13 So she seizes him and kisses him
[k]And with a brazen face she says to him:
14 “[l]I was due to offer peace offerings;
Today I have paid my vows.
15 “Therefore I have come out to meet you,
To seek your presence earnestly, and I have found you.
16 “I have spread my couch with coverings,
With colored linens of Egypt.
17 “I have sprinkled my bed
With myrrh, aloes and cinnamon.
18 “Come, let us drink our fill of love until morning;
Let us delight ourselves with caresses.
19 “For [m]my husband is not at home,
He has gone on a long journey;
20 He has taken a bag of money [n]with him,
At the full moon he will come home.”
21 With her many persuasions she entices him;
With her [o]flattering lips she seduces him.
22 Suddenly he follows her
As an ox goes to the slaughter,
Or as [p]one in fetters to the discipline of a fool,
23 Until an arrow pierces through his liver;
As a bird hastens to the snare,
So he does not know that it will cost him his life.24 Now therefore, my sons, listen to me,
And pay attention to the words of my mouth.
25 Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways,
Do not stray into her paths.
26 For many are the [q]victims she has cast down,
And numerous are all her slain.
27 Her house is the way to Sheol,
Descending to the chambers of death.
How does the “fool” (who could be any one of us) come to fall for this woman? In v. 21, “with her many persuasions” and “with her flattering lips she seduces him.” This woman pulls out all the stops, everything is in order, she’s thought of everything, and after all, she came out just to find this one man. Even better is the line she feeds him in v. 14, as she assures him, “I’m not a bad girl, after all, I just offered sacrifices and paid my vows to God!”
Anyone ought to see through that, to see that she doesn’t care two hoots for God’s law if she fulfills one part, and breaks the seventh commandment. But do we? How often do we make excuses, or say “Oh, I’ll just ask for forgiveness if I did anything wrong…” Rather, we ought to take Solomon’s advice in v. 25, and have nothing to do with such things.
That is, not just adultery, or sexual sin, but anything that threatens to turn our hearts away from God. We would do well to heed the words Paul wrote to the church at Philippi, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”