June 23, 2025

If Solomon were alive today, would you take his marriage advice? God must have thought he was an expert, or it wouldn't be in the Bible. He left us an entire chapter on adultery, but he, being a king, had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines. It seems he didn't listen to his own advice, or this writing came after years of dealing with all these women and his constant thirst for someone different. It was likely adultery after his first wife, but then he kept adding more and more. Was this proverb actually about entertaining strange women, or was it about spiritual adultery? It is true either way. We should avoid entertaining anyone or any entity that would come between us and our Savior. His advice is practical, yet it was coming from someone who, in his youth, set for himself a harem of women. I'm being hard on him because he is the least likely person we would ever listen to when it comes to avoiding the dealings of a sensual woman who has evil intentions. Solomon was the wisest person to have ever lived, yet even someone as intelligent as he was had a weakness and could fall prey to temptation and sin. The main thrust of this proverb is that we should be careful not to involve ourselves with a strange lover; they will ruin our marriages. God will forgive, but you will have to live with the consequences and punishment of your infidelity.

For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil:

But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword.

Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell. Proverbs 5:3-5