April 7

Apr 7 - Today from Proverbs 7 we look at verse 11
"She is loud and defiant, her feet never stay at home; now in the street, now in the squares, at every corner she lurks."

In chapter six Solomon warns his son regarding the inescapable consequences of yielding to the seducer. In chapter seven he gives a detailed analogy of the ways of a seducer. He begins by revealing that the victim is 'simple' - not disciplined in the ways of wisdom. Then beginning in verse 11 he focuses on the ways and attributes of the seducer.
I believe the translator rightly made this verse a parenthetical statement within the story. The rest of the story can be quite literally taken, but this statement is a bit surreal. The adulteress in the story is not able to be at every corner of the city shouting defiantly in search of this simple young man. I believe the author is saying that the seducer is an overwhelming attraction and may be discovered in any area of our lives. The statement is an analogy within an analogy.
"She is loud and defiant." I believe the term loud means overwhelming the senses. And I love the definitions of defiant in The American Heritage Dictionary; "1. Bold resistance to authority. 2. Deliberately provocative." There are times in our lives when our convictions must be stronger than the provocation to break moral boundaries. The mermaids of Greek mythology were seducers. The rocky shoals claimed the lives of scores of Greek sailors who were attracted to the alluring seduction of a mermaid singing from the midst of the treacherous waters. It seemed impossible for any ship to pass by without turning toward her deadly melody. In one story a Greek hero came up with a solution. He placed an orchestra on his ship and at the first haunting of the mermaid's voice he struck up the band. He told them to play as loud as they could. Their music drowned out the voice of the mermaid and the ship sailed on past the rocky shoal without incident. What a great picture for believers. The voice of wisdom should be so strong in our hearts that it drowns out the provocative enticements of the tempter. Wisdom maintains a loud voice through an abiding relationship with Christ.
"Her feet never stay at home; now in the street, now in the squares, at every corner she lurks." Here is the second general lesson about the seducer. The most dangerous seducer is found where you don't expect it. The married woman of the story is expected to be found at home, tending the business of her household. If seducing her was on the mind of the simple young man, he would have intentionally made his way to her home. But such was not the case. She was the predator, and he wasn't at all expecting to run into her. He was on an average aimless path through the city streets and there she was! And what she was promoting drowned out what little, if any, moral wisdom that might have turned his feet in another direction. She wasn't looking for him in particular, but he would do just fine.
So it is with the common seducers in life. The seduction is spiritually loud, trying to drown out the voice of the conscience. It is encountered in an area where it wasn't expected. It is often encountered when we are in a purposeless activity. And it acts as though you were specially chosen for something delightful. If you read the chapter today, you discovered the inevitable outcome of giving in to the seducer. Beware.