THE IMMORAL WOMAN

I wonder about the identity of the “immoral woman” that Solomon speaks of in Proverbs.

In the second chapter, the first eleven verses are a wonderful litany of the value of wisdom and the search for it. In verse twelve the passage takes a darker, more somber tone as it begins to address what wisdom will keep us free from. In verse sixteen the writer addresses the immoral, adulterous woman, the seductress with her flattering words.

“To deliver you from the immoral woman, from the seductress who flatters with her words” (v. 16).

So who is this immoral woman Solomon is warning about? Solomon was no slouch with the ladies. I don’t think it would be wrong to characterize him as a “ladies man.” So if he is warning about an adulterous woman, he would be the man who would know. Is she a part of the cast of the television program Desperate Housewives? Is she one of the current crop of “pop tarts” that the paparazzi are constantly chasing and documenting their “hook-up” lifestyles? Is it a lonely woman or man that you meet by accident and are attracted to? Is it a co-worker or friend that you can’t keep your eyes and thoughts off of?

The answer is—perhaps, but probably not!

The adulterous woman may not be a woman at all. Wait a minute, what am I saying here? What am I suggesting? The reality is that the writer of Proverbs is addressing anything that attempts to seduce us, to draw us away from our relationship with Christ and our journey of faith. It could be a member of the opposite sex or a member of the same sex (although for me it couldn’t), but it could also be money, power, peer acceptance, position, educational pursuit. It could be religion; it could be any number of issues or philosophies. Many things have the power to seduce; many things have the power to entice us to move away from our commitment to follow Jesus. These are the “immoral seductresses” Solomon warns us about.

Jesus addressed the same issue when He said, “You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24).

The most common definition of mammon is money or wealth and that definition is not wrong, it’s just incomplete. Mammon is a demonic spirit that was worshipped by the Philistines. Mammon wants to be worshipped, wants to control people’s lives, and wants people to put their trust in him. Mammon wants to be a god to people. Mammon is a lying spirit that says that money, influence, wealth, position, intellect all have power and because they do, they seductively encourage people to put a disproportionate value on them. Money is the most common vehicle that mammon uses to influence and seduce.

Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24)).

This demand for singleness of heart is perfectly consistent with the picture that is developed in the Old Testament of how God led and dealt with His people. In Deuteronomy 32:12 we read about the Jewish nation: “So the Lord alone led him, and there was no foreign god with him.” This is a picture of God’s jealousy over His people. This is not the angry, vengeful jealousy of a cheap romance novel (not that I know anything about them, so save your comments). This is the pure love of a God who is declaring that I AM everything you will ever need and to look elsewhere is insulting to Him.

So when Solomon warns us, and Jesus warns us, then we have been amply warned to stay away from the seducing spirit of the “immoral woman.”