proverbs 6 and 7

Read Proverbs 6 and 7 at Bible Gateway.

The Hebrew paragraph divisions:

Pro 6:1-5 {p} Deliver yourself if you have cosigned for someone else’s credit
Pro 6:6-11 {p} The wisdom of diligent labor
Pro 6:12-15 {p} A perverse mouth hides a wicked heart
Pro 6:16-19 {p} Seven abominations to the LORD
Pro 6:20-26 {p} Treasure the Torah; it will keep you from destruction wearing a beautiful face
Pro 6:27-35 {p} Adultery destroys a fool’s life
Pro 7:1-27 {p} Treasure the LORD’s commandments; they will keep you from the snare of seduction

The Pro 6:20-7:27 chiastic structure:

1a) Pro 6:20-26 {p} Treasure the Torah: it will keep you from destroying your life with an adulteress;

1) Pro 6:20, My son, keep your father’s command + do not forsake your mother’s torah;
2) Pro 6:21-23, Bind them to you, their instruction lights the path of life + keeps you in safety;
3) Pro 6:24, To keep you from the evil woman, from the flattering tongue of a seductress;
4) Pro 6:25, She sets a snare with her beauty and seductive manner;
5) Pro 6:26 {p} But she reduces him to poverty and preys upon his life.

1b) Pro 6:27-28, Can a man take fire to his bosom and not suffer its hurtful effects;

1c) Pro 6:29, So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife: he shall not be innocent;

central axis) Pro 6:30-31, A man driven to theft will be forgiven, when he has made restitution;

2c) Pro 6:32, He who commits adultery lacks understanding: he destroys his own soul;

2b) Pro 6:33-35 {p} He will suffer wounds + dishonor/ no restitution will release him from wrath;

2a) Pro 7:1-27 {p} Treasure the Father’s commands: they will preserve you from the seductress who has set a snare for your life;

1) Pro 7:1-2 + 7:24-17 {p} My son, keep + treasure my words + commands within you, and live;
2) Pro 7:3-4, Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart as your sister + nearest kin;
3) Pro 7:5, They may keep you from the immoral woman + seductress who flatters with her words;
4) Pro 7:6-21, The snare of her enticing attire + seductive speech;
5) Pro 7:22-23, He follows her to his own destruction, not knowing it will cost his life.

Let sons treasure up their father’s commandments, and even more so, let us, as children of the living God, treasure up in our hearts the commandments of our wise Father, with which He has instructed us for our good. Let us realize that for us, the one who entices us to sin with flattering lips, putting on a beautiful appearance, is satan, the enemy of our souls. He sets his snares with malice aforethought, in order to steal from us, kill or destroy us, if he can.

David loved the LORD, was filled with the Spirit, and prophesied mightily in songs of praise and worship. Yet, even though he had many wives, he still yielded to adultery with Bathsheba. David’s psalm of love for the LORD’s Torah, Psa 119, was written after he had repented and Solomon had been born. We can see the realization of the depth of his sin and its consequences, and the excellency of Torah, if he had treasured its instruction, inspired much of his teaching to Solomon when he was young, which comes out in the Proverbs that Solomon wrote.

So, as these things were written for our instruction, we learn we need the Spirit, who is our vital breath of life in God, and just as much, we need to love and treasure the Torah, which is our vital bread of life (Mat 4:4), for he who loves the LORD God, loves and keeps His commandments, which proceed from His heart (Joh 14:15).