Proverbs 6:2 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Proverbs 6:2

Comments

Now this is not merely a warning against foolish business transactions. Solomon does not do that, he does not suddenly swerve aside: 'By the way, while I am talking to you about the adulteress, do not ever rush into foolish business transactions.’ Obviously the picture would include that idea, and elsewhere he has much to say about that. But he is continuing his parable, his picture. Here is the son: he is neglecting his tender bride, his farm, his smallholding, he is being drawn by this adulteress, and the way in which she is going to bring him to poverty is to begin by wanting him to pledge responsibility for her loans, for her heavy spending. It is a parable which adds more light to what happens to us if we reject a spiritual dimension to our lives, if we have no time for the word of God, and invest our all in this present vain world. The son has undertaken the responsibility for this adulteress' debts, he has trusted a woman who is utterly unreliable. He has paid dearly for whatever she gives him. Whatever lust or appetite is satisfied by her, he is paying for it very dearly with a pledge for her debts. Then again, he is foolish, because he has done this thing so lightly. He is obviously in the early stages of this entanglement. He has not been seduced for long. He has entered a commitment without understanding what he is doing. Furthermore, he has committed that which is not really his. He is a married man; there is his tender bride; there are his young children perhaps. It is not for him to say, well I have got substance, I have got wealth, I will pledge it. He has got responsibilities to his wife and family. Out of his pride, he wanted to look big in her eyes, and so he has pledged himself, and his mouth has been his snare.

Application

Now, the spiritual application of all this is easy to make. Do you know that you are not a true believer in Christ, that you have never been converted, and that you are running away from spiritual things? You are drawn into this world, and you are just like this young man, who, under the influence of the adulteress, would pledge himself for her debts. This is what you are doing. You are on the verge of giving your mind, your faculties, your body, your whole being, to this vain world. Now this is the way in which your conduct is just like that of the foolish young man, who would pledge all his wealth and his substance for the debts of this adulteress. You are trusting something which is utterly unreliable. Look at what it does to everyone who trusts it. Look at the way in which it sweeps them along to be ruled by their appetites, by pride. Oh, the forces at work on people, who are the servants of this world! We feel like crying out, ‘Don’t do it. Can’t you see through her, can’t you see what she is doing to you, how she is manipulating you? That is how we feel once we are saved, when we see people being sucked into this world.

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Proverbs 6:2 Commentary and Bible Study