Proverbs 9:17

Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. STOLEN WATERS ARE SWEET, AND BREAD (EATEN) IN SECRET IS PLEASANT - (cf. the answer to her lure, ; .) Wisdom sets forth her bread () openly before all. But Folly invites to bread surreptitiously eaten. Contrast with the "stolen waters" of love, or of any heart lust, , "Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well." Our corruption is such that the very prohibition enhances the pleasure (; 20:7-8 ) ('Nitimur in vetitum semper, cupimusque negata.' Ovid.) The difficulty, the rare...

13-18 How diligent the tempter is, to seduce unwary souls into sin! Carnal, sensual pleasure, stupifies conscience, and puts out the sparks of conviction. This tempter has no solid reason to offer; and where she gets dominion in a soul, all knowledge of holy things is lost and forgotten. She is very violent and pressing. We need to seek and pray for true wisdom, for Satan has many ways to withdraw our souls from Christ. Not only worldly lusts and abandoned seducers prove fatal to the souls of men; but false teachers, with doctrines that flatter pride and give liberty to lusts, destroy thousands. They especially draw off such as have received only partial serious impressions. The depths of Satan are depths of hell; and sin, without remorse, is ruin, ruin without remedy. Solomon shows the hook; those that believe him, will not meddle with the bait. Behold the wretched, empty, unsatisfying...

Verse Proverbs 9:17. _STOLEN WATERS ARE SWEET_] I suppose this to be a proverbial mode of expression, importing that _illicit pleasures_ _are sweeter than those which are legal_. The meaning is easy to be discerned; and the conduct of multitudes shows that they are ruled by this adage. On it are built all the _adulterous intercourses_ in the land....

The besetting sin of all times and countries, the one great proof of the inherent corruption of man’s nature. Pleasures are attractive because they are forbidden (compare Romans 7:7)....

EXPOSITION PROVERBS 9:1 15. _Fifteenth admonitory discourse, _containing in a parabolic form an invitation of Wisdom (Proverbs 9:1), and that of her rival Folly (Proverbs 9:13). The chapter sums up in brief the warnings of the preceding part. PROVERBS 9:1 Wisdom was represented as having a house at whose portals persons waited eagerly for admission (Proverbs 8:34); the idea is further carried on. WISDOM HATH BUILDED HER HOUSE. (For the plural form of khoc

STOLEN WATERS ARE SWEET,.... Wells and fountains of waters in those hot countries were very valuable, and were the property of particular persons; about which there were sometimes great strife and contention; and they were sometimes sealed and kept from the use of others; see Genesis 26:18; now waters got by stealth from such wells and fountains were sweeter than their own, or what might be had in common and without difficulty, to which the proverb alludes. By which in general is meant, that all prohibited unlawful lusts and pleasures are desirable to men, and sweet in the enjoyment of them; and the pleasure promised by them is what makes them so desirable, and the more so because forbidden: and particularly as adultery, which is a sort of theft r, and a drinking water out of another's cistern, Proverbs 5:15

CHAPTER 9 _ 1. The invitation of Wisdom (Proverbs 9:1)_ 2. The contrast with Folly. (Proverbs 9:13) Proverbs 9:1. The first section of Proverbs closeth with a contrast of Wisdom and Folly, both personified. The one, our Lord, the other under the symbol of a foolish woman. Wisdom sends forth her invitation after her house is built and the feast is spread. It reminds us of the parable of the great supper (Luke 14:1). Here too is the gracious invitation, “Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine which I have mingled.” Prov

PROVERBS 9. THE INVITATIONS OF WISDOM AND FOLLY CONTRASTED. This section closes with a couple of graphic pictures of Wisdom and Folly personified, each bidding for the attention of the passers-by with offers of hospitality. The two pictures, each consisting of six stanzas, are now separated by six stanzas of unconnected proverbs (Proverbs 9:7). PROVERBS 9:1. WISDOM'S INVITATION. The parable of the Great Supper in Matthew 22 and Luke 14 may perhaps be modelled on this passage. Wisdom's house, with its seven pillars, her preparations for the feast, and her message of invitation are described. The appointments imply a city life and setting to the scene, but whether Jewish or Greek is not determined by the details. The pillars, viands, and messengers naturally offer themselves to allegorical inte

Proverbs 9:13. The Introduction, or first main division of the Book, ends with the contrasted picture of Folly. She too has her house, at the door of which she sits (Proverbs 9:14); she too, though the charm of secrecy is added to her enticements (Proverbs 9:17), is seen flaunting shamelessly, in the high places of the city (Proverbs 9:14), and bruits abroad her noisy invitation, not only to attract the vicious (Proverbs 9:16), but to beguile, if it may be, the passers by who are going right on their way ...

STOLEN WATERS ARE SWEET— A proverbial expression for illicit pleasures; the Greeks and Latins make use of the same phrase. See chap. Proverbs 5:15 and Calmet. One of the profitable lessons to be learned from this chapter is, that there is nothing more inconsistent with wisdom, than the service of those impure lusts, which have been the ruin of all those who have been led by them; and therefore with this the wise man concludes his preface to the book of proverbs; again repeating (Proverbs 9:10.) that first principle upon which all religion is built, and wherewith he began his preface, _that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom._ Indeed, there is no true wisdom but religion. The reader cannot but be pleased with the following passage from the excellent Bishop Berkeley's Minute philosopher