Read the Bible in 2023 ◊ Week 25: Thursday
My son, pay attention to my wisdom,Incline your ear to my discernment;
That you may keep discretion
And that your lips may guard knowledge.
Thursday’s Bible reading is Proverbs 5–6. Proverbs 5 begins with the father again telling his son to pay attention to what he tells him for his own benefit. He goes on to warn his son against adultery and returns to this sin again in the last section of Proverbs 6. In contrast, in the midst of Proverbs 5, he tells his son to, “be glad in the wife of your youth.” The first part of Proverbs 6 has instructions and warnings about daily living, discipline, and integrity.
The destructive consequences of sexual immorality is a major theme that’s hit square on in Proverbs. Words are not minced as the book cuts through the fog of enticement and glamour and presents the truth of sexual sin.
For the lips of a strange woman drip honeyAnd smoother than oil is her speech;
But her end is bitter as wormwood,
Sharp as a two‑edged sword.
Her feet go down to death,
Her steps take hold of Sheol,
Lest she watch the path of life;
Her tracks are unstable, she does not know it.
The contrast of the allure of promising the sweetness of honey with the reality being the bitterness of wormwood is sharp. R. K. Harrison explains that wormwood has, “a strong, bitter taste, leading to the use of the plant as a symbol of bitterness, sorrow, and calamity (Pr. v. 4; La. iii. 15, 19; Am. v. 7, vi. 12 (AV ‘hemlock’).”1
Today there is continual media propaganda that blurs and denies right and wrong. One effective means that’s used is the lies told about what sin does to a person and to other people. Books, movies or television depict people in all kinds of situations, but without the attendant acrimony, scarring, or desolation that are the results of sin.
My pastor, Mike Braun, said that God has morally underwritten His universe. Even as in the physical world, whether or not you believe in the law of gravity, you cannot jump off a cliff without consequences, in the same way, we cannot live against God’s laws without wrecking our life and the lives of others. Proverbs is an antidote to this poison, and it’s one reason why it’s such an excellent book to work through with your children.
Proverbs gives us teachings to heed and understand so that we can learn wisdom without having to eat any bitter fruit of experience. I used to talk to my kids about temptation being like a worm on a hook. We see something that looks good, but there’s a hook in the bait. To use the example in Proverbs 5:3–4, sin may seem like honey, but in reality it’s wormwood. Paying attention to God’s wisdom keeps us from bitter consequences.
Incline your ear to my discernment;
That you may keep discretion
And that your lips may guard knowledge.
Silvesterzug Laterne: Bk muc. (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Artemisia judaica, Wormwood: Biodiversity Heritage Library. (CC BY-SA 2.0). Public domain.
1R. K. Harrison, “Wormwood,” The New Bible Dictionary, J. D. Douglas, organizing ed., F. F. Bruce, J. I. Packer, R. V. G. Tasker, D. J. Wiseman, consulting eds. (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids MI: 1962) 1340.
I’m using Michael Coley’s Bible reading plan (one page PDF to print) to read through the Bible in 2023. Each day my posts are on different books because he divides Bible readings into seven categories, one for each day of the week: Epistles, The Law, History, Psalms, Poetry, Prophecy and Gospels. There’s more information on his plan and other ones at Read the Bible in 2023.
Copyright ©2011–2023 Iwana Carpenter
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