Blog - Proverbs 2:19

If you like this blog, then you will like Get Wisdom, Get Understanding which is Pastor Wagner's commentary on Proverbs chapter 1 which is available on Amazon in paperback or Kindle. Find out more here. For all the blogs in this series, click here: Proverbs Commentary. Proverbs 2:19 "None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life." (Pro 2:19)

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Solomon concludes his admonition concerning the strange woman which he began in verse sixteen by giving his son one final reason to embrace the wisdom of God in order to avoid her: none that go unto her return again. There is more than one reason why the journey to the adulteress' house is a one-way trip. It could be that the foolish men who make the trek simply lose their lives for their transgression owing to one of the reasons given in the comments on the previous verse, such as God slaying them directly, or by Him doing so through the natural consequences of an STD or a vengeful husband. But there is also another way in which those that go unto the strange woman will not return again, and that is that they will not return as the same men that they went as. The man that commits adultery gets "a wound and dishonour . . . and his reproach shall not be wiped away" (Pro 6:33). The reproach of such an egregious act is never entirely removed, even after decades have passed, because the memory of it resides in the minds of his family, friends, and neighbors for the rest of their lives. Thus the man who was held in high regard never returns from the strange woman's house as his former self. David experienced the devastation of social ostracism after he committed adultery with Bathsheba, which he painfully lamented when he besought the LORD's mercy, saying "my lovers and my friends stand aloof from my sore; and my kinsmen stand afar off" (Psa 38:11). As Solomon later noted in the book of Ecclesiastes, the social stigma of this sin increases in proportion to the reputation of the offender.

Ecc 10:1 - Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour: so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour.

Neither take they hold of the of the paths of life. The man who commits adultery has gone the way of the evil man and has left "the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness" (Pro 2:13). He has veered from the strait gate and narrow way "which leadeth unto life," and henceforth shall walk through the wide gate on the broad way "that leadeth to destruction" (Mat 7:13-14). All the joys of living shall be taken from him, and as he tries to take hold of the paths of life, they shall slip through his fingers as sorrow compasses him. Psalm 38 is considered by many to be David's lamentation for his dreadful sin of adultery, in which he vividly expressed his feeling of despair after taking another man's wife.

Psa 38:1-10 - A Psalm of David, to bring to remembrance. O LORD, rebuke me not in thy wrath: neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure. 2 For thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore. 3 There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger; neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin. 4 For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me. 5 My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness. 6 I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long. 7 For my loins are filled with a loathsome disease: and there is no soundness in my flesh. 8 I am feeble and sore broken: I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart. 9 Lord, all my desire is before thee; and my groaning is not hid from thee. 10 My heart panteth, my strength faileth me: as for the light of mine eyes, it also is gone from me.

Let the Christian man take heed and hearken unto wisdom in order to spare himself from the agony which will certainly befall anyone who follows in David's footsteps.

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