Proverbs 6:25

6:20-35 The word of God has something to say to us upon all occasions. Let not faithful reproofs ever make us uneasy. When we consider how much this sin abounds, how heinous adultery is in its own nature, of what evil consequence it is, and how certainly it destroys the spiritual life in the soul, we shall not wonder that the cautions against it are so often repeated. Let us notice the subjects of this chapter. Let us remember Him who willingly became our Surety, when we were strangers and enemies. And shall Christians, who have such prospects, motives, and examples, be slothful and careless? Shall we neglect what is pleasing to God, and what he will graciously reward? May we closely watch every sense by which poison can enter our minds or affections.

Lust not after her beauty in thine heart,.... Do not look upon it with the eye, nor dwell upon it in the thought; the one will lead on to and kindle last in the heart, and the other will cherish it and blow it up into a flame; and lust thus conceived and nourished in the heart is no other than committing adultery, Matthew 5:28 ; neither let her take thee with her eyelids; let her not take thee from instruction with them, so Aben Ezra, from attending to that; or let her not take thy wisdom from thee, so Jarchi; or rather let her not take thee as in a net, with the sparkling of her eyes, with the wanton and amorous glances of them; so the Syriac version, "let her not captivate thee", &c. which applied to the antichristian church, may signify the outward pomp and grandeur of it, its pretensions to antiquity, to the apostolic see, to infallibility, miracles, great devotion, &c. which are taking to men, and are the Circean cup with which she bewitches and allures, Revelation 17:4. The Targum is, "let her not seduce thee,'' &c.

25 . eyelids ] Painted probably after the Eastern fashion. Comp. 2 Kings 9:30 . “They paint or blacken the eyelids with kǒhl , and prolong the application in a descending pencil, so as to lengthen and reduce the eye in appearance to what is called almond shape . The practice is extremely ancient, for such painted eyes are found in the oldest Egyptian tombs. It imparts a peculiar brilliancy to the eye and a languishing amorous cast to the whole countenance.” Thomson, Land and Book , p. 461.

Verse 25. - To keep thee from the evil woman. The specific object to which the discourse was tending. The "commandment" and the "law" illuminate the path of true life generally, but in a special degree they, if attended to, will guard the young against sins of impurity, fornication, and adultery. The evil woman (Hebrew, esheth ra ); strictly, a woman of evil , or vileness, or of a wicked disposition, addicted to evil in an extraordinary degree; ra being here a substantive standing in a genitive relation to esheth, as in Proverbs 2:12 , "The way of evil ( derek ra )." Cf. also tah'pukoth ra, perverstates mali ( Proverbs 2:14 ), and makh'sh'voth ra, cogitationes mali ( Proverbs 15:26 ), and an'shey ra , viri mali ( Proverbs 28:5 ). The Vulgate, however, gives an adjectival force to ra rendering, it muliere mala. The LXX. ἀπὸ γυναικὸς , i.e. "from the married woman," arises from reading rea , "a companion," for ra , "evil." From the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman; i.e. from her enticements; Hebrew, mekhel'kath lashon noh'riyyah ; literally, "from the smoothness of a strange tongue," as in the margin.

Zockler, however, proposes an emendation of the Masoretic text, and substitutes the construct case, l'shon , for the absolute, lashon , rendering as in the Authorized Version, on the ground that the emphasis lies, not on the "tongue," which would be the case if we render "of a strange tongue," but on "the strange woman," who is the subject of the discourse, as in Proverbs 2:16 and Proverbs 5:20. But nok'riyyah is feminine of the adjective nok'ri , ann in agreement with lashon , which, though common, is more frequently feminine (Gesenius), and hence the two words may stand in agreement. The marginal reading is to be preferred (Wordsworth). Again, me - khel'kath , the construct ease of khel'kah , literally, "smoothness," and metaphorically flattery, with the prefix me , forms one member of the phrase, while the compound expression, lashon nok'riyyah , forms the second. Ewald and Bertheau render, "from the smooth-tongued, the strange woman," thus connecting mekhel'kath lashon , and regarding nok'riyyah as a separate and distinct idea. They agree with Symmachus and Theodotion, ἀπὸ λειογλώσσου ξένης , i.e. "from the smooth-tongued or flattering stranger." So the Vulgate, a blanda lingua extraneae, i.e. from the smooth tongue of the strange woman. The LXX. again favours the marginal reading, ἀπὸ διαβολῆς γλώσσης ἀλλοτρίας , "from the slander of a strange tongue." So the Chaldee Paraphrase.