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Dave Burnette's Commentary

Proverbs Chapter 5

Written By: God through Inspiration
Penned By: Solomon, Agur, and Lemuel
Date Penned: (970-931 BC)
Overview: Wisdom to Teach People to Live Godly (c 1-31)
Theme: Wisdom for Young Men (c 1-9)
Message: Warning Against Sexual Sin (v 1-23)

Proverbs 5 Commentary 

(5:3-8) Flattery - We should be on guard against those who use flattery and smooth talk (this is what is meant by lips that "drop as a honeycomb") who may lead us or others into sin. Take a detour to avoid conversation with such people if possible. 


(5:3) Strange Woman - This strange woman is likely a prostitute. In Proverbs, a prostitute's charm is used as an example of any temptation to do wrong or to leave the pursuit of wisdom. This book includes many warnings against illicit sex for several reasons. One is that sexual immorality of any kind was and still is extremely dangerous--it destroys family life, erodes a person's ability to love, and degrades human beings by turning them into objects of lust. It can also lead to disease and can result in children who are often neglected and made to feel like they are unwanted. Even more importantly, God's law forbids sexual immorality. 

(5:11-13) When temptation strikes, it's too late to ask for preventative advice. When desire is fully activated, people don't want advice--they want gratification. The best time to learn the dangers and foolishness of going after forbidden desires is long before the temptation arrives. Resistance is more effective when you have decided ahead of time what you must avoid. Then when temptation strikes, you will Be less likely to linger around to see what happens. prepare for temptation by deciding now how you will act when you face it. 

(5:15-21) Enjoying Marriage - In contrast to much of what we read, see, and hear today, this passage urges couples to look to each other for lifelong satisfaction and companionship. Many temptations entice husbands and wives to check out or leave altogether when marriage becomes stressful or dull in order to find excitement, pleasure, and release elsewhere. And through easy digital access, pornography has ruined countless marriages. But God designed marriage and sanctified it. and only within this covenant relationship can sex result in real love and fulfillment. Don't let God's best for you be wasted on the illusion of greener pastures somewhere else. Instead, if you are married, rejoice with your spouse as you give yourselves to God and to each other. 

(5:5) Faithful in Marriage - "Drink waters out of thine own cistern" paints a picture of faithfulness in marriage. It means to enjoy the spouse God has given you. In the dry lands of the Bible world, water was precious, and a well or cistern (an underground water storage tank cut in stone) was a family's most important possession. In Old Testament times. it was considered a crime to steal water from someone else's cistern, Just as it was a crime to have intercourse with another person's spouse. In both cases. the offender endangered the health and security of the family. 

(5:8-20) God's Gift - God does not intend faithfulness in marriage to be boring, lifeless, pleasureless, or dull. Sex is a gift God gives to married people for their mutual enjoyment. Real happiness in sex comes when a person decides to find pleasure in the spouse God has given or will give them, and to commit themselves to meeting their spouse's needs. 'The real danger comes when we doubt that God really knows or cares about what we really need in a marriage relationship. We then may resent his timing and carelessly pursue sexual pleasure without his blessing. See Song of Solomon 4 for more on this topic.


Dave Burnette's Life Application

Wisdom's Warning on Sexual Sins


Each day we walk through the Bible chapter by chapter making an application of our text to help us grow in the Lord. Many applications can be made from each day's text. Today, we continue with the Book of Proverbs with Chapter 5. In our text today, we see a warning about sexual sin. In applying, we see that God has a plan for every aspect of our lives. We miss God's best for our lives when we deviate from that plan. Today, we see homosexually, fornication and other sexual sins produce many who are suffering the consequences of disobedience. This sin is not God's plan; if we follow His plan and Wisdom, we will experience His best. How about you? Do you follow God's plan for relationships? Let us learn from our text today to follow God's plan for sex and avoid the problems that arise from sexual sin.

 

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Proverbs 5

Proverbs 5

 1My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding:

 2That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.

 3For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil:

 4But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.

 5Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.

 6Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them.

 7Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth.

 8Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house:

 9Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel:

 10Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger;

 11And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,

 12And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;

 13And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!

 14I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.

 15Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.

 16Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets.

 17Let them be only thine own, and not strangers' with thee.

 18Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.

 19Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love.

 20And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?

 21For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings.

 22His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.

 23He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.