Proverbs Chapter 7

Commonplace –

“Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye” (Proverbs 7:2).

In the first 4 verses of Proverbs 7, Solomon commands his son in the imperative voice; he gives his son the following directives:

1. “keep my words” (v.1)
2. “lay up my commandments with thee” (v.1)
3. “Keep my commandments…and my law” (v.2)
4. “bind them upon thy fingers” (v.3)
5. “write them upon the table of thine heart” (v.3)
6. “say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister” (v.4)
7. “call understanding thy kinswoman” (v.4)

Solomon advises his son that following these commands will keep him “from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words” (Proverbs 7:5). Solomon did not want his son to be lured in by wicked women, so he is giving him relationship advice.

Then, Solomon illustrates his instructions with a parable. He tells his son that one day, he was looking through his window out onto the street and he “beheld among the simple ones, [he] discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding” (Proverbs 7:7).

He sets the scene: the young man was out walking on the street “in the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night” (v.9), when he met a woman who was dressed as a harlot and had a cunning heart, which he defines as a woman who “is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house” (v.11). So, here is this young man, who is a simpleton and out among the other youths, walking the streets in the evening and purposely walks the streets near where a known harlot lives, when he comes upon her, a female trickster dressed as a prostitute.

The woman spots this ignorant young man, her prey, immediately grabs him, kisses him and “with an impudent face” (v.13) expresses that she is a wealthy woman, “I have peace offerings” (v.14), and she is religious, “this day have I payed my vows” (v.14). So, she tells him she isn’t going to rob him, because she doesn’t need the money and, besides, she’s too religious to do such a thing. After which, she informs the wayward young man that her husband has gone on a trip and he won’t be back for a while, which means she is home alone, and invites the youth back to her home for intimate relations. And the young man, like an ox to slaughter, follows after her, which is the beginning of the end for him.

Solomon follows his story with a warning to children. He tells them to listen and attend to his words: Don’t go after these types of women, who intentionally seek to bring down young men. “Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death” (Proverbs 7:27).

Matthew Henry offers the following summary of Proverbs 7:

“The scope of this chapter is, as of several before, to warn young men against the lusts of the flesh. Solomon remembered of what ill consequence it was to his father, perhaps found himself, and perceived his son, addicted to it, or at least had observed how many hopeful young ment among his subjects had been ruined by those lusts; and therefore he thought he could never say enough to dissuade men from them, that ‘every one man may possess his vessel in sanctification and honour, and not in the lusts of uncleanness‘.” (677).

Works Cited

Henry, Matthew. “Proverbs .” Matthew Henry’s Commentary On the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition. Volume 3 and Volume 6, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., March 1996.

Holy Bible: Giant Print with Study Aids. Dugan Publishers, Inc., 1984.

© 2025 Angela Hormberg