Proverbs 6:17-35: a reflection

17arrogant eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, 18a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are swift in running to mischief, 19a false witness who utters lies, and he who sows discord among brothers. 20My son, keep your father’s commandment, and don’t forsake your mother’s teaching. 21Bind them continually on your heart. Tie them around your neck. 22When you walk, it will lead you. When you sleep, it will watch over you. When you awake, it will talk with you. 23For the commandment is a lamp, and the law is light. Reproofs of instruction are the way of life, 24to keep you from the immoral woman, from the flattery of the wayward wife’s tongue. 25Don’t lust after her beauty in your heart, neither let her captivate you with her eyelids. 26For a prostitute reduces you to a piece of bread. The adulteress hunts for your precious life. 27Can a man scoop fire into his lap, and his clothes not be burned? 28Or can one walk on hot coals, and his feet not be scorched? 29So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife. Whoever touches her will not be unpunished. 30Men don’t despise a thief if he steals to satisfy himself when he is hungry, 31but if he is found, he shall restore seven times. He shall give all the wealth of his house. 32He who commits adultery with a woman is void of understanding. He who does it destroys his own soul. 33He will get wounds and dishonor. His reproach will not be wiped away. 34For jealousy arouses the fury of the husband. He won’t spare in the day of vengeance. 35He won’t regard any ransom, neither will he rest content, though you give many gifts.

After listing things God hates, Proverbs turns to an extended, urgent warning against adultery, and it presses the warning with a vivid image: Can a man carry fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned? Can one walk on hot coals and his feet not be scorched? So, the proverb says, is the one who goes in to his neighbor's wife; whoever touches her will not go unpunished. The point is stark: this sin, like fire held against the body, carries consequences you cannot escape. He who does it, the proverb says, destroys his own soul.

Notice the principle in the image of fire. Some sins are like carrying fire in your bosom: you cannot indulge them and remain unburned. Sexual sin, the proverb warns, is exactly this, promising pleasure but carrying inescapable consequences, wounds and dishonor that are not easily wiped away, and the destruction of one's own soul. The warning is not prudish but realistic: play with this fire, and you will be burned.

That vivid warning applies to more than one sin. Many temptations promise pleasure while concealing the fire within them, the consequences we imagine we can escape but cannot. The wisdom of Proverbs is to see the fire for what it is before we pick it up, and to refuse it. Do not deceive yourself that you can carry fire and not be burned. Guard your heart, especially against the sins that promise pleasure but destroy the soul. When temptation whispers that you can indulge it without consequence, remember the proverb: fire held to the body burns. Flee the fire before it scorches you, and keep far from what would destroy you.

Lord, your word warns that some sins are like carrying fire in the bosom, that a man cannot indulge them and remain unburned, and that the one who does destroys his own soul. Give me the wisdom to see the fire for what it is before I pick it up. Keep me from deceiving myself that I can play with temptation and escape its consequences. Guard my heart, especially against the sins that promise pleasure but conceal destruction. When temptation whispers that I can indulge it without harm, remind me that fire held to the body burns. Help me flee the fire before it scorches me, and keep far from whatever would destroy my soul. Give me the wisdom to refuse what I cannot touch without being burned.