Proverbs 5:1 - Meaning and Application

Here Solomon begins with a serious warning to gain attention, Proverbs 5:1, 2. He speaks as a father to his son, and in that way to all young men, whom he loves and wants to guide. He asks for close attention, not just hearing or reading, but careful thought and a willing mind. Since he speaks by divine inspiration, he has God’s authority, even though he does not begin with, “This is what the Lord says.”

He also points to the value of what he is saying. This is his wisdom and understanding, and he cannot offer anything more fitting to teach true wisdom. His teaching is meant to help people live wisely, with good judgment in daily life. It is also meant to help them speak wisely, so their lips may hold knowledge and be ready to help others. The priest’s lips are said to keep knowledge (Malachi 2:7), but all who know the Scriptures well can also serve others in their speech.

Then he gives the warning itself, which is to keep away from sexual sin, especially adultery, fornication, and all uncleanness. Some take this picture in a wider sense and apply it to idolatry, false teaching, or even sinful desire in general. But the main purpose is clear, Solomon is warning against the sins forbidden by the seventh commandment, sins young people are often drawn to, and sins that destroy virtue in the soul. He warns with great urgency because he loves us and knows this sin leads to ruin.

First, do not listen to the smooth words of this sin. The lips of a strange woman, that is, an immoral woman, drop like a honeycomb (Proverbs 5:3). Lust is tempting, and its words sound sweet, like oil on the tongue, so the danger does not seem obvious at first. But the result is bitter. In the end, it brings the pain of a troubled conscience, “bitter as wormwood” (Proverbs 5:4), and its path leads toward death and hell (Proverbs 5:5). Even if some who fell into this sin repented and were saved, the sin itself still tends toward the ruin of body and soul.

Its charm is also false. The adulteress flatters and speaks pleasantly, but she deceives those who listen. Her ways keep changing, so she cannot be trusted. She takes many forms, like a person with many disguises, because she knows that if people truly understood her, they would hate her. Her aim is to keep people from thinking seriously about the path of life. Satan works the same way: he tries to keep people from choosing the way that leads to life, and he does this by keeping them from serious thought. Religion gains its point when people are willing to consider things calmly and fairly. Uncleanness, on the other hand, clouds the mind and hardens the conscience. As Hosea says, “whoredom takes away the heart” (Hosea 4:11).

Second, do not even go near the edge of this sin, Proverbs 5:7, 8. Solomon starts this warning with another earnest appeal: listen carefully and hold tightly to what he says. Do not let go of his words, especially when temptation becomes strong. The answer is clear: “Remove your way far from her.” If your path comes close, change direction. Do not go near her house. Go out of your way if you must. It is better to take the longer road than to place yourself in danger.

This shows how much we should dread this sin. We must hate it and keep as far from it as from a plague-infested place. We should avoid it as we would foul, rotten air. The best way to stay pure is to grow to hate fleshly lusts. It also shows that we must avoid everything that might lead us into sin. Those who want to stay safe must stay out of danger’s reach. Human nature is so weak and easily sparked that it is foolish to come near temptation under any excuse.

If you rush into temptation, you make a mockery of your prayer, “Do not lead us into temptation.” We should keep a careful watch over ourselves with holy concern. We must not trust our own promises too much and go near sin, telling ourselves we will stop in time.

If something has become a trap for us and a cause of sin, we must cut it off, even if it feels as dear as a right eye or a right hand. We must give up what is most precious to us rather than risk our souls. That is our Savior’s command in (Matthew 5:28-30).

Solomon’s reasons for this warning are the same kind as before, the many harms that come with this sin. First, it destroys a person’s good name. “You will give your honor to others” (Proverbs 5:9). You will lose respect, and people around you will have good reason to shame you and look down on you as foolish. Sexual sin makes people contemptible and low, and no wise or godly person wants close friendship with someone who runs after harlots.

Second, it wastes the years of life, especially the best years of youth. It gives those years to a cruel master, a filthy lust that pretends to care but really hunts for the soul’s ruin. The time that should be used to honor a gracious God is spent serving a harsh and damaging sin.

Third, it ruins a person’s wealth. “Strangers will be filled with your wealth” (Proverbs 5:10). What God entrusted to him for the good of his family is handed over to others. The fruit of his labor ends up in the house of a stranger, someone with no right to it and no real gratitude for it.

Fourth, it harms the body and shortens life. “Your flesh and body will be consumed” by it (Proverbs 5:11). Unclean desires do not only fight against the soul, which the sinner often ignores. They also fight against the body, which he wrongly pampers and tries to satisfy. Those who give themselves over to uncleanness often waste their strength, become weak, and end up with painful diseases. Their days are cut short, and they die with little pity, as victims of a cruel lust.

Fifth, it fills the mind with horror if conscience ever wakes up. “Though you are happy now, you will mourn later” (Proverbs 5:11). In the end, a person will have sorrow, either when he is brought to repentance or when sickness and death overtake him. Then conscience will rise up against him, or the grave will close over him while the soul suffers in hell, where the worm does not die and the words “Son, remember” never stop.

Solomon then lets the convinced sinner speak and blame himself. He will bitterly grieve that he hated correction and so hated instruction. He could not bear to be taught what was right or to be shown his faults: “My heart despised reproof” (Proverbs 5:12). He must admit that those entrusted with him, like parents and ministers, had done their duty. They taught him, gave him sound advice, and warned him well (Proverbs 5:13). But to his own shame, he had not obeyed them. He never really listened to his teachers or let their words sink in. Those who have had a good upbringing and do not live by it will have much to answer for.

He will also confess that repeated sin had so hardened him that his heart was fully set on evil (Proverbs 5:14). “I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.” Even when he came to worship with God’s people, his heart was still full of lustful thoughts and desires, and his eyes were fixed on adultery. The holiness of the place, the people around him, and the work itself did not restrain him. He was almost as wicked there as anywhere else. Nothing looks more terrible to an awakened conscience than polluting holy things. Nothing makes sin more serious than doing it in the congregation, where we have special privileges and responsibilities.

Some understand this as bold sinning in the face of the magistrates and the public assembly. Others take it as speaking about the punishment of sin rather than the sin itself. Then the meaning is, “I became an example, a public warning, under God’s severe judgments among the congregation of Israel.” In either case, the lesson is clear, avoid what you will later regret so deeply.