse, ruin, and a life of shame. Therefore a young person should heed the chapter’s instruction rather than trust those ways.
The warning applies to men and women, married and single, because many influences can awaken and distort sexual desire. Young women especially need to be warned about these moral dangers.