When it comes to the moment of enticement, when reason and passion compete, it is tragic that passion is often the victor. The author-Solomon-himself is a sobering example: even though he wrote all these proverbs on wisdom and sexual purity, ″King Solomon . . . loved many foreign women″ (1 Kings 11:1).
Proverbs 6 has four distinct sections, on financial prudence (vv. 1-3), diligence (vv. 6-11), troublemakers (vv. 12-19), and adultery (vv. 20-35).
As I write this devotion, there are numerous reports of adultery circulating in the Australian media. One is about a senior political leader who has been sexually involved with a woman to whom he is not married. Interestingly, the reports refer to this as an ″affair″ and ″sexual relations″, but none have called it for what it is-adultery. Adultery represents the breaking of a vow between a husband and wife to commit themselves to each other unconditionally and exclusively.
Proverbs 4 is divided into three sections, each continuing the pattern of addressing ″my son″ (vv. 1, 10, 20).
The father continues urging his son to keep pursuing wisdom by showing why God desires it and what it produces. In Proverbs 3:21, he adds to the emphasis by pleading with his son not to let these twin aspects of wisdom out of his sight: sound judgment or common sense, and discretion or discernment.
In this passage, the first of many beatitudes in Proverbs, we hear echoes of Psalm 1, Psalm 119, and Matthew 5. The one who finds wisdom finds true happiness!
Whenever God gives a command, He accompanies the command with a reason to obey. He never says ″what″ without saying ″why″.
In Proverbs 2, we read words of encouragement from a father to a son, urging him to reflect on his commands and why he should obey them (vv. 1-2).
Since the very beginning in the garden of Eden, two voices have been heard in Scripture: the voice of the Creator, and the contrary voice of the devil. In this section of Proverbs, we hear the two voices again. Both are speaking to ″my son″ (Proverbs 1:10), the young man.