College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
Proverbs 7:1-12
CHAPTER 7
TEXT Proverbs 7:1-12
1.
My son, keep my words,
And lay up my commandments with thee.
2.
Keep my commandments and live;
And my law as the apple of thine eye.
3.
Bind them upon thy fingers;
Write them upon the tablet of thy heart.
4.
Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister;
And call understanding thy kinswoman;
5.
That they may keep thee from the strange woman,
From the foreigner that flattereth with her words.
6.
For at the window of my house
I looked forth through my lattice;
7.
And I beheld among the simple ones,
I discerned among the youths,
A young man void of understanding,
8.
Passing through the street near her corner;
And he went the way to her house,
9.
In the twilight, in the evening of the day,
In the middle of the night and in the darkness.
10.
And, behold, there met him a woman
With the attire of a harlot, and wily of heart.
11.
(She is clamorous and wilful;
Her feet abide not in her house:
12.
Now she is in the streets, now in the broad places,
And lieth in wait at every corner.)
STUDY QUESTIONS OVER 7:1-12
1.
Contrast the child who regards his parents-' teachings with one who does not (Proverbs 7:1).
2.
What is the apple of the eye (Proverbs 7:2)?
3.
Why is heart used for mind so many times in the Bible (Proverbs 7:3)?
4.
Why are graces and virtues often misrepresented in sculpturing, art, and literature as women (Proverbs 7:4)?
5.
Yet Proverbs 7:5 shows that women may be .................. as well as virtuous.
6.
Describe such a window of their times as is suggested in Proverbs 7:6.
7.
Are we all simple when young (Proverbs 7:7)?
8.
What verse in Proverbs says to stay completely away from her (Proverbs 7:8)?
9.
What does the Bible say about sinning and darkness (Proverbs 7:9)?
10.
Why is her heart described as wily (Proverbs 7:10)?
11.
Why is she also described as clamorous (Proverbs 7:11)?
12.
What were their broad places (Proverbs 7:12)?
PARAPHRASE OF 7:1-12
Follow my advice, my son; always keep it in mind and stick to it. Obey me and live! Guard my words as your most precious possession. Write them down, and also keep them deep within your heart. Love wisdom like a sweetheart; make her a beloved member of your family. Let her hold you back from visiting a prostitute, from listening to her flattery.
I was looking out the window of my house one day, and saw a simple-minded lad, a young man lacking common sense, walking at twilight down the street to the house of this wayward girl, a prostitute. She approached him, saucy and pert, and dressed seductively. She was the brash, coarse type, seen often in the streets and markets, soliciting at every corner for men to be her lovers.
COMMENTS ON 7:1-12
Proverbs 7:1. Before the father begins this lengthy warning against his son's getting involved with a wicked woman, he urges him to be obedient to what he is teaching him. Why does the father go over and over this warning in Proverbs? Because he is training up his son in the way that he should go the promise for which is, He will not depart from it (Proverbs 22:6).
Proverbs 7:2. The apple of the eye is the pupil of the eye (Zondervan Pictorial Bible Dictionary). To keep something as the apple of thine eye was a proverbial expression for anything particularly precious and liable to be injured unless guarded with scrupulous care (Pulpit Commentary). The expression is used also in Deuteronomy 32:10; Psalms 17:8; Zechariah 2:8. What does one guard or keep any more than his eye? The father's promise was that if his son would keep his commandments as he would his eye, he would live and not be cut off from the living as a wicked person (Psalms 37:1-2).
Proverbs 7:3. Bind means to tie. The thought of his binding his father's instructions upon his fingers seems similar to our talk of tying a string on our finger when we don-'t want to forget something, The heart is here spoken of as a tablet, a writing surface. And indeed the heart is a place to lay up things precious and dear: Mary did so concerning many things said about her son Jesus and said by Him (Luke 2:19; Luke 2:51); we are told to write God's Word upon our hearts (Hebrews 8:10; Psalms 119:11).
Proverbs 7:4. Claim a close relationship with those women Wisdom and Understanding, and such relationship will keep one from any relationship with the wicked, immoral woman about to be discussed (beginning in the next verseProverbs 7:5). Note that the young man who got involved with her did not make Understanding his close relative, for Proverbs 7:7 says he was void of understanding. From antiquity many virtues have been portrayed in sculpturing, art, and literature as women. It does seem that many virtues can reach their highest pinnacle in womanhood or if lacking can be sacrificed the most my womanhood.
Proverbs 7:5. Keep my words, says the father in Proverbs 7:1, that they may keep thee from the strange woman (this verse). Pulpit Commentary aptly observes: When the heart is filled with the love of what is good, it is armed against the seductions of evil pleasure or whatever may entice the soul from God and duty. Proverbs 2:16 and Proverbs 6:24 also speak of being kept from the evil womanshe is someone to avoid!
Proverbs 7:6. To show the greatness of the danger presented by the seductions of the temptress, the writer introduces...an actual example of what had passed before his own eyes (Pulpit Commentary). Latticework was used over windows and other areas by crossing laths over each other for privacy (so one could look out without being seen), to keep the welcome flow of breeze coming in while keeping the hot rays of the sun out, and for -decorative purposes. It was through such that the father had looked out upon the sad spectacle that he mentions.
Proverbs 7:7. The -simple-' are the inexperienced, who are easily led astray (Pulpit Commentary). Other passages connecting the simple and those void of understanding with immorality: He that commiteth adultery with a woman is void of understanding (Proverbs 6:32); Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: As for him that is void of understanding, she saith to him, Come, eat ye of my bread, And drink of the wine which I have mingled. Leave off, ye simple ones, and live; And walk in the way of understanding (Proverbs 9:4-6); Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither; And as for him that is void of understanding, she saith to him, Stolen waters are sweet (Proverbs 9:16-17). This verse shows that what one does is known and read by others.
Proverbs 7:8. He wasn-'t aware of how dangerous it was to him to be found in her area. This verse sounds like he purposely went to her house with the idea of immorality, but the pressure she put on him (beginning in Proverbs 7:13) does not bear this out.
Proverbs 7:9. Wickedness seems to come to life when darkness begins to set in: The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, Saying, No eye shall see me (Job 24:15); They that are drunken are drunken in the night (1 Thessalonians 5:7). The devil's dens of iniquity are all open at night.
Proverbs 7:10. Her attire catches the eye at once and identifies hercompare Genesis 38:14. In Revelation 17:4 the harlot is arrayed in purple and scarlet and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls; and in the present case the female is dressed in some conspicuous garments, very different from the sober clothing of the pure and modest (Pulpit Commentary). Wily means subtle. She cannot be believed: her lures are in reality all lies!
Proverbs 7:11. Proverbs 9:13 also mentions her being clamorous, meaning loud and boisteroussomething that a good woman is not (1 Peter 3:4). This is why she is so forward. Being wilful means she is stubborn and disobedient. Ungovernable...In Hosea 4:16...the same word is used of a wild heifer that will not submit its neck to the yoke (Lange). She does not stay in the house, for she is out working her dirty trade.
Proverbs 7:12. She knows no shame. She goes out where people are to snare men.
TEST QUESTIONS OVER 7:1-12
1.
Why does the father go over and over this warning in Proverbs (Proverbs 7:1)?
2.
On what basis does the father promise life to his son in Proverbs 7:2?
3.
What expression do we have that sounds like Proverbs 7:3?
4.
Who made a tablet out of her heart (Proverbs 7:3)?
5.
What relationship should the son develop (Proverbs 7:4)?
6.
What relationship should he avoid (Proverbs 7:4)?
7.
Keeping his father's words should keep the son from ............... (Proverbs 7:5).
8.
Why does the father introduce an actual example beginning in Proverbs 7:6?
9.
What other passages connect a lack of understanding with committing immoral acts (Proverbs 7:7)?
10.
Interpret the simple youth's being in her area (Proverbs 7:8).
11.
What about wickedness and night (Proverbs 7:9)?
12.
How did a harlot dress (Proverbs 7:10)?
13.
Comment on her being wilful (Proverbs 7:11).
14.
Why is she out in the streets and broad places (Proverbs 7:12)?