Studies in 'the Proverbs' Chapter 7, 'Verbatim', Post 8, September 11, 2020

​My friends, 

The introduction (chapters 1–9) of the Proverbs constitutes the youngest unit in the book. It consists of a series of poems or discourses in which a father exhorts his son to acquire wisdom and in which wisdom personified intervenes. These chapters have a more speculative quality than the remainder of the book. They do not treat wisdom simply as a human quality and achievement or as a cultural legacy imparted by teachers and parents; they present it as a universal and abiding reality, transcending the human scene.
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Wisdom is the first of God’s works and participated with him in the creation of the world. A constantly debated aspect of this section concerns the identity of “the loose [strange] woman” who is set over against Wisdom.

​Take the proverbs of other nations, and we shall find great numbers founded upon selfishness, cunning, pride, injustice, national contempt, and animosities.

The principles of the Proverbs of Solomon are piety, charity, justice, benevolence, and true prudence. Their universal purity proves that they are the word of God.

Without further, let us continue from August 24-26-28, 2020; September 1-3, 2020; this week, September 7-9-11, 2020, our verbatim posts of the Book of 'Wisdom', 'Proverbs', specifically, Chapters 5,6,7. Continuing from:
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​Studies in 'the Proverbs' Chapter 1, 'Verbatim', Post 2-AM, August 26, 2020
Studies in 'the Proverbs' Chapter 1, 'Verbatim', Post 2-PM, August 26, 2020
Studies in 'the Proverbs' Chapter 2, 'Verbatim', Post 3, August 28, 2020
Studies in 'the Proverbs' Chapter 3, 'Verbatim', Post 4-AM, September 1, 2020
Studies in 'the Proverbs' Chapter 3, 'Verbatim', Post 4-PM, September 1, 2020
​Studies in 'the Proverbs' Chapter 4, 'Verbatim', Post 5-AM, September 3, 2020
Studies in 'the Proverbs' Chapter 4, 'Verbatim', Post 5-PM, September 3, 2020
Studies in 'the Proverbs' Chapter 5, 'Verbatim', Post 6, September 7, 2020
Studies in 'the Proverbs' Chapter 6, 'Verbatim', Post 7-AM, September 9, 2020
Studies in 'the Proverbs' Chapter 6, 'Verbatim', Post 7-PM, September 9, 2020

​Chapter 7 ​audio-bible.com/bible/bible.html/with 'Commentary of Matthew Henry, 1710. ​
​Invitations to learn wisdom. (1-5) The arts of seducers, with warnings against them. (6-27)

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.'  Amen. Amen. 

Notes: 1-5 'We must lay up God's commandments safely. Not only, Keep them, and you shall live; but, Keep them as those that cannot live without them. Those that blame strict and careful walking as needless and too precise, consider not that the law is to be kept as the apple of the eye; indeed the law in the heart is the eye of the soul. Let the word of God dwell in us, and so be written where it will be always at hand to be read. Thus we shall be kept from the fatal effects of our own passions, and the snares of Satan. Let God's word confirm our dread of sin, and resolutions against it.'

​6 'For at the window of my house I looked through my casement,
7 And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding,
8 Passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house,
9 In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night:
10 And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart.
11 (She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house:
12 Now is she without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner.)
13 So she caught him, and kissed him, and with an impudent face said unto him,
14 I have peace offerings with me; this day have I payed my vows.
15 Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee.
16 I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt.
17 I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
18 Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves.
19 For the goodman is not at home, he is gone a long journey:
20 He hath taken a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed.
21 With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him.
22 He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks;
23 Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life.
24 Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye children, and attend to the words of my mouth.
25 Let not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths.
26 For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been slain by her.
27 Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death.'

​Notes - 6-27 'Here is an affecting example of the danger of youthful lusts. It is a history or a parable of the most instructive kind. Will any one dare to venture on temptations that lead to impurity, after Solomon has set before his eyes in so lively and plain a manner, the danger of even going near them? Then is he as the man who would dance on the edge of a lofty rock, when he has just seen another fall headlong from the same place. The misery of self-ruined sinners began in disregard to God's blessed commands. We ought daily to pray that we may be kept from running into temptation, else we invite the enemies of our souls to spread snares for us. Ever avoid the neighborhood of vice. Beware of sins which are said to be pleasant sins. They are the more dangerous, because they most easily gain the heart, and close it against repentance. Do nothing till thou hast well considered the end of it. Were a man to live as long as Methuselah, and to spend all his days in the highest delights sin can offer, one hour of the anguish and tribulation that must follow, would far outweigh them.' Commentary by Matthew Henry, 1710.

Thank you for returning on Tuesday/Thursday, September 15-17, 2020 when we shall continue with the verbatim posts of Proverbs Chapters 8-9, in this our first section of eleven [11] chapters before we break for a review over two [2] weeks.   ​audio-bible.com/bible/bible.html Amen. Amen.​