A Virtuous Woman- The Strange Woman Part 3

For the lips of a strange woman drop as

an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother

than oil:

But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp

as a twoedged sword.

Her feet go down to death; her steps take

hold on hell.

Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of

life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst

not know them.

Hear me now therefore, O ye children,

and depart not from the words of my

mouth.

Remove thy way far from her, and come

not nigh the door of her house:

Lest thou give thine honour unto others,

and thy years unto the cruel:

Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth;

and thy labours be in the house of a 

stranger;

And thou mourn at the last, when thy

flesh and thy body are consumed,

And say, How have I hated instruction,

and my heart despised reproof;

And have not obeyed the voice of my

teachers, nor inclined mine ear o them

that instructed me!
Proverbs 5:3-13

Someone once asked me what the point of the book of Revelation is. Why tell us the ending?

It's so we know who wins. God is very open with us. He gives us more than enough information to help us make informed decisions.

He does the same thing here with the strange woman. He tells us her end:

Her end is bitter as wormwood

Word study: Bitter

Mentioned 38 times in 36 verses

First mention: Genesis 37:34-

And when Esau heard the words of his

father, he cried with a great and exceeding

bitter cry, and said unto his father, Bless

me, even me also, O my father.

Bitter here has to do with deep unhappiness and torment (see Exodus 1:14 for second witness)

Word study: Wormwood

Mentioned 9 times in 8 verses

First mentioned: Deuteronomy 29:18-

Lest there should be among you man, or

woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart

turneth away this day from the LORD our

God, to go and serve the gods of these

nations; lest there should be among you a

root that beareth gall and wormwood;

Clearly, whatever wormwood is, it is not good.

Last mention: Revelation 8:11-

And the name of the star is called

Wormwood: and the third part of the

waters became wormwood; and many men

died of the waters, because they were

made bitter.

These waters become poisonous because of wormwood.

Since wormwood makes water bitter I looked into bitter water in the scripture.

The law of jealousies in Numbers 5 came up. If a woman is suspected of adultery, her husband must bring her to the priest who will make her drink bitter water. If she is guilty her belly will swell and her thigh will rot. If she is innocent then she is free and can bear children.

I think it's interesting that bitter water is connected to adultery.

Sharp as a twoedged sword:
Phrase study: Twoedged sword
Mentioned: 4 times in 4 verses
First mentioned: Psalm 149:6-

Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them

sing aloud upon their beds.

Let the high praises of God be in their

mouth, and a twoedged sword in their

hand;

To execute vengeance upon the heathen,

and punishments upon the people;

To bind their kings with chains, and their

nobles with fetters of iron;

To execute upon them the judgment

written: this honour have all his saints.

Praise ye the LORD.

Psalm 149:5-9

God likes twoedged swords- they are his weapon of choice and connected to judgement. There is nothing sharper than a twoedged sword except God's Word:

For the word of God is quick, and

powerful, and sharper than any twoedged

sword, piercing even to the dividing

asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints

and marrow, and is a discerner of the

thoughts and intents of the heart.

Hebrews 4:12

Lastly, Jesus' tongue is described as a twoedged sword:

And he had in his right hand seven

stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp

twoedged sword: and his countenance was

as the sun shineth in his strength.

The end of this woman is bitter and sharp- like Jezebel. Read 2 Kings 9 for that story.
God's judgement on her was to be eaten by dogs- who return to their vomit (Proverbs 26:11)- and her remains were as dung upon the earth (2 Kings 9:37). Not only that- her name went from meaning 'purity' to meaning 'whore'. The name has such terrible associations, no one gives it to their daughters.
A bitter ending for a woman judged by the Lord.

Her feet go down to death; her steps take

hold on hell.

This passage is the second passage in Proverbs that mentions the strange woman. It is also the second time God points out this woman's connection with death.

First mention: Proverbs 2:18

For her house inclineth unto death, and

her paths unto the dead.

This woman makes her life in death.

What does that mean?

Word study: Death (in the book of Proverbs)

Mentioned: 18 times in 18 verses (6 times 3)

First mentioned: the verse above

I will not go into every mention of this word but I will hit the ones most relevant to our study:

Treasures of wickedness profit nothing:

but righteousness delivereth from death.

Proverbs 10:2

Riches profit not in the day of wrath: but

righteousness delivereth from death.

Proverbs 11:4

There is NO righteousness in this woman's life.  Think there may be an itty bitty bit of righteousness in her life?

In the way of righteousness is life; and

in the pathway thereof there is no death.

Proverbs 12:28

Those two paths: righteousness and evil do not mingle. They go opposite directions: one to life, the other to death.

The strange woman's path is very plain.

As righteousness tendeth to life: so he

that pursueth evil pursueth it to his own

death.

Proverbs 11:19

Do you realize that things we do are either evil or righteous?

For example: I love shopping

I will shop for anything

I am always in the mood to shop

I will spend all the money I have on things, clothes, yarn, books, toys, gifts, you name it

For me to pursue shopping is me pursuing death. I would be giving myself over to my flesh and spending my husband's hard earned money on fripperies.

That's right. Fripperies.

Of course, I'm a housekeeper and a caretaker: I need to shop. There is a very fine line, however, that I need to watch so that I do not fall into sin.

The end of me pursing shopping would be bitter unhappiness for my family.

What about you?

Maybe it's food- like chocolate.

Maybe it's gossipy magazines.

Maybe it's television.

Maybe it's social media.

Maybe it's a person who is a bad influence.

No matter how innocent something may be, pursuing anything to much will lead into apostasy and death. Be careful how much time and effort you put into your hobbies. Not only that, what thoughts do they produce? Are they edifying?

There is a way which seemeth right unto

a man, but the end thereof are the ways of

death.

Proverbs 14:12

Her steps take hold on hell.
Proverbs 5:5b

This reminds me of skis. You put the boots on then step into the boot binding and click them into place.

The boot binding takes hold of your ski boot- where the ski goes, your boot goes, you go. The strange woman clicked her ski boots onto hell bound skis.

Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of

life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst

not know them.

Proverbs 5:6

This is the only time the word 'moveable' is mentioned in scriptures.

This verse is incredibly straight forward- she is inconsistent. There is no rhyme or reason to her ways- habits, decisions, thought process- she has no foundation to guide her.

Which forsaketh the guide of her youth,

and forgetteth the covenant of her God.

Proverbs 2:17

I was reading Proverbs on the 24th and came across the following passage:

Fret not thyself because of evil men,

neither be thou envious at the wicked;

For there shall be no reward to the evil

man; the candle of the wicked shall be put

out.

My son, fear thou the LORD and the king:

and meddle not with them that are given

to change:
For their calamity shall rise suddenly;
and who knoweth the ruin of them both?

Proverbs 24:19-22

As I read this I was immediately reminded of this study.

God tells us not to fret because of evil men but to fear the Lord and the King. He then, in the same vein, tells us not to meddle with them that are given to change.

Word study: Meddle

Mentioned: six times in six verses

First mentioned Deuteronomy 2:5

And command thou the people, saying,

Ye are to pass through the coast of your

brethren the children of Esau, which dwell

in Seir; and they shall be afraid of you: take

ye good heed unto yourselves therefore:

Meddle not with them; for I will not gie

you of their land, no, not so much as a foot

breadth; because I have given mount Seir

unto Esau for a possession.

And when thou comest nigh over

against the children of Ammon, distress

them not, nor meddle with them: for I will

not give thee of the land of the children of

Ammon any possession; because I have

given it unto the children of Lot for a

possession.
Deuteronomy 2:19

Thou hast indeed smitten Edom, and

thine heart hath lifted thee up: glory of

this, and tarry at home: for why shouldest

thou meddle to thy hurt, that thou 

shouldest fall, even thou, and Judah with thee?
2 Kings 14:10

You can find the rest of this story here and in 2 Chronicles 25. What winds up happening is the king who was given the above warning, Amaziah, does not listen. All the gold, silver and vessels found in the house of the Lord and the treasures of the King were taken to Samaria because of Amaziah's meddling.

He that goeth about as a talebearer

revealeth secrets: therefore meddle not

with him that flattereth with his lips.

Proverbs 20:19

Proverbs tells us to not meddle with two kinds of people: talebearers (who are also flatterers), and those that are given to change. The bible never uses 'meddle' positively.

Do not place yourself in other people's issues. Unless it directly affects you and your family, it is none of your business.

Pray for them and shut up.

We know the strange woman is a flatterer and her ways are moveable. Moveable as in never the same as in ever changing.

Here is God's relationship with change:

For I am the LORD, I change not;

Malachi 3:6a

Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to

day, forever.

Hebrews 13:8

Did you know we can rely on God to be the exact way He describes himself in His Word?

It does not matter that it's 2015 and the world is changing.

JESUS CHRIST IS THE SAME.

What He wrote before, he means now. His Word is complete, He is complete, and He is holy. That means perfectly whole.

God is not one way today and a different way tomorrow. He is always the same.
Despite 6000 years of sin, tragedy, and death, He is still merciful, forgiving, and loving.
That is a huge blessing.

Back to Proverbs 5-

The Lord warns us:

Hear me now therefore, O ye children,

and depart not from the words of my

mouth.

Remove thy way far from her, and come

not nigh the door of her house:

Proverbs 5:7&8

God tells us to stay far from her, don't even come close, don't do business with her, don't stop by for a chat, don't hang out with people who hang out with her, just stay far far away. Clearly this woman is powerfully attractive. It is not physical attraction, it is her lips, mouth and words.

To deliver thee from the strange woman,

even from the stranger which flattereth

with her words.

Proverbs 2:16

For the lips of a strange woman drop as

an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother

than oil:

Proverbs 5:3

With her much fair speech she caused

him to yield, with the flattering of her lips

she forced him.

Proverbs 7:21

The mouth of strange women is a deep

pit: he that is abhorred of the LORD shall

fall therein.

Proverbs 22: 14

Men seem to be most susceptible to this woman but in Proverbs 5 God addresses the warning to 'ye children'. That means women and children can be taken in by her too. I do not mean in a perverted sexual way, but in friendships and influences.
Hollywood is full of beautiful strange women who can influence you without saying a word to you.

Notice what happens when you ignore and depart from God's words:

Lest thou give thine honour unto others,

and thy years unto the cruel:

Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth;

and thy labours be in the house of a 

stranger;
Proverbs 5:9&10

It occurs to me that this could be you if your wife or husband leaves you because of foolish meddling with a strange woman. You could lose your children, money, home, and all you hold dear. Your children could grow up in the house of a stranger. Your 'wealth' doesn't have to be money or precious items. It can be the life God blessed you with before you became entangled with the world.

My husband and I are not wealthy people but I consider myself richly blessed.

I have a home, a husband, a son. That is my wealth. I would hate to lose it because of foolishness.

And thou mourn at the last, when thy

flesh and thy body are consumed,

And say, How have I hated instruction,

and my heart despised reproof;

And have not obeyed the voice of my

teachers, nor inclined mine ear o them

that instructed me!

Proverbs 5:11-13

That is a sharp end, bitter as wormwood.

To be in torment as you die wishing you had done everything differently.

That is a terrible thing.

Word study: Instruction:
Mentioned: Thirty-three times in thirty-three verses
First mentioned: Job 33:16
Here are some verses more relevant to our study:

The proverbs of Solomon the son of

David, king of Israel;

To know wisdom and instruction; to

perceive the words of understanding;

To receive the instruction of wisdom,

justice, and judgement, and equity;

Proverbs 1:1-3

The proverbs were written to give instruction- it's obviously important.

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of

knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and

instruction.

Proverbs 1:7

Take fast hold of instruction; let her not

go: keep her; for she is thy life.
Proverbs 4:13

versus

Her feet go down to death; her steps take

hold on hell.

Proverbs 5:5

Receive my instruction, and not silver;

and knowledge rather than choice gold.

Proverbs 4:13

Poverty and shame shall be to him that

refuseth instruction: but he that regardeth

reproof shall be honoured.
Proverbs 13:18

Hear counsel, and receive instruction,

that thou mayest be wise in thy latter end.
Proverbs 19:20

versus:

Proverbs 5:11

And thou mourn at the last, when thy

flesh and thy body are consumed,

For the commandment is a lamp; and

the law is light; and reproofs of instruction

are the way of life:

To keep thee from the evil woman, from

the flattery of the tongue of a strange

woman.

Proverbs 6:23&24

God says it over and over again, the way of instruction is life. The way of the strange woman is death. If you want to avoid this woman, if you do not want to become this woman: take fast hold of instruction.

All scripture is given by inspiration of

God and is profitable for doctrine, for

reproof, for correction, for instruction in

righteousness:

That the man of God may be perfect,

throughly furnished unto all good works

II Timothy 3:16&17

Fools despise scripture. Fools mock it, take it lightly, and cast it behind them.

My favourite preacher once said:

 'Christian's who do not take the Bible seriously should not be taken seriously as Christians 

and that's the truth.

One of the most frustrating things is trying to talk to a 'believer' who does not take the Bible as the pure Word of God. You can't see eye to eye on anything! 

But unto the wicked God saith, What

hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or

that thou shouldest take my covenant in

thy mouth?

Seeing thou hatest instruction, and 

castest my words behind thee.

Psalm 50:16&17

Right there God is telling us that people who hate his Word and pay no heed to them have no business even speaking God's words.

In conclusion:
It took me a long time to finish this study. I kept learning and adding to it. I think I could have written more but I'd like to move on.
This particular part focused a lot on the end of this woman. It is not pleasant. It is destitute, poor, and shameful. Her life may look glamorous and happy but it will come crashing down.
She has no foundation, everything she has, is, does is for her own pleasure and purpose.
It is superficial and vain.