Proverbs 5:9

WARNING OF WHAT BEFALLS VIOLATORS OF THIS LAW

"Lest thou give thine honor unto others,

And thy years unto the cruel.

Lest strangers be filled with thy strength,

And thy labors be in the house of an alien.

And thou mourn at thy latter end,

When thy flesh and thy body are consumed,

And say, How have I hated instruction,

And my heart despised reproof;

Neither have I obeyed the voice of my teachers,

Nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!

I was well-nigh in all evil

In the midst of the assembly and congregation."

"The evil results of relations with the strange woman fall into three divisions. (1) Loss of wealth and position (Proverbs 5:9f), (2) physical deterioration (Proverbs 5:11), and (3) certain legal penalties."[17]

The thrust of the whole passage is that unlawful and promiscuous sex destroys the participant socially, financially, morally, and even physically. Such activity is a sin against society, against the family, against one's own body, against the church and against God Himself.

"Lest strangers be filled with thy strength" (Proverbs 5:10). The AV has `wealth' instead of `strength,' which makes better sense. Such activities as prostitution and adultery "bring poverty";[18] and there are many ways in which this is brought about. Severe legal penalties accompany violations in this sector; but evil men prefer to blackmail offenders rather than penalize them. Prostitutes are victimized by crooked policemen who charge them `protection money.' Etc. The schemes are unlimited.

"When thy flesh and thy body are consumed" (Proverbs 5:11). Yes, the physical destruction that is identified with this sin is epic in its proportions. In this writer's boyhood, the strongest youth in the community could tear a deck of cards in two, chin himself with either hand, and perform other amazing things; but he went to work in the oil fields, indulged his lust with prostitutes, contracted syphilis, and returned in a wheel-chair ("locomotor ataxia"), and to an untimely death. Almost invariably the fatal disease of aids is directly the result of indulging in this sin. "Then (when Proverbs was written) as now, terrible disease was the result of this sin."[19]

"And say, How have I hated instruction" (Proverbs 5:12). Even more terrible than other results of this wickedness is the bitter remorse that tortures the violator in his latter days. "Even more bitter than slavery, poverty and disease will be the bitterness of that self-reproach, and the hopeless remorse that works death."[20]

"Neither have I obeyed the voice of my teachers" (Proverbs 5:13). "The profligate admits that he was not without teachers and advisers, and that he gave no heed to their warnings and reproofs."[21]

"I was well nigh in all evil" (Proverbs 5:14). "This vice, like a whirlpool, sweeps all others into its vortex."[22] Falsehood invariably, and murder occasionally are directly associated with this evil. As DeHoff wrote, "This vice leads one into all others. Every sin has a group of cousins who always come to visit."[23] We might add that they stay a long time!