Proverbs 7
This chapter of Proverbs is clearly addressed to a young man, but women, too, can glean truth from these verses. Wisdom takes many figurative forms in Proverbs, but this specific chapter paints wisdom as a protective shield against temptation.
The first five verses lay out a user guide—a battle plan of sorts—to wield wisdom against temptation. The son is told to treasure wise commands. The simple act of treasuring wisdom guards against seeing these commands as a restrictive set of rules, and allows them to be seen as a freeing guide to life.
“Obey my commands and live! Guard my instructions as you guard your own eyes. Tie them on your fingers as a reminder. Write them deep within your heart. Love wisdom like a sister; make insight a beloved member of your family. Let them protect you from an affair with an immoral woman, from listening to the flattery of a promiscuous woman” (2-5).
These verses emphasize the active nature of treasuring wisdom. We must set out to guard it, make outward reminders of it, and etch it deeply into our hearts so that it is a part of us, integrated into our very being. Likewise, making wisdom as close as a member of our family makes us even more loyal to it, protective of it, and it’s that much more endearing. This level of active, committed devotion to wisdom protects us from the deception of sinfulness.
The rest of the chapter tells the tale of a foolish young man who, instead of treasuring wisdom, wanders right into the most disastrous place possible—the house of an immoral woman. Instead of keeping wisdom close, he dwells close to temptation. Her adulterous bed made lavish, her pretty words spoken eloquently, the young man follows her and “like an ox going to the slaughter,” he walks into a situation that will “cost him his life.” This is a stark contrast with verse 2, which says that obeying wise commands leads to life.
The young man’s story is a direct parallel with Romans 1:25: “They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself…” Passively regarding wisdom leads to neglect, which leads to trading God’s truths for the world’s lies. To live a life of wisdom, it must be actively treasured and etched into our hearts.
Photography: @phredman