Post by Tom Green on Jan 28, 2007 0:47:50 GMT -5
Solomon's Strange Woman
by Gary Stearman
The wisdom of Solomon is immortalized in Scripture. But unlike much
Scripture, his insightful writing has been picked up, assimilated,
memorized, plagiarized and commemorated in the philosophies of the
nations. More often than not, the "wise sayings" of learned men are
traceable back to Proverbs. Even in the secular world, they are
viewed with respect.
Yet, there is something very ironic about Solomon's wisdom. His
vision and dedication were remarkable, but in the end, they were
stained with a downfall of cosmic proportions. In the midst of
power, glory and wealth untold, he acted so unwisely that he split
the kingdom of Israel. Upon his death, one kingdom became two. Jesus
later uttered a concept that perfectly describes the result: "Every
kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house
divided against a house falleth" (Luke 11:17).
Solomon's rule had begun in a time of contesting factions, but he
overcame them, and consolidated the kingdom into a remarkably stable
and ingeniously functional unit. This had come in answer to his
prayer to the Lord for "an understanding heart to judge thy people"
(I Kings 3:9). His administrative skills brought the Kingdom to the
highest level it would ever see, short of the coming Messianic rule.
At his peak, the kings of the Earth acknowledged him as the wisest
man alive, whose teachings were worthy of study and emulation. He is
best known for his Proverbs. Some see them as maxims for the nurture
of the spiritually immature. Certainly, they are that. But, as we
shall see in this study, their profundity as type and symbol are far
deeper than is generally acknowledged.
Though they cannot be assigned an exact date, most expositors
believe that they were written by about 1000 B.C., in his middle
years. In a strange way, the Proverbs present a prophecy that
foreshadows Solomon's own blemished destiny, as well as that of
Israel. In the end, both were consumed in debauchery and pagan
worship that sucked the very life out of them. Yes, both he and
Israel will be resurrected to life in the end of days, but only the
power and judgment of the Messiah will be sufficient to accomplish
this.
Prior to that great event, Israel must fight its greatest war — a
war of global proportions. That war will involve a titanic clash
with a mystery religious system. Its central figure is prophesied
as, "MYSTERY BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS."
This theme was foreshadowed in Solomon's own life battle. His
proverbial advice to the young man is set in a field of spiritual
conflict represented by two women — one called "Wisdom," and the
other called the "Strange Woman." Wisdom represents the maternal
nurture of Godly teaching. She offers true knowledge, coupled with
true worship, love and self-control.
The Strange Woman, on the other hand, represents the dissolution
that comes with worldly lust. Her love is a consuming fire that
ultimately destroys the one who follows her. She also represents the
worship of the fertility goddess, seen through the ages as Ishtar,
Isis, Ashtoreth, Asherah, Artemis, Diana and many others.
The Strange Woman is, in fact, a representation of the allure that
surrounds false religion. She is a seductress who eventually
ensnared even the great and wise Solomon, and the kings of Israel
and Judah. She has many faces, but only one method of operation …
seduction, dissolution and bondage.
The Wisdom Book
With this in mind, let's take a brief walk through some key verses
of Solomon's collection of proverbs. A proverb, from the Hebrew word
mashal [kan], meaning "a comparison or paralleling of concepts," is
designed to evoke deep thought and objectivity. This is the province
of self-examination and meditation. Wisdom is certainly to be found
there, but that is not the whole story.
The opening of Proverbs clearly states its overt purpose … and much,
much more:
"The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;
"To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of
understanding;
"To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and
equity;
"To give subtlety to the simple, to the young man knowledge and
discretion.
"A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of
understanding shall attain unto wise counsels" (Prov. 1:1-5).
In the above introduction, the second verse lays out the objective
of the book, namely to know "wisdom." In our era, this term is
usually perceived as being imbued with great knowledge … perhaps
knowing more than anyone else. In the Hebrew language, however,
wisdom is quite a different thing.
It is described by the word hokhmah [vnfj], meaning "skill." Wisdom,
then, is not mere knowledge; it is skill in living. By extension, it
means "expertise in conducting one's affairs," especially where
walking with the Lord is concerned.
Notice that wisdom is combined with "instruction." Here, the word
means "discipline," from the Hebrew musar [rxun]. So, "wisdom and
instruction" translate to "skill and discipline." It can be easily
seen that what is implied here is not knowledge alone. Rather, it is
knowledge put into action, as in a circumspect style of life.
Thus, Solomon's Proverbs are intended as a tool to teach one –
especially the young man – how to live successfully. This, of
course, is the most obvious intention of the text. Solomon's sayings
have long been used as a guide to living.
But that's only the surface of the matter. The sixth verse takes us
to a new depth:
"To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the
wise, and their dark sayings" (Prov. 1:6).
Here, Solomon is literally saying, "To discern a proverb (kan –
mashal, "a comparison or metaphor), and the enigma; the words of the
wise and their riddles." Far beyond being a list of useful aphorisms
for growing boys, Proverbs is a collection of intertwined metaphors,
so complex that it can never be fully penetrated by human logic.
Like the rest of the Bible, its full depth is known only to God.
Here, however, the reader is encouraged to make the attempt to see
the hidden truth it holds.
The verse above urges the student to understand "a proverb" (kan
mashal – a metaphor), "the interpretation" (vmhkn malitszah – an
enigma), and "dark sayings" (o,shj chidatim – riddles). The student
of wisdom will recognize that Solomon is referring to levels within
levels and circles within circles. Like the layers within an onion,
or the perspectives within a hologram, they require careful
observation and astute analysis.
With that in mind, let us examine Solomon's central metaphor. It is
the woman as the vessel of either life or death.
The Woman Called Wisdom
Proverbs begins with the woman called Wisdom. It ends with the woman
of virtue. The verses between range from the highest to the lowest
levels of social experience … from the thoroughfares to the dark
alleys of the city. Thus, society offers either spiritual growth or
diminution.
It may be argued that the chief influence in Solomon's own life came
in the form of woman, or more accurately, women. After securing his
monarchy, his first recorded act was typical of the rest of his
rule. He married unwisely:
"And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took
Pharaoh's daughter, and brought her into the city of David, until he
had made an end of building his own house, and the house of the
LORD, and the wall of Jerusalem round about.
"Only the people sacrificed in high places, because there was no
house built unto the name of the LORD, until those days" (I Kings
3:1,2).
Political marriage was common. Monarchs often offered their
offspring in marriage to those whom they desired to secure as
allies.
What we see here, at the beginning of Solomon's reign, is a dark
precedent that grew over the next four decades into a dark, abiding
and destructive presence. One woman became a thousand, and one alien
religion became a controlling majority.
Yes, Solomon went on to build the Temple and establish a working
priesthood. He brought blessing to Israel. But in the end, his
pursuit of women resulted in division and weakness, both to himself
and the kingdom of Israel. It is, therefore, enlightening to view
the book of Proverbs with this in mind, for it is the image of the
woman that Solomon uses to illustrate the pursuit of wisdom.
His introductory comments include a warning to the young man who is
tempted to follow the seductive leadership of bad company. He urges
the young man to avoid the allure of the world, warning that only
doom lurks around every corner.
Following this, he evokes an image that is at once strange and
attractive. He depicts wisdom as a woman who walks through the
streets of a city. She is presented in a state of high emotion. She
is passionate about her message and frustrated at continually being
ignored. She offers the solutions to the problems of the world, but
no one will listen to her. Read the following passage and listen to
her words. Who is she, and how may we understand her? As we shall
see, she has many reasons to see herself as ignored and rejected:
"Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:
"She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the
gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying,
"How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners
delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
"Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you,
I will make known my words unto you.
"Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my
hand, and no man regarded;
"But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my
reproof:
"I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear
cometh;
"When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as
a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
"Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall
seek me early, but they shall not find me:
"For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the
LORD:
"They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.
"Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be
filled with their own devices.
"For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the
prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
"But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet
from fear of evil" (Prov. 1:20-33).
This is high drama, as a woman cries out, but no one will listen.
Viewed through the eyes of the woman called Wisdom, the world is a
place that rejects the thing it needs the most. This woman is
shouting. The Hebrew language portrays her as screaming … doing
anything she can to attract attention. She searches the entire city
on the outside chance that she will find someone who will hear her.
She calls out to the naïve, to scoffers and to fools who would
rather believe in their own conceits and imagined "truths" than
listen to her. In fact, they hate her, rather than entertaining what
she has to say. The penalty for ignoring her is death and
destruction.
And for the most part, she is ignored. Thus it is in the world.
Wisdom is ignored. Sometimes we complain that there is a dearth of
common sense, particularly among the educated. Man's wisdom is
convoluted and self-defeating, full of contradictions and conceit.
It is concerned least of all with the practical and with the tried
and proven truths of spiritually enlightened men.
Most of all, it rejects biblical truth … the truth of God. The
calamities that befall man are most often a direct result of having
rejected wisdom. She says that she will laugh at the tragedies of
men, because if they had only listened to her, they might have
avoided all the pitfalls in the first place.
But why is wisdom portrayed as a woman? In the Bible, knowledge of
the Lord is in the hands of patriarchs, prophets, priests and kings.
Yet Solomon sets the drama in the city and the person of an
impassioned woman, crying out, but largely ignored.
We can begin by saying that she represents that to which man is (or
should be) attracted. She represents the magnetism of the human
heart, the biblical symbol of motivation … that thing toward which
man is inwardly directed. It is the heart of man that is wicked.
Because of sin, he is naturally directed toward base motives, not
the higher calling of the Lord. This provides at least a partial
answer to the question.
But a more complete explanation is perhaps best seen by looking at
another woman of Proverbs. She is the diametric opposite of the
first. In her own way, she is as active as the first woman, but far
less open in her methods. She is the seductress – perhaps the woman
with whom Solomon was most familiar.
The Strange Woman
Appearing nine times in Proverbs, she is called the "strange woman."
This expression portrays a woman who has been alienated from
society. She is strange in the sense that she no longer meets the
cultural and moral standards of the community. She is the social
outcast. She is a spiritual alien, who makes sacrifice to foreign
gods. Culturally, she is a harlot. The young man is well advised to
stay away from her, but for a reason he may not suspect. She will
destroy his spirit.
We shall begin by taking a brief look at each of the nine references
to her that we find in Proverbs. The composite picture of this woman
will also give us the clear depiction of a prominent biblical symbol.
She is the very antithesis of wisdom, and answers to the call of
lust. The first time we see her, she is seen as having forsaken the
correct teaching of her upbringing. That is, she has separated
herself from her true home and culture. She is a symbol of
separation, or division:
"To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger
which flattereth with her words;
"Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant
of her God.
"For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead.
"None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the
paths of life.
"That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of
the righteous.
"For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall
remain in it.
"But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the
transgressors shall be rooted out of it" (Prov. 2:16-22).
The most obvious thing we notice about this woman is that she
seduces by flattery. She appeals to the flesh, and to pride. Her
intent is to make the young man think that he is attractive, even as
he stupidly entertains the idea of following her. We think of Samson
in the hands of a Delilah. Her desire was to corrupt the strong man
spiritually, but her appeal was to the flesh.
The Strange Woman is on a path that leads straight toward death, and
here the word for death is rephaim, the term that describes the
unredeemable, spiritually dead.
The second time we see the Strange Woman, the metaphor of death is
extended even to the depths of the underworld:
"My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my
understanding:
" That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep
knowledge.
"For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth
is smoother than oil:
"But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword.
"Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.
"Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable,
that thou canst not know them" (Prov. 5:1-6).
These words resound across the millennia with a startling currency.
One has only to think of a television commercial or a women's
magazine. We live in the age of a thousand seductive shades of
lipstick, but the Bible's picture of luscious lips surpasses them
all. Her attraction, though couched in distinctly physical and
sexual terms, is aimed at the destruction of spiritual life.
Then comes the third discourse upon the Strange Woman. It begins
with a rhetorical question and ends with a statement of
condemnation. Again, sexual sin is only the beginning of a tragic
chain of consequences that lead to spiritual self-destruction:
"And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and
embrace the bosom of a stranger?
"For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he
pondereth all his goings.
"His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be
holden with the cords of his sins.
"He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly
he shall go astray" (Prov. 5:20-23).
In the last verse, the word "instruction" is from the Hebrew term
that means, "discipline." A life of debauchery is ultimately a life
in which self-discipline has disappeared.
Why would someone allow himself to be tied up and held immobile by
his own sins? It's a good question.
In the fourth discussion of the Strange Woman, this idea is picked
up and amplified. It includes the thought that God's Word is the
light of life, and is directly opposed to the passion of the Strange
Woman, which is a consuming fire:
"For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs
of instruction are the way of life:
"To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue
of a strange woman.
"Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee
with her eyelids.
"For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of
bread: and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life.
"Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?"
(Prov. 6:23-27).
To be made a "piece of bread," is to be consumed … to be eaten up.
How amazing that Solomon so forcefully presented these ideas. Anyone
bothering to take the slightest notice of them would never deviate
from biblical wisdom.
That is, the young man should never turn from the woman called
Wisdom to court the Strange Woman. How amazing then, that just a few
years later, Solomon committed this very act, not once but a
thousand times!
How could he have allowed himself to do this? The words of the next
narration may provide us with an answer to this troubling question.
Here, in the fifth appearance of the Strange Woman, Solomon gives an
account of something he once observed:
"That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger
which flattereth with her words.
"For at the window of my house I looked through my casement,
"And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a
young man void of understanding,
"Passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to
her house,
"In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night:
"And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot,
and subtle of heart.
"(She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house:
"Now is she without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every
corner.)
"So she caught him, and kissed him, and with an impudent face said
unto him,
"I have peace offerings with me; this day have I paid my vows"
(Prov. 7:5-14).
With these words, Solomon paints the dark tale of a black night of
youthful indiscretion. Who was this young man? Though he remains
forever unnamed, it is possible that Solomon saw himself in the
image of this hapless youth who was caught in flatteries and
passion, allowing himself to be overwhelmed by her advances. Without
a doubt, it happened to him in one way or another.
Notice her final comment. It is aimed at his last, faltering
objection that he might be judged by God for what he is about to do.
To quell his doubts, she informs him that she is in good standing
with God, having given all the necessary offerings to Him. This sort
of rationalization is not uncommon today: "God would never deny an
evening of pleasure to his own obedient children … would He?" Of
course, religion is the last refuge of the sinning scoundrel.
In the next, and sixth time we have seen her, she is literally
presented as an accident waiting to happen. The one who allows
himself to slip in his walk with the Lord may find himself at the
bottom of a very deep ditch.
"The mouth of strange women is a deep pit: he that is abhorred of
the LORD shall fall therein" (Proverbs 22:14).
This idea is repeated again in the seventh reference to the danger
she presents:
"For a sleeper is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit"
(Prov. 23:27).
And in the eighth allusion to her allure, Solomon notes that she has
the power over one's heart. She can turn it from love to lust:
"Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter
perverse things" (Prov. 23:33).
Finally, in the ninth and last mention of this beguiling stranger,
Solomon tells us that a relationship with her is like giving your
body as collateral for an illicit relationship with her. In other
words, the victim of her charms has sold his soul:
"Take his garment that is surety for a stranger, and take a pledge
of him for a strange woman" (Prov. 27:13).
Throughout the book of Proverbs, the Strange Woman allures and
seduces the unwise. Meanwhile, Wisdom issues a continual public
invitation to those who would partake of her open offering:
"Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars:
"She hath killed her beasts; she hath mingled her wine; she hath
also furnished her table.
"She hath sent forth her maidens: she crieth upon the highest places
of the city,
"Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: as for him that wanteth
understanding, she saith to him,
"Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled"
(Prov. 9:1-5).
Her home is strong and beautiful. She offers a veritable feast!
Meat, drink and all the trimmings are laid out to be consumed by
those who seek wisdom. Why would anyone turn her down? The sad
answer may be witnessed in Solomon's own life.
by Gary Stearman
The wisdom of Solomon is immortalized in Scripture. But unlike much
Scripture, his insightful writing has been picked up, assimilated,
memorized, plagiarized and commemorated in the philosophies of the
nations. More often than not, the "wise sayings" of learned men are
traceable back to Proverbs. Even in the secular world, they are
viewed with respect.
Yet, there is something very ironic about Solomon's wisdom. His
vision and dedication were remarkable, but in the end, they were
stained with a downfall of cosmic proportions. In the midst of
power, glory and wealth untold, he acted so unwisely that he split
the kingdom of Israel. Upon his death, one kingdom became two. Jesus
later uttered a concept that perfectly describes the result: "Every
kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house
divided against a house falleth" (Luke 11:17).
Solomon's rule had begun in a time of contesting factions, but he
overcame them, and consolidated the kingdom into a remarkably stable
and ingeniously functional unit. This had come in answer to his
prayer to the Lord for "an understanding heart to judge thy people"
(I Kings 3:9). His administrative skills brought the Kingdom to the
highest level it would ever see, short of the coming Messianic rule.
At his peak, the kings of the Earth acknowledged him as the wisest
man alive, whose teachings were worthy of study and emulation. He is
best known for his Proverbs. Some see them as maxims for the nurture
of the spiritually immature. Certainly, they are that. But, as we
shall see in this study, their profundity as type and symbol are far
deeper than is generally acknowledged.
Though they cannot be assigned an exact date, most expositors
believe that they were written by about 1000 B.C., in his middle
years. In a strange way, the Proverbs present a prophecy that
foreshadows Solomon's own blemished destiny, as well as that of
Israel. In the end, both were consumed in debauchery and pagan
worship that sucked the very life out of them. Yes, both he and
Israel will be resurrected to life in the end of days, but only the
power and judgment of the Messiah will be sufficient to accomplish
this.
Prior to that great event, Israel must fight its greatest war — a
war of global proportions. That war will involve a titanic clash
with a mystery religious system. Its central figure is prophesied
as, "MYSTERY BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS."
This theme was foreshadowed in Solomon's own life battle. His
proverbial advice to the young man is set in a field of spiritual
conflict represented by two women — one called "Wisdom," and the
other called the "Strange Woman." Wisdom represents the maternal
nurture of Godly teaching. She offers true knowledge, coupled with
true worship, love and self-control.
The Strange Woman, on the other hand, represents the dissolution
that comes with worldly lust. Her love is a consuming fire that
ultimately destroys the one who follows her. She also represents the
worship of the fertility goddess, seen through the ages as Ishtar,
Isis, Ashtoreth, Asherah, Artemis, Diana and many others.
The Strange Woman is, in fact, a representation of the allure that
surrounds false religion. She is a seductress who eventually
ensnared even the great and wise Solomon, and the kings of Israel
and Judah. She has many faces, but only one method of operation …
seduction, dissolution and bondage.
The Wisdom Book
With this in mind, let's take a brief walk through some key verses
of Solomon's collection of proverbs. A proverb, from the Hebrew word
mashal [kan], meaning "a comparison or paralleling of concepts," is
designed to evoke deep thought and objectivity. This is the province
of self-examination and meditation. Wisdom is certainly to be found
there, but that is not the whole story.
The opening of Proverbs clearly states its overt purpose … and much,
much more:
"The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;
"To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of
understanding;
"To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and
equity;
"To give subtlety to the simple, to the young man knowledge and
discretion.
"A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of
understanding shall attain unto wise counsels" (Prov. 1:1-5).
In the above introduction, the second verse lays out the objective
of the book, namely to know "wisdom." In our era, this term is
usually perceived as being imbued with great knowledge … perhaps
knowing more than anyone else. In the Hebrew language, however,
wisdom is quite a different thing.
It is described by the word hokhmah [vnfj], meaning "skill." Wisdom,
then, is not mere knowledge; it is skill in living. By extension, it
means "expertise in conducting one's affairs," especially where
walking with the Lord is concerned.
Notice that wisdom is combined with "instruction." Here, the word
means "discipline," from the Hebrew musar [rxun]. So, "wisdom and
instruction" translate to "skill and discipline." It can be easily
seen that what is implied here is not knowledge alone. Rather, it is
knowledge put into action, as in a circumspect style of life.
Thus, Solomon's Proverbs are intended as a tool to teach one –
especially the young man – how to live successfully. This, of
course, is the most obvious intention of the text. Solomon's sayings
have long been used as a guide to living.
But that's only the surface of the matter. The sixth verse takes us
to a new depth:
"To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the
wise, and their dark sayings" (Prov. 1:6).
Here, Solomon is literally saying, "To discern a proverb (kan –
mashal, "a comparison or metaphor), and the enigma; the words of the
wise and their riddles." Far beyond being a list of useful aphorisms
for growing boys, Proverbs is a collection of intertwined metaphors,
so complex that it can never be fully penetrated by human logic.
Like the rest of the Bible, its full depth is known only to God.
Here, however, the reader is encouraged to make the attempt to see
the hidden truth it holds.
The verse above urges the student to understand "a proverb" (kan
mashal – a metaphor), "the interpretation" (vmhkn malitszah – an
enigma), and "dark sayings" (o,shj chidatim – riddles). The student
of wisdom will recognize that Solomon is referring to levels within
levels and circles within circles. Like the layers within an onion,
or the perspectives within a hologram, they require careful
observation and astute analysis.
With that in mind, let us examine Solomon's central metaphor. It is
the woman as the vessel of either life or death.
The Woman Called Wisdom
Proverbs begins with the woman called Wisdom. It ends with the woman
of virtue. The verses between range from the highest to the lowest
levels of social experience … from the thoroughfares to the dark
alleys of the city. Thus, society offers either spiritual growth or
diminution.
It may be argued that the chief influence in Solomon's own life came
in the form of woman, or more accurately, women. After securing his
monarchy, his first recorded act was typical of the rest of his
rule. He married unwisely:
"And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took
Pharaoh's daughter, and brought her into the city of David, until he
had made an end of building his own house, and the house of the
LORD, and the wall of Jerusalem round about.
"Only the people sacrificed in high places, because there was no
house built unto the name of the LORD, until those days" (I Kings
3:1,2).
Political marriage was common. Monarchs often offered their
offspring in marriage to those whom they desired to secure as
allies.
What we see here, at the beginning of Solomon's reign, is a dark
precedent that grew over the next four decades into a dark, abiding
and destructive presence. One woman became a thousand, and one alien
religion became a controlling majority.
Yes, Solomon went on to build the Temple and establish a working
priesthood. He brought blessing to Israel. But in the end, his
pursuit of women resulted in division and weakness, both to himself
and the kingdom of Israel. It is, therefore, enlightening to view
the book of Proverbs with this in mind, for it is the image of the
woman that Solomon uses to illustrate the pursuit of wisdom.
His introductory comments include a warning to the young man who is
tempted to follow the seductive leadership of bad company. He urges
the young man to avoid the allure of the world, warning that only
doom lurks around every corner.
Following this, he evokes an image that is at once strange and
attractive. He depicts wisdom as a woman who walks through the
streets of a city. She is presented in a state of high emotion. She
is passionate about her message and frustrated at continually being
ignored. She offers the solutions to the problems of the world, but
no one will listen to her. Read the following passage and listen to
her words. Who is she, and how may we understand her? As we shall
see, she has many reasons to see herself as ignored and rejected:
"Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:
"She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the
gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying,
"How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners
delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
"Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you,
I will make known my words unto you.
"Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my
hand, and no man regarded;
"But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my
reproof:
"I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear
cometh;
"When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as
a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
"Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall
seek me early, but they shall not find me:
"For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the
LORD:
"They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.
"Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be
filled with their own devices.
"For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the
prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
"But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet
from fear of evil" (Prov. 1:20-33).
This is high drama, as a woman cries out, but no one will listen.
Viewed through the eyes of the woman called Wisdom, the world is a
place that rejects the thing it needs the most. This woman is
shouting. The Hebrew language portrays her as screaming … doing
anything she can to attract attention. She searches the entire city
on the outside chance that she will find someone who will hear her.
She calls out to the naïve, to scoffers and to fools who would
rather believe in their own conceits and imagined "truths" than
listen to her. In fact, they hate her, rather than entertaining what
she has to say. The penalty for ignoring her is death and
destruction.
And for the most part, she is ignored. Thus it is in the world.
Wisdom is ignored. Sometimes we complain that there is a dearth of
common sense, particularly among the educated. Man's wisdom is
convoluted and self-defeating, full of contradictions and conceit.
It is concerned least of all with the practical and with the tried
and proven truths of spiritually enlightened men.
Most of all, it rejects biblical truth … the truth of God. The
calamities that befall man are most often a direct result of having
rejected wisdom. She says that she will laugh at the tragedies of
men, because if they had only listened to her, they might have
avoided all the pitfalls in the first place.
But why is wisdom portrayed as a woman? In the Bible, knowledge of
the Lord is in the hands of patriarchs, prophets, priests and kings.
Yet Solomon sets the drama in the city and the person of an
impassioned woman, crying out, but largely ignored.
We can begin by saying that she represents that to which man is (or
should be) attracted. She represents the magnetism of the human
heart, the biblical symbol of motivation … that thing toward which
man is inwardly directed. It is the heart of man that is wicked.
Because of sin, he is naturally directed toward base motives, not
the higher calling of the Lord. This provides at least a partial
answer to the question.
But a more complete explanation is perhaps best seen by looking at
another woman of Proverbs. She is the diametric opposite of the
first. In her own way, she is as active as the first woman, but far
less open in her methods. She is the seductress – perhaps the woman
with whom Solomon was most familiar.
The Strange Woman
Appearing nine times in Proverbs, she is called the "strange woman."
This expression portrays a woman who has been alienated from
society. She is strange in the sense that she no longer meets the
cultural and moral standards of the community. She is the social
outcast. She is a spiritual alien, who makes sacrifice to foreign
gods. Culturally, she is a harlot. The young man is well advised to
stay away from her, but for a reason he may not suspect. She will
destroy his spirit.
We shall begin by taking a brief look at each of the nine references
to her that we find in Proverbs. The composite picture of this woman
will also give us the clear depiction of a prominent biblical symbol.
She is the very antithesis of wisdom, and answers to the call of
lust. The first time we see her, she is seen as having forsaken the
correct teaching of her upbringing. That is, she has separated
herself from her true home and culture. She is a symbol of
separation, or division:
"To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger
which flattereth with her words;
"Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant
of her God.
"For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead.
"None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the
paths of life.
"That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of
the righteous.
"For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall
remain in it.
"But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the
transgressors shall be rooted out of it" (Prov. 2:16-22).
The most obvious thing we notice about this woman is that she
seduces by flattery. She appeals to the flesh, and to pride. Her
intent is to make the young man think that he is attractive, even as
he stupidly entertains the idea of following her. We think of Samson
in the hands of a Delilah. Her desire was to corrupt the strong man
spiritually, but her appeal was to the flesh.
The Strange Woman is on a path that leads straight toward death, and
here the word for death is rephaim, the term that describes the
unredeemable, spiritually dead.
The second time we see the Strange Woman, the metaphor of death is
extended even to the depths of the underworld:
"My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my
understanding:
" That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep
knowledge.
"For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth
is smoother than oil:
"But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword.
"Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.
"Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable,
that thou canst not know them" (Prov. 5:1-6).
These words resound across the millennia with a startling currency.
One has only to think of a television commercial or a women's
magazine. We live in the age of a thousand seductive shades of
lipstick, but the Bible's picture of luscious lips surpasses them
all. Her attraction, though couched in distinctly physical and
sexual terms, is aimed at the destruction of spiritual life.
Then comes the third discourse upon the Strange Woman. It begins
with a rhetorical question and ends with a statement of
condemnation. Again, sexual sin is only the beginning of a tragic
chain of consequences that lead to spiritual self-destruction:
"And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and
embrace the bosom of a stranger?
"For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he
pondereth all his goings.
"His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be
holden with the cords of his sins.
"He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly
he shall go astray" (Prov. 5:20-23).
In the last verse, the word "instruction" is from the Hebrew term
that means, "discipline." A life of debauchery is ultimately a life
in which self-discipline has disappeared.
Why would someone allow himself to be tied up and held immobile by
his own sins? It's a good question.
In the fourth discussion of the Strange Woman, this idea is picked
up and amplified. It includes the thought that God's Word is the
light of life, and is directly opposed to the passion of the Strange
Woman, which is a consuming fire:
"For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs
of instruction are the way of life:
"To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue
of a strange woman.
"Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee
with her eyelids.
"For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of
bread: and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life.
"Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?"
(Prov. 6:23-27).
To be made a "piece of bread," is to be consumed … to be eaten up.
How amazing that Solomon so forcefully presented these ideas. Anyone
bothering to take the slightest notice of them would never deviate
from biblical wisdom.
That is, the young man should never turn from the woman called
Wisdom to court the Strange Woman. How amazing then, that just a few
years later, Solomon committed this very act, not once but a
thousand times!
How could he have allowed himself to do this? The words of the next
narration may provide us with an answer to this troubling question.
Here, in the fifth appearance of the Strange Woman, Solomon gives an
account of something he once observed:
"That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger
which flattereth with her words.
"For at the window of my house I looked through my casement,
"And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a
young man void of understanding,
"Passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to
her house,
"In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night:
"And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot,
and subtle of heart.
"(She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house:
"Now is she without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every
corner.)
"So she caught him, and kissed him, and with an impudent face said
unto him,
"I have peace offerings with me; this day have I paid my vows"
(Prov. 7:5-14).
With these words, Solomon paints the dark tale of a black night of
youthful indiscretion. Who was this young man? Though he remains
forever unnamed, it is possible that Solomon saw himself in the
image of this hapless youth who was caught in flatteries and
passion, allowing himself to be overwhelmed by her advances. Without
a doubt, it happened to him in one way or another.
Notice her final comment. It is aimed at his last, faltering
objection that he might be judged by God for what he is about to do.
To quell his doubts, she informs him that she is in good standing
with God, having given all the necessary offerings to Him. This sort
of rationalization is not uncommon today: "God would never deny an
evening of pleasure to his own obedient children … would He?" Of
course, religion is the last refuge of the sinning scoundrel.
In the next, and sixth time we have seen her, she is literally
presented as an accident waiting to happen. The one who allows
himself to slip in his walk with the Lord may find himself at the
bottom of a very deep ditch.
"The mouth of strange women is a deep pit: he that is abhorred of
the LORD shall fall therein" (Proverbs 22:14).
This idea is repeated again in the seventh reference to the danger
she presents:
"For a sleeper is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit"
(Prov. 23:27).
And in the eighth allusion to her allure, Solomon notes that she has
the power over one's heart. She can turn it from love to lust:
"Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter
perverse things" (Prov. 23:33).
Finally, in the ninth and last mention of this beguiling stranger,
Solomon tells us that a relationship with her is like giving your
body as collateral for an illicit relationship with her. In other
words, the victim of her charms has sold his soul:
"Take his garment that is surety for a stranger, and take a pledge
of him for a strange woman" (Prov. 27:13).
Throughout the book of Proverbs, the Strange Woman allures and
seduces the unwise. Meanwhile, Wisdom issues a continual public
invitation to those who would partake of her open offering:
"Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars:
"She hath killed her beasts; she hath mingled her wine; she hath
also furnished her table.
"She hath sent forth her maidens: she crieth upon the highest places
of the city,
"Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: as for him that wanteth
understanding, she saith to him,
"Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled"
(Prov. 9:1-5).
Her home is strong and beautiful. She offers a veritable feast!
Meat, drink and all the trimmings are laid out to be consumed by
those who seek wisdom. Why would anyone turn her down? The sad
answer may be witnessed in Solomon's own life.