Proverbs 2b

2:16-22.             You will be saved from the loose woman,

              from the adulteress with her smooth words,

who forsakes the partner of her youth

              and forgets her sacred covenant,

for her way leads down to death

              and her paths to the shades;

those who go to her never come back,

              nor do they regain the paths of life.

Therefore, walk in the way of the good,

              and keep to the paths of the just.

For the upright will abide in the land,

              and the innocent will remain in it,

but the wicked will be cut off from the earth,

              and the treacherous will be rooted out of it.

The first two chapters of Proverbs highlight the character of the wise person. His or her foundational principle is “The fear of God.” That is the beginning of wisdom, but there is more to be learned. These chapters present “a dialectic between its being a gift of God which is given and an acquisition which one actively pursues.”[1]

In Chapter 1, Lady Wisdom calls out in the streets and marketplaces inviting people to come and receive wisdom. Then in Chapter 2, Solomon’s child is encouraged to seek understanding himself and “search for it as for hidden treasures.” We, the readers of this proverb, are invited as well. Within this framework, Solomon extends the literary trope of personification to illustrate the choices that people face as they travel along “the paths of life.” Along the road, there are other persons calling out to distract the traveler from the path. We read that, through Lady Wisdom, the Lord gives guidance (2:6) that will be a shield and a guard (2:7-8,11). But, a shield and guard against what? Against her opposite, Lady Strange.

The Hebrew terms for Lady Strange in verse 16 have a wide range of meaning. The first is a two-word phrase where the first word just means ‘woman’. The second word in that phrase means ‘strange’ or ‘alien’, and also can be extended to mean ‘prostitute’ or the more old-fashioned ‘harlot’. In English, there are two similar phrases. One used in polite gatherings is, “She was a lady of the night.” Another heard in the locker room is the rather vulgar; “I got lucky last night and picked up some strange.”

The other word is translated as ‘adulteress’ but also can mean ‘foreigner’ or ‘alien’. In certain forms it is translated as ‘seductress’. But, remember, Solomon is speaking in metaphors, so we can’t stop with just the bottom level. There are multiple layers of meaning here. He may have had his many troublesome wives in mind, but more than sex is in view here. The contrast is with Lady Wisdom, and the language used about her does not intend anything sexual. By Solomon’s own unwise choices, his many wives each brought to Jerusalem a different pagan religion. Soon it became easy to believe that: “It’s all the same” so “It doesn’t matter.”

The wise king now sees that It does matter. It is “the fear of Yahweh” that is the foundation of wisdom, not the fear of Ba’al or Astarte. That choice takes people down the wrong path, the path that leads to the shades, that is, ‘the ghosts’. It is a place from which they never come back.

What is the problem? The woman who pretends to be wisdom “forsakes the partner of her youth.” And who was that? Her partner was Yahweh, whom she learned about from her parents. Further, she “forgets her sacred covenant,” that is, she abandons her relationship with the Lord, the covenant love that Yahweh himself established with grace and truth. Solomon’s advice is simple: “Don’t do that. Don’t give up on God. Don’t adulterate what God is doing for you. Be aware of scams. Strive, with God’s help, to be found among “the good, the just, the upright, and the innocent of the land.”

Once off ‘the path of life’, it is very difficult to return (see Hebrews 6:1-8). There are, think about it, two sides to every path and thus at least two other choices. In our current mindset in America, there is the left side of the path and the right side of the path. Embrace either uncritically and you take a detour, slip-sliding away from God. Solomon says, stay on the path.

There is no justification for trying to hide a history of colonialism, land grabs, and slavery. If you are a Euro-American, accept it and work to do something about the long-term effects and lingering practices of such evil in society. Avoid White Supremacy and White Christian Nationalist organizations with their toxic conspiracy theories; the anti-Semitism, anti-Islamism, anti-immigrant, racism, and misogyny that has ruined many societies.[2]    

On the other side of the path, there is no justification for asserting that every belief and every practice is just an instance of diversity that should be embraced, and that ancient societal standards can be ignored. There is wisdom in history. Some societies survived while other societies disappeared. Beyond survival, some societies have thrived. That was, in part, because they recognized that some social arrangements work for people while other social arrangements tend to unravel the fabric of society. No society of extreme individualists, where everyone does whatever they want to do, has ever survived for very long.   

Be careful, though, how you read Scripture. The Old Testament law was appropriate for an immigrant people searching for a home, but those specific laws are not for us. However, the principles behind those laws, especially frequent injunctions to practice justice, show mercy, pursue righteousness, and spread covenant love; those standards are for us. With God, these things can be worked out in any society. Without God, they are unlikely outcomes.

[1] Brevard S. Childs, Introduction to the Old Testament as Scripture, (1979). Page 554.

[2] I hear that The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism, (12/5/23), will be a good read. The author, Tim Alberta, traces how Conservative Christians took a wrong turn off the path.