Chapter 5

1 Solomon exhorteth to the study of wisdom. 3 He sheweth the mischief of whoredom and riot. 15 He exhorteth to contentedness, liberality, and chastity. 22 The wicked are overtaken with their own sins.

1. My son. See on ch. 2:1.

3. Strange woman. See on ch. 2:16.

As an honeycomb. The words of temptation are smooth and sweet to the ears because they are carefully calculated to appeal to the inherited and cultivated weakness of mankind. An example of such words is given in ch. 7:14–20.

4. Her end is bitter. The bitterness of remorse is soon felt by the one who gives in to the temptation. If this alternation of pleasure and sorrow is persisted in, the pleasure fades and bitterness increases until the helpless slave of sin slips down into the place of the dead.

Wormwood. A plant of the genus Artemisia, with a very bitter taste (see Deut. 29:18; Jer. 9:15; 23:15).

6. Lest thou shouldest. It is difficult to translate the Hebrew of this verse. For “lest” the ancient versions read “not”. The negative makes the passage clearer. The verse may then be translated, “The path of life she does not make smooth, her ways vacillate, she knows it not”. Lost to the dictates of reason and conscience, the blind, headstrong sinner turns unsteadily from one thing to another (ch. 7:12), but never enters the path of life in which alone can be found present happiness and future salvation.

7. Hear me now. Before painting the picture of the woe that will follow for those who fail to heed his warning, Solomon calls for special attention to his words.

8. Come not nigh. The need is stressed to keep oneself out of temptation rather than to trust in one’s ability to resist those incitements to sin that have overcome so many men, great and small (Prov. 4:14; 7:24–27; 1 Cor. 6:18; 2 Tim. 2:22).

9. Unto the cruel. Some have thought that this refers to being sold into slavery by a wronged husband, but such was not the penalty for adultery (Deut. 22:22; John 8:5). To lose the prime of life to a coarsening and defiling enslavement of sin is a greater punishment than physical slavery could be.

10. House of a stranger. Property and money gone, a man in those days would seek employment as a domestic slave, all profit from his labor benefiting his master and not himself.

11. And thou mourn. The spiritual ruin that follows such a course is pictured in ch. 6. Here the emphasis is upon the total ruin of life. Life’s high hopes and boundless possibilities are worn out in sullen servitude.

12. I hated instruction. Through the long years of remorse, the sinner bemoans his failure to heed the good instruction of his elders that could have spared him so much sorrow and ensured for him the true pleasure described in the verses following.

14. Almost in all evil. In the midst of the community of God’s people this young man has permitted himself to sin against God and man. There is a peculiar hardening of the conscience in those who flaunt their sinfulness in the face of the church. Unlike youth brought up in Christless homes, these have sinned in the light of truth, and have deliberately turned from the outstretched hands of the Saviour and the appeal of the Spirit. God has no other means to reach them. They have cut themselves off from salvation (Heb. 10:26; PP 405). These considerations should move parents and teachers, as well as youth, to sober thinking and diligent effort.

15. Thine own cistern. A commendation of the happiness of married life. As a thirsty man is refreshed by the waters of a cistern, so a man is to find enjoyment in fellowship with his own wife (see 1 Cor. 7:1–5; 1 Tim. 5:14; cf. Ps. 127:4, 5).

16. Let thy fountains. This verse should probably be rendered as a question “should thy fountains, etc.?” The well and the cistern (v. 15) are connected with a house. Streams and fountains are generally found away from home. All these water supplies represent sources of enjoyment.

18. Rejoice. If marriage remains a sharing, if there is always a mutual desire to please, the passing years will but deepen and strengthen the joys of companionship. It is only when the attentions of courting days are lost in the humdrum toil of daily life and the partner is taken for granted, that either is likely to turn and seek unlawful satisfactions (see MH 360–362). Especially should a husband remember to express his pride in his wife and his enduring love for her in the years when age is taking its toll. Such expression will deepen his own affection and will support his companion during the period when it is necessary to make adjustments to advancing years (see Prov. 2:17; Mal. 2:15, 16).

19. With her love. A man’s love for his wife should be a strong affection that enters into every facet of life. It should be —in a good sense—an obsession, so that nothing is thought or done without being affected by the thought of the one who shares the life. In this sense love is an inebriation. The word for “ravished” may literally mean “intoxicated”.

20. Strange woman. How different is this infatuation from true love. Love deepens and becomes richer with the years, but a sinful attachment quickly becomes an unwanted entanglement that brings the sorrows described in earlier verses. Why should a man let himself be drawn into such a snare?

21. Eyes of the Lord. Fidelity to the marriage vow is good sense and infidelity is folly, even if there were no judgment and no afterlife. But there is an afterlife, and entrance to it is dependent upon a willingness to be cleansed from all defilement. The adulterer meets a double condemnation. He loses the true joys of this life and is barred from the greater and more enduring joys of the life to come (Prov. 15:3; Mal. 3:5; Heb. 13:4).

22. The cords. Because he refuses instruction, the sinner is of necessity left to entangle himself more and more in the snares of sin. There is power to break the strongest bands (MH 175, 176), but the long indulgence of sinful propensities often leaves the sinner with no desire for salvation and no inclination to place his will on the side of the Saviour. The case is hopeless as long as the man will not seek the help of Him who can save to the uttermost (Heb. 7:25).

Ellen G. White comments

3, 4 PP 461

3–5AH 59; 5T 398

8–11PP 461

21   MH 433; PP 217

22   COL 200; Ed 291; MH 429; SC 39