(Prov 5)
Many hard things will happen to the man that goes after the strange woman.
- Gives his honor to others. If “honor” means his act of giving his respect and consideration to another, he has given it to a person who certainly does not deserve it. He has directed his attention to a thief: a thief who is not only stealing what the man should have been giving to some one else (i.e. wife, mother, sisters . . . ) but who herself is stealing from those who should have been close to her (i.e. husband, father, brothers). He shows very poor judgment to give his honor to such a person. If “honor” means the receiving of respect from others, he demonstrates he deserves none. He is breaking a fundamental law of God: one of the ten commandments. He demonstrates poor character.
- Gives his years to the cruel. His time spent with adultery will last longer than the act itself. Even if the adultery remains hidden from other people it is open and plain before God. It will always remain in the adulterer's memory: either with a sense of regret or with a wish to commit more sin. If the adultery is known he will live with the fruits of ruined relationships and perhaps a ruined reputation. He will be seen as one who is not reliable.
- Strangers filled with his wealth. His financial wealth is taken minimally by whatever it costs to spend time with the adulteress: hotels, meals, doctors’ bills, abortionists, etc. He is risking the loss of what he may have built up in law suits and lawyer’s fees. If he was married and gets divorced he may face the loss of joint holdings: houses, lands, automobiles, bank accounts, etc. But worse of all he will have lost the wealth of his reputation as a stable well grounded man.
- Labors are in the house of a stranger.
If he comes to his senses he will [v11] ‘mourn at the last, when [his] flesh and thy body are consumed, [v12] and say, ‘How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof; [v13] and have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me! [v14] I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.’ “
You can also think of the “Adulterous Woman” in a figurative way rather than the literal way (as an actual flesh-and-blood human). You can think of the right way of reasoning as God’s way; and the Adulterous Woman’s way as the World’s way. You do not want to “honor” that which God says is not honorable, nor be honored by such. You do not want to give your years to the cruel. You do not want strangers filled with wealth which belongs to you. Your labors belong in your own house, which God owns but allows you to use as if you own. So stay away from the world’s way of thinking: the Adulterous Woman.
