Proverbs (Part 051) - Pro 5:6-8

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6. Pro 5:6 - "Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them." A. Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, i. Learning of the strange woman might make a man want to try to analyze her ways and understand how she thinks and operates. ii. A young man may think that he can change a whore that he has fallen for if he can just understand her. iii. To the young man that has a desire to comprehend the path of a strange woman, the Lord gives this warning to prevent such a fool's errand: Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life. a. Lest - 1. Used as a negative particle of intention or purpose, introducing a clause expressive of something to be prevented or guarded against b. In other words, the Lord has given the warning that follows to prevent and guard against a young man trying to ponder the path of the strange woman. iv. There are certain things that we are not to try to understand because they are evil, and we could be corrupted by them in the process of trying to understand them (Eph 5:11-12; Rom 16:19). B. her ways are moveable, i. Moveable adj. - 1. Apt or disposed to movement; quick or ready in movement; having a tendency to move. a. She is not stable, grounded, nor settled. b. She cannot be relied upon because she is apt to change. c. We are to meddle not with those that are given to change (Pro 24:21). d. Just when you think you understand her, she moves in another direction. e. She would not make a good wife because her feet abide not in her house (Pro 7:11). f. She has ever-changing taste in men and will therefore get bored easily and be unfaithful. ii. She is the opposite of what a Christian woman should be. a. Christians are supposed to be steadfast and unmoveable (1Co 15:58). b. We are not to be moved away from the hope of the gospel (Col 1:23). c. We must stand fast in the Lord (Php 4:1). d. We must stand fast and hold on to the things we have been taught (2Th 2:15). C. that thou canst not know them. i. Because the ways of the strange woman are moveable and unpredictable, they cannot be known. ii. The Lord didn't say that we might not be able to know them; He said that we canst not know them. iii. It is therefore a waste of time and energy to try to get inside the mind of a strange woman and understand her ways. iv. It's hard enough to understand how godly women think, let alone to comprehend how strange women think. D. The strange woman also represents false religion (see notes on Pro 5:5). i. Many people have attempted to understand the plots and schemes of Mystery Babylon (Rev 17:5). ii. People spend hours going down the rabbit hole of conspiracy theories on the internet trying to expose the conspiracies of the New World Order. iii. Remember God's warning lest thou try to ponder her paths, for her ways are moveable that thou canst not know them. iv. If such Christians spent as much time studying their Bibles as they do studying the New World Order, they would be far more mature and useful Christians. 7. Pro 5:7 - "Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth." A. Hear me now therefore, O ye children, i. Solomon started off addressing his admonition to his son (Pro 5:1). a. In this verse he extends his exhortation to children in general. (i) He said "ye children" not "my children." (ii) His warning about the strange woman is therefore applicable to all people. b. His reason for exhorting us to listen to what he has to say is because of the dangerous nature of the strange woman which he just declared in verses 3-6. (i) Therefore - II. 2. In consequence of that; that being so; as a result or inference from what has been stated; consequently. (ii) In consequence of what he had just said about the strange woman, he now commands us to give him our attention. (iii) It's always important to listen to God's warnings, but it's especially important when the Lord specifically tells of a danger that lies ahead. ii. Solomon had previously repeatedly exhorted his son to hear his words (Pro 1:5; Pro 1:8; Pro 4:1; Pro 4:10). a. Hear v. - 4. To exercise the auditory function intentionally; to give ear, hearken, listen. b. He does so a fifth time due to the gravity of the subject material. iii. Solomon uses the emphatic O again to get our attention as he did in Pro 4:10. a. O int. (n.) - 1. Standing before a noun in the vocative relation. 2. In other connexions, or without construction, expressing, according to intonation, various emotions, as appeal, entreaty, surprise, pain, lament, etc. b. This should impress upon us the importance and urgency of listening to the word of God, especially to a warning about strange women. B. and depart not from the words of my mouth. i. Solomon had previously exhorted his son to not let his words of wisdom depart from his eyes (Pro 3:21; Pro 4:21). ii. Now he tells us to not depart from his words. iii. Depart v. - II. To go apart or away, with its derived senses. 5. intr. To go asunder; to part or separate from each other, to take leave of each other. Obs. iv. These two commands go together because if we keep our eyes on the word of God we will not depart from its instructions, and we will keep its commandments. v. This is especially important given his warnings about the strange woman in the following verses. 8. Pro 5:8 - "Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house:" A. Remove thy way far from her, i. Fornication is one of the sins in the Bible that we are told to flee and not fight (1Co 6:18). a. "Other vices may be conquered in fight, this only by flight." (Matthew Henry's Commentary, 1Co 6:18) b. As Solomon taught in chapter 4, in order to keep ourselves from sin we must "enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men" (Pro 4:14) and "avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away" (Pro 4:15). ii. We must remove our way far from her. a. Remove v. - 1. a. To move or shift from or out of the place occupied; to lift or push aside; to lift up and take away; to take off. b. To take away, withdraw, from a place, person, etc.; †to raise, abandon (a siege). Also refl. to betake oneself away. c. To take or convey away from a place; †to keep apart, separate. Also removed, taken away by death. b. The use of the word remove implies that we will eventually end up in the presence of a strange woman. c. When we find that our path has crossed hers, we must quickly get away from her. d. As soon as you realize that you are in the presence of an unchaste woman, flee immediately. e. Remove thy foot from evil (Pro 4:27). iii. We must get far from her. a. It's not enough to stay at an arm's length away from her either; we must stay a great distance from her. b. Far adv. - 1. At a great distance, a long way off. Const. from, (colloq.) off. c. The closer a man gets in physical proximity to a strange woman, the more likely he is to be enticed by her. B. and come not nigh the door of her house: i. Better than fleeing after having crossed paths with the strange woman is avoiding her altogether to prevent an interaction in the first place. ii. Avoid and pass not by the dwelling of a strange woman (Pro 4:15). a. Flee youthful lusts (2Ti 2:22). b. Deny the temptation to go near her as soon as it enters your mind. iii. This verse can be used in principle to not go near a strange woman wherever she may be. iv. But it is also to be heeded in its primary application which is to stay away from her actual house. a. If the young man in Proverbs 7 had heeded wisdom's warning and not went the way to the strange woman's house (Pro 7:8), he would have avoided being taken by her (Pro 7:22-23). b. Her house is the way to hell (Pro 7:27). c. If a married woman ever invites you into her house when her husband isn't home, be very cautious. d. If a single woman ever invites you into her house when there is no one else there, be very cautious. e. Be very cautious also about spending time in your girlfriend's house when no one else is home.