Proverbs 7:17-27: a reflection

17I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. 18Come, let’s take our fill of loving until the morning. Let’s solace ourselves with loving. 19For my husband isn’t at home. He has gone on a long journey. 20He has taken a bag of money with him. He will come home at the full moon.” 21With persuasive words, she led him astray. With the flattering of her lips, she seduced him. 22He followed her immediately, as an ox goes to the slaughter, as a fool stepping into a noose. 23Until an arrow strikes through his liver, as a bird hurries to the snare, and doesn’t know that it will cost his life. 24Now therefore, sons, listen to me. Pay attention to the words of my mouth. 25Don’t let your heart turn to her ways. Don’t go astray in her paths, 26for she has thrown down many wounded. Yes, all her slain are a mighty army. 27Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the rooms of death.

This passage completes a father's vivid warning to his son about the seductions of sin. He describes a young man led astray by enticing, flattering words, following after temptation as an ox goes to the slaughter, not knowing that it will cost his life. And he draws the sobering conclusion: her house is the way to the grave, going down to the chambers of death. What is dressed up as pleasure and delight is, in truth, a path whose end is ruin.

Notice the gap the passage exposes between how the temptation appears and where it actually leads. The enticement is perfumed, flattering, dressed up as delight; but the wise father sees where the path really ends, in death, and warns his son. The danger of temptation is precisely that it hides its end; it presents the pleasure and conceals the ruin, so that the one drawn in, like the ox, does not know it will cost his life until too late.

That is wisdom worth taking to heart about every alluring temptation, not only this one. Sin rarely advertises its true end; it presents the immediate pleasure and hides the ruin that follows. Wisdom looks past the attractive surface to where a path really leads, and refuses to take the first step down a road whose end is destruction. When you are tempted by something that promises delight, ask where it really leads; do not be deceived by the perfume that hides the ruin. Guard your heart, refuse the first step onto the path of death, and do not let the flattering surface blind you to the end. The wise see where a road leads before they walk it.

Lord, this passage warns of the young man led astray by enticing words, following temptation as an ox goes to the slaughter, not knowing it would cost his life, down a path whose end is death. Give me that wisdom about every alluring temptation. Sin rarely advertises its true end; it presents the immediate pleasure and hides the ruin that follows. Help me look past the attractive surface to where a path really leads, and refuse to take the first step down a road whose end is destruction. When I am tempted by something that promises delight, help me ask where it really leads, and not be deceived by the perfume that hides the ruin. Guard my heart, and give me the wisdom to see where a road leads before I walk it, and the strength to refuse the first step onto the path of death. Keep me on the way of life.