Yesterday I posted some thoughts from Proverbs 5:15-18 — Drink from Your Own Cistern! Now I pass along some notes on Proverbs 6:23-25…

“For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life” (Proverbs 6:23).

• The Torah (the Law of the Pentateuch) is light.
• In this verse, law translates the Hebrew word torah, which is always translated that way in the KJV.
• torah = H8451 = “a precept or statute, especially the Decalogue or Pentateuch”
• “y la enseñanza es luz”
• “and the teaching is light” (notice that the article the shows teaching as a noun, not a verb)
• “Y camino de vida las reprensiones que te instruyen”
• “And way of life the reproofs that instruct you”
• Not all reproof instructs — but I believe that God always instructs us with His reproofs, even though we humans often refuse to be instructed, even by God.
• Satan and the world tell us something entirely contrary to this verse.
• They picture divine and godly reproof and restraint as repression and oppression.
• They paint commandments, laws, and correction as negative and counter-productive.
• They take what is light and portray it as darkness.
• And to complicate matters for us, our own flesh agrees with Satan and the world
• How we need God’s Spirit to so revive us and renew us that we see His commandments and teachings for the light they are!
• His rules are instructive of His character and our best interests.
• His instructions are to illuminate and deliver us into safe travel through life.
• His reproofs are for life and vitality.
• “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Psalm 119:105).
• Now let’s see one of the moral and spiritual benefits of embracing God’s teachings and commandments…

“To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman” (Proverbs 6:24).

• God’s instructions and rules guard us from moral evil and immoral people.
• His commandments and teachings guard us from the seductive enticements of that evil and those people.
• I believe that to be the literal meaning of this verse, but…
• Remember Proverbs presents divine wisdom as a pure, holy woman — so we can also “spiritualize” this verse and think of the strange woman as the personification of worldly wisdom.
• God’s instructions and teachings, His commandments and rules, keep us and guard us from the seductive enticements and smooth reasonableness of that wisdom which is earthly, sensual, devilish (James 3:15).

“Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids” (Proverbs 6:25).

• “No codicies su hermosura en tu corazón, Ni ella te prenda con sus ojos.”
• “Do not covet her beauty in your heart, Nor let her seize you with her eyes.”
• Now we see that “staying on the straight and narrow” isn’t a passive thing.
• We must choose not to indulge and nourish the desire for the undeniable beauty and attractiveness of that which does not belong to us — be it a person or a philosophy.
• Remember the entrancing, entrapping effect of moral and spiritual evil!
• So don’t gaze upon it.
• And don’t “lock eyes” with it.
• Even if you think you are strong enough. And maybe because you think you are strong enough. Listen…
• “With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him” (Proverbs 7:21).
• “Yea, many strong men have been slain by her” (Proverbs 7:26).

I’ll close with this “random” truth:

Only God’s Spirit
can give us
His thoughts and perspectives
about
His thoughts and perspectives.

Embrace the wisdom from above to avoid (or slip out of) the embrace of evil’s wisdom.

Maybe tomorrow I’ll comment on Proverbs 6:26-35. (But it’s hard to think that I have the time to spare for this.)