Be Warned: Proverbs 5-6

Proverbs 5:3-4 (ESV)

For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey,

and her speech is smoother than oil,

but in the end she is bitter as wormwood,

sharp as a two-edged sword.

..."

In the Book of Proverbs Solomon uses the picture of an adulterous as an actual woman enticing young men to sin sexually and as a metaphor for folly or foolish living. In the above proverb you see the former and understand the application to the later. No adulterous uses foolish speech to warn her victim of what is their most certain death. No, she uses enticing words; words that drip like honey off the lip. But the end is bitter and cuts through a life and family like a sword. Satan’s bait in our lives is the same. He drips honey in front of us only to stab us with the sharp knife he holds behind his back.

The book of Proverbs is about the contrast between Wisdom and Folly. The first nine chapters are more pronounced in that message.  Often, Wisdom and Folly are personified as a woman. In chapter 8 we will read of wisdom as a woman on the street soliciting passer-bys to turn to her. In chapter 7 we will read of folly as a prostitute doing the same thing on the corner of the street. In chapter five we see a similar graphic description of folly. In the above two proverbs we see the contrast between a person of wisdom, whose "lips" hold onto knowledge and the "lips" of the foolish women (again, an adulterous) who rather than "ponder" her path finds an "unstable" road and doesn't even know it. Those who fail to ponder will fail to even know they are in unstable areas. Wisdom (that which flows from God and is found in Christ ... 1 Corinthians 1:30) is available to those who wish to hold it or "reserve" it (verse 3). But to those who reject it (reject God and Christ ... Psalm 14:1) also reject safety and security. God will lead those who seek wisdom with discretion and clarity (see Proverbs 5:1-2). But reject it and instability and chaos takes over. Those who seek wisdom are warned to avoid this women of the street (folly) and turn to and trust God to supply their needs. Folly will pretend to supply what we want but only God via wisdom found in Christ can really provide stability and peace. Seek wisdom and avoid folly is the message of proverbs.   When we meet folly we have to remember that her speech is like precious oil and fine wine.   We might like the taste of folly but in the end it is like eating a wormwood, a sharp two-edged sword.  The wormwood plant was known to be bitter and poisonous (see below).  Therefore, Solomon is telling us that taking part with folly is like thinking you are having a dinner full of honey and oil, only to be later found dying from a meal laced with poison.    

Wormwood:  Proverbs 5:3-4 (ESV)

For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey,

and her speech is smoother than oil,

but in the end she is bitter as wormwood,

sharp as a two-edged sword.

..."

Note:

Wormwood (Pulpit Commentary)

Bitter as wormwood. The Hebrew, laanah, "wormwood," Gesenius derives from the unused root laan, "to curse." It is the equivalent to the absinthium of the Vulgate. So Aquila, who has ἀψίνθιον. The LXX. improperly renders χολή, "gall." In other places the word laanah is used as the emblem of bitterness, with the superadded idea of its being poisonous, also according to the Hebrew notion, shared in also by the Greeks, that the plant combined these two qualities. Thus in Deuteronomy 29:18 it is associated with rosh, "a poisonful herb" (margin), and the Targum terms it, agreeably with this notion, "deadly wormwood." The same belief is reproduced in Revelation 8:11, "And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and many men died of the waters because they were made bitter" (cf. Jeremiah 9:15; Amos 5:7: 6:12). The apostle, no doubt, has it in mind when he speaks of any "root of bitterness," in Hebrews 12:15. The herb is thus described by Umbreit: "It is a plant toward two feet high, belonging to the genus Artemisia (species Artemisia absinthium), which produces a very firm stalk with many branches, grayish leaves, and small, almost round, pendent blossoms. It has a bitter and saline taste, and seems to have been regarded in the East as also a poison, of which the frequent combination with rosh gives an intimation." Terence has a strikingly similar passage to the one before us

Enter the Sanctuary of God - Psalms 72-74

Psalms 73:16-17 (ESV)

But when I thought how to understand this,

it seemed to me a wearisome task,

until I went into the sanctuary of God;

then I discerned their end.

The writer of Psalms 73 (Asaph) is finding himself in an odd place.  He is envious of the wicked.  By his personal observations he is noting that the wicked seem to have advantage over those who serve God.   He states earlier in the chapter:

1. They have to pangs in their death (v. 4)

2. They are not in trouble as others are (v. 5)

3. They are covered with violence with no regard (v. 6)

4. They are so full of fatness their eyes bulge out (v. 7)

5. They scoff and speak with malice (v. 8)

6. They set their mouths toward heaven (v. 9)

In all this, God seems to allow them to live the way they want.  This is making Asaph jealous and bitter.   This is where the above passage comes into play.  He was in total confusion and in total weariness trying to understand this.  His mind could not wrap around this injustice.   It was not until he went into the sanctuary of God that he understood.   It is in God’s presence that we can understand the world and what God is doing in the world.   God has not closed His eyes to the wicked.  Once Asaph comes into God’s presence he understands their end.  When He sees God’s holiness he knows that God, in the end, will deal with these presumptuous people.   They can laugh and rejoice now, but in the end, God will deal with them.  Note what Asaph concludes at the end:

Psalms 73:18-20 (ESV)

Truly you set them in slippery places;

you make them fall to ruin.

How they are destroyed in a moment,

swept away utterly by terrors!

Like a dream when one awakes,

O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.

It is only when we understand God that we can understand the world.   Let us not envy the world.  Let us have pity and prayer because their fate is sealed by the holiness of God. To do that we must come into the sanctuary of God. 

One Generation Brings Down A Nation - 1 Kings 14-17

1 Kings 14:21-25 (ESV)

Now Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city that the LORD had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite. And Judah did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins that they committed, more than all that their fathers had done. For they also built for themselves high places and pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree, and there were also male cult prostitutes in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations that the LORD drove out before the people of Israel.

In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem.

One generation!  That is all it took for Israel and Judah to fall into sin and have their enemies come up against them.   King David and Solomon had set up the kingdom for God’s glory and their good.   Solomon, late in life, however, began to wavier as to his service to God.  His son, Rehoboam, brought them completely down in just one short breath of leadership.   In the first part of chapter 14 we read that Jeroboam did the same thing to the northern tribes.   That is all it took.  One generation is all it takes.   It is too bad neither of them remembered or practiced what King David writer earlier:

Psalms 145:4-7 (ESV)

One generation shall commend your works to another,

and shall declare your mighty acts.

On the glorious splendor of your majesty,

and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.

They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds,

and I will declare your greatness.

They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness

and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.

When the transfer of God’s word and God’s commands does not take place from one generation to the next, this is what you experience.   

Be Intentional About Your Sin - Leviticus 4-6

Leviticus 4:1-2 (ESV)

And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, If anyone sins unintentionally in any of the LORD’S commandments about things not to be done, and does any one of them,

Apparently, ignorance is not an excuse. The above verses outline what’s going to happen in chapter 4. Moses is instructed to give the nation of Israel, understanding about unintentional sins. He has covered intentional sins. Now God wants to make sure they understand that even if they do something unintentional, it still requires a sacrifice. 

Most people probably don’t think this way. Most people probably believe that when we do something unintentionally to are just naturally forgiven. They believe their ignorance is bliss. We typically don’t even want to know what we did.

In God’s character there is a need to avoid all sin. He is holy so we should be holy.  When we fail in holiness, it demands sacrifice. It demands forgiveness. Throughout chapter 4, we read about this unintentional sin and what happens when someone comes to the understanding that they have committed an act toward God. Is it at that moment that they are responsible to come to God in confession and sacrifice. Today our sacrifice is His Son, Jesus Christ. But we are still supposed to come to the understanding that we have sinned against him.  All sin requires a sacrifice.  Back then, it was bulls, lambs, goats, turtle doves, and even fine flower. Today, it is Christ’s blood.  But in each case, the sinner needs to come to the understanding that they have committed the sin against God. Unintentional or not, the sacrifice needs to be intentional. The confession needs to be intentional. Coming to God in holiness needs to be intentional.

But God …! Ephesians 1-3

Ephesians 2:1-4a (ESV)

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, .. 

Throughout the beginning words of Ephesians, Paul is bringing to the minds of the church at Ephesus what they were without Christ and what they now are, in Christ.   The above passage being one of the most powerful of all those statements.  

Before God intervened in their lives (and ours) they were: 

1. Dead in trespasses and sin
2. Walked in trespasses and sin
3. Following the course of the world 
4. Following the prince of the air
5. Following the spirit of the sons of disobedience
6. Living in the passions of our flesh
7. Carrying out the desires of the body
8. Carrying out the desires of the mind
9. Were by nature children of wrath
10. Just like the rest of mankind

But God ...!  This is the most marvelous statement to follow that list of evilness.   God intervened in our lives and now calls us the Sons’ of God.   We are now children of God.  We once were not but now are His! This is the Gospel message.  This is what God saved us from.  

Stay Awake - Luke 11-12

Luke 12:54-56 (ESV)

He also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you say at once, ‘A shower is coming.’ And so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat,’ and it happens. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?

When it comes to the end times, Paul added this:

2 Timothy 3:1-5 (ESV)

But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.

Jesus is warning us to pay attention to the signs.   The early church thought Christ was coming immediately.   As He has delayed His coming (in human terms) we get more and more mellow about the end.   Yet, the New Testament writers used Christ’s return as a motivation for living a pure life.  

1 John 3:3 (ESV)

And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

James 5:7 (ESV)

Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains.

James 5:8 (ESV)

You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.

2 Peter 1:16 (ESV)

For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

We have allowed ourselves to fall asleep.   Yet, on numerous occasions Jesus told us to stay awake for His coming:

Matthew 24:42 (ESV)

Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.

Mark 13:35 (ESV)

Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning—

Luke 21:36 (ESV)

But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

The rhythm of the world is meant to cast us into deep sleep.  Wake up!  He is coming!! 

Remember how the Bible ends:

Revelation 1:7-8 (ESV)

BEHOLD, HE IS COMING WITH THE CLOUDS, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

Rev 3:11

[Indeed] I am coming soon.

Rev 16:15

Indeed, I am coming like a thief.

Rev 22:7

Indeed, I am coming soon.

Rev 22:12

Indeed, I am coming soon

Revelation 22:20 (ESV)

20 He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!

Disobedience to God Brings Discipline by God - Ezekiel 1-6

Ezekiel 5:5-8 (ESV)

“Thus says the Lord GOD: This is Jerusalem. I have set her in the center of the nations, with countries all around her. And she has rebelled against my rules by doing wickedness more than the nations, and against my statutes more than the countries all around her; for they have rejected my rules and have not walked in my statutes. Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Because you are more turbulent than the nations that are all around you, and have not walked in my statutes or obeyed my rules, and have not even acted according to the rules of the nations that are all around you, therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I, even I, am against you. And I will execute judgments in your midst in the sight of the nations.

There was no secret as to what God was going to do with Israel.  Ezekiel was to carry the message of doom and destruction.   His message would be rejected by them, but he was still obligated and empowered by God to give it.  This was all because they failed to obey God’s commands.   Disobedience to God’s commands will always bring judgment by God.  This was true then and it is true now. Somehow we think we can walk out of step with God and we will still find God’s favor.   Although positionally we might be saved as New Testament believers, our obedience to His word is still paramount.   The Bible is full of those who disobeyed God and suffered the consequences.   There is no escaping disobedience.   Ezekiel’s entire mission was centered around this thought.  Keeping others in the way of obedience ought to be all of our goal. 

Romans 15:1-2 (ESV)

We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.

Galatians 6:1 (ESV)

Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.

James 5:19-20 (ESV)

My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.