Proverbs 5:1

EXHORTATIONS TO CHASTITY, Proverbs 5:1-14.

In this chapter the royal sage renews his exhortations to acquire wisdom, (Proverbs 5:1-2;) and, as there is nothing which is more pernicious in general, and more detrimental to the acquisition of wisdom in particular, than the unlawful indulgence of sexual desires, he earnestly dissuades his pupil therefrom by showing the character of a dissolute woman, and the ruinous consequences of attachment to such. These miserable effects are a loss of honour, time, health, and wealth, and at last a bitter and unavailing repentance, (Proverbs 5:3-14.) Therefore, for the avoidance of this evil, the teacher commends, like the apostle, (1 Corinthians 9:9 and 1 Timothy 4:3,) the chaste and moderate enjoyments of married life, and even a passionate love for one’s own wife, whom he describes, allegorically, as a domestic fountain, (Proverbs 5:15-19.) He closes the whole by repenting the warning against the “strange woman,” and exhibiting the fearful consequences of unlawful gratification, (Proverbs 5:20-23.)

1. Understanding Discernment. Compare Proverbs 6:20; Proverbs 7:1.