The Pulpit Commentary on Proverbs 5:1-23

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public domain

8. Eighth admonitory discourse. Warning against adultery, and commendation of marriage. The teacher, in this discourse, recurs to a subject which he has glanced at before in Proverbs 2:15-19, and which he again treats of in the latter part of the sixth and in the whole of the seventh chapters. This constant recurrence to the same subject, repulsive on account of its associations, shows, however, the importance which it had in the teacher's estimation as a ground of warning, and that he ranked it among the foremost of the temptations and sins which called the young off from the pursuit of Wisdom, and so led them astray from "the fear of the Lord." The vividness with which the ruin, bodily and moral, ensuing with absolute certainty on a life of vice, is described is a sufficient proof in itself that the subject before us is not brought forward from or for voluptuous motives, but for the purpose of conveying an impressive warning. Some commentators, e.g. Delitzsch, include the first six verses in the previous discourse; but the unity of the subject requires a different treatment. Zockler's reason against this arrangement, on the ground that the previous discourse was addressed to "tender youth," and thus to youth in a state of pupilage, while the one before us refers to more advanced age—to the married man—may be true, but is not the true ground for incorporating them in the present discourse. The unity of the subject requires that they should be taken with the central and didactic part of the discourse, as being in a sense introductory to it. The discourse divides itself into three sections.

(a) warnings against adulterous intercourse with "the strange woman" (Proverbs 2:7-14);

(b) the antithetical admonition to use the means of chastity by remaining faithful to, and rejoicing with, the wife of one's youth (Proverbs 2:15-20). And

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commentaryMatthew Henry on Proverbs 5:1-14Solomon cautions all young men, as his children, to abstain from fleshly lusts. Some, by the adulterous woman, here understand idolatry, false doctrine, which tends to lead astray men's minds and manners; but the direct…Matthew Henry commentaryParental Instructions; Cautions against SensualityPARENTAL INSTRUCTIONS; CAUTIONS AGAINST SENSUALITY. Here we have, I. A solemn preface, to introduce the caution which follows, Proverbs 5:1-2. Solomon here addresses himself to his son, that is, to all young men, as unt…Matthew Henry commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Proverbs 5:1-14Meretricious pleasures and their results I. GENERAL ADMONITION. (Proverbs 5:1-3.) Similar prefaces to warnings against unchastity are found in Proverbs 6:20, etc.; Proverbs 7:1, etc. The same forms of iteration for the…Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Proverbs 5:1-20Victims of vice One particular vice is here denounced; it is necessary to warn the young against its snares and sorrows. What is here said, however, of this sin is applicable, in most if not all respects, to any kind of…Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Proverbs 5:1-23EXPOSITIONJoseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Proverbs 5:1The admonitory address is very similar to that in Proverbs 4:20, except that here the teacher says," Attend to my wisdom, bow down thine ear to my understanding," instead of "Attend to my words, and incline thine ear un…Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Proverbs 5:2This verse expresses the purposes or results of the preceding admonition. The first is, that thou mayest regard discretion (Hebrew, lishmor m'zimmoth); literally, to guard reflection; i.e. in other words, that thou maye…Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Proverbs 5:3The teacher enters upon the subject of his warning, and under two familiar figures—common alike to Oriental and Greek writers—describes the nature of the "strange woman's" allurements. For the lips of a strange woman dr…Joseph S. Exell and contributors