Proverbs 5:1

Jamieson's short summary of this chapter is: "Here is a warning against the seductive arts of wicked women, enforced by considering the blessings and advantages of chastity, and the miserable end of the wicked,"[1]

Walls subdivided the chapter as follows:

(1) the teacher's appeal for strict attention (Proverbs 5:1-2),

(2) a description of the loose woman (Proverbs 5:3-6),

(3) an injunction to avoid her (Proverbs 5:7-8),

(4) a warning of that which befalls her victims (Proverbs 5:9-14), a call to cherish holy love in marriage (Proverbs 5:15-19), a reminder that adultery is a sin against God (Proverbs 5:20-23)."[2]

THE TEACHER'S APPEAL FOR STRICT ATTENTION

Proverbs 5:1-2

"My son, attend unto my wisdom;

Incline thine ear to my understanding:

That thou mayest preserve discretion,

And that thy lips may keep knowledge."

This solemn plea for strict attention indicates the importance of the severe warning against adultery that is about to be given, a subject briefly mentioned in 2:15-19. "The writer, in addition, will return to this subject again in the latter part of Proverbs 6 and in all of Proverbs 7."[3]

The emphasis given this subject in Proverbs is significant. "If a young man would take to heart the warnings and prohibitions in Proverbs and add those qualities mentioned in the Sermon on the Mount, he would be a perfect man. In Proverbs, the sins of the flesh, gluttony, wine-bibbing and fornication are presented in graphic detail with clear and specific warnings against them."[4] There is a possibility that Solomon, the author of these warnings, gave them such overwhelming emphasis because these were the very sins that ruined him.