Although only 18 verses in length, Proverbs 9 serves as a warning to men and women in our society who are tempted to covet the glamorized lifestyle of the rich and famous portrayed nightly on television shows like “Entertainment Tonight” or “TMZ”.
I remind you as you read Proverbs 9 that two scenes are portrayed in this chapter that present us with two worlds, two ways of living represented as two feasts or schools—that of the wise and the foolish.
Godly Wisdom is personified as a righteous woman inviting sinners to turn from their wicked ways and enter into her banquet room that represents the way of the righteous (9:1-12).
The contrast to Godly Wisdom’s invitation is the wicked adulterous woman (9:13-14) who is a woman without discretion. She is loud and boisterous (9:13). Her demeanor is brazen and shameless (9:14) and she entices the simple who either lack or refuse to heed godly wisdom, to enter into her chambers. We read her invitation:
Proverbs 9:16-17 – “Whoso is simple [easily led astray], let him turn in hither: and as for him that wanteth understanding [lacks wisdom], she [adulterous woman] saith to him, 17 Stolen waters [perhaps another man’s wife] are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant [gives pleasure for a season].”
In the same manner Eve was tempted to eat the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden, the adulterous woman entices the flesh of the foolish man to indulge his lust. The simple, foolish man, driven by lusts refuses to weigh the price of his pleasure. Solomon warns his son:
Proverbs 9:18 – “But he knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell.”
I close with a word of warning—the strongest men (for example, the judge of Israel we know as mighty Samson – Judges 13-16) have been destroyed by lust. Someone reading today’s devotional is tantalized and tempted by pornography. Be forewarned; continue down that path and you will lose everything—your ministry, career, wife, family and friends. Indeed, your life will be numbered with the “walking dead” (Romans 6:23).
Copyright 2014 – Travis D. Smith