Proverbs 6:20-35

11. The guilt of adultery 6:20-35

This extended warning against one of life’s most destructive practices is classic. We can profit from reading it frequently. Proverbs 6:20-23 indicate the start of a new section and stress again the importance of the precepts that follow. Solomon regarded the instruction he was giving as an expression of God’s law (cf. Proverbs 6:23; Psalms 119:105). Commenting on Proverbs 6:20-23, Paul Larsen wrote the following.

"Get hung up in your relationships with your parents and you’ll never get in a right relationship with yourself." [Note: Larsen, p. 67.]

The immoral act begins with the lustful look (Proverbs 6:25; cf. 2 Samuel 11:2). That is the place to weed out the temptation, when it is still small.

"Playing with temptation is only the heart reaching out after sin." [Note: Ross, p. 937.]

". . . the ordinary harlot is after subsistence, will deprive a man of his money, but not ruin him; the unchaste married woman brings on him destructive social (and possibly legal) punishment." [Note: Toy, p. 137.]

In Proverbs 6:27-29 we have a series of physical analogies designed to illustrate spiritual cause and effect. Adultery brings inescapable punishment. One may contain the fire (Proverbs 6:27) at first, but others will discover it if it continues to burn. "His clothes" (Proverbs 6:27) may imply outward reputation, namely, what others see, as often in Scripture. "Touches her" is probably a euphemism for sexual intimacy (cf. Genesis 20:6; 1 Corinthians 7:1).

"’But sex is a normal desire, given to us by God,’ some people argue. ’Therefore, we have every right to use it, even if we’re not married. It’s like eating: If you’re hungry, God gave you food to eat; if you’re lonely, God gave you sex to enjoy.’ Some of the people in the Corinthian church used this argument to defend their sinful ways: ’Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods’ (1 Corinthians 6:13, NKJV). But Paul made it clear that the believer’s body belonged to God and that the presence of a desire wasn’t the same as the privilege to satisfy that desire (Proverbs 6:12-20)." [Note: Wiersbe, p. 54.]

Proverbs 6:30-35 draw another kind of comparison. Adultery is a practice good people look down on because it is never necessary. It is always the product of lack of self-control. It is this lack of self-restraint that seems to be the reason an unfaithful husband should not be a church elder (1 Timothy 5:6).

"The picture of the adulterer as social outcast may seem greatly overdrawn. If so, the adjustment that must be made is to say that in any healthy society such an act is social suicide." [Note: Kidner, pp. 74-75.]

Also, Hebrew poetry sometimes employs hyperbole.

12. The lure of adultery ch. 7

This chapter dramatizes the arguments Solomon advanced in the previous section (Proverbs 6:20-35). He told a story that illustrates his point.

The prologue (Proverbs 6:1-5) again urges the adoption of this advice, not just the reception of it. The apple (pupil) of the eye (Proverbs 6:2) is its most sensitive part (cf. Deuteronomy 32:10).

Proverbs 6:6-9 describe the victim of temptation as one who has not adopted Solomon’s counsel. In Israelite culture, the person viewing what was going on in the street would often have done so from a second story window, since the lower story would typically have lacked windows as a precaution against theft. [Note: Waltke, The Book . . ., p. 371.] The youth is "naive" (Proverbs 6:7), foolish innocently or deliberately.

Proverbs 6:10-12 picture the huntress on the prowl for sensual gratification, preying on anyone foolish enough to encourage her.

"The first step in coming to maturity is to develop a concept of deferred satisfaction." [Note: Larsen, p. 50.]

"Woe to the marriage whose partners cannot find values in their home and must constantly seek outside stimulation!" [Note: Plaut, p. 102.]

Proverbs 6:13-21 show her tactics: sensual assault (Proverbs 6:13), justification of her intent (Proverbs 6:14), flattery (Proverbs 6:15), visualization of delight (Proverbs 6:16-17), proposition (Proverbs 6:18), and reassurance of safety (Proverbs 6:19-20). We should probably favor the marginal reading of Proverbs 6:14: "Sacrifices of peace offerings are with me." The idea is that she had made a peace offering and had some of the food that was her portion of the offering at her house where she needed to eat it.

"Her refrigerator is full, as we would say." [Note: R. Laird Harris, "Proverbs," in The Wycliffe Bible Commentary, p. 563.]

Some peace offerings followed the end of a vow (votive offerings). This seems to have been the case here. This woman appears to be indulging herself after a period of self-sacrifice, as some people who fast during Lent do at the end of that season. It is quite clear that this woman knew exactly what she wanted.

Proverbs 6:22-23 portray the "kill." Evidently the youth hesitated, but then "suddenly" (Proverbs 6:22) yielded. Sin leads to death (cf. Romans 6:23; James 1:15)-along the same line, Solomon looked at the end result of the youth’s action, not its immediate effect.

"Stupid animals see no connection between traps and death, and morally stupid people see no connection between their sin and death (cf. Proverbs 1:17-18; Hosea 7:11)." [Note: Waltke, The Book . . ., p. 384.]

In the epilogue to this story (Proverbs 6:24-27), Solomon advised a three-fold defense against this temptation. First, guard your heart (Proverbs 6:25 a). We are in danger when we begin to desire and long for an adulterous affair. Fantasizing such an affair is one symptom that we are in this danger zone. Second, guard your body (Proverbs 6:25 b). Do not go near or stay near someone who may want an adulterous affair. Third, guard your future (Proverbs 6:26-27). Think seriously about the consequences of having an adulterous affair before you get involved.

"A man’s life is not destroyed in one instant; it is taken from him gradually as he enters into a course of life that will leave him as another victim of the wages of sin." [Note: Ross, p. 942.]