Pro 7:1-27 Keep My Commandments, and Live
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Pro 7:1-27
“Keep My Commandments, and Live”
[Study Aired Jan 2, 2024]
“Blessed are they who read, hear, and keep the sayings of this book” (Rev 1:3) includes this seventh chapter of Proverbs, and there is not one section of scripture that does not have some application to what God is doing in His workmanship that we are (2Ti 3:16 , Eph 2:10).
We are only “reading, and hearing and keeping the words of God” if we have been blessed to have been given eyes that see and ears that hear those words (Mat 13:16).
Rev 1:3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.
Mat 13:16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.
These opening verses of (Pro 7:1-5) are full of admonition for God’s elect to be wholehearted in our pursuit of truth as we present our lives to God as living sacrifices (Rom 12:1-2), knowing that with such a heart and desire we will be kept “from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words”, which represents Babylon’s flattering words and ways, described in these verses, (Pro 7:6-12), that consist of her two hundred million lies (Rev 9:16-18).
Rom 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Rom 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.Rev 9:16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.
Babylon promised our head, Jesus Christ, all the abundant riches that she possesses, through Satan (Pro 7:13-21 , Mat 4:4-11 , 1Jn 4:17). Christ rejected all such abundance, and the church would later confirm that all the riches of this world are not to be compared to the glory of knowing God and his Son Jesus Christ (Php 3:8-9).
Mat 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Then, the next section of Proverbs we will look at, (Pro 7:22-23), reminds us that we are all overtaken by Babylon and go into her, so that we can ‘come out of her my people’, Lord willing in this age. Christ is typified by Moses having gone into Egypt, the world, the flesh realm, and was called out of it (sinful flesh), called to lose his life as we are, in order to find it (Mat 16:25 , Rev 18:4). Moses is typical of Christ who is the author and finisher of our sojourn of faith (Heb 12:2) that takes the Israel of God out of Egypt, out of Babylon (Hos 11:1 , Gal 6:16 , Rev 18:4).
Hos 11:1 When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt (1Jn 3:1).
Gal 6:16 And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.
Rev 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people [the Israel of God], that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
The final admonition for God’s elect in this seventh chapter is found in (Pro 7:24-27), where we’re commanded to make our ways ‘straight’ (Mat 7:13-14).
Mat 7:13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction (Mat 7:26-27), and many there be which go in thereat: (Mat 22:14)
Mat 7:14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.(Mat 22:14)
Pro 7:1 My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee.
Pro 7:2 Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the appleH380 of thine eye.
This section of scripture gives us instruction on how to wholeheartedly serve the Lord. First and foremost we are to “keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee“(Rev 1:3 , Mat 6:33-34 , Rom 10:17 , Eph 6:16).
Rev 1:3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.
Mat 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Mat 6:34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
If we take anxious thought for the morrow, that will become our focus, as opposed to seeking the kingdom of God first, and so it is only when we keep God’s commandments that we can truly enter into life (Mat_19:17), by making His law the appleH380 of our eye. When we have a singular focus on Christ, looking to the author and finisher of our faith (Heb 12:2), we are putting that relationship of faith above all other relationships. In other words, if we make Christ’s example the apple of our eye, we will find Him, and God will make His strength perfect through those who abide in the truth, which is where our Father and Christ will make their abode (Rom 12:1-3 , Mat 6:33 , 2Co 11:3 , Joh 14:20-23).
2Co 11:3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity [singleness]G572 that is in Christ.
Joh 14:20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.
Joh 14:21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
Joh 14:22 Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?
Joh 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.apple H380. ‘ı̂yshôn
BDB Definition:
1) pupil of the eye
2) middle of the night (that is the deepest blackness)Part of Speech: noun masculine
A Related Word by BDB/Strong’s Number: diminutive fromsimplicity G572 haplotēs hap-lot’-ace
From G573; singleness, that is, (subjectively) sincerity (without dissimulation or self seeking), or (objectively) generosity (copious bestowal): – bountifulness, liberal (-ity), simplicity, singleness.
Total KJV occurrences: 8Mat 6:21 For where your treasure is (2Co 4:7), there will your heart be also.
Mat 6:22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be singleG573, thy whole body shall be full of light.
Pro 7:3 Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart.
Pro 7:4 Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; and call understanding thy kinswoman:
Pro 7:5 That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words.
There is a saying in the earth that goes, “blood is thicker than water”. In other words, Adamic relationships with our family should take precedence over all other physical relationships we have in the world. In principle this is true, “if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel” (1Ti 5:8).
For God’s elect however, [spiritual] water must become thicker than [adamic] blood, through a miraculous relationship that Christ and his body have, where we are commanded to, “As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith” (Gal 6:10), but not to the exclusion or neglecting of our own physical families. We can take care of the world as we have opportunity, but we can only be washed with the water of the word, or the blood of Christ, via the body of Christ who are our brothers and sisters in the Lord (Joh 13:14 , Eph 5:26, 1Jn 5:8 , Mat 12:48-50).
Joh 13:14 If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.
Eph 5:26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
1Jn 5:8 And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.
The way we interact and treat our physical families is a reflection of our faith or lack of faith with the body of Christ. At the same time having said this, Christ admonishes us that we must be willing to put Christ and His words above every relationship in the flesh, if we are to become disciples indeed of our Lord (Luk 14:26-27 , Joh 8:31-32 , Act 5:29).
Luk 14:26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
Luk 14:27 And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.Joh 8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.Act 5:29 Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.
Seeking the kingdom of God first and his righteousness, is symbolized by these words, “Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart“, that reflect a life that has been bound to the altar of God (Psa 118:27).
Psa 118:27 God is the LORD, which hath shewed us light: bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar.
It is when we have this type of relationship with God and Christ (Joh 17:3) that we can begin to say to Christ, who is our wisdom (1Co 1:30), that “you are our sister”, through the church, and “our kinswoman”, through the church, who ‘brings us understanding’ (Act 9:5): “Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; and call understanding thy kinswoman“. Those words of eternal life that we receive through the church, should be the pearl of great price in our hearts that have us looking nowhere else (Joh 6:68), as they alone can keep us “from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words“.
Joh 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
Joh 6:68 Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.
Pro 7:6 For at the window of my house I looked through my casementH822,
Pro 7:7 And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding,
Pro 7:8 Passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house,
Pro 7:9 In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night:
Pro 7:10 And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart.
Pro 7:11 (She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house:
Pro 7:12 Now is she without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner.)
We see in these, verses what happens when we are void of understanding, causing us to be overtaken by the harlotries that are found in the churches of this world.
It is only when we are in the house of the Lord that we can look back at our spiritual adulteries as we see our former conversations (Eph 2:1-3) being played out in others, as we look “through my casementH822“. The only other use of the word ‘casement’ is in (Jdg 5:28), where the mother of Sisera, whose name is not given, is lamenting over the death of her son, the former commander of the Canaanite army of King Jabin of Hazor who was killed by Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite, in the infamous tent peg episode, that was driven through his skull (Jdg 4:8-22).
No commentators recognize the lack of leadership that Israel possessed when Deborah became the fourth and only female judge of Israel. It was through her leadership that God would cause Israel to go on to prosper and prevail against the king of Canaan, “on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the children of Israel. And the hand of the children of Israel prospered, and prevailed against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan” (Jdg 4:24).
It all sounds like a good story for Israel, to see these two woman taking charge where there was a lack of leadership in the nation, Jael who killed Sisera and Deborah who was now the female judge in Israel. However getting back to our study of proverbs, we need to consider that this only other use of the word casementH822 in God’s word is with another person who is looking through lattice and beholding a male figure being overcome by the harlot going into her house, which is typified by Sisera going into the house of Jael who was the wife of Heber the Kenite.
What happens when men don’t rule their house well is that women, who typify the church, negatively in this instance, take charge. God gave Israel leaders because they rejected Him as their sovereign leader (1Sa 8:7), and this leadership of Deborah and emboldened actions of Jael is symbolic of how Babylon make strides in this world, even when the leadership roles are reversed, the female being the head and not the man (1Co 11:3). God answers us according to the idol of our hearts, and when men don’t lead by submitting to Christ, it won’t be long until women assume the role of leadership, which is a manifestation of the flesh being against God (Mal 2:14).
1Sa 8:7 And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.
1Co 11:3 But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.
Mal 2:14 Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the LORD hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant.
With these thoughts in mind, let’s look at what we see when we look through the ‘lattice’ of our windows regarding the condition of the Babylonian churches today. ‘Looking through the lattice’ in verse 6 here represents those who are going onto maturity, and looking back and seeing now the harlot system we’ve been called out of. What we see of course is a memory of our simple, misguided and veiled view of God’s word (2 Co 3:13-14) that had us “Passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house“. It is “In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night” that we meet this woman, as our heavens are not illuminated, but carnal and blind. This is the status of our minds when we meet “a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart“. That woman is stubborn and convinced that she has done no wrong (Pro 30:20), and these activities are happening on every street corner as the glebes of our world demonstrate, lying in wait to make proselytes of those who come near her door (Mat 23:15).
Pro 30:20 Such is the way of an adulterous woman; she eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness.
Mat 23:15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.
Pro 7:13 So she caught him, and kissed him, and with an impudent face said unto him,
Pro 7:14 I have peace offerings with me; this day have I payed my vows.
Pro 7:15 Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee.
Pro 7:16 I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt.
Pro 7:17 I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
This is a very descriptive way of speaking regarding the Harlot church of Babylon that we come out of in (Rev 18:12-13).
Rev 18:12 The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble,
Rev 18:13 And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men.
She snares us and kisses us with a Judas-like kiss (Luk 22:48) that is only to further our deception and perception of what we are truly looking at. Her face is impudent or hardened, like the beast that she plans to ride (Rev 17:7), not knowing that one day that beast will turn on her and destroy her (Rev 17:6). She is full of flattery and claims to know the way of peace (Jer 6:14) as she offers up the conditions that she believes will bring peace, again not in subjection to her head at all, Jesus Christ, who is our peace (Eph 2:14).
Eph 2:14 For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
She is quick to tell us of the many wonderful works she’s done by saying, “I payed my vows“, in other words, ‘I’m a good person and I’m even a fisher of men and not a harlot who “comes forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee“‘.
‘Come on in and look at all the beautifully deceitful things I have to offer’, is what these alluring coverings of tapestry, with carved, and fine linen of Egypt represent. It is the sensual, devilish things of the earth, the twisted word of God (Jas 3:15 , Mat 4:3), that the devil always tries to use to draw us away from the fidelity of the true bread from heaven, given to those who are likened unto a virgin who is espoused unto one husband (2Co 11:2-3).
2Co 11:2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
2Co 11:3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
The defiled bed that Satan perfumes is likened unto “myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon“, which are symbols of the deceitfulness of corrupt spiritual riches that control the churches of this world, with their sensuality tied to devilish, earthly practices (2Pe 2:19-21).
2Pe 2:19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.
2Pe 2:20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
2Pe 2:21 For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
Pro 7:18 Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves.
Pro 7:19 For the goodman is not at home, he is gone a long journey:
Pro 7:20 He hath taken a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed.
Pro 7:21 With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him.
It is when Satan seduces people into thinking that we won’t reap what we sow (Gal 6:7-9), and that there is no accounting for all our actions (Rom 14:12), including every idol word that we speak (Mat 12:36), that we become careless and give the wicked one the foothold into our lives that we must never let happen (Eph 4:27).
Eph 4:27 Neither give place to the devil.
The pleasures of sin for a season (Heb 11:25) are described for us with these words, “Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves“, and they manifest when we refuse to believe that Christ “the goodman” has truly never gone anywhere (Heb 13:5), and like the father of the prodigal son, can see a far off all our actions (Luk 15:20 , Mat 10:29). He is ‘gone away’ in the same sense that the parable of the vineyard discusses how God is not intervening in the affairs of this world at this time (Mat 20:1-16), not that he does not have power at any given moment to put an end to any and all evil (Joh 19:11 , Mat 26:53).
The “long journey” does typify Christ’s being with the Father now in the fulness, and the ‘bag of money’ that he has typifies the true riches of his Word that He holds fast to, and calls the elect to do the same, until the appointed time that He returns to give reward to the elect (Rev 11:18).
Rev 11:18 And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.
Without God’s spirit in our lives, we all initially succumb to the lies of the devil and through the church, “With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him“.
Pro 7:22 He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks;
Pro 7:23 Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life.
We are all overtaken by Babylon and go into her, so that we can come out of her my people, Lord willing, in this age. We go “as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks“, telling us this is an evil experience, which the Lord has ordained (Pro 16:4) that we go into and come out of by God’s grace. We are meant to have the fiery darts of Satan (Eph 6:16) ‘go through our liver as we haste to the snare’, the traps of the carnal church, not knowing that God created that evil day for our good, and not even seeing it coming as we head straightway into spiritual disaster, defiling the temple of God so that our first man can be destroyed by the brightness of His coming when that glorious day occurs (1Co 3:17 , 2Th 2:7-8).
1Co 3:17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
2Th 2:7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
2Th 2:8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
Pro 7:24 Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye children, and attend to the words of my mouth.
Pro 7:25 Let not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths.
Pro 7:26 For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been slain by her.
Pro 7:27 Her house is the way to hellH7585, going down to the chambers of death.
These final admonitions in (Pro 7:24-27) are telling us what we read in (Rev 18:4)
Rev 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
Our hearts can very subtilty “decline to her ways” when we think above what is written (1Co 4:6). ‘Going astray in her paths’, is following another Jesus, another way that leads to death. Many have “been slain by her“, and she has “cast down many wounded: yea, many strong“(Mat 24:14), telling us that Satan can easily sift us like wheat (1Co 10:12-14). But for the grace of God, demonstrated by the faith of Christ that God’s elect are given, we look through our lattice, and look behind us as John did in the temple, on the day of the Lord, the day of our judgement (Rev 1:10 , 1Pe 4:17), to recognize that we’ve come out of “Her house is [which is] the way to hellH7585, going down to the chambers of death“, where the dead bury their dead (Luk 9:60).
H7585 she’ôl she’ôl sheh-ole’, sheh-ole’
BDB Definition:
1) sheol, underworld, grave, hell, pit
1a) the underworld
1b) Sheol – the OT designation for the abode of the dead
1b1) place of no return
1b2) without praise of God
1b3) wicked sent there for punishment
1b4) righteous not abandoned to it
1b5) of the place of exile (figuratively)
1b6) of extreme degradation in sin
Part of Speech: noun feminine
A Related Word by BDB/Strong’s Number: from H7592 [ask, enquire, borrow, beg]
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- Pro 7:1-27 Keep My Commandments, and Live (January 2, 2025)