Posted on 07/08/2021 10:36:42 PM PDT by Pilgrim's Progress
“For she sitteth at the door of her house, on a seat in the high places of the city, To call passengers who go right on their ways: Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: and as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. But he knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell” (Proverbs 9:14-18).
Verse 15, “To call passengers who go right on their ways,” do not think that their agenda is neutral. Doing the right thing makes you a target.
Verse 16 is exactly the same as in verse 4, “Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither,” this woman is saying the same thing that wisdom says. She gives an invitation: “Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: and as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, [only now the message is different] Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”
Go back to verse 5, “Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled.” “Come, eat of my bread,” this bread is not stolen, and nothing is eaten in secret. Wisdom has gone to a lot of trouble in verse one, builded her house, hewn her pillars, killed her beasts, mingled her wine, and furnished her table. I mean, she's gone to a lot of trouble. This is hers. She is doing this for you, and what this other woman says is stolen waters are sweet. Stolen waters versus mingled wine. It’s not right to drink alcoholic wine, but you can tell that wisdom sets a better table than this old bat, right?
Verse 17, “Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant,” while in verse 5 she's not offering secret bread; she's offering bread that she's happy to have anybody come in and eat. It’s different. What the woman says in verse 17 is true. Bread eaten in secret is pleasant. That’s part of the thing that makes sin so attractive. A lot of times if it's not sin, people aren’t interested in doing it. There is something about forbidden fruit, right?
Verse 18, “But he knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell.”
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Good warning for right vs. wrong.
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