Proverbs 7:17

I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. I HAVE PERFUMED MY BED. She appeals to every sense. She allures his taste with meats; his eye with the sight of the richly ornamented tapestry and couch; his touch with the softness of the linen; his smell with the perfumes of the bed: all to inflame his passions. Luxury is the soft bed into which Satan throws his dupes when he lulls them in the sleep of death ()....

6-27 Here is an affecting example of the danger of youthful lusts. It is a history or a parable of the most instructive kind. Will any one dare to venture on temptations that lead to impurity, after Solomon has set before his eyes in so lively and plain a manner, the danger of even going near them? Then is he as the man who would dance on the edge of a lofty rock, when he has just seen another fall headlong from the same place. The misery of self-ruined sinners began in disregard to God's blessed commands. We ought daily to pray that we may be kept from running into temptation, else we invite the enemies of our souls to spread snares for us. Ever avoid the neighbourhood of vice. Beware of sins which are said to be pleasant sins. They are the more dangerous, because they most easily gain the heart, and close it against repentance. Do nothing till thou hast well considered the end of it....

Verse Proverbs 7:17. _I HAVE PERFUMED ANY BED WITH MYRRH_] מר _mor_, "aloes," אהלים _ahalim_, and "cinnamon," קנמון _kinnamon_. We have taken our names from the original words; but probably the _ahalim_ may not mean _aloes_, which is no _perfume_; but _sandal wood_, which is very much used in the East. She had used every means to excite the passions she wished to bring into action....

The love of perfumes is here, as in Isaiah 3:24, a sign of luxurious vice. CINNAMON - The Hebrew word is identical with the English. The spice imported by the Phoenician traders from the further East, probably from Ceylon, has kept its name through all changes of language....

EXPOSITION PROVERBS 7:1 13. _Thirteenth admonitory discourse, _containing a warning against adultery, treated under a different aspect from previous exhortations, and strengthened by an example. In this chapter and the following a contrast is drawn between the adulteress and Wisdom. PROVERBS 7:1 MY SON, KEEP MY WORDS. The teacher enjoins his pupil, as in Proverbs 2:1, to observe the rules which he gives. Lay up, as a precious treasure (see on Proverbs 2:1 and Proverbs 2:7

I HAVE PERFUMED MY BED,.... As she had made it entertaining to the senses of seeing and feeling, it being showy and gaudy, soft and easy; so to the sense of smelling; and all to provoke lust, and draw into her embraces; by censing it with incense, as Donesh in Jarchi; or by sprinkling s a liquor, made of the following spices, on the head, posts, and sides of the bed, to remove all ill scents, and make it more acceptable; so the Targum, Vulgate Latin, Septuagint, and all the Oriental versions, render it, "I sprinkled my bed": or, it may be, by suffumigation, which women are said to use with their garments and bed clothes t. Even this the harlot did, WITH MYRRH, ALOES, AND CINNAMON; all odorous, and of a sweet smell: Horace u speaks of the anointed beds of such persons; and of the above spices ointments were made, with which the harlot's bed might be perfumed. Cinnamon, and odours, and oi...

CHAPTER 7 The entire chapter is a continuation of the strange woman and the warning against her. The Word and the law of the Lord will keep the obedient son from her. If Solomon had obeyed the Word of God, not to multiply wives (Deuteronomy 17:17) his end would not have been spent in the degrading fellowship with the harlots of other nations. The description is very graphic. What the word pictures is as prominent in the great centers of Christendom as it was thousands of years ago in Babylon and Egypt. And so it is still true: _ She hath cast down many wounded;_ Yea, many strong men have been slain by her. Her house is the way to hell, Going down to the chambers of death. But think of Solomon after having received these inspired descriptions and warnings, that he should have been forgetful of them all....

The longest and most elaborate description of the adulteress, the fate of her victim, and the value of wisdom as a safeguard. PROVERBS 7:1. General advice to the young man to observe the commandments and the torah of the sage, that he may be preserved from the adulteress. PROVERBS 7:3 B. _cf._ 2 Corinthians 3:3, and for the opposite thought Jeremiah 17:1. Proverbs 7:4. kinswoman: lit. one well known, familiar friend, only in Ruth 2:1;...

_perfumed_ or _sprinkled_, R.V. marg.; διέῤῥαγκα, LXX.; aspersi, Vulg. No sensual gratification shall be wanting. For a similar perfuming of garments see Psalms 45:8; Song of Solomon 3:6; Song of Solomon 4:14....

I HAVE PERFUMED, &C.— _I have sprinkled or bedewed my bed with myrrh, cedar-oil, and juice of cinnamon._...