Proverbs 5:7 - 14

Today's study covers the next 8 verses of Chapter 5. These verses change from addressing a single son to addressing multiple children. This whole chapter deals with adultery and the warnings against it, and this section specifically discusses the problems that this kind of sin can cause for the one who commits this deed.

Proverbs 5:7 - 14 (NKJV)

7 Therefore hear me now, my children,

And do not depart from the words of my mouth.

8 Remove your way far from her,

And do not go near the door of her house,

9 Lest you give your honor to others,

And your years to the cruel one;

10 Lest aliens be filled with your wealth,

And your labors go to the house of a foreigner;

11 And you mourn at last,

When your flesh and your body are consumed,

12 And say: “ How I have hated instruction,

And my heart despised correction!

13 I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers,

Nor inclined my ear to those who instructed me!

14 I was on the verge of total ruin,

In the midst of the assembly and congregation.”


We have studied this allegory before in Chapter 2: 16-19 and I am going to put part of that post here to remind us of the way that God looks at adultery and why …

Throughout the Bible, an “adulterous woman” is used to portray other gods or things that would “seduce” us away from God in some form or another. God’s plan for marriage was for “two to become one,” heart, soul and mind. Marriage is the form He chose to use as an example, or symbol, of the relationship He wants us to have with Him.

He wants us to become “one with him”… to know Him intimately, as He knows us. Living in today’s world often makes it hard for people to understand the “perfect-ness” that a truly good marriage can be after years of intimacy… sharing the good times AND the hard times, and learning from them… learning to TRUST a partner that will never leave you nor forsake you.

THIS is why adultery is so horrendous in God’s sight. The breaking of a “trust” of this nature, is a cut to the very soul and heart of a person. It is like thrusting a sword into the heart to cut it and separate it back out from one, into two! God understands, because He keeps putting Himself out there for His people (both Old and New Testament followers and believers) and they have, so often, turned away from Him. He showed just what love and forgiveness can do to help reestablish trust in a relationship through the example of giving His son.

The first verses in this section are warnings to stay away from areas of our lives that we know are dangerous to us… things that separate us from God… things we put “above Him” or make into idols that we “worship” instead of keeping our eyes on Him and putting Him first.

Verse 9 warns that IF you do these things, and put other things in front of God and His ways, then you are “giving your years to the cruel one…” You have CHOSEN to take yourself out from under God’s protection and allow Satan to have reign in your life. This will result in the loss of wealth (not just physical wealth, but the gifts that are spiritual wealth) and you will end up working for others (and spiritually speaking, this would be for the spirits that are against God.) This kind of life leads to ruin and pain, both physically and spiritually.

Often when people have rejected God’s paths and instead have chosen this evil course for their lives, and then bad things happen, They tend to blame God instead of acknowledging their own part in where they have ended up. They don’t want to face the shame of the ruin they have allowed to happen in their lives… especially in front of others that are watching them: “In the midst of the assembly and congregation.”