Proverbs (Part 055) - Pro 5:15-17

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15. Pro 5:15 - "Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well." A. After warning his son to stay far away from the strange woman and of the dangers of not doing so, in Pro 5:15-19 Solomon gives him the antidote to her temptation. B. "Solomon here enlarges much upon this, not only prescribing it as an antidote, but urging it as an argument against fornication, that the allowed pleasures of marriage (however wicked wits may ridicule them, who are factors for the unclean spirit) far transcend all the false forbidden pleasures of whoredom." (Matthew Henry's Commentary, commenting on Pro 5:15-23) C. Drink waters out of thine own cistern, i. Drinking waters out of thine own cistern is an exhortation in poetic language for a man to get his sexual needs fulfilled by his wife and no other (Pro 5:18-20). ii. Cistern n. - 1. An artificial reservoir for the storage of water; esp. a water-tight tank in a high part of a building, whence the taps in various parts of it are supplied. iii. The waters in one's own cistern which God has provided are fresh and always in good supply. a. Sinners have a tendency to forsake God the fountain of living waters and His provision for their needs and instead hew out their own cisterns which are broken and can hold no water (Jer 2:13). b. A man who forsakes the wife that God has given him and goes after a strange woman has done the same thing and will end up with a broken and dry cistern in the end. iv. "Arguments being used to dissuade from conversation with an adulterous woman, taken from the disgrace, diseases, poverty, and distress of mind on reflection, it brings a man to; the wise man proceeds to direct to marriage, as a proper antidote against it: take a wife and cleave to her, and enjoy all the pleasures and comforts of a marriage state. As every man formerly had his own cistern for the reception of water for his own use, 2Ki 18:31; so every man should have his own wife, and but one: and as drinking water quenches thirst, and allays heat; so the lawful enjoyments of the marriage bed quench the thirst of appetite, and allay the heat of lust; for which reason the apostle advises men to marry and not burn, 1Co 7:9; and a man that is married should be content with his own wife, and not steal waters out of another cistern." (John Gill's Commentary, commenting on Pro 5:15) D. and running waters out of thine own well. i. Running waters are elsewhere called living waters in scripture (Joh 7:38). ii. Living adj. - 2. attrib. That lives or has life. a. said of the Deity (after Biblical use). d. transf. (a) In various phrases of biblical origin. Of water: Constantly flowing; also, refreshing. iii. Running waters are a poetic description of a wife's love (Son 4:15). iv. A wife is a well of running water; a whore is a deep ditch and a narrow pit (Pro 23:27). v. Living water is fresh and refreshing. vi. A man's sex life with a godly wife should never become stagnant or stale. a. Marital, monogamous sex should only get better as time goes on. b. Something is wrong in a marriage if sex is no longer enjoyable for both partners. c. If this ever becomes the case, seek help before one of the partners goes looking for another well. vii. "Let him that is married take delight in his wife, and let him be very fond of her, not only because she is the wife that he himself has chosen and he ought to be pleased with his own choice, but because she is the wife that God in his providence appointed for him and he ought much more to be pleased with the divine appointment, pleased with her because she is his own." (Matthew Henry's Commentary, commenting on Pro 5:15-23) 16. Pro 5:16 - "Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets." A. Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, i. Fountain n. - 1. a. A spring or source of water issuing from the earth and collecting in a basin, natural or artificial; also, the head-spring or source of a stream or river. ii. Dispersed ppl. - 1. Scattered or spread about; driven asunder; diffused. iii. Abroad adv. - 1. a. Broadly, widely, at large, over a broad or wide surface. iv. Fountains figuratively represent the following things in scripture. a. Life (Psa 36:9; Pro 13:14; Pro 14:27) b. Love (Son 4:12, 15) v. Marital love produces life. a. The "fountains" are the source of children which are begotten in holy marriage. b. Children are called a man's "issue" because he is their source (Gen 48:6; Mat 22:25) and they "issue" from him (2Ki 20:18). (i) Issue n. - I. 1. a. The action of going, passing, or flowing out; egress, exit; power of egress or exit; outgoing, outflow. III. 6. a. Offspring, progeny; a child or children; a descendant or descendants. (ii) Issue v. - 1. a. To go or come out; to flow out; to come forth, sally out. Often with out or forth. 2. To proceed as offspring; to be born, or descended. Now only in legal use. Cf. sense 8. 8. To give birth to; to bear (offspring), have issue. Obs. rare in active; frequent in pass. in sense: To be born, to spring; = sense 2. (iii) Children "come forth" from their father (Gen 15:4; 1Ki 8:19). c. Godly children which come from marriage will be spread broadly throughout the land and will be a blessing to it. d. The children of Israel were "come forth out of the waters of Judah" (Isa 48:1), and they were a numerous seed. e. On the contrary, sinners "shall commit whoredom, and shall not increase" (Hos 4:10). B. and rivers of waters in the streets. i. Drinking waters out of thine own well will produce fountains from which will flow rivers of waters in the streets. a. Children which issue forth from marriage play in the streets (Zec 8:5). b. These "rivers of waters" are the godly offspring which a man will be happy to publicly own. ii. "and rivers of waters in the streets; meaning a numerous posterity as before; and such as a man is not ashamed publicly to own, whereas he is ashamed of such as are unlawfully begotten; but these are to his honour in the streets, and for public good; and particularly to those to whom they are given in marriage;" (John Gill's Commentary, commenting on Pro 5:16) 17. Pro 5:17 - "Let them be only thine own, and not strangers' with thee." A. Let them be only thine own, i. The "them" are the fountains which are the children that issue forth from marriage (Pro 5:16). ii. When a man marries a faithful, godly woman he can be assured that his children will be only his own. iii. When a man marries a strange woman, there is no guarantee that his children will be only his own. B. and not strangers' with thee. i. A man that marries a strange woman might well have strangers' children among his own. ii. "(2.) “A peculiar offspring, which shall be only thy own, whereas the children of whoredom, that are fathered upon thee, are, probably, not so, but, for aught thou knowest, are the offspring of strangers, and yet thou must keep them.” (3.) “A creditable offspring, which are an honour to thee, and which thou mayest send abroad, and appear with, in the streets, whereas a spurious brood is thy disgrace, and that which thou art ashamed to own.”" (Matthew Henry's Commentary, commenting on Pro 5:15-23) iii. "...by a man's cleaving to his own wife, who is a chaste and virtuous woman, he is satisfied that the children he has by her are his own, and not another's; whereas if he has to do with a common harlot, it is uncertain whose children they are, she prostituting herself to many:" (John Gill's Commentary, commenting on Pro 5:17)