Proverbs 7:27

7:6-27 Here is an affecting example of the danger of youthful lusts. It is a history or a parable of the most instructive kind. Will any one dare to venture on temptations that lead to impurity, after Solomon has set before his eyes in so lively and plain a manner, the danger of even going near them? Then is he as the man who would dance on the edge of a lofty rock, when he has just seen another fall headlong from the same place. The misery of self-ruined sinners began in disregard to God's blessed commands. We ought daily to pray that we may be kept from running into temptation, else we invite the enemies of our souls to spread snares for us. Ever avoid the neighbourhood of vice. Beware of sins which are said to be pleasant sins. They are the more dangerous, because they most easily gain the heart, and close it against repentance. Do nothing till thou hast well considered the end of it. Were a man to live as long as Methuselah, and to spend all his days in the highest delights sin can offer, one hour of the anguish and tribulation that must follow, would far outweigh them.

Her house is the way to hell,.... Or "ways" (p); the broad highway to it; either to the grave, as "sheol" often signifies; or to hell itself, the place of the damned: to go into her house, and commit wickedness with her, is to take a step to destruction, a large stride towards hell; and, if grace prevent not, will bring a man thither. Who would go into such a house, and much less dwell there, which is the very suburbs of hell? going down to the chambers of death; to enter her chamber, to step into her bed, howsoever decked and adorned, entertaining and inviting it is, not only leads to the chambers of the grave, as the Targum; but to the lowest and innermost parts of hell; the apartments of the second death, the lot of all unclean and idolatrous persons, without repentance and faith. The Phoenicians called Pluto, the god of hell, by the name of Moth (q), a word similar to this used here; and so those chambers are no other than the chambers of hell. Plautus (r) also calls the gate of a whore's house the gate of hell; which agrees with the first clause of the verse. (p) "viae", Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, &c. (q) Sanchoniatho apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 1. p. 38. (r) "Januam hane orci", Bacchides, Acts 3. Sc. 1. v. 1.

27 . the way ] Lit. the ways . The plural may perhaps be used here, and in the similar phrase, the ways of death ( Proverbs 14:12 , Proverbs 16:25 ), to denote that however the paths may differ, the end is the same. hell ] Heb. Sheol . See Proverbs 5:5 , note, and comp. Proverbs 2:18 .

Verse 27. - Her house is the way to hell ( sheol ). A warning fontal in Proverbs 2:18 and Proverbs 5:5 . Viae inferi domus ejus. The plural דַּרְכֵי is well expressed by Hitzig: "Her house forms a multiplicity of ways to hell." Manifold are the ways of destruction to which adultery leads; but they all look to one awful end. Going down to the chambers of death. Once entangled in the toils of the temptress, the victim may pass through many stages, but he ends finally in the lowest depth - destruction of body and soul Spiritual writers see here an adumbration of the seductions of false doctrine, and the late to which it brings all who by it are led astray. Proverbs 7:27

The admonition, having its motive in that which goes before, is now founded on the emphatic finale: 26 For many are the slain whom she hath caused to fall, And many are her slain. 27 A multiplicity of ways to help is her house, Going down to the chambers of death. The translation "for many slain has she laid low" (Syr., Targ., Jerome, Luther) is also syntactically possible; for רבּים can be placed before its substantive after the manner of the demonstratives and numerals (e.g., Nehemiah 9:28, cf. אחד, Sol 4:9), and the accentuation which requires two servants (the usual two Munachs) to the Athnach appears indeed thus to construe it. It is otherwise if רבים here meant magni (thus e.g., Ralbag, and recently Bertheau), and not multi; but רבים and עצמים stand elsewhere in connection with each other in the signification many and numerous, Psalm 35:18; Joel 2:2; Micah 4:3. "Her slain" are those slain by her; the part. pass. is connected with the genitive of the actor, e.g., Proverbs 9:18; cf. (Arab.) ḳatyl âlmḥabbt, of one whom love kills (Fl.). With Proverbs 7:27 cf. Proverbs 2:18; Proverbs 9:18. In 27a, בּיתהּ is not equivalent to בביתה after Proverbs 8:2, also not elliptical and equivalent to דרכי ביתה; the former is unnecessary, the latter is in no case established by Psalm 45:7; Ezra 10:13, nor by Deuteronomy 8:15; 2 Kings 23:17 (see, on the other hand, Philippi's Status Constructus, pp. 87-93).

Rightly Hitzig has: her house forms a multiplicity of ways to hell, in so far as adultery leads by a diversity of ways to hell. Similarly the subject and the predicate vary in number, Proverbs 16:25; Psalm 110:3; Job 26:13; Daniel 9:23, and frequently. If one is once in her house, he may go in this or in that way, but surely his path is to destruction: it consists of many steps to hell, such as lead down (דרך, fem. Isaiah 37:34, masc. Isaiah 30:21) to the extreme depths of death (cf. Job 9:9, "chambers of the south" equals its remotest regions veiling themselves in the invisible); for חדר (Arab. khiddr) is the part of the tent or the house removed farthest back, and the most private (Fl.). These חדרי־מות, cf. עמקי שׁאול, Proverbs 9:18, approach to the conception of גּיהנּם, which is afterwards distinguished from שאול.

[Reformed Biblical] CHAP. VI. 25-29. 65 Specially valuable are this lamp and light in sensual temptation. (Chap. ii. 10, 11, 16-19; v. 1-8; vii. 1-5.) Those who choose their own light fall into a flattering snare. (Chap. ii. 16; vii, 21. The neglect of parental warning will furnish in the end bitter matter for unavailing repentance. (Chap. v. 11–13.) Oh! let the Father's instruction be heard betimes —"Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word." (Ps. xix. 9. Comp. v. 11; xvii. 4.) 25. Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids. 26. For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread: and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life. 27. Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? 28. Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned? 29. So he that goeth in to his neighbour's wife; whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent. Solomon here gives our Lord's own rule. (Matt. v. 28. Comp. Jam. i. 14, 15; Job, xxxi. 1; Ps. cxix. 37; also, Ecclus. ix. 3–5.) Resist lust in its first rising in the heart. By vain beauty,* and wanton eyes,† many a deluded victim has been brought to a piece of bread. ‡ Like the insatiable huntsman, who never loses sight of his prey, till he has pursued it to death; never does the seducer cease to solicit, till she has hunted for the precious life. (Gen. xxxix. 14. Judg. xvi. 18-21. Comp. Ezek. xiii

{a) It is denounced against sin and sinners, and not against the righteous. It is a place to which the wicked are sent, in distinction from the good. " The wicked in a moment go down to sheol," Job 21:13. " The wicked shall be turned into sheol, and all the nations that forget God," Psalms 9:17. "Her steps take hold on sheol," Proverbs 5:5. " Her house is the way to sheol, going down to the chambers of death," Proverbs 7:27. " Her guests are in the depths of sheol," Proverbs 9:18. " Thou slialt beat thy child with a rod, and shalt deliver his soul from sheol," Proverbs 23:14. " A fire is kindled in my anger, and it shall burn to the lowest sheol," Deuteronomy 32:22. "If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there; if I make my bed in sheol [the contrary of heaven], behold thou art there," Psalms 139:8. '• The way of life is above to the wise, that he may depart from sheol beneath," Proverbs 15:24. " Sheol is naked before him, and destruction [Abaddon, R. V,] hath no cover- ing," Job 26:6. " Sheol and destruction [Abaddon, R. Y.] are before the Lord," Proverbs 15:11. " Sheol and destruction [Abaddon, R. V.] are never satisfied," Proverbs 27:20.