Warnings against the Purveyors of false doctrine.
This Proverb directly relates to false religion however the semantics can also relate to actual physical adultry(man,or woman)
Proverbs 5
King James Version
5 My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding:
2 That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.
Wisdom and understanding are distinct.,one from the other.Understanding is the discrimination which recognizes Wisdom. A child not having understanding,cannot discriminate between a glass ball and a diamond. So to discern between the gaudy glass of folly and the simple beauty of Wisdom,understanding is needed.
3 For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil:
4 But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
5 Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.
6 Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them.
Wisdom(The Bible),the true Woman,pictures true salvation; the strange woman represents false religion. The strange woman(apostasy) is Wisdoms enemy and rival. The teaching of the inspired Scriptures always has been and is unacceptable to man. False teaching(1John 4:5) has been and is,to him as the droppings of a honeycomb,but the honey is poisoned and ends in death.
7 Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth.
Over and over again,warnings are given concerning departure from the Word of God.
8 Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house:
Israel was forbidden to even look at false worship, and Wisdom warns against approaching idolatry’s door; obedience to this injunction will save Christians from being lured into apostasy.
9 Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel:
The physical suffering which follows upon vice is a fearful picture of the wreckage wrought in the soul by false religion.
10 Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger;
11 And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,
The problem of the Church is the “strange woman”which speaks of false doctrine;as an example,modern psychology is the HIV of the modern church.
12 And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;
Departure from Gods word is quickly followed by enslavement of evil.
13 And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!
Without fail,the Lord will provide a Godly voice. If we do not hear,we are without excuse(Romans 1:20)
14 I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.
It seems strange that one would lose his way in “the midst of the congregation.”And yet,this is Satans greatest field of endeavor. Sadly,most lose their way in church because of false doctrine that it taught behind the pulpit.
15 Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.
The “cistern”here is the Bible. Years later, Jeremiah would refer to this very passage(Jerem 2:13)
16 Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets.
It is insensible for man to turn from Wisdom to folly; from the word of God to man made religions.
17 Let them be only thine own, and not strangers' with thee.
The word”strangers” once again refers to false doctrine,false apostles and idol worship.
18 Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.
19 Let 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.
Solomon is enjoining, as his father David enjoined him,to not forsake Jehovah,Who is responsible for all blessings. Regrettably,Solomon would not heed his own injunction. The God of Glory. Who touched him in his youth,would be forsaken in Solomon’s old age.
20 And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?
The Holy Spirit once again gives warning concerning the “strange woman” (false doctrine,false apostles and idol worship)
21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and he pondereth all his goings.
A record is kept by the Lord of every sparrow that falls to the ground,and every hair lost from the head of each person(Matt 10:29-30)
22 His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.
23 He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.
The word “take” in verse 22 means “entrap” The statement “cords of his sins” refers to bondage. It is a bondage that man within himself cannot break. It can be broken only by the Power of God through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ,and our Faith in that Finished Work(Eph 2:13-18,Gal 2:20)The gist of all this is thatReligion is the greatest entrapment of all. Deliverance from religion can be effected only by the Power of the Holy Spirit,which functions on the basis of Christ and His finished work of the Cross(Rom 6:3-5,14;8:1-2,11)
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