In Prov 7.1-27 we have the seduction of the harlot. The word for marriage is “kiddushin” and it is related to kedusha, a sanctification by formal and legal restrictions. The opposite of marriage is harlotry, and one of the words for harlot is “kadesha” which means a woman who has defiled her kedusha. As we said before, keep in mind that we will have a contrast between the virtuous woman (a Torah-based faith in Yeshua) and the harlot (lawlessness or “Torah-less-ness”).
Prov 7.1-5 tells us to keep the Torah and to guard and protect the words of a Torah observant father who is advising his son to beware of the harlot and her schemes. This can be applied literally but also spiritually.
v 1…My son, keep my words (doctrines, instructions) and treasure my commandments (miztvot) within you (in your heart, thoughts and desires).
v 2…Keep my commandments (guard them, incorporate them into your life and stay true to the blueprint God has given to do certain things, at certain times, by certain people, at certain places) and live (Deut 30.6; John 14.15), and my teaching (Torah) as the pupil of your eye (when someone or something tries to touch them we react quickly).
v 3…Bind them on your fingers (don’t lose them and the same metaphor as in Deut 6.4-9); write them on the tablet of your heart (desires-Jer 31.33).
v 4…Say to wisdom (personified here), “You are my sister (familiar with) and call understanding your intimate friend (greatly beloved; kinsman).
v 5…That they may keep you from the adulterous woman (literally, but also this refers to false prophets and doctrine, heresies and replacement theology), from the foreigner who flatters with her words (of seduction, like the False Messiah will do).
Prov 7.6-23 gives us the story of seduction between the harlot and her victim. Keep in mind, this is not only literal but can also be applied to the spiritual seduction that happens when one is deceived by the teaching and words of the harlot (Prov 9.13-18) as opposed to the virtuous woman (Prov 8.1-36 and 9.1-12).
v 6…For at the window of my house I looked out through my lattice (the cunning deception of the harlot begins)
v 7…And I saw among the naive (simple, gullible, inexperienced; also in Torah truth); I discerned among the youths (not mature or complete) a young man lacking sense (understanding),
v 8…Passing through the street near her corner (a corner takes in people coming in numerous directions), he takes the way to her house (first he was a fool for going on her street, then her corner, then to her house. This is his intention. People decide to go to a false house of worship and study-Matt 6.13).
v 9…In the twilight, in the evening (erev), in the middle (Hebrew “pupil” and the same word as in Prov 7.2) of the night and in the darkness (he is involved in works of darkness with the harlot)
v 10…And behold (see), a woman comes to meet him dressed as a harlot and cunning of heart (two-faced, a flatterer).
v 11…She is boisterous (loud) and rebellious (can’t control her); her feet do not remain at home (she is looking for victims).
v 12…She is now in the streets, now in the squares, and lurks by every corner.
v 13…So she seizes him (caught) and kisses him (the trap), and with a brazen face (impudent) she says to him:
v 14…Sacrifices of peace offerings are with me; this day I have paid my vows (she had a meal to share with him and it had to be eaten by the second day-Lev 7.16),
v 15…Therefore I have come out to meet you, to seek your presence earnestly, and I have found you (she had none to eat with her she says).
v 16…I have spread my couch with coverings (her bed had upholstery and pillows), with covered linens of Egypt (very soft and comfortable).
v 17…I have sprinkled my bed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon (sweet smelling spices).
v 18…Come, let us drink our fill of love until morning; let us delight ourselves with caresses (illicit love can be intoxicating).
v 19…For the man (my husband) is not at home, he has gone on a long journey (far away so he won’t catch us-alludes to Yeshua in Mark 13.34);
v 20…He has taken a bag of money with him (his business will take time), at the full moon (Hebrew is “kiseh” meaning the hidden or covered moon, as in Psa 81.3. The day appointed for his return is a new moon and this alludes to the coming of Yeshua on Rosh Ha Shanah) he will come home.
v 21…With her many persuasions she entices him; with her flattering lips she seduces him (keep in mind everything up to this point can also allude to how a person can be seduced into a false religion and its doctrine).
v 22…Suddenly (at once) he follows her as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as one in fetters to the discipline of a fool (in other words, as one who has lost his mind and is caught and put in stocks),
v 23…Until an arrow pierces through his liver (certain death); as a bird hastens to the snare (flies quickly with its eyes on the bait but doesn’t notice the snare) so he does not know that it will cost him his life (the bird doesn’t know that the snare is placed there to take its life).
Prov 7.24-27 tells us to learn a lesson from the harlot.
v 24…Now, therefore, my sons, listen to me, and pay attention to the words of my mouth (his doctrines and instructions).
v 25…Do not let your heart (desires) turn aside to her ways (or turn away from the right way), do not stray into her path (or go where she is, the “lawless” path).
v 26…For many are the victims (mortally wounded literally) she has cast down (had their reputations, wealth, health and lives ruined), and numerous are all her slain (not only physically but spiritually also).
v 27…Her house is the way to Sheol (or literally the “ways of Sheol is in her house”), descending to the chambers of death (the grave; spiritually, false houses of worship and study are the same way. They teach false doctrine and will lead one to the second death).
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