Proverbs (Part 052) - Pro 5:9-10

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9. Pro 5:9 - "Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel:" A. Lest thou give thine honour unto others, i. Solomon gave the commandment to stay far away from the strange woman in the previous verse (Pro 5:8); now he gives the reason for the commandment. ii. Removing himself from the strange woman and not going near her house will prevent a man from losing his honour. a. Lest conj. - 1. Used as a negative particle of intention or purpose, introducing a clause expressive of something to be prevented or guarded against b. Honour n. - 1. High respect, esteem, or reverence, accorded to exalted worth or rank; deferential admiration or approbation. a. As felt or entertained in the mind for some person or thing. c. As received, gained, held, or enjoyed: Glory, renown, fame; credit, reputation, good name. The opposite of dishonour, disgrace. iii. The man that commits adultery with a strange woman (Pro 6:24) loses his honour and instead gets dishonour (Pro 6:33). iv. His honour will be given to others. a. This could happen when his wife divorces him and marries another man who receives the honour from her that would have been given to him (Eph 5:33). (i) Reverence v. - 1. trans. To salute (a person) with deep respect; to show respect for (one) by bowing, kneeling, etc.; to make obeisance to. Obs. b. To treat with respect or deference. Obs. c. To esteem; to value highly. Obs. (ii) To reverence is to honour. b. This could happen when his children stopping honouring him (Eph 6:2) because of his heinous crime and bestow their respect instead on someone else who is worthy of it in their eyes. c. This could happen when his brethren in the church stopping honouring him (Rom 12:10) because he has been excluded for adultery or fornication, and the honour that was his is put on another faithful brother in the church (1Co 12:23). d. This could happen when his subjects or employees who would normally honour him (1Ti 6:1; 1Pe 2:17) lose respect for him and give it to someone else to whom it is due (Rom 13:7). e. This could happen to a pastor who does such a reprehensible thing and loses the honour of his church members (1Th 5:12-13) which will be given to the man who takes his place. v. When a man chooses to go in unto a strange woman, he has given his honour unto others; nobody has taken it from him. a. Honour is not seemly for a fool (Pro 26:1). b. It only takes one slipup to destroy a man's honourable reputation (Ecc 10:1). B. and thy years unto the cruel: i. Cruel adj. - 1. Of persons (also transf. and fig. of things): Disposed to inflict suffering; indifferent to or taking pleasure in another's pain or distress; destitute of kindness or compassion; merciless, pitiless, hard-hearted. a. Falling into the hands of cruel men is a dreadful punishment. b. Let this be a stern warning to stay away from strange women. ii. The remainder of the years of the life of the adulterer who goes in unto a strange woman will be subject unto cruel people who will show no mercy. a. He will get a wound and dishonour from them, and his reproach will not be wiped away (Pro 6:33). b. The woman's husband will not spare when he takes vengeance because of jealousy, even if the offender tries to pay him off (Pro 6:34-35). c. Jealousy is cruel as the grave (Son 8:6). d. The wrath of man is cruel (Pro 27:4). iii. In Biblical times a man that went in unto a strange woman would be punished by the judges (Job 31:9-12). a. The punishment for adultery was death by stoning which was a cruel death (Deut 22:22-24). b. The punishment for a woman who fornicated prior to marriage and was found out to have done so after marriage was stoning (Deut 22:21). iv. When Shechem defiled Jacob's daughter Dinah by fornicating with her (Gen 34:1-2) his years were given to the cruel. a. Jacob's sons, Simeon and Levi, were enraged at what Shechem did to their sister. b. They deceived all the men of Shechem and convinced them to get circumcised so that they could marry their daughters (Gen 34:15-16). c. On the third day after the men were circumcised and were sore Simeon and Levi killed them all and took all their wealth that they had worked all the years of their lives to acquire (Gen 34:25-29). d. This was a cruel act (Gen 49:5-7). v. Let this be a sobering warning against whoredom and fornication. 10. Pro 5:10 - "Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger;" A. Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; i. In the previous verse (Pro 5:9) Solomon gave two reasons for giving the commandment in Pro 5:8 to stay far away from the strange woman. ii. Solomon now gives an additional reason for doing so. iii. Removing himself from the strange woman and not going near her house will prevent a man from losing his wealth and livelihood. a. Lest conj. - 1. Used as a negative particle of intention or purpose, introducing a clause expressive of something to be prevented or guarded against b. To prevent strangers from being filled with thy wealth, we must remove our way far from the strange woman (Pro 5:10). iv. If a man gets involved with a strange woman, a stranger will end up with his wealth. a. Stranger n. - 1. a. One who belongs to another country, a foreigner; chiefly (now exclusively), one who resides in or comes to a country to which he is a foreigner; an alien. Now somewhat rare; the recent examples show mixture of sense 2 or 4. 2. a. One who is not a native of, or who has not long resided in, a country, town, or place. Chiefly, a new comer, one who has not yet become well acquainted with the place, or (cf. 4) one who is not yet well known. b. Wealth n. - (definitions #1&2 both last used in the 16 century) 3. a. Prosperity consisting in abundance of possessions; ‘worldly goods’, valuable possessions, esp. in great abundance: riches, affluence. c. In other words, the man who commits adultery with a strange woman will lose his possessions and riches to a man that he doesn't even know. v. This is part of the judgment of God for whoredom: "the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just" (Pro 13:22). a. This is one of God's punishments for sin in general (Job 27:16-17; Ecc 2:26). b. This is how God punishes greedy people (Pro 28:8). c. God rewards victims of crimes with the wealth of their oppressors (Est 8:1-2; Exo 3:21-22). vi. The whoremonger will be taken to divorce court and sued for half of his wealth. a. His wealth will then end up being the property of his ex-wife's new husband. b. Adultery will root out all of a man's increase (Job 31:9-12). B. and thy labours be in the house of a stranger; i. Labor n. - 1. a. Exertion of the faculties of the body or mind, esp. when painful or compulsory; bodily or mental toil. a. The result of labor is money which is used to purchase goods. b. The goods that were acquired by the labor of the adulterer will end up in the house of the man whom his ex-wife marries. c. An example: the sin of the Canaanites (which included sexual sin - Lev 20:23 c/w Lev 20:10-21) resulted in their labor being inherited by the Israelites (Psa 105:44) who were strangers in their land. ii. Not only will the fruits of past labor be in the house of a stranger, but the fruits of present and future labor can as well. a. This happens when the judge orders alimony payments to be made by the adulterer to his wife for a period of time after their divorce. b. This can also happen if the fornicator impregnates the strange woman and has to pay child support for the next 18 years which could end up in the house of her new husband or boyfriend. c. The strange woman can bring a man to poverty (Pro 6:26). d. Beware, men!