proverbs 7

Read Proverbs 7 at Bible Gateway.

Hebrew paragraph divisions:

Pro 7:1-27 {p} Treasure the LORD’s commandments; they will keep you from the snare of seduction

Pro 6:20-7:27 chiastic structure:

1a) Pro 6:20-26 {p} Treasure the Torah: it will keep you from destroying your life with an adulteress;

1) Pro 6:20, My son, keep your father’s command + do not forsake your mother’s torah;
2) Pro 6:21-23, Bind them to you, their instruction lights the path of life + keeps you in safety;
3) Pro 6:24, To keep you from the evil woman, from the flattering tongue of a seductress;
4) Pro 6:25, She sets a snare with her beauty and seductive manner;
5) Pro 6:26 {p} But she reduces him to poverty and preys upon his life;

1b.1) Pro 6:27-29, Adultery is a fire which will burn a man/ he shall not be innocent;

1b.2) Pro 6:30-31, He who steals makes restitution;

1c) Pro 6:32a, Whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks understanding;

central axis) Pro 6:32b, He who does so destroys his own soul;

2c) Pro 6:33, The high price: wounds + dishonor + permanent reproach;

2b.1) Pro 6:34, A husband’s fury burns + he will not spare in the day of vengeance;

2b.2) Pro 6:35 {p} He who commits adultery can never make restitution;

2a) Pro 7:1-27 {p} Treasure the Father’s commands: they will preserve you from the seductress who has set a snare for your life;

1) Pro 7:1-2 + 7:24-17 {p} My son, keep + treasure my words + commands within you, and live;
2) Pro 7:3-4, Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart as your sister + nearest kin;
3) Pro 7:5, They may keep you from the immoral woman + seductress who flatters with her words;
4) Pro 7:6-21, The snare of her enticing attire + seductive speech;
5) Pro 7:22-23, He follows her to his own destruction, not knowing it will cost his life.

Let sons treasure up their father’s commandments, and even more so, let us, as children of the living God, treasure up in our hearts the commandments of our wise Father, with which He has instructed us for our good. Let us realize that for us, the one who entices us to sin with flattering lips, putting on a beautiful appearance, is satan, the enemy of our souls. He sets his snares with malice aforethought, in order to steal from us, kill or destroy us, if he can.

David loved the LORD, was filled with the Spirit, and prophesied mightily in songs of praise and worship. Yet, even though he had many wives, he still yielded to adultery with Bathsheba. David’s psalm of love for the LORD’s Torah, Psa 119, was written after he had repented and Solomon had been born. We can see the realization of the depth of his sin and its consequences, and the excellency of Torah, if he had treasured its instruction, inspired much of his teaching to Solomon when he was young, which comes out in the Proverbs that Solomon wrote.

So, as these things were written for our instruction, we learn we need the Spirit, who is our vital breath of life in God, and just as much, we need to love and treasure the Torah, which is our vital bread of life (Mat 4:4), for he who loves the LORD God, loves and keeps His commandments, which proceed from His heart (Joh 14:15).