Proverbs 6:24-29, Playing with Fire!
March 15, Proverbs 6:24-29
Rom. 13:7-14; Jas 1:14-15 “Abstain from all appearance of evil” (1 Thess. 5:22).
Playing with Fire!
Verse 24 brings us to the immediate teaching of this chapter, and that continues to the end of chapter 7. Note how the slippery slope of the strange woman is portrayed in such graphic imagery. The Law’s reproofs of instruction are designed to warn men against falling into her clutches. The description of the temptress and her methods is so life-like that it may speak to all who respect God’s Law. Here is a woman that ruins her life, her marriage, and any man who falls for her wiles (v.25). Since this iniquity abounds and is so exceeding sinful and destructive, it is no wonder that warnings against it are so many. What a great kindness it is on God’s part in giving the Law to keep men from this soul-destroying sin, for it is “a captivity worse than Egyptian slavery” (Henry).
- It Strips Men, de-humanising them to grovelling for a crust of bread. For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread (v.26a). Man fears nothing as much as poverty, yet to satisfy his lust he will risk even that. What ruin men thus bring upon themselves by adultery. Driven on-by this lust, a man “sells his life at a cheaper rate than a wise man would sell his dog” (Lawson). Immorality is not worth the price that it extracts. Here we have a vivid way of tracing the “rake’s progress.”
- It Slays Men, hounding them to their own death. The adulteress hunts for the precious life (v.26b). Precious means costly or excellent. David, though hunted by Saul, refused to harm the king when he had opportunity to do so. Saul recognized that it was because my soul was precious in thine eyes this day (1 Sam. 26:21). It is not so, however, with this adulteress hunter. “Like the insatiable huntsman, who never loses sight of his prey till he has pursued it to death; never does the seducer cease to solicit, till she has hunted for the precious life. Yet neither the present miseries, nor the certain end, of this wretched course, can draw away the foot that has dared to tread the forbidden path” (Bridges). This woman is not only after money, but life itself, in all its dimensions, both soul and body (vs. 33-35). The best and brightest of men have fallen to her charms. Yes, in the end she slays her man, for she has no remorse or pity.
- It Shames Men, debasing their conscience and character. Whoever so touches his neighbour’s wife, he will not be innocent or go unpunished (v.29). He fools himself into thinking he can indulge these passions and still escape any consequences. Why else would he take such risks? Is he not taking fire into his bosom and still believing he will come to no harm? We too willingly forget that wherever you find a man you find a sinner, and his bias is towards sin. It is an old saying, “He who touches pitch shall be defiled.” Conscience and character are forever shamed and debased. While he plays with fire he excludes the only means by which he might master this sin, namely, obeying God’s Law.
Thought: “Marriage is more than finding the right person; it is being the right person.”
Prayer: Lord, keep me from “suspicious familiarities on the borders of sin” (Bridges).