Proverbschapter 7
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Speaks with:Proverbs 5×5Proverbs 6×4Proverbs 9×4Proverbs 4×3Numbers 25×3Proverbs 1×2
Summary
Chapter summary
The seduction watched from a window: a young man void of understanding passes near her corner in the twilight, and the woman meets him, the flattering invitation, the spread couch, the husband away till full moon. 'He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter… as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life.' Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death.
Context
Poetry · Solomon, Agur, Lemuel — Proverbs overview
- A. 1–5 Bind My Commandments Upon Thy Fingers
- B. 6–23 Watched From a Window: the Young Man Void of Understanding
- C. 24–27 Her House Is the Way to Sheol
The outline
A.Bind My Commandments Upon Thy Fingersvv. 1 to 5
Read vv. 1 to 5 →B.Watched From a Window: the Young Man Void of Understandingvv. 6 to 23
Read vv. 6 to 23 →C.Her House Is the Way to Sheolvv. 24 to 27
Read vv. 24 to 27 →
The world behind this chapter
Proverbs 7The history
The scene is watched through a lattice — a wooden screen set in a window opening so that a person inside could see out and the street could not see in. Houses had flat roofs, narrow alleys, and shared corners, and the teacher is describing what he actually saw from an upper room as the light failed.
The woman's opening line is a religious one: "I have peace offerings with me; this day have I payed my vows." The peace offering was the one sacrifice the worshipper ate, and the Law required the meat to be finished within a day or two. So she really does have fresh roast meat and wine at home tonight, and she is using the temple calendar as the invitation.
Her bedroom is described as an expensive room: coverings of tapestry, carved work, fine Egyptian linen, and perfumed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. Every one of those came up the caravan roads from Egypt, Arabia, and further east. This is a wealthy household in a trading capital.
The husband's absence is precise. He "is gone a long journey: he hath taken a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed" — a merchant on a buying trip, back at the new or full moon. She knows the calendar, which means she has planned this.
What it meant to them
First hearers watched a young man walk into an ambush that was baited with religion, luxury, and a schedule. Nothing about it looked like danger from the street.
The closing image is a slaughterhouse — an ox led to the killing, a bird into a snare. To a listener who had led animals to the altar himself, that comparison did something no lecture could do.
Sources cited
- John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews, Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament
- Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Proverbs of Solomon
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on Proverbs 7. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.