As we come to Chapter 5, Solomon warning against sexual folly and all the pitfalls of seeking after “strange woman”. Did Solomon write this chapter in his youth before he fell to his own failure to heed these words? Or did Solomon write this chapter nearer the end of his life? Most commentaries say that Proverbs was written in his youth or during the middle years of his life; but, as a gathering of much of his wisdom the descriptions found in chapter 5 seem to come from a man who learned from bitter failure. It seems as a Father who is pleading, “Don’t fall into the same failure I did”.
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Beware when you have reached your greatest mountaintop with God, lest you fall. On that mountain top do not forget it was God’s Grace that got you there. Sometimes our most difficult test is when we have all we desired.
This became true of Solomon. Let’s begin with the warnings in Proverbs 5.
Proverbs 5: “3 For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil:4 But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.5 Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.6 Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them.7 Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth.8 Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house:9 Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel:10 Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger;11 And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,12 And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;13 And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!…21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and he pondereth all his goings.22 His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.23 He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.”
Solomon had been placed on the throne when very young and when God had visited with him, he did not ask for wealth or long life. Instead he asked God for wisdom and discernment. Subsequently, God blessed him with wisdom beyond anyone. His fame grew throughout not only his own land but all the other countries that surrounded. Monarchs came from all the lands, peace reigned throughout all the middle east. Wealth, gold were laid upon Solomon who built great buildings and who was given the privilege of building the temple for God. We are allowed to read the incredible story of Solomon in I Kings 1-11. In I Kings 8, he prays to God for the people of Israel and for the dedication of the temple. Within that prayer for the nation, he prays “46 If they sin against thee, (for there is no man that sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captives unto the land of the enemy, far or near;47 Yet if they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they were carried captives, and repent, and make supplication unto thee in the land of them that carried them captives, saying, We have sinned, and have done perversely, we have committed wickedness;48 And so return unto thee with all their heart, and with all their soul,… 49 Then hear thou their prayer and their supplication in heaven thy dwelling place, and maintain their cause,50 And forgive thy people that have sinned against thee, …give them compassion before them who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them:… 57 The Lord our God be with us, as he was with our fathers: let him not leave us, nor forsake us:58 That he may incline our hearts unto him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his judgments, which he commanded our fathers.59 And let these my words, wherewith I have made supplication before the Lord, be nigh unto the Lord our God day and night, that he maintain the cause of his servant, and the cause of his people Israel at all times, as the matter shall require:60 That all the people of the earth may know that the Lord is God, and that there is none else”
God blessed the temple and came down to speak with Solomon. He gave him “all that he desired.” I Kings 9:1. God also gave him warning to “walk before me (God) in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee” I Kings 9:4. So, what happened? After all that Solomon had done, did it become the source of his downfall? Did he rest upon his own “greatness” and forget that it was all from God? The sadness is then, in “his greatness” ; he became enticed by the beauty of many women and married women from many religions. As he grew older, he allowed their influence to turn his head toward worshiping idols and false gods. So, once more as we read Proverbs 5; I see this warning to be even greater than the warning of the surface. Indeed we are not to allow temptations of adultery to carry our hearts away for the consequences are more than we see on the surface. This is also true of the adultery of our hearts when we seek any treasure as greater than that found in God. Has fame become more important that God to you? Has “riches become more important that God? Has the desire to love someone who is not saved become more important than to follow God’s command of not marrying an unbeliever? Do you love anything or anyone more than you love God himself? Have you set up before you any idols? Have you wandered from, cheated on, or left your first Love being God?
I really encourage you to listen to this beautiful song.
© 2014 Effie Darlene Barba
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