Calvary Chapel of Jonesboro
 
For the lips of an adulteress drip honey And smoother than oil is her speech;   Proverbs 5:3

What is it about an adulteress - or an immoral woman that gives her power over men?  According to what we read in Proverbs 5:3, it is the power of her words.  Granted, we know that a woman can use her body to get a man's attention - but very few men on a lustful look will enter into an adulterous affair.  What is dangerous is when the "strange woman" begins using her lips and speech to reel a man in for the kill.

The lips of an adulterous drip honey.  She is filled with compliments and sweet words for the dope who listens.  To be honest, part of the reason this works is twofold.  First, too often married women don't know the power their words have on their husbands.  A man longs for his wife to say nice things about him - to him.  (By the way - this is a two-way street!  Men don't use their mouths like they should either to compliment and praise their wives).  After a period of time, a husband no longer hears nice comments from his wife (which may be partially his fault for being ungodly - or no longer a husband who takes care of things as he should) - and misses being spoken to in this way.  Enter the adulterous woman - who comes into his life with lips that drip honey.  Oh, how we need to see the additional proverb that says that more flies are caught with honey than with vinegar!  (By the way - more husbands are caught with this too - and ladies . . . there are plenty of women who will compliment him if you won't.  This doesn't mean he'll become an adulterer - but it does mean that if you don't speak nicely to him - he's just that much more vulnerable!)

The other reason this works is because men are stupid.  They'll listen to some adulterer who compliments them - not realizing that her compliments are empty.  She is using them to bait him into the relationship.  Just like a fish bites a lure - so he bites at the compliments of her honey dripping lips - not realizing that when he does - he will be hooked - dragged out of the water - stuffed and put on the wall as a trophy to her feminine wiles. 

She will come to him with speech that is smoother than oil.  He may be a husband who only hears bitter, angry, or resentful speech at home (again usually his own fault - but ladies beware - his failures do not merit yours - just like yours are no excuse for his).  When this fool listens to her smooth speech, he does not know nor understand that she is baiting him with it. 

Oh, dear saint of God - especially if you are a brother in Christ - RUN FROM SUCH WOMEN!  When a women who is not your wife or daughter seems to always be offering compliments - it is not a good thing.  When you think to yourself that you wish your wife would say the kind of nice things this lady does - realize this - SHE AIN'T A LADY - AND THAT THING IN YOUR MOUTH - THAT'S A HOOK!  This is dangerous situation - one that is repeated far more often than I'd even want to consider!  You are being set up - and the best thing to do is to run like crazy!  Go home fool - talk to your God and then to your wife.  This is the wisest thing you can do - and if you don't do it - well . . . get ready to be caught, gutted, stuffed, and displayed as another foolish man who went for the honey-lipped, smooth-as-oil speech of a strange women - and ended up an adulterer!
 
 
"Under three things the earth quakes, And under four, it cannot bear up: Under a slave when he becomes king, And a fool when he is satisfied with food, Under an unloved woman when she gets a husband, And a maidservant when she supplants her mistress."  (Proverbs 30:21-23)

There are things that make society shake.  This may seem a little shocking to us, because as Americans we are taught to cheer for the little guy.  But this is not about the little guy - it is about situations that should not happen - and when they do - the earth shakes under it and can bearly bear up under it.

There is such a thing as decorum - and the proper way things should be done.  In each of these situations something improper happens.  That is why the earth quakes in each of these situations.  The Bible is not putting the little man down in saying these things.  Instead, what is happening is that when one of these four people gains access to these situations, the earth itself and society upon it, feels opressed - and often is because when it does happen, too often it is also ushered into a kind of "payback" situation as well.

One thing we can learn from this is the whole concept of winning or ascending to a position with grace and with class.  Too often when one does rise up - they do so with an attitude that they are going to make all those pay who oppressed them.  Let's look at these four and see what we learn from them.

The first situation is when a slave becomes king.  The problem here is that Proverbs 19:10 speaks of this - and that this slave is probably considered a fool.  It is not fitting for a fool to rule over princes.  There are several situations where this might happen - but most of those would be ruled out by the fact that representative democracy did not exist when this was written.  The only way a slave would become king in this time period would be by either murder or insurrection.  Slaves did NOT become kings.  But this slave did - and when he did there was treachery afoot.  The problem with this is that when people overthrow governments - and especially when slaves and servants do so - the result is often a major disruption of society.  The one in power due to deception and treachery will only rule according to the same standards by which he or she ascended to the throne. 

The end of this scenario is oppression and domination of the public.  It is a sad thing to watch someone in power abuse that power to remain there.  When I think of all the governments that have begun with a slave or common man rising to power through military power and intrigue, none of the nation states over which they rule are blessed.  It is not that I support the oppression of any people by monarchy either, but too often when the slave comes to the throne - his attitudes and actions do far more to oppress the poeple than liberate them.

The second situation is when a fool is satisfied with food.  The fool here is the one who does not have any intention to work or to doing any kind of gainful employment.  He is lazy and undisciplined - ungodly and unconcerned with adding anything to society.  Thus, when he is fed, he simply continues to be a drain on society - and spreads his laziness.  Anyone who has watched a welfare state in action knows that the world trembles and quakes under such a situation.  I have no qualms with society taking care of the truly needy and those who cannot work, but that is not what is said here.  What is happening is that a fool is being underwritten in his foolishness.  He is fed, fat, and happy - and intends on staying that way without the thought of any kind of labor.  In fact, what happens historically is that the fool becomes discontent with his provisions by the government - and complains for more.  While he continues doing little of nothing - he causes great damage to society because of his drain upon it.  Ben Franklin commented on the English system of welfare and was horrified by how it caused many in England to become lazy, undisciplined, and ungodly.  The Bible clearly states that the workers appetite works for him - and that a principle is that if a man will not work - we should not let that man eat.  Let him become hungry and he will get up and begin doing something to provide food for himself.  Sadly, we see that attitude as cruel - when it actually is best for the person and for society as well.

The third situation under which the earth quakes is when an unloved woman gets a husband.  Now here is one that seems out of place.  Wouldn't it be a great thing for this unloved woman to get a husband?  What is being said here?

The word for "unloved" here is a little too tame.  The Hebrew word is "sane" and it means to hate.  The King James does a better job of translating this word when it says "odious."  That word fits better.  Several other ways this is translated is as repugnant, hateful, bitter or hated woman.  This gives us a much better picture of the woman who is getting married here.  This lady is NOT going to make a good wife.  In fact, Proverbs has much to say about her - and none of it is good.  When you meet a man married to such a woman - or experience her children and friends - you come to understand why Proverbs says the earth cannot bear up under this.  She is skilled at making those who love her as miserable as they can be.  Such a woman does not need a husband - she needs a moral and social makeover!

The last is when the mistress takes the place of her master's wife.  Here we have an example in Scripture, when Abaham mistakenly followed the bad advice of Sarah in taking her maidservant, Hagar as a wife.  This was to have her bear children to fulfill God's promise - but this was not how the Lord intended to fulfill His promise.  This situation brings jealousy to its most ugly manifestations.  If this was the way it was between Sarah and Hagar - imagine the carnage when the situation is a man who begins committing adultery with his maidservant and allows her to supplant her mistress.  Unfortunately we see this again and again in our society - maybe not with slave girls, because we've moved past slavery.  Our problem is with secretaries and with woman who work in our offices and plant floors.  A woman works her way into a man's heart (by the way, with very little protest from the whore-mongering man) at work and then becomes his mistress or wife by supplanting his current wife.  The world quakes when this happens - and often the earthquake continues for years as the children are broken to pieces by the divorce and subsequent marriages that result. 

Well . . . what seemed to be out of place at the start of this passage seems to be perfectly in order.  God desires for us to avoid the social earthquakes that come with sinful social situations.  He knows that the fall of man brought with it much social baggage.  By following the wise and sage counsel of our God we can avoid picking up bags that we were never meant to carry - and in so doing - keep our lives much more harmonious as a result.

 
 
For on account of a harlot one is reduced to a loaf of bread, And an adulteress hunts for the precious life. Can a man take fire in his bosom And his clothes not be burned?  Or can a man walk on hot coals And his feet not be scorched?  So is the one who goes in to his neighbor's wife; Whoever touches her will not go unpunished. Proverbs 6:26-29

Here we have the "harlot" described for us in very expressive language.  Interesting that we don't even call sexually immoral women harlots any longer - but the term is what God uses to describe a woman who has sexual relations with men - and is not married to them.  Harlot is the word "zanah" and it means to commit fornication, another word we've left behind in our enlightenment - or should we say, "endarkenment."  This word is used to describe anything from adultery and prostitution to fornication and unfaithfulness.  It is the word used for the women involved in sexual immorality, and that is what it refers to in this passage.  Let's take a closer look at how she is described.

1.  She reduces you to a loaf of bread . . . This was the price of a prostitute.  What God intended to be a beautiful thing in the sexual relationship between a man and a woman has now been reduced to giving someone a loaf of bread for sex.  What a sad picture of how high we fall.

2.  She hunts for the precious life . . . The adulteress hunts for our very lives.  Too often we see sexual things in our lives without this revelation.  We would think twice about illicit sex if we grasped that we were not being seduced - we were being hunted for the kill.

3.  Hugging fire . . . The harlot wants us to think of her embraces.  She's there to comfort us and bring us pleasure.  Interesting that the Scriptures say that when we do this we're hugging fire to ourselves.  The harlot promises pleasurable embraces - but would we think of them this way if we were getting ready to hug a burning log to our chests with the result that we'd be badly burned? 

4.  Burned clothes . . . The result of embracing the harlot is to be physically burned - and what would be burned is our clothes first of all.  All affairs seek secrecy.  We don't want any trace of our indiscretions leaving any evidence.  But in a day when a person had very few changes of clothes - we are told doing this is like embracing fire while thinking your clothes won't be burned.  The fact is there is evidence - and just like burned clothes - their will be proof of our unfaithfulness.

5.  Walking on hot coals . . . The harlot wants us to think that we can walk into her bedroom without harming ourselves.  Yet the Scriptures tell us that doing so is like walking on hot coals and thinking we won't burn our feet.  Our "walk" is going to be extremely hindered!  That is the result of sexual immorality.  We get burned - and that burning severely hinders our ability to walk with the Lord - and sometimes walk much at all.  Imagine being laid up for weeks with feet scorched and blistered.  Those caught in adultery not only hinder their walk with God - for many it is even painful to walk outside among people because of the stigma attached to their actions.  Think first about this - before visiting the harlot.

The conclusion to this is a warning - so is the one who has sex with his neighbor's wife!  All these pictures - and they are graphic pictures indeed - are what we'll get for a few moments of stolen pleasure.  Just seeing these things by themselves - we'd run from the situation - but our problem is that often the pleasure promised - and our blindness to the situation - keep us from seeing all this.  God knows that these graphic pictures will help us to see the real danger - the real harm - the real damage that will come from visiting the harlot. 

The warning is clear - "Whoever touches her will not go unpunished!"  This word "unpunished" means to be acquitted - to be declared free, clean, or pure.  The one who visits and uses the harlot will not enjoy these things.  There will be punishment for adultery - and that punishment is sure. 

Ours is a visual society . . . and that in itself is often why we get in trouble.  The harlot used to be a physical woman alone - and not images we see on billboards, in magazines, and in movies and television shows.  But thanks be to God that in His battle against sin He has given us pictures - graphic portrayals that get our attention.  He does so to remind us of the dangers of sexual sin.  May we see the pictures - be horrified at what they show us - and turn from the harlot at every opportunity for sin.