A Powerful Proverb

Take a look at the first four verses of Proverbs 7.

“My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee. Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye. Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart. Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; and call understanding thy kinswoman” (Proverbs 7:1-4)

The message of these four verses are essential knowledge in of themselves. To keep and “lay up” Solomon’s words, commandments, law, and wisdom is something we all should do and is an excellent rule for life. But that isn’t what he is talking about. This plea by the king to retain all his knowledge and wisdom is directed towards one thing. It is to keep us from seduction and adultery. The next verse reveals this.

“That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words.” (Proverbs 7:5)

The rest of the Proverb, verses 6 through 27 is of a young man and how he is seduced to lay with another man’s wife. This story has played out thousands, no millions of times since this was first written.

The author of Proverbs, King Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines. He was the richest and most knowledgeable man of his time. This entire chapter is dedicated to one topic. He begins it with the earnest plea for everyone to get the wisdom and knowledge of God. God’s word is his prescribed shield and buckler. God’s word is our defense against the words of the seductress.

“With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him.” (Proverbs 7:21)

Notice how Solomon describes the man fallen into destruction and the end result of his adulterous act.

“He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks; Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life.” (Proverbs 7:22-23)

Yes, with sex on the mind, a man can be reduced to a dumb animal or a fool. I have seen a buck shot during the rut and still be consumed by the drive to mate with a doe in his sights.

It is vital for this life and the next to take God’s words and “Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart”. Don’t let the spiritual aspect of the word of God overshadow its practical application. God’s word guides us through life, but more than that, we are to become His word. Then we do by nature what was at first by rote.

Bill Hitchcock