Proverbs 5: 1-6 Avoid Seduction

Day One: Avoid Seduction

5 My son, pay attention to my wisdom;
Lend your ear to my understanding,
² That you may preserve discretion,
And your lips may keep knowledge.
³ For the lips of an immoral woman drip honey, (a stranger – prostitute, harlot)
And her mouth is smoother than oil;  (khake; probably from H2596 in the sense of tasting; properly, the palate or inside of the mouth; hence, the mouth itself (as the organ of speech, taste and kissing):

⁴ But in the end she is bitter as wormwood,
Sharp as a two-edged sword.
⁵ Her feet go down to death,
Her steps lay hold of hell.^[a]
6 Lest you ponder her path of life—
Her ways are unstable;
You do not know them

I find myself wondering if Solomon heeded Wisdom as he aged, taking on many wives from foreign cultures.   We are looking at seduction in these first verses, and although Solomon is referring to his apparent weakness of woman….we will look at seduction in the many forms that satan presents through  the lure of her path.

Seduction always looks good upon first inspection, otherwise there would be no temptation!   Solomon speaks of the inner regions of her mouth being as smooth as oil. How intimate are his thoughts.  Solomon lays the groundwork that our lips would hold onto knowledge, not be brought down the path to the treacherous lips of seduction. I would wager a guess that once Solomon were to touch those lips and feel the inner crevices of her mouth, it would be too late.  The battle would be lost.

What if we were ahead of the seduction that we know satan tempts us with?  I think we all have a custom ordered cocktail that satan has grown used to throwing at us – because….it works.  A trigger is pulled, a flip switched and we are off and running on our projected trajectory, as usual.  Here Solomon puts knowledge on His lips---BEFORE seduction is taken into the senses.  

Verse 6 expounds that this path we are led through, once we allow seduction to take hold, is one of wandering- to move farther and farther away from a fixed point.  If Wisdom is our fixed point, satan’s intent, through seduction, is to lead us farther and farther away for our Fear of God and wisdom.   For Solomon it was a pair of lips that beckoned him down this path.  What lures you down the path of wandering?

Lets start with an exercise this week – in your journal – write the thing that lures you away into a wandering through a forest of wormwood.   Write down these things that take up your thoughts and wish to take up residence in your heart.  Through the course of the week we will be covering over it with the promises of God – so be transparent on this first layer.

What does seduction look like to you?