An Ox to the Slaughter

Immediately he went after her,

as an ox goes to the slaughter,

Or as a fool to the correction of the slaughter.

Proverbs 7:22

The sinful nature within the believer weaves a rich tapestry of deception and temptation.  Things that seems so clearly wrong and terribly can quickly become frighteningly enticing when we begin listening to the wrong sources and entertaining the arguments of evil.  Proverbs 7 is giving a clear picture of a woman who is tempting a fool to immoral sexual behavior; however, it also gives us a pattern of the way that our sin can drag us away as James wrote about in James 1:14-15:

But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.  Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin when it is full-grown, brings forth death. 

Our path to destruction begins by entertaining the arguments regardless of the fact that we know them to be in opposition to God’s character.  This is personified in the wanton woman of Proverbs 7.  She uses her volume and her feet (v. 10).  She enticed him with both religious language (v. 14), and personal flattery (v. 15).  She tempts him with sensory pleasures (v. 16-18).  She assures him that they will not be caught…it will be their little secret (v. 19-20).  It is easy to blame the temptress – but it is the man himself who chose to pass by her house at night (vss. 8-9).

A Husband's Fury

For jealousy is a husband’s fury;
Therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance.

He will accept no recompense,

Nor will he be appeased though you give many gifts.

Proverbs 6:34-35

Few wounds in life surpass that of marital infidelity.  Leo Tolstoy is said to have had an affair in his younger days and his wife still wrote about that event with bitterness and hurt decades later.  Human culture is at strictest odds with the character of God on this issue.  One such worldling produced the thought: “Just because I am not faithful to my wife and children does not mean that I don’t love them.”  This man could not be more mistaken.  There is no love at all for his family.  This attitude betrays the reality that this man loves only himself.  The same could be said of any who cross the lines of marital faithfulness.  They do not love their spouse, nor do the love the one to whom they are running.  They are using others for their own pleasure and advantage without the slightest concern for their well being.  How much more the wrath of the one who is the victim of such selfishness.  By God’s grace many marriages have been healed, and many have forgiven for these egregious errors.  Yet, make no mistake, the scars last for the rest of this lifetime on everybody involved.