A wound; civil or corporal punishment from the magistrate, or rather from the woman’s husband, as it follows. His reproach shall not be wiped away; although it be forgiven by God, yet the reproach and scandal of it remains. read more
CRITICAL NOTES,—Proverbs 6:24. Evil woman, literally. “the woman of evil.” Proverbs 6:26. Last clause means “an adulteress allures to that which may cost a man his life” (Stuart). Proverbs 6:30. Despise. Some translators render this word “scorn,” others “disregard.” Stuart, Wordsworth, and others adopt the former and understand the words to mean “men do not despise the thief, they do despise the adulterer.” Noyes and others, adopting the latter rendering, take the sentence to mean “men punish... read more
Now let us turn to Proverbs, chapter 6. The first part of the Proverbs is exhortation to my son. It's just good fatherly advice to sons. And chapter 6 continues in these exhortations that are opened by the phrase:My son, if you be surety for thy friend, or if you have stricken hands with a stranger, you've become snared with the words of your mouth, you've been taken with the words of your mouth. Now do this, and deliver yourself, my son, when you've come to the hand of your friend; go, and... read more
Proverbs 6:1 . If thou be surety for thy friend. If charity has gained an ascendancy over the judgment, prepare to perform thy covenant. To aid a friend in poverty is a generous deed, it is lending without hope: but to bind one’s self in cases of speculation may incur a serious loss, without real advantage to another. Proverbs 6:3 . When thou art come into the hand of thy friend. The sense is intricate. The LXX read, When thou art come into the hands of rigorous men for thy friend; go,... read more
Proverbs 6:30If he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry.Theft through necessityThe deceitful and perverting influence of sin requires careful consideration. While as yet it is only a principle in the mind, and not ripened into an external action, it draws into its service the various powers of imagination, invention, and even reason itself. By these powers the forbidden object is represented as a source of peculiar enjoyment, or it is invested with features of external attraction, or it... read more
Proverbs 6:32He that doeth it destroyeth his own soul.The suicide of the soulLovely as maiden purity is, and crowned with benedictions though it is by Christ, we have here to learn its excellence and fear its loss, by the sad, stern picture of impurity and shameless sin. In these sad proverbs of purity the wise man pictures to us in fearful personification wisdom’s rival standing in the same great thoroughfares of earth and bidding to her shameful pleasures the simple youth who throng the broad... read more
Proverbs 6:30 [Men] do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry; Ver. 30. Men do not despise a thief. ] We used to say, A liar is worse than a thief; a and Siracides saith the same of a constant liar. (chap. 20) But that an adulterer is worse than a thief, the Holy Ghost here assureth us; and his reasons are unanswerable. For, first, his necessity pleads for him: b he must either steal or starve; and this doth somewhat excuse him, a tanto, as they say, but not ... read more
Pro 6:31 But [if] he be found, he shall restore sevenfold; he shall give all the substance of his house. Ver. 31. He shall restore sevenfold, ] i.e., Manifold, according as the law limiteth, though it be to the utmost of what the thief is worth. But what restitution can the adulterer make, should he make him amends with as much more? The thief steals out of want; the adulterer of wantonness. read more
Proverbs 6:32 [But] whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he [that] doeth it destroyeth his own soul. Ver. 32. Lacketh understanding. ] Being wholly carried by sensual appetite, against the dictates both of religion and of reason. Beetles love dunghills better than ointments, and swine love mud better than a garden. Luther tells of a certain noble in his country so besotted with the sin of whoredom, he was not ashamed to say, that if he might ever live here, and be... read more
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Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible - Proverbs 6:32
Lacketh understanding; is a brutish and silly man, who madly rusheth upon these filthy courses, without any sense or consideration of the horrid shame and certain destruction which attends upon them. Destroyeth his own soul, or life; is guilty of self-murder and of soul-murder. read more