Proverbs 9:13-18 - Meet Woman Folly

Proverbs 9:13-18

¹³ The woman of folly is boisterous,She is naive and knows nothing.
¹⁴ She sits at the doorway of her house,
On a seat by the high places of the city,
¹⁵ Calling to those who pass by,
Who are making their paths straight:
¹⁶ “Whoever is naive, let him turn in here,”
And to him who lacks understanding she says,
¹⁷ “Stolen water is sweet;
And bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”
¹⁸ But he does not know that the dead are there,That her guests are in the depths of Sheol.

Message: Meet Woman Folly

Time: It seems that Proverbs was written and then compiled sometime between the tenth and sixth centuries B.C. Proverbs was probably written during the reign of Solomon, 971-931 B.C.

What the Lord is Saying: Throughout Proverbs wisdom is personified as a lady calling out to society to sit at her feet and listen to her righteous words. But, the Woman of Folly, as noted here in verse 13 is also mentioned and she presents an antagonist perspective.

This woman or this person or perspective is first of all loud. She is boisterous. And yet in the loudness she is naive and knows nothing. The loud voice is not necessarily the correct voice. The one who is loud is not necessarily the one who is right. She is simply loud. She shows a lack of experience and really knows nothing.

Second, she is lazy and simply looking for an opportunity to pounce on someone. She sits at the doorway of her house looking for someone that will be lured away. She is idle. She is focused on one thing and that is calling to those who pass by. More specifically, her audience is those who are making their paths straight. I can't help but go back to Proverbs 3;5-6 which says, Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. The one that is seeking to put their trust in the Lord, who has set themselves as a goal to not lean on their own understanding, but in all their ways acknowledge Him and therefore, He is making their paths straight. And this is the one that Woman Folly is calling to and sitting and waiting for. It is those that have the intent and desire to be men and women of God. 

But she is really focused on those who lack understanding (v. 4, 16). The problem with the Christian often is they have a little bit of knowledge, but if they do not plant themselves in the Word of God, yield to it and get trained by it, they are lazy or naive and lack understanding. Many a Christian has no idea what to do when someone comes to their door to question their faith or makes a remark. They are set in the foundation of the Lord Jesus Christ, but that setting is a little watery. It is a setting where they can move about. The goal is for us to be firmly fixed in place. Otherwise, we are easily given into the world and its ways. 

One of the things that makes sin so attractive is the fact that it is often hidden or done in secret or off the beaten track. There is a conquest in doing it for we are people of adventure and there is something special about getting away with something and that something then giving us a fix of enjoyment. 

Proverbs 5:15 says to Drink water from your own cistern and fresh water from your own well. This is referring to intercourse or sex and the admonition to drink only from what is yours or has been given to you. And then here in 9:17 is the idea that Stolen waters are sweet. Adulterous intercourse is sweet. Human nature is corrupt and human nature is attracted to that which is unlawful. We struggle with being content and accepting the gift God has given us. Instead we want more. 

I have struggled with this. It is so easy in this day and age to get enticed away. If we give those sites or show our eyes, if we allow our senses to sit at their feet, we get lured away, and for a moment, a brief moment, there is a thrill and intensity. We have stolen a glance. We have garnered the forbidden fruit. We have turned to our God and said, "No sir, I'm in charge." We have denied the commandments and we feel superior in that moment. I have been there. I go there at times. It is wrong. I know it, but for whatever reason -- sickness, anger, feeling lonely, hungry, feeling tired and yet not sleeping -- in that moment of weakness I fall into bed with the woman of folly. I hate it. As Paul says, "I do what I don't want to do" but I do it anyway.  

In scripture, meat and wine are offered to the follower of God. Here the woman of folly offers bread and water. Both can meet a need, but meat and wine are more pleasurable and more powerful and longer lasting. This is what God is telling us. Seek My ways and listen to My commandments. Do what I tell you to do and you will receive more enjoyment. You think you have all that you need right now. You are in a habit, but know this, come to the Living Water and you will never thirst again. If I submit and surrender to him, then I am rich and full and complete.

This is a very powerful set of verses. In verse 18 is these words - But he does not know that the dead are there. The lure of the woman brings us in, to experience the pleasure and yet everyone in that place is basically dead. And even more her guests are in the depths of Sheol. Her guests, that is, the woman of folly, other companions, the others she has lured in, are empty. The danger is that we just jump from one pleasure to another pleasure. We are always in this state of needing to feed our senses and our desires, programmed now to think that this is the meaning of life. 

I think of Romans 1, when we give it an open door in our life, that is sin, when we stop honoring God and stop giving him thanks, then God says, "Go at it." He gives man over to it. And man is engulfed in it. This is the abhorrence of what is occurring everywhere. The Christian is as much a problem as those that clearly attack the Christian and try to silence him. 

Promise: Sin is seductive. 

My Prayer: O God, heal us. Bring us back to the joy of our salvation. Get me back on the straight and narrow path. Forgive me for thinking that I am God and I know better. You are everything and we need. Poor into the lives of my family and bring them to a true and complete knowledge of you.