College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
Proverbs 9:10-18
TEXT Proverbs 9:10-18
10.
The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of wisdom;
And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
11.
For by me thy days shall be multiplied,
And the years of thy life shall be increased.
12.
If thou are wise, thou art wise for thyself;
And if thou scoffest, thou alone shall bear it.
13.
The foolish woman is clamorous;
She is simple, and knoweth nothing.
14.
And she sitteth at the door of her house,
On a seat in the high places of the city,
15.
To call to them that pass by,
Who go right on their ways:
16.
Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither;
And as for him that is void of understanding, she saith to him,
17.
Stolen waters are sweet,
And bread eaten in secret is pleasant.
18. But he knoweth not that the dead are there;
That her guests are in the depths of Sheol.
STUDY QUESTIONS OVER 9:10-18
1.
Where is the opening statement of Proverbs 9:10 first mentioned in Proverbs?
2.
Where else in Proverbs is the truth in Proverbs 9:11 found?
3.
The foolish woman of Proverbs 9:13 is to be contrasted with what other woman?
4.
Is this low-down woman ashamed of herself and her business (Proverbs 9:14)?
5.
Are wicked people evangelistic for sin (Proverbs 9:15)?
6.
Who will get caught by such a wicked woman (Proverbs 9:16)?
7.
Do sinners believe what Proverbs 9:17 says?
8.
Why does Proverbs 9:18 begin with but?
PARAPHRASE OF 9:10-18
For the reverence and fear of God are basic to all wisdom. Knowing God results in every other kind of understanding. Wisdom will make the hours of your day more profitable and the years of your life more fruitful. Wisdom is its own reward, and if you scorn her, you may only hurt yourself.
A prostitute is loud and brash, and never has enough of lust and shame. She sits at the door of her house or stands at the street corners of the city, whispering to men going by, and to those minding their own business. Come home with me, she urges simpletons, stolen melons are the sweetest; stolen apples taste the best! But they don-'t realize that her former guests are now citizens of hell.
COMMENTS ON 9:10-18
Proverbs 9:10. Other passages agreeing with the first statement: The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom (Job 28:28); The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of wisdom (Psalms 111:10); The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of knowledge (Proverbs 1:7). No one can be a person of real understanding who does not know the holy One in whom alone originally resided wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. The Greeks were famous for their knowledge, but the Greeks through their philosophies knew not God (1 Corinthians 1:21). Paul (the writer of 1 Corinthians 1:21) knew, for he had been to Athens and had beheld the famous city full of idols (Acts 17:16). Is it any wonder, then, that when he preached there the resurrection of the dead some mocked (Acts 17:32)? Nor do present-day philosophies that disregard the revelation of God in the Bible have an understanding of our holy God.
Proverbs 9:11. The parenthetical explanation being concluded in which wisdom has intimated why it is useless to appeal to the scorner and the wilful sinner, she now resumes the direct address interrupted at Proverbs 9:7, presenting a forcible reason for the advice given in Proverbs 9:6, though there is still some connection with Proverbs 9:10 as it is from the wisdom that comes from the fear of the Lord that the blessings now mentioned spring (Pulpit Commentary). Other passages on what imparts long life: My son...let thy heart keep my commandments: For length of days, and years of life, And peace, will they add to thee (Proverbs 3:1-2); The fear of Johovah prolongeth days; But the years of the wicked shall be shortened (Proverbs 10:27).
Proverbs 9:12. Though thy example may be very useful to thy neighbors and friends, yet the chief benefit is to thyself. But if thou scornrefuse to receivethe doctrines of wisdom, and die in thy sins, thou alone shalt suffer the vengeance of an offended God (Clarke). There is a sense in which others let you be wise if it is your choice to be wise, and others let you scoff if that be your choice. Whatever your choice, the non-committee multitude will not join you. In other words, the scholar who is right tries to tell the others and is not always believed (at least, is not always joined), and the scoffer who is wrong tries to gain adherents to his way of thinking, and he runs into a similar reception.
Proverbs 9:13. The foolish woman of this and following verses is in contrast to the woman wisdom of Proverbs 9:1-6. As this wicked woman has been fully identified in previous sections (Proverbs 2:16-19; Proverbs 5:3-23; Proverbs 6:24-35; Proverbs 7:5-27), this section is speaking of the immoral woman. Our verse says she is foolish, clamorous, simple, and knoweth nothing. The Bible has no compliments for the adulteress (or the adulterer). She is foolish instead of wise, for it is much wiser to be happily married to a good man than to sell yourself for a few minutes to any man who comes along. She is clamorous (boisterous, loud, forward), which was pointed out in Proverbs 7:11-13 wherein she was said not to remain in her house but to get out on the street and aggressively proposition men. She is simple, for her trade does not necessitate her to develop her mind, and little is a harlot concerned or involved in the concerns and the involvements of the community. She knoweth nothing, for she either doesn-'t know or doesn-'t care what she is doing, how she is looked upon, what harm she is bringing to the homes and bodies and souls of others, and of what she is robbing herself of and ultimately bringing upon herself.
Proverbs 9:14. She is forward, not bashful, in pushing her trade. She is bold and not ashamed.
Proverbs 9:15. She gets out in the passing crowd and tries to get customers. But thank God, most people have enough sense to keep going right on their ways instead of stopping and getting involved with her. Those who do not fall for her are men who have been taught from youth to fear adultery, or who are happily married to good wives and have righteous children at home to whom they are examples, or who have committed themselves to a godly life that even if once guilty of such behavior will have no part in it.
Proverbs 9:16. Anyone who will listen to her and go with her really isn-'t any wiser than she was described as being in Proverbs 9:13. She employs the same words as wisdom uses (see Proverbs 9:4); she is going to educate the simple who are void of understanding. They will learn all right, but it will be the wrong thing, and the time will come when they will see that they listened to the wrong person: Thou mourn at thy latter end, When thy flesh and thy body are consumed, And say, How have I hated instruction, And my heart despised reproof; Neither have I obeyed the voice of my teachers, Nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me! (Proverbs 5:11-13).
Proverbs 9:17. Hers is an invitation to commit adultery with her. She is referred to as stolen waters, for she does not really belong to those who accept her invitation, for is she is married (as in Proverbs 6:29 and as in Proverbs 7:19-20), she belongs to her husband, and if she is unmarried she should belong to and save herself for the man whom she will later marry. God never intended that any woman would be to society like the old town-well of years ago or like the block of stock-salt in the cow pasture. A woman who does not save herself (or a man who does not save himself) for the mate that she (or he) will later marry really does not deserve a pure mate in marriage! It is only a saying that stolen melons are sweeter. Why should any man choose the arms and the bosom and the intimacies of an impure, ungodly woman to the sweet and attractive and good wife whom he has personally chosen and shared life with over the years? No, stolen waters are not better! Therefore, drink waters out of thine own cistern, And running waters out of thine own well...Rejoice in the wife of thy youth. As a loving hind and a pleasant doe, Let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; And be thou ravished always with her love (Proverbs 5:15-19).
Proverbs 9:18. The sweetness and the pleasantness that she promised in Proverbs 9:17 end in deathjust like all sin. Other passages connecting immorality with death: Proverbs 2:18; Proverbs 7:27. Other passages connecting sin with death: Romans 6:23; James 1:15.
TEST QUESTIONS OVER 9:10-18
1.
What success do philosophies of men have in common to a knowledge of God (Proverbs 9:10)?
2.
What great promise is contained in Proverbs 9:11?
3.
Comment on Proverbs 9:12.
4.
In what way is an immoral woman foolish (Proverbs 9:13)?
5.
In what way simple (Proverbs 9:13)?
6.
In what way clamorous (Proverbs 9:13)?
7.
In what way knoweth nothing (Proverbs 9:13)?
8.
What shows her forwardness (Proverbs 9:14)?
9.
Do most men of the crowd stop with her or pass right on (Proverbs 9:15)?
10.
Why will they do this (Proverbs 9:15)?
11.
What kind of education does the immoral woman give to the simple (Proverbs 9:16)?
12.
Why is she stolen waters if married (Proverbs 9:17)?
13.
Why also stolen waters if yet unmarried (Proverbs 9:17)?
14.
How does her praise of sweetness and pleasantness turn out (Proverbs 9:18)?