The teacher of wisdom continues to highlight the importance of seeking wisdom.
Proverbs 5:1-2, Maintain discretion
My son, pay attention to my wisdom,
listen well to my words of insight,
that you may maintain discretion
and your lips may preserve knowledge.
The invitation to learning offers both discretion (able to wisely decide what is best to do or say) and the preservation of knowledge (learned from one's elders.)
Proverbs 5:3-6, The adulteress and her paths
For the lips of an adulteress drip honey,
and her speech is smoother than oil;
but in the end she is bitter as gall,
sharp as a double-edged sword.
Her feet go down to death;
her steps lead straight to the grave.
She gives no thought to the way of life;
her paths are crooked, but she knows it not.
In contrast to the lips (of verse 2) preserving knowledge, here the lips of a stranger are a threat. The Teacher now elaborates on an earlier warning given in Proverbs 2:16-19. The warnings about adultery and the adulterous woman will reappear again in chapter 7.
Alter notices the Hebrew alliteration in the first few words of verse 3, nō·p̄eṯ tiṭ·ṭō·p̄ə·nāh śip̄·ṯê, and he and many English translations attempt to pass on the alliteration with "lips drip honey." A very similar line occurs in Song of Songs 4:11 where it is the lover's lips that drip honey; here in Proverbs 5 it is the lips of the zā·rāh, the stranger, that drip honey.
Proverbs 5:7-10, Avoid her house and paths!
Now then, my sons, listen to me;
do not turn aside from what I say.
Keep to a path far from her,
do not go near the door of her house,
lest you give your best strength to others
and your years to one who is cruel,
lest strangers feast on your wealth
and your toil enrich another man's house.
The Teacher warns about the progress of adultery and its outcomes. Alter suggests that the Hebrew word pe·ṯaḥ, translated "door" (of her house) in verse 8 might be a double entendre, as there are places in the Talmud where that word is used for a woman's vagina. Whether or not that is intended, there is a suggestion that the woman's invitation includes an invitation, not just to her house, but to her body.
Visiting the adulteress is described here as giving away one's strength and best years, and eventually giving away one's wealth (either to the adulteress or to her husband's suit for damages.)
Proverbs 5:11-14, Brink of ruin
At the end of your life you will groan,
when your flesh and body are spent.
You will say, "How I hated discipline!
How my heart spurned correction!
I would not obey my teachers
or listen to my instructors.
I have come to the brink of utter ruin in the midst of the whole assembly."
The Teacher continues to describe the dangers of adultery. It will not be a one time event, but a habit, where one's body groans and decays (is this from venereal disease?) and a tendency to decadence and dissipation, ruining one's reputation in the community.
In the text below, the Teacher finally has some positive things to say about sex, on the value of a good marriage.
Proverbs 5:15-17, Enjoy your own oasis
Drink water from your own cistern,
running water from your own well.
Should your springs overflow in the streets,
your streams of water in the public squares?
Let them be yours alone,
never to be shared with strangers.
In Old Testament romance (as Carmen Imes points out), meeting a woman at a well was a good thing. (See Isaac and Rebekah, Genesis 24:16-21, Jacob and Rachel, Genesis 29:9-12, Moses and Zipporah, Exodus 2:16-21.) A well in the dry land of the ancient Near East represented fertility and comfort, an oasis. Here the husband is instructed to appreciate the oasis and peace available in his own house. A family home should be an oasis.
Proverbs 5:18-19, A loving doe, a graceful deer
May your fountain be blessed,
and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth.
A loving doe, a graceful deer--
may her breasts satisfy you always,
may you ever be captivated by her love.
The oasis image continues. The husband is to rejoice in the beauty of his young bride and to always (even when they are both old) to be captivated by her breasts and her love.
Long ago, in a certain Christian culture, with other college age men back in the 1970s or 1980s, it was common for people to have a "favorite" Bible verse or "life passage." One man might choose Galatians 2:20 or Romans 8:28-29. I've never been quite at home in that environment and if asked for my life verse, I would say, "Proverbs 5:18-19."
It was part of that culture to have your verse memorized and so someone would ask, "Hmm, what does that say?"
My response was "I don't want to spoil it. Go look it up!" (Said with a wink.)
Choosing that passage as a "life verse" was a good choice. Now at age 70, I confess I am still captivated.
Proverbs 5:20-23, In full view of YHWH
Why be captivated, my son, by an adulteress?
Why embrace the bosom of another man's wife?
For a man's ways are in full view of the LORD,
and he examines all his paths.
The evil deeds of a wicked man ensnare him;
the cords of his sin hold him fast.
He will die for lack of discipline,
led astray by his own great folly.
Here is a common theme in Proverbs: sin, selfishness, evil deeds bring binding, addiction, loss of freedom and loss of peace.
The Hebrew word ḥêq in verse 20 is here translated "bosom". Alter translates that word as "lap." The Hebrew word appears in Sarai's accusation of Abram in Genesis 16:5, where Sarai says, "I put my slave in your arms [lap], and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me." Alter says that there is wordplay here, ḥik·kāh to ḥêq; earlier the man is warned about the woman's lips (ḥik·kāh) but now he embraces her ḥêq. One small digression leads to a larger one.
No comments:
Post a Comment