# 419 The Proverbs – ‘A manual for living’ (MSG). Proverbs 7. Warning against ‘Spiritual Adultery.’

I think we get the idea concerning these warnings about adultery, but it seems the author of Proverbs wants to elaborate again in Chapter 7 and give further warnings. Although I don’t know if this was in the author’s mind, but as destructive as adultery is, just maybe there is more to this than what we are reading here? For instance, what about the use of the word ‘adultery’ in the OT when it is actually depicting idolatry? In other words, “spiritual adultery!”

Remember the ten commandments in Exodus 20?

³ “You shall have no other gods before me.

⁴ “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. ⁵ You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God…

 ¹⁴ “You shall not commit adultery. (Exodus 20:3,4 and 14)

But tragically, the people disobeyed and not only did they indulge in immorality/adultery amongst themselves, they engaged in some gross idol worship with foreign gods, which even at times involved temple prostitutes.

And so, we read in Jeremiah the words coming from the grieving heart of the God of Israel:

⁶ During the reign of King Josiah, the Lord said to me, “Have you seen what faithless Israel has done? She has gone up on every high hill and under every spreading tree [where idols where situated] and has committed adultery there… ⁹ Because Israel’s immorality mattered so little to her, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and wood [i.e., idolatry].(Jeremiah 3:6 & 9)

The reality in life, and we saw in in David’s experience, is that one sin leads to another and this is what happened in the life of the people of Israel. Spiritual corruption (idolatry) led to moral corruption (adultery).

And so, the author of Proverbs stresses again to his son:

 My son, keep my words
    and store up my commands within you.
² Keep my commands and you will live;
    guard my teachings as the apple of your eye.
³ Bind them on your fingers;
    write them on the tablet of your heart.
⁴ Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”
    and to insight, “You are my relative.”
⁵ They will keep you from the adulterous woman,
    from the wayward woman with her seductive words.

What follows, and I will let you read it in your Bibles (7:6-27), is a description of a young man (a youth who had no sense v. 7) and his temptation (and of course, temptation is also relevant to woman). But the temptation on this occasion involves a woman… dressed like a prostitute and with crafty intent (v. 10). The saga continues, with persuasive words she led him astray; she seduced him with her smooth talk (v. 21). And the tragic conclusion: All at once he followed her like an ox going to the slaughter (v. 22) … little knowing it will cost him his life (V. 23).

And so, the author concludes with a final warning:

²⁴ Now then, my sons, listen to me;
    pay attention to what I say.
²⁵ Do not let your heart turn to her ways
    or stray into her paths.
²⁶ Many are the victims she has brought down;
    her slain are a mighty throng.
²⁷ Her house is a highway to the grave,
    leading down to the chambers of death.

 And “spiritual adultery” has the same consequences. In the OT, it obviously referred specifically to worshipping actual idols, but when the NT speaks of this issue it has a broader context.

For example, James in the NT says:

 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God… ⁷ Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you… ¹⁰ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. (James 44, 7-9)

One commentator suggests:

“’Friendship with the world’ describes the problem for the original readers, “the world” being the one with whom James’ audience was committing adultery. “The world” in this context is being used much as it is throughout the Johannine literature of the New Testament, that is, as a designation for that system whose values, loves, and deeds are wholly at odds with what pleases our Creator (1 John 2:15–17)… [for example] An embrace of ungodly speech, jealousy, and selfish ambition … demonstrated how many in [James’] audience loved the world and not the Savior.     https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/spiritual-adultery

Thank God, for the Word of God, which He has provided for us, not to just warn us to avoid the temptations of this world, but also to encourage and strengthen us to do his will by the power of the Spirit of God living within us.

Let me finish with the words of Peter:

² Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

³ His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. ⁴ Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. (2 Peter 1:2-4)