Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Proverbs 7:1

Clarke's Commentary

CHAPTER VII

A farther exhortation to acquire wisdom, in order to be

preserved from impure connections, 1-5.

The character of a harlot, and her conduct towards a youth who

fell into her snare, 6-23.

Solemn exhortations to avoid this evil, 24-27.

NOTES ON CHAP. VII

Verse Proverbs 7:1. My son, keep my words — See Proverbs 2:1.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

More about sexual misbehaviour (6:20-7:27)

Sometimes teaching can be so well known that people no longer take any notice of it. Therefore, they must remind themselves to be obedient to familiar truths (20-22). One matter concerning which the writer repeats his earlier warnings is sexual immorality. Offenders are merely destroying themselves (23-29). People may not despise a desperately hungry person who steals food; nevertheless, the person must be dealt with and made to repay (with interest) what was stolen. But people will certainly despise a man who takes another’s wife; and there is no repayment he can make that will calm the anger of the offended husband (30-35).
Chapter 7 gives a colourful picture of how an immoral woman can trap a weak, easily led young man. The section opens with a renewed emphasis on the importance of a young man’s getting wisdom and holding on to it firmly. Then he will know best how to resist the temptations he meets (7:1-5).
The writer imagines himself looking out the window and seeing a silly young man wandering around the streets at night (6-9). The young man is met by a prostitute who sees him as a likely customer (10-12). She assures him that there is nothing wrong with going to bed with her. After all, she is a very religious person who has just been to the temple, and she had the feeling that she would meet this particular man (13-17). Furthermore, her husband is away for a few weeks on business. Clearly, all the circumstances indicate that the young man is meant to go with her (18-20).
After some indecision the man gives in, and in exchange for a night’s pleasure his whole life is spoiled (21-23). All young men should take note and resist the temptations offered by such women (24-27).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

"This chapter describes the way of an adulteress, contrasting with Proverbs 8 which sets forth the way of wisdom. It features an eye-witness account of the seduction of a young man by an adulteress. The account is realistic and needs only brief interpretation."The Teachers' Bible Commentary, p. 362.

"It is the fearful desolation which adultery causes that does not allow the author of Proverbs to abandon this theme which he has already discussed again and again. Here he reiterates the warning once more, reinforcing it with an illustration that he himself had witnessed."C. F. Keil, Keil-Delitzsch's Old Testament Commentaries (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company), Old Testament, Vol. 6, p. 156. "Here we see how helpless the young simpleton is under the skillful temptation that confronted him."The New Layman's Bible Commentary, p. 710. "This is the longest and most elaborate description of the adulteress in the Bible."Arthur S. Peake, A Commentary on the Bible (London: T. C. and E. C. Jack, Ltd., 1924), p. 400. And this is indeed a classic!

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

WISDOM VS. THE STRANGE WOMAN (THE THIRTEENTH DISCOURSE)

"My son, keep my words, And lay up my commandments with thee. Keep my commandments and live; And my law as the apple of thine eye. Bind them upon thy fingers; Write them upon the tablet of thy heart. And say unto Wisdom, Thou art my sister; And call Understanding thy kinswoman: That they may keep thee from the strange woman, From the foreigner that flattereth with her words."

"Lay up my commandments" "The words, commandments and teachings here are the Torah. These are the words shared by the wisdom literature with the Pentateuch, Prophets and Psalms."Broadman Bible Commentary (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1971), Vol. 5, p. 28.

"Keep… my law, as the apple of thine eye" "This is a proverbial expression for anything particularly precious and liable to be injured unless zealously guarded."The Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 9, p. 153.

"Write them upon the tablet of your heart" This is not a reference to the prominent phylacteries ostentatiously paraded by the Pharisees. It simply means, "Whatever you do, do not forget these instructions."

"Say unto Wisdom, Thou art my sister" Again we have Wisdom personified; and in this chapter she is presented in contrast to the strange woman in a dramatic challenge concerning which woman the youth will choose, whether Wisdom and life, or the strange woman and death. There is a New Testament counterpart to this. Jesus Christ is our Wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:30); "And Christ calls those who do God's will his brother and sister and mother (Matthew 12:50)."Ibid., p. 154.

These first five verses set the stage for the confrontation and seduction of the youth next reported.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

The harlot adulteress of an Eastern city is contrasted with the true feminine ideal of the Wisdom who is to be the “sister” and “kinswoman” Proverbs 7:4 of the young man as he goes on his way through life. See Proverbs 8:0 in the introduction.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 7

He continues his exhortation to the son in chapter 7. Still talking about these women that are the wrong sort.

My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee. Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the pupil of your eye. Bind them upon your fingers, write them on the table of your heart. Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; and call understanding thy kinswoman: That they may keep thee from the strange woman, and from the stranger who flatters with her words ( Proverbs 7:1-5 ).

So keep the commandments. Say to wisdom, "Thou art my sister." Be wise, my son.

For at the window of my house I looked through the casement, and I beheld among the simple ones, and I discerned among the young people, a young man who was void of understanding, and he was passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way towards her house, and in the twilight, and in the evening, and in the black and the dark night: And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of a harlot, subtile of heart. (She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house: Now is she without, now she's in the streets, she's lying in wait at every corner.) So she caught him, and she kissed him, and with an impudent face she said unto him, I have made my peace offerings; this day I have paid my vows ( Proverbs 7:6-14 ).

Which was declaring, "I am ceremonially clean. I have gone, you know, I've had my period." And after the period a woman was then to bring the peace offering to offer, and now you're ceremonially clean for sexual relationships. Now this to me is interesting. It is an interesting kind of a paradox. Here she is observing the law for purification, following the law. "I've paid my vows, you know, and I brought my peace offerings. I have my peace offerings, paid my vows and all, you know. So I'm now ceremonially clean. I'm able to have intercourse." And yet a harlot, yet seeking to entice a man. And this strange paradox of obedience to the law, and yet disobedience to God. And unfortunately, we observe this strange paradox so often.

In the religious circles where somehow we have a weird kind of a twisted judgment, thinking that because I've gone to church, because I've done my righteous thing, that I now have some kind of a license to do the unrighteous thing. And this admixture of light and darkness, walking after the Spirit and trying to live after the flesh. Trying to please God and still following the lust of my own flesh. It's an incongruency. And yet we see it so often in the religious circles where people are trying to get this strange admixture of the flesh and the Spirit.

So here she is. "I've done my peace offering, and I've got it with me. I've paid my vows. Come to my house, you know, my husband's gone. He took a bag of money. He's gone on a trip. He's not going to be back 'til the new moon. So, you know, come on over." And how wrong it is. How often some of the young people from the College and Career or Singles fellowship tell about meeting someone here. And because they met them in church, they figured that they would be morally upright and all, and how that the guys just keep trying to come on when they're out on a date or something. And though they come to church and they'll read the Word and they'll sing the choruses, they'll raise their hands and all, and yet turn right around, and you get out in the car or something and they're trying to make advances that are improper advances. These things ought not to be, that weird kind of an inconsistency.

"So she caught him, she kissed him, and with an impudent face she said to him, 'I have a peace offering with me; this day I have paid my vows.'"

Therefore I came to meet you, and I diligently sought you until I found you. And I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestries, with the carved works, of fine linen from Egypt. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves ( Proverbs 7:15-18 ).

Now here again is a total misconception that prevails to the present day. Somehow people have a weird terminology calling sexual intercourse love. It can be an expression of love. But it is generally, when outside of marriage always an expression of lust. And so rather than saying, "Come, let's take our fill of love," in reality you should say, "Come, let's take our fill of lust. Let's seek to fulfill the desires of our flesh."

There isn't true love in that. True love is giving, not seeking to receive. Seeketh not its own. But yet people have classified this love from the time of Proverbs and they still do today. "Oh, we made love last night." No, that's degrading to the term of love. Unless, as I say, it's as God has ordained within the sacred bonds of marriage and it becomes that beautiful expression between husband and wife, where as God said, "The two become one flesh" ( Genesis 2:24 ).

For my husband is not at home, he's gone on a long journey: He has taken a bag of gold with him, he's not going to come back until the appointed day. And so with her fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him. And he's going after her straightway, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a fool goes to the correction of the stocks; Until a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hastes to the snare, and he knows not that it is for his life. Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye children, attend to the words of my mouth. Let not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths. For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been slain by her. Her house is the way to hell, and going down to the chambers of death ( Proverbs 7:19-27 ).

So in speaking of and warning his son concerning the whorish woman, first of all, he makes mention of the fact that she can bring a man to a crust of bread. Oh, I think of the lives and the homes and the values that have been destroyed by these kind of women. All of the homes that are suffering today because some little gal's flirting in the office. Flattering, telling you how smart you are, how strong you are, how macho you are. And you get home and your wife is maybe saying, "Why don't you ever want to do anything, you know? And when you going to mow the lawn? You're so lazy, you know." And you're getting this kind of a crossfire. Pretty soon, you've imagined yourself to be in love, and pretty soon you're brought to a crust of bread. Destroyed. "She has cast down many wounded, many strong men have been slain by her." Oh, God, I think of the many strong men who have been slain by the weakness of their own flesh. "Her house is the way to hell." "

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

My son, keep my words,.... Doctrines and instructions; which, as a father to a son, or a master to his scholars, he had delivered; these he would have him observe and attend to;

and lay up my commandments with thee: as a treasure in his heart, to be brought out upon occasion; to be kept as valuable, and made use of as an antidote against and a preservative from sinning; see Psalms 119:11. The Septuagint and Arabic versions add, what is not in the Hebrew text,

"son, honour the Lord, and thou shalt be strong;''

the Arabic adds,

"and he shall strengthen thee; and fear none besides him.''

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      1 My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee.   2 Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye.   3 Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart.   4 Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; and call understanding thy kinswoman:   5 That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words.

      These verses are an introduction to his warning against fleshly lusts, much the same with that, Proverbs 6:20; Proverbs 6:20, c., and ending (Psalms 7:5; Psalms 7:5) as that did (Psalms 7:24; Psalms 7:24), To keep thee from the strange woman; that is it he aims at; only there he had said, Keep thy father's commandment, here (which comes all to one), Keep my commandments, for he speaks to us as unto sons. He speaks in God's name; for it is God's commandments that we are to keep, his words, his law. The word of God must be to us, 1. As that which we are most careful of. We must keep it as our treasure; we must lay up God's commandments with us, lay them up safely, that we may not be robbed of them by the wicked one, Psalms 7:1; Psalms 7:1. We must keep it as our life: Keep my commandments and live (Psalms 7:2; Psalms 7:2), not only, "Keep them, and you shall live;" but, "Keep them as you would your life, as those that cannot live without them." It would be death to a good man to be deprived of the word of God, for by it he lives, and not by bread alone. 2. As that which we are most tender of: Keep my law as the apple of thy eye. A little thing offends the eye, and therefore nature has so well guarded it. We pray, with David, that God would keep us as the apple of his eye (Psalms 17:8), that our lives and comforts may be precious in his sight; and they shall be so (Zechariah 2:8) if we be in like manner tender of his law and afraid of the least violation of it. Those who reproach strict and circumspect walking, as needless preciseness, consider not that the law is to be kept as the apple of the eye, for indeed it is the apple of our eye; the law is light; the law in the heart is the eye of the soul. 3. As that which we are proud of and would be ever mindful of (Psalms 7:3; Psalms 7:3): "Bind them upon thy fingers; let them be precious to thee; look upon them as an ornament, as a diamond-ring, as the signet on thy right hand; wear them continually as thy wedding-ring, the badge of thy espousals to God. Look upon the word of God as putting an honour upon thee, as an ensign of thy dignity. Bind them on thy fingers, that they may be constant memorandums to thee of thy duty, that thou mayest have them always in view, as that which is graven upon the palms of thy hands." 4. As that which we are fond of and are ever thinking of: Write them upon the table of thy heart, as the names of the friends we dearly love, we say, are written in our hearts. let the word of God dwell richly in us, and be written there where it will be always at hand to be read. Where sin was written (Jeremiah 17:1) let the word of God be written. It is the matter of a promise (Hebrews 8:10, I will write my law in their hearts), which makes the precept practicable and easy. 5. As that which we are intimately acquainted and conversant with (Psalms 7:4; Psalms 7:4): "Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister, whom I dearly love and take delight in; and call understanding thy kinswoman, to whom thou art nearly allied, and for whom thou hast a pure affection; call her thy friend, whom thou courtest." We must make the word of God familiar to us, consult it, and consult its honour, and take a pleasure in conversing with it. 6. As that which we make use of for our defence and armour, to keep us from the strange woman, from sin, that flattering but destroying thing, that adulteress; particularly from the sin of uncleanness, Psalms 7:5; Psalms 7:5. Let the word of God confirm our dread of that sin and our resolutions against it; let it discover to us its fallacies and suggest to us answers to all its flatteries.