The short commandment, “Do not commit adultery,” of the Ten Commandments delivered through Moses to God’s people, assumes that every marriage is vitally important and just as worth protecting as a human life. But why is a marriage covenant so important in the Bible? The biblical authors consider marriage to be a great mystery that points to something beyond our world to higher heavenly Kingdom; God’s faithful commitment to humanity, “made in His own image”. God loves his created and desires His best for each one. God is Love. His love is the foundation for a marriage between a male and a female created by Him and created to last a lifetime!
Solomon, who is looking out over the populus of his earthly kingdom, does not fail to notice how easily a prostitute seduces a young man. This is his continued advice to his son. Since he is going over this topic again, could it be that Solomon, also seduced by the beauty of a women for he had many wives, might be feely some guilt? We don’t know. But we do know that when he was seduced, he just brought the woman into his harem, probably as a way to cover this sin and his guilt. God was not pleased by this because he did not obey the commandment meant to protect the life of a marriage between one man and one woman meant to last a lifetime! Maybe this is why the wisdom for his son uses such strong, specific language for he knows he fell for this sin. We’ve heard parents say, “don’t do as I do; but do I say”, but this is not the wisdom of God.
Proverbs 7, The Message
Dressed to Seduce
1-5 Dear friend, do what I tell you;
treasure my careful instructions.
Do what I say and you’ll live well.
My teaching is as precious as your eyesight—guard it!
Write it out on the back of your hands;
etch it on the chambers of your heart.
Talk to Wisdom as to a sister.
Treat Insight as your companion.
They’ll be with you to fend off the Temptress—
that smooth-talking, honey-tongued Seductress.
6-12 As I stood at the window of my house
looking out through the shutters,
Watching the mindless crowd stroll by,
I spotted a young man without any sense
Arriving at the corner of the street where she lived,
then turning up the path to her house.
It was dusk, the evening coming on,
the darkness thickening into night.
Just then, a woman met him—
she’d been lying in wait for him, dressed to seduce him.
Brazen and brash she was,
restless and roaming, never at home,
Walking the streets, loitering in the mall,
hanging out at every corner in town.
13-20 She threw her arms around him and kissed him,
boldly took his arm and said,
“I’ve got all the makings for a feast—
today I made my offerings, my vows are all paid,
So now I’ve come to find you,
hoping to catch sight of your face—and here you are!
I’ve spread fresh, clean sheets on my bed,
colorful imported linens.
My bed is aromatic with spices
and exotic fragrances.
Come, let’s make love all night,
spend the night in ecstatic lovemaking!
My husband’s not home; he’s away on business,
and he won’t be back for a month.”
21-23 Soon she has him eating out of her hand,
bewitched by her honeyed speech.
Before you know it, he’s trotting behind her,
like a calf led to the butcher shop,
Like a stag lured into ambush
and then shot with an arrow,
Like a bird flying into a net
not knowing that its flying life is over.
24-27 So, friends, listen to me,
take these words of mine most seriously.
Don’t fool around with a woman like that;
don’t even stroll through her neighborhood.
Countless victims come under her spell;
she’s the death of many a poor man.
She runs a halfway house to hell,
fits you out with a shroud and a coffin.
WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:16-17
Our lives are extremely precious, valuable, and important to God—so much so that He sent His One and Only Son to die for our sin debt so we could be redeemed and set free from all the penalties and punishments owed for our sins. He didn’t wait until humans cleaned up their act before acting on our behalf. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8
Our response to God who sent Jesus to seek and to save the lost who were without God is this: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (KJV / ESV) 1 John 1:9 This cleansing means ALL things not of God!
In a world of people, looking for loopholes, some will ask, “so knowing God will forgive us when we repent in Jesus Name, does this allow us to keep on sinning?” No, God’s grace is not a license to keep sinning. When the gift of a new and improved life has been given to us why would we look back and follow the old “way we were” as if the old would make us better? Dead is dead and gone forever. Life is Jesus is eternal and begins the moment we say yes to Him!
Paul explains; “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” Romans 6:1-4
This means we are not removed entirely from sin’s influence but set free from its absolute power. This freedom comes through union with Christ, who overcame death! In fact, our baptism symbolizes this death, burial and resurrection.
Consider this truth—
Upon the physical death of Lazareth, Jesus spoke truth with Life to Lazareth’s grieving sister Martha and said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” John 11:25-26 (Read the whole story for clarity of the worth of a soul to God/Jesus/Holy Spirit!)
This proverb wisdom given to young men applies to all today. We all are tempted and seduced by something or someone with promising us what we do not have but now want only because of our fleshly desires for more. Satan preys on this selfish thinking by coaxing, “You can have it all, I cleaned it up for you so it looks nice, so what looks sinful isn’t really because I blessed it as doable and deserving”. (Yikes!)
Maybe the greatest line by the seductress to the tempted is, “Come, let’s make love all night, spend the night in ecstatic lovemaking!” Followed by, “My husband’s not home.”
From his window, the father watches a foolish young man who “had no sense”, walking to a street he knows he should not be in the dark of night. He was hoping no one would see him. We learn that the seducer offers three enticements: The sacrifices offer the delicacy of meat; the bed offers the pleasures of love); the husband not at home promises a sense of security. Her meal came from a sacrifice, so she perversely turned an act of worship into an occasion for sexual sin. Her persuasive words and false teaching lead the young man astray to his death.
How many times must God, our Father, watch from his window to earth and shake his head in sadness at our foolishness?
All sin birthed from yielding to a temptation to sin with only human efforts to overcome sin, leads to death. But there is a Way back to Truth who gives Life! God created His Plan of Salvation for us because of the Love He still has for each one of us! Jesus is the Plan!
“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”—Jesus, John 14:6
Consider the love and compassion of God—
When Jesus walked the earth to seek and to save the lost, a woman was brought to him who was caught in adultery, brought out into the streets, and thrown down at the feet of Jesus. This act was accomplished by seducers of religious power who had lost all sense of who God is while creating manmade rules that oppressed God’s people who were already oppressed by the Roman government. Here is God’s Story with His Son’s response;
“As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd.
“Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?”
They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust.
When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”
“No, Lord,” she said.
And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.” John 11:3-11
Wrapping this proverb of wisdom up, it seems our response is to answer Jesus’ first question to Martha, “Do you believe this?” If yes, then embrace Jesus as he whispers in our ear, “Go, and sin no more.” Then ask God for wisdom, insight and understanding while allowing Him to mold and shape our new lives that will bear His characteristics! This is Life!
God has given us power as believers in Jesus to overcome temptations. Just ask Him; He will deliver as promised.
Lord,
Thank you for all the wisdom you have given to us through your Word today. Cleanse our hearts, renew our minds, refresh our souls with your mercy, and restore the joy of your salvation at work within us. Thank you for the peace you give in knowing you are Savior and Lord. I believe. And I’m listening for you.
In Jesus Name, Amen
