April 5

Apr 5 - Today from Proverbs 5 we look at verses 20, 21
"Why be captivated, my son, by an adulteress? Why embrace the bosom of another man's wife? For a man's ways are in full view of the Lord, and he examines all his paths."

As one reads the Proverbs of Solomon, one gets the distinct impression that Solomon has a real thing against adultery. Although he had 700 wives and 300 concubines, there is no record of him ever having an adulterous affair. It appears that he left other men's wives alone. We can guess why this was such a huge issue with Solomon. His mother was an adulteress and his father a perpetrator of adultery. He obviously loved them both, but hated the pain and the legacy that the adulterous affair had upon each of them. We can read the account of the entire sordid ordeal in 2 Samuel 11 and 12. You see, Solomon didn't just read about the story in some old, historical document. He was the child of the two people who suffered and paid dearly for their very poor choice to yield to lust. This was no skeleton in the family closet; it was public scandal of the highest order. Solomon never got to know his older brother, who was the product of that adulterous affair and whose life was taken as a result of it. I can't imagine all of the emotions Solomon had tied up in this piece of family history, but we can detect from the instruction to his own children and to his subjects through the written proverbs, that adultery was a real issue with him.
We must always keep in mind that even though the private feelings of the authors are often involved in the writing of scriptures, they are still fully inspired of God (2 Timothy 3:16). Even if adultery (we give it much more acceptable names now), may appear to be more 'socially acceptable' in our modern Western culture of today, it is still just as deadly as it was when Solomon penned this chapter. It still deeply scars. It still emotionally cripples innocent children. When the passion of the moment, the week, the month, however long the 'fling' may last passes, there is tremendous damage to deal with. Solomon saw it first-hand with two of the people he loved most in the world. There are a number of people I personally know who have been through this crippling experience and are still dealing with the consequences years later. People forgive and receive forgiveness and learn to cope, but the residue never quite goes away. Something valuable was lost and things will never be the same. It wasn't for David. It wasn't for Bathsheba. Even Solomon's life bore scars of it, and he was born after the incident.
Take a little advice here; if you are ever tempted to enter into the perceived mainstream of modern sexuality and engage in a little harmless fling outside of the bonds of marriage. . . DON'T. Be like young Joseph and run as fast as you can in the other direction (Gen. 39:11&12). God forbids adultery because He knows how much pain it brings. Trust Him, you're not going to ever fully overcome the consequences. There are no 'special circumstances'. If you sow to the flesh, from the flesh you will reap corruption (Galatians 6:7&8). It's an immutable law.