Proverbs 5:18 (NKJV) — 18 Let your fountain be blessed, And rejoice with the wife of your youth.
Rejoice with your wife. A man should forget about other possible romantic relationships and concentrate on developing all aspects of the fullest possible relationship with his lawful wife.
Ecclesiastes 9:9 (NKJV) — 9 Live joyfully with the wife whom you love . . . .
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Proverbs 5:16–17 (NKJV) — 16 Should your fountains be dispersed abroad, Streams of water in the streets? 17 Let them be only your own, And not for strangers with you.
These verses may refer to the offspring of lawful relationships: children. There should be no doubt as to the parentage of one’s children; the marriage relationship should not be complicated and contaminated by the involvement of strangers.
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Proverbs 5:15 (NKJV) — 15 Drink water from your own cistern, And running water from your own well.
Don’t be deceived by the myth of the greener grass. This verse and those that follow stress the importance of turning one’s attention to one’s lawful companion. If a man will forget about the other man’s cistern and well and give up trying to sneak a drink from them, he will find his own cistern and well are fully satisfying.
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Proverbs 5:12–14 (NKJV) — 12 And say: “How I have hated instruction, And my heart despised correction! 13 I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, Nor inclined my ear to those who instructed me! 14 I was on the verge of total ruin, In the midst of the assembly and congregation.”
Bitter regret, too late. The cry of the person who reaps the bitter results of moral impurity is, “Why didn’t I listen?” The way to avoid this dilemma is to do just the opposite of the example of these verses: (1) love instruction; (2) love reproof; (3) obey teachers; (4) incline the ear to those who instruct.
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Proverbs 5:9–11 (NKJV) — 9 Lest you give your honor to others, And your years to the cruel one; 10 Lest aliens be filled with your wealth, And your labors go to the house of a foreigner; 11 And you mourn at last, When your flesh and your body are consumed,
The consequences of moral impurity. Those who are tempted with moral impurity may find it helpful to write these six consequences on a card and carry it with them. When they are tempted, they can review these results of yielding to temptation: (1) loss of honor, reputation, respectability, and dignity; (2) shortened life, and trouble while alive; (3) loss of wealth to others; (4) loss of the fruits of labor to others; (5) sorrow; and (6) physical disease.
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Proverbs 5:6–8 (NKJV) — 6 Lest you ponder her path of life— Her ways are unstable; You do not know them. 7 Therefore hear me now, my children, And do not depart from the words of my mouth. 8 Remove your way far from her, And do not go near the door of her house,
Some people with analytical minds think they can study sin sufficiently so as to participate in it would reaping its bitter reward. They tell themselves they will participate in it until just before the moment of destruction, until just before it is too late, and then they will get out of it. But this is not the way sin works. Its course cannot be charted; it cannot be put on a graph. It is slippery and deceptive. There is only one way to deal with temptation, and it is revealed in Proverbs 5:7-8.
Stay as far away from sin as possible. The only safe thing to do is to remain totally faithful to the words of wisdom and to stay as far away from temptation as possible. One should not approach the door of temptation’s house even out of curiosity. Eve may never have had a problem with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil had she stayed completely away from it. The serpent tempted her as she approached the tree.
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Proverbs 5:5 (KJV 1900) — 5 Her feet go down to death; Her steps take hold on hell.
The result of sin is death. The immoral woman is headed in the direction of death and hell. The man who is seduced by her joins her in her journey.
Romans 6:23 (KJV 1900) — 23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
James 1:14–15 (KJV 1900) — 14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. 15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
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Proverbs 5:4 (NKJV) — 4 But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a two-edged sword.
The bitterness of sin. The attractiveness of temptation contrasts sharply to the actual result of yielding. Yielding to temptation is deadly.
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Proverbs 5:3 (NKJV) — 3 For the lips of an immoral woman drip honey, And her mouth is smoother than oil;
The seeming sweetness of temptation. Much of Proverbs 5 deals with the danger of yielding to moral impurity. While this is a warning about literal temptation to physical involvement, it is also an allusion to the temptation of spiritual folly in general, with folly pictured as an immoral woman just as wisdom is portrayed as a virtuous woman.
The first warning is against the immoral woman’s use of words. (See 6:24.) She is a master of flattery, of smooth words. She is a liar, and she will say anything necessary to seduce her victim. She has no commitment to the truth. Her temptations seem to be very desirable.
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