A Tale of Two Women: The Adulteress and Wisdom

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Picture of a heart and $50 bill

Today’s Bible reading* focuses on two main, but related topics: purposeful living as opposed to laziness/slothfulness/slackness and avoiding an adulteress.

In Proverbs 6:6-11 Solomon warns his son to not live a purposeless, lazy life. Living life diligently would prove to keep him from poverty. Living with purpose would also prove to keep him from being distracted by a “wayward woman”.

Solomon personifies the “wayward woman” as an adulteress who entices foolish, unguarded men. I think that Solomon intended a double meaning when referring to this woman. He describes her as a literal adulteress and encourages his son to be enraptured with his wife instead. (Proverbs 5:15-21)

Solomon also uses this “wayward woman” as anything that would distract his son from living a purposeful, God-centered, God-pursuing life. In yesterday’s reading, Solomon warned his son to guard his heart with all diligence, knowing that his life source would flow from his heart.

Both of the “women” referred to in today’s Bible reading call out to all who would hear and respond to their call. Solomon warns his son about the “wayward woman” in Proverbs 5:3-14; 6:24-29, 32-34; 7:5-27. In Proverbs 8, Solomon encourages his son to listen and respond to the call of the “wise woman”.

Application

Proverbs is so practical! Solomon, a man who had one thousand women (1 Kings 11:3) knew what it was to be torn between lovers. And he didn’t want his son to have a divided heart. We’ll see later that having so many wives — and allowing them to bring their religions with them into his house — was a very foolish thing for the wisest man who ever lived. (1 Kings 11:4-8)

Do you live a purposeful life? What are you doing to accomplish that purpose? What practical ways can you become more purposeful? How can you better guard your heart to be more diligent in keeping your life pure and focused on God?

* Chapters covered in today’s reading:
– Proverbs 5
– Proverbs 6
– Proverbs 7
– Proverbs 8

This devotional was originally published on May 30, 2021.


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