A Tale of Two Women
Text: Proverbs 1:20-33
I. Solomon addresses the book of Proverbs to young men - Proverbs 1:8
A. And in the course of his advice on many subjects, he introduces us to two women: Wisdom and unnamed immoral woman
B. These aren’t actual women but personifications of two ideas
C. The question left hanging in the air is which of these two women would you want as a lifetime companion – in the imagery of seeking a wife.
1. While not talking about actual women, the choice a young man makes in a wife reflects his choice between Wisdom and the immoral woman
2. Wisdom and the immoral woman aren’t real women, but they show the characteristics of actual women
II. The character of the immoral woman
A. She is unnamed because she is secretive. You never really get to know her as a person. It is a shallow relationship. She is personified as a woman who has abandoned her husband to have sex with other men. She appeals to the sensual impulses of simple-minded men.
B. Speech
1. The immoral woman uses flattery, sweet words and smooth talk to get her way - Proverbs 5:3; 6:24
2. Like a salesman, she gets a boy focused on what is being said so as to not pay attention to what is being done or being encouraged.
3. She tells men what they want to hear so they don’t question what she offers - Proverbs 7:14-21
4. By getting a boy to think he is something desirable, stroking his ego, he doesn't stop to question why Folly is interested in him - Proverbs 2:16
5. It is both an attraction technique and a distraction technique at the same time.
C. Unstable Relationships
1. The immoral woman has a bad home life, so she rarely spends time her their family - Proverbs 7:11.
2. Instead she wanders looking for excitement and attention - Proverbs 7:12
3. The immoral woman doesn't know how to have a stable relationship, so she rarely stays with one man for long - Proverbs 2:17; 5:6
4. This is why she is portrayed as married woman who has left her husband
5. She really isn't interest in men as companions. She sees them more as a means to an end - Proverbs 6:26
6. Sex doesn’t mean anything to the immoral woman other than a means to get men chasing her.
D. Encourages Sin
1. The immoral woman isn't interested in religion or following after God. She is godless and immoral - Proverbs 2:17; 5:6.
2. These things are seen as boring or interfering with what she desires to do.
3. She is a foreign woman. A person who follows idols - Proverbs 5:20; 7:5
4. She talks about doing things that are wrong and breaking rules, knowing that if a boy will break rules in one area, he'll break other rules as well - Proverbs 7:11; 9:17; 23:28
5. She doesn’t see her actions as wrong - Proverbs 30:20
6. She doesn’t consider the results of her ways - Proverbs 5:6
E. Seeks Attention
1. The immoral woman seeks attention because she can pretend that she is wanted if men are paying focused on her.
2. Thus she will use her body and the way she dresses to capture a guy's attention - Proverbs 6:25; 7:10
3. She'll talk louder than she needs too and act in an over-the-top fashion to get guys to focus on her - Proverbs 7:11; 9:13
4. She'll also act in a brazen manner, such as using intimate behaviors with men she doesn't know or barely knows - Proverbs 7:13
5. Such women know that if they get men turned on, they don't think clearly.
F. Needs Rescuing
1. A weak area in most men is a desire to be the rescuer of the damsel in distress.
2. The immoral woman plays on that desire by acting ignorant (Proverbs 9:13) or being a victim.
G. She traps men - Proverbs 22:14
1. The immoral woman tries to create stability artificially. She figures if a guy is dependent on her or needing her, then there is stability
2. This is why sex is used both to trap a guy into continuing to come back for more.
3. But she also strives to keep him off balanced, never knowing if he is really going to get it or not because that gives her the illusion of control.
a. The immoral woman aims to keep the man on the edge of begging favors from her and in granting them, so she feels she controls him and her own life.
b. This is why you find men involved with such women frequently complaining about how often they fight and how they never know where they stand with a woman.
4. But it is a deadly trap - Proverbs 2:18-19; 5:8-14, 22-23; 7:22-27; 9:18
III. The Character of Wisdom
A. Wisdom is portrayed as a wholesome, virgin woman. She is named. You know who she is. She is straight forward, plain talking. She appeals to a man’s heart and not his animal instincts.
B. She is valuable - Proverbs 3:15-16
1. Having her benefits the man who has her as his companion - Proverbs 4:6-8
2. She protects her man from danger - Proverbs 1:33; 2:11-16
C. The relationship is built on the intimacy of friends - Proverbs 7:4
1. She shares her spirit - Proverbs 1:23
2. She enters a man’s heart - Proverbs 2:10
D. She improves the man she is with - Proverbs 4:9
1. She brings calmness and stability to a man’s life - Proverbs 3:17-20; 8:22-31
2. Wisdom encourages men to be righteous and sometimes scolds - Proverbs 1:20-22; 8:1-9; 9:1-6
3. She tells men what they need to hear, even if it sometimes hurts.
E. She should be sought - Proverbs 2:2-4; 3:18; 4:13
1. The immoral woman is in a man’s face demanding attention, but while Wisdom tries to make herself heard, a man should not sit idly by. This woman is far too valuable to let go by.
2. Proverbs 8:32-35; 18:22
IV. These are two ways of life
A. There is a way that rejects Wisdom - Proverbs 1:31
1. Even though Wisdom seeks to protect a man from the way of evil - Proverbs 2:12-15
2. And from the way of the adulteress woman - Proverbs 2:16-19
B. Instead those who follow Wisdom walk a good way - Proverbs 2:20-21; 4:11-12
C. God watches which way we walk - Proverbs 5:21
V. It is important who we pick to be our spouse
A. But even more important is what ideal becomes our companion in life
B. Do we go the way of Wisdom or seek the temporary pleasures of the immoral woman? - James 4:4-10
