God’s Image Study • Commandment 7: You Shall Not Commit Adultery
Our previous post examined joining the prostitute alongside joining the Lord. Proverbs 9 brings another part of that examination into view: the invitation that draws someone toward a particular house, table, and way of life.
Two Invitations
Wisdom builds her house, prepares her food and wine, and sends out her maidens. Her invitation calls the inexperienced toward understanding and life. Read Proverbs 9:1–6.
Later, the woman Folly sits at her doorway and calls to those passing by. She also offers something to receive. Yet the chapter ends by revealing death among her guests. Read Proverbs 9:13–18.
Both invitations must be followed beyond their opening words.
The Same Words Can Lead Toward Different Outcomes
Proverbs 9:4 and 9:16 contain the same Hebrew invitation:
מִי־פֶתִי יָסֻר הֵנָּה — mî-phethî yāsur hēnnāh
The wording calls whoever is simple or inexperienced to turn in. פֶּתִי — pethî (H6612) identifies the person addressed; יָסֻר — yāsur, from סוּר — sûr (H5493), describes turning aside.
Wisdom and Folly address the same kind of hearer with the same opening appeal. The surrounding passages reveal whose invitation is being heard and where it leads. Compare Proverbs 9:4 and 9:16 in Hebrew.
An invitation’s familiar wording does not, by itself, establish its source.
What Makes the Offer Attractive?
Folly presents stolen water as sweet and secretly eaten bread as pleasant. The person being drawn toward her does not recognize the death associated with her house. Read Proverbs 9:17–18.
The chapter places attraction beside an outcome the invited person fails to perceive.
Between the two invitations stands this statement:
“The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of wisdom”
— Proverbs 9:10, ASV, excerpt
Our examination therefore remains centered on YHWH (יהוה), rather than on how appealing an offer appears.
Teaching Can Draw People into Unfaithfulness
Revelation 2 makes a related connection within the message to Thyatira. The woman called Jezebel claims to be a prophetess, yet her teaching deceives Christ’s servants into sexual immorality and eating food sacrificed to idols. The passage then speaks of those committing adultery with her and calls for repentance. Read Revelation 2:20–23.
Notice the connection between teaching, deception, participation, and unfaithfulness.
The same message distinguishes those who have not accepted that teaching and instructs them to hold fast to what they have. Their presence in the same city does not erase the difference in their response. Read Revelation 2:24–25.
Placed alongside Proverbs 9, this helps us examine spiritual allegiance: Whose invitation am I receiving, what am I being taught to desire, and where is that teaching leading me?
Threads to Follow
The name and the provision: Examine Isaiah 4:1’s request concerning a name alongside its statements about bread and clothing.
Hearing the Spirit: Follow the repeated instruction to the churches in Revelation 2–3.
Faithful union: Keep Paul’s contrast between joining the prostitute and joining the Lord before us. 1 Corinthians 6:15–17.
The books were opened…
🌿 By Maria Emilia
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