Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee.
The strange woman in the attire of a harlot and subtle of heart comes forth to meet the young man void of understanding as he goes the way to her house under cover of darkness. She goes out to meet a man and diligently seeks him, claiming she deliberately sought the young man and is pleased to have found him. She belongs to the fuller description of the woman in Ecclesiastes 7:26 and represents a class of women rather than one particular woman.
The account belongs to a vivid and truthful setting forth of vice and its results that goes straight to the mark, spoken plainly and freely without coarseness and without making vice attractive. It proves that temptation still lives and lies in wait at every corner. Sexual sin is fatal to soul and body and is made to appear exceeding sinful so that young men especially will take warning and escape its grievous snares. Yielding leads straightway as an ox to the slaughter and as a bird to the snare to wounding and death, to momentary pleasure followed by long bitter remorse, for her house is the way to hell going down to the chambers of death.
The enticement belongs to the flatterer's deception in Proverbs 1-7, where refusing wisdom's instruction and choosing that path leads to spiritual ruin and death. It is part of a warning about sexual seduction enticing a young man away from virtue, showing the danger facing the inexperienced. Though part of chapter 7 is not fit to be read aloud in a mixed gathering of men and women, its instruction should take hold on the heart of both men and women. Young people should be taught to recognize the danger rather than left ignorant of it. Greed can help lead someone into immoral conduct, as illustrated by that temptation. The harlot image is also applied to morality enforced by political power, exposing such morality as deceptive and associating its path with death and its hidden workings with violence, hatred, and division.
The strange woman in the attire of a harlot and subtle of heart comes forth to meet the young man void of understanding as he goes the way to her house under cover of darkness. She goes out to meet a man and diligently seeks him, claiming she deliberately sought the young man and is pleased to have found him. She belongs to the fuller description of the woman in Ecclesiastes 7:26 and represents a class of women rather than one particular woman.
The account belongs to a vivid and truthful setting forth of vice and its results that goes straight to the mark, spoken plainly and freely without coarseness and without making vice attractive. It proves that temptation still lives and lies in wait at every corner. Sexual sin is fatal to soul and body and is made to appear exceeding sinful so that young men especially will take warning and escape its grievous snares. Yielding leads straightway as an ox to the slaughter and as a bird to the snare to wounding and death, to momentary pleasure followed by long bitter remorse, for her house is the way to hell going down to the chambers of death.
The enticement belongs to the flatterer's deception in Proverbs 1-7, where refusing wisdom's instruction and choosing that path leads to spiritual ruin and death. It is part of a warning about sexual seduction enticing a young man away from virtue, showing the danger facing the inexperienced. Though part of chapter 7 is not fit to be read aloud in a mixed gathering of men and women, its instruction should take hold on the heart of both men and women. Young people should be taught to recognize the danger rather than left ignorant of it. Greed can help lead someone into immoral conduct, as illustrated by that temptation. The harlot image is also applied to morality enforced by political power, exposing such morality as deceptive and associating its path with death and its hidden workings with violence, hatred, and division.