Proverbs 7:22

He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks; HE GOETH AFTER HER STRAIGHTWAY, AS AN OX GOETH TO THE SLAUGHTER, OR AS A FOOL TO THE CORRECTION OF THE HE GOETH AFTER HER STRAIGHTWAY, AS AN OX GOETH TO THE SLAUGHTER, OR AS A FOOL TO THE CORRECTION OF THE STOCKS. "Straightway" implies the youth's precipitancy, and his rash inconsiderateness as to the grievousness of the sin and its penalty: "as the ox goeth to the slaughter," full of alacrity, because he fancies he is being led to the stall or to the pasturage. "As a fool to the correction of the stocks" - literally, 'as the stocks,' or 'fetters (go) to the correction of the fool' or 'malefactor;' as the fetter or stocks wherewith he is punished follow his foot. The youth sports with his fetters, or is proud of them, and thinks they are put on him as an ornament, or in play...

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 7:22. _AS AN OX GOETH TO THE SLAUGHTER_] The original of this and the following verse has been variously translated. Dr. _Grey_ corrects and translates thus: "He goeth after her straightway, as an OX goeth to the SLAUGHTER; as a DOG to the CHAIN; and as a DEER till the DART strike through his liver; as a BIRD hasteneth to the SNARE, and knoweth not that it is for its life." Very slight alterations in the Hebrew text produce these differences; but it is not necessary to pursue them; all serve to mark the stupidity and folly of the man who is led away by enticing women or who lives a life of intemperance....

AS A FOOL ... - literally, “As a fetter to the correction of a fool,” the order of which is inverted in the King James Version The Septuagint, followed by the Syriac Version, has another reading, and interprets the clause: “As a dog, enticed by food, goes to the chain that is to bind him, so does the youth go to the temptress.” None of the attempts of commentators to get a meaning out of the present text are in any degree satisfactory....

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

HE GOETH AFTER HER STRAIGHTWAY,.... Or "suddenly" g; and inconsiderately, giving himself no time to think of what would be the sad consequences of it; AS AN OX GOETH TO THE SLAUGHTER; as senseless and stupid as that; and as ignorant of the issue as that is, led by the butcher, as if it was going to a pasture, when it is going to the slaughter house. So such persons as are ensnared by harlots; they follow them in a view of pleasure, but it ends in ruin; if not in the loss of bodily life, by the revengeful husband or civil magistrate; yet in the destruction of their immortal souls; OR AS A FOOL TO THE CORRECTION OF THE STOCKS; a drunken besotted fool, who, while he is leading to the stocks, is insensible whither he is going; but when he has been there awhile, and is come out of his drunken fit, then he is sensible of his punishment and his shame. Or, "as the stocks are for the correction...

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;...

STRAIGHTWAY. suddenly. FOOL. Hebrew. _'evil._ See note on Proverbs 1:7....

_straightway_ "Heb. _suddenly_," A.V. and R.V. margins. He has been as one hesitating on the brink. Now he takes the sudden plunge. "Here is evidently a stroke in the picture of the profoundest psychological truth." Lange, _Comm_. _as a fool to the correction of the stocks_ This rendering is reached by transposing the Heb. words _fool_and _stocks_. The rendering of R.V. text, _as fetters to the correction of the fool_, is literal, and is taken to mean, as senselessly and as certainly as the dumb instruments of his punishment dog the steps of the fool. The alternative of R.V. marg., _as one in fetters_, is admissible in grammar, but loses the point of comparison, viz. his entire oblivion of consequences. The reading of the LXX., ὥσπερ κύων ἐπὶ δεσμούς, "as a dog to his chain," keeps all three comparisons to animals, and at the same time favours the suggestion that the text is corrupt....