SUMMARY
Illicit sex has severe consequences.
ANALYSIS
Once again the wisdomWisdom encompasses the qualities of experience, knowledge, and good judgment. The Old Testament book of Proverbs, which sometimes invokes a Woman as the personification of Wisdom, is a collection of aphorisms and moral teachings. Along with other biblical passages, it teaches, "The fear of the... More teachers provide a lesson dealing with sexual behavior. This time the instruction takes the form of a story, clearly and dramatically told. Note that the seduction takes place in the evening (v. 9). The woman is “loud” (v. 11; also 9:13) and thus quite the opposite of the ideal woman portrayed in chapter 31 (note vv. 25-26). She piously claims to be returning from worship services (v. 14). She is married and her husband is away on a long business trip (vv. 19-20). The willing young man is pictured as a pitiful creature unwittingly headed for a trap (vv. 22-23). And the penalty? “It will cost him his life” (v. 23; see also v. 27).
