Spreuken 5:8 Commentaar

The scope of this chapter is much the same with that of ch. 2. To write the same things, in other words, ought not to be grievous, for it is safe, Phi 3:1. Here is, I. An exhortation to get acquaintance with and submit to the laws of wisdom in general (Pro 5:2). II. A particular caution against the sin of whoredom (Pro 5:3-14). III. Remedies prescribed against that sin. 1. Conjugal love (Pro 5:15-20). 2. A regard to God's omniscience (Pro 5:21). 3. A dread of the miserable end of wicked people (Pro 5:22, Pro 5:23). And all little enough to arm young people against those fleshly lusts which war against the soul.

INTRODUCTION TO PROVERBS 5 The general instruction of this chapter is to avoid whoredom, and make use of lawful marriage, and keep to that. It is introduced with an exhortation to attend to wisdom and understanding, Pro 5:1; one part of which lies in shunning an adulterous woman; who is described by her flattery, with which she deceives; by the end she brings men to, which is destruction and death; and by the uncertainty of her ways, which cannot be known, Pro 5:3. Wherefore men are advised to keep at the utmost distance from her, Pro 5:7; lest their honour, strength, wealth, and labours, be given to others, Pro 5:9; and repentance and mourning follow, when too late, Pro 5:11. And, as a remedy against whoredom, entering into a marriage state is advised to, and a strict regard to that; allegorically expressed by a man's drinking water out of his fountain, and by his wife being as a loving hind and pleasant roe to him, the single object of his affections, Pro 5:15. As also the consideration of the divine omniscience is proposed, to deter him from the sin of adultery, Pro 5:20; as well as the inevitable ruin wicked men are brought into by it, Pro 5:22.

Remove thy way far from her,.... The way of the mind, walk, and conversation; keep at the greatest distance from her; neither come where she is, nor look at her, nor converse with her; shun her, as one would the pest or a loathsome carcass; go a good way about rather than come near her, or be within sight of her, or so as to be in any danger of being ensnared by her; and come not nigh the door of her house; not only not enter her chamber, but go not to her house; no, not over the threshold of the door, nor near the door; but avoid her house, as one would a house that has the plague in it. Men should not go in the way of temptation, trusting to their own strength; they may be entangled and overcome before they are aware; is good to keep out of the way of it. And as it becomes the children of Wisdom to wait at her gates, and at the posts of her door, to gain knowledge and understanding of divine things; so they should not go within the doors of false teachers, nor near them, nor admit them within theirs. It is a complaint against the church at Thyatira, that she suffered the woman Jezebel, the Romish harlot, to teach and seduce the servants of Christ, or connived at their attendance on her, Rev 2:20.

Your flight is a good one if your heart does not act out the counsels of sinners and their designs. Your flight is a good one if your eye flees the sight of cups and drinking vessels, so that it may not become envious as it lingers over the wine. Your flight is good if your eye turns away from the woman stranger, so that your tongue may keep the truth. Your flight is a good one if you do not answer the fool according to his folly. Your flight is good if you direct your footsteps away from the countenance of fools. Indeed, one swiftly goes astray with bad guides; but if you wish your flight to be a good one, remove your ways far from their words.

Keep your way far from her, etc. And the apostle says, Flee fornication (1 Corinthians 6). Because indeed the first remedy of this vice is to be far from those whose presence either allures or cooperates in the vice. But it also benefits weak listeners to be entirely separated from the hearing of heretics.

A warning against the seductive arts of wicked women, enforced by considering the advantages of chastity, and the miserable end of the wicked. (Pro. 5:1-23) This connection of wisdom and understanding is frequent (Pro 2:2; Pro 3:7); the first denotes the use of wise means for wise ends; the other, the exercise of a proper discrimination in their discovery.

Avoid the slightest temptation.