That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words.
The purpose of the chapter's instruction is to keep the reader, especially the young man, from sexual temptation and deceitful praise. Wisdom and understanding guard him against the immoral loose woman, the outsider who entices and leads astray with flattering words. That guarding preserves chastity.
Wisdom protects by setting forth vice and its results vividly and truthfully in their own true colors, without making sin attractive. In that light sins deadly to the health of soul and body are seen as utterly sinful. The danger is still present, with temptation lying in wait at every turn. Yielding goes blindly to ruin and death and ends in bitter remorse, like an animal going to slaughter and a bird to a trap. The reader must therefore heed the warning in time, escape the snares thick about his feet, and keep his heart from turning toward her ways.
The chapter warns young men already moving toward drunkenness and loose living to read it and turn back. It shows the terrible end that awaits them if they continue in sexual immorality. The instruction carries deep wisdom and must be read slowly and pondered until it grips the heart. It warns both men and women against the sins it condemns, yet it should not be read aloud in a mixed gathering of men and women.
The warning also applies to the world's false friendship. Listening to its flattery and rejecting correction draws a person away from wisdom and into ruin. The woman more fully described in this chapter stands for a whole class of women rather than one individual. The woman spoken of in Ecclesiastes 7 stands for that same class, which Solomon met while pursuing pleasure.
The purpose of the chapter's instruction is to keep the reader, especially the young man, from sexual temptation and deceitful praise. Wisdom and understanding guard him against the immoral loose woman, the outsider who entices and leads astray with flattering words. That guarding preserves chastity.
Wisdom protects by setting forth vice and its results vividly and truthfully in their own true colors, without making sin attractive. In that light sins deadly to the health of soul and body are seen as utterly sinful. The danger is still present, with temptation lying in wait at every turn. Yielding goes blindly to ruin and death and ends in bitter remorse, like an animal going to slaughter and a bird to a trap. The reader must therefore heed the warning in time, escape the snares thick about his feet, and keep his heart from turning toward her ways.
The chapter warns young men already moving toward drunkenness and loose living to read it and turn back. It shows the terrible end that awaits them if they continue in sexual immorality. The instruction carries deep wisdom and must be read slowly and pondered until it grips the heart. It warns both men and women against the sins it condemns, yet it should not be read aloud in a mixed gathering of men and women.
The warning also applies to the world's false friendship. Listening to its flattery and rejecting correction draws a person away from wisdom and into ruin. The woman more fully described in this chapter stands for a whole class of women rather than one individual. The woman spoken of in Ecclesiastes 7 stands for that same class, which Solomon met while pursuing pleasure.