Proverbs 5:16

Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets. LET THY FOUNTAINS BE DISPERSED ABROAD, (AND) RIVERS OF WATERS IN THE STREETS - i:e., by being faithful to thine own wife thou shalt have an overflowing offspring from thee going forth into the streets to the various honourable duties of life (). As the wife is the well, so the children are the waters from it. An abundant progeny is a special gift from God (; ). The promise here follows the precept in . The reward is the result of obedience. The negative reading rests on insufficient authority, "Let not thy fountains be dispersed." As to children "in the streets" cf....

15-23 Lawful marriage is a means God has appointed to keep from these destructive vices. But we are not properly united, except as we attend to God's word, seeking his direction and blessing, and acting with affection. Ever remember, that though secret sins may escape the eyes of our fellow-creatures, yet a man's ways are before the eyes of the Lord, who not only sees, but ponders all his goings. Those who are so foolish as to choose the way of sin, are justly left of God to themselves, to go on in the way to destruction....

Verse Proverbs 5:16. _LET THY FOUNTAINS BE DISPERSED ABROAD_] Let thy children lawfully begotten be numerous....

Wedded love streams forth in blessing on all around, on children and on neighbors and ill the streets, precisely because the wife’s true love is given to the husband only....

EXPOSITION PROVERBS 5:1 8. _Eighth admonitory discourse. Warning against adultery, and commendation of marriage. _The teacher, in this discourse, recurs to a subject which he has glanced at before in Proverbs 2:15, and which he again treats of in the latter part of the sixth and in the whole of the seventh chapters. This constant recurrence to the same subject, repulsive on account of its associations, shows, however, the importance which it had in the teacher's estimation as a ground of warning, and that he ranked it among the foremost of the temptations and sins which called the young off from the pursuit of Wisdom, and so led them astray from "the fear of the Lord." The vividness with which the ruin, bodily and moral, ensuing with absolute certainty on a

LET THY FOUNTAINS BE DISPERSED ABROAD,.... Or "shall abound", as the Targum; that is, streams of water from fountains; which Aben Ezra interprets of a multitude of children, namely, that are lawfully begotten: the "fountains" are the man and his wife in lawful marriage; the streams are their offspring lawfully procreated by them; which may be said to be "dispersed abroad", when being grown up they are disposed of in marriage in other families, and so become fountains to others, and public blessings; [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; see Isaiah 48:1. Jarchi interprets this of multiplying disciples, an

CHAPTER 5 _ 1. Shun the strange woman and sinful passion (Proverbs 5:1)_ 2. The life of chastity (Proverbs 5:15) Proverbs 5:1. It is a warning against literal fornication and the accompanying spiritual fornication, turning away from the worship of Jehovah and worshipping idols. The dreadful results of sinful lust are vividly described. How many a young man has found out the truth as given in these words in his licentious life. _ And thou mourn at thy latter end_ When thy flesh and thy body are consumed. Solomon received these repeated warnings, yet after great prosperity and honor came to him, and his glory spread in every direction like many a rich and successful man o

PROVERBS 5:1; PROVERBS 5:10; PROVERBS 5:20. Three hortatory discourses exactly similar to those in Proverbs 5:2 and Proverbs 5:3. The subject is the praise of Wisdom, and the description of the blessings she confers. PROVERBS 5:3 F. One of the few passages referring to Heb. educational methods (pp. 109f.). Instruction is oral, given by the father or the mother (Proverbs 1:8

LET THY FOUNTAINS. Septuagint reads "Let not thy fountain", &c. This must be the sense from the context. The Revised Version obtains it by. question, "Should thy fountain... ?". FOUNTAINS. Plural of emphasis: i.e. thine own wife. Compare Song of Solomon 4:12. AND. As or nor [thy]. RIVERS OF WATERS. divisions of waters. Hebrew. _palgey mayim:_ i.e. thy garden irrigation channels in the streets. See note on Proverbs 21:1. STREETS. open places....

The remedy against sin is to be found in the holy estate which God has ordained. "The resemblance between the two Books (the Song of Solomon and the Book of Proverbs) in their treatment of this subject is singularly striking." _Speaker's Comm., ad loc_....