The Adulterous Woman, Or Is She?

Proverbs 7

            When is an adulterous woman not really an adulterous woman? When the image is a stand-in for folly. At least in part, that’s what is going on in Proverbs 7: it’s an analogy for wisdom and foolishness. That is clearer when we take chapters 7-9 as a unit. Even just in this chapter, though, there are clues. It is addressed to the simple, who wander unknowingly into dangerous situations. And the simple man is easily seduced with the offer of pleasure and food. Folly offers an easy route to a good life. Wisdom, by implication, is more difficult. Wisdom requires discipline, hard work, and lifelong faithfulness.

            Last week in my sermon, I was talking about the temptations of the world. I quoted the hymn, “Jesus, Grant that Balm and Healing,” about the world’s broad, easy way and its invitation to seductive, sinful vices. I said that the ways of the world are easy because they invite us to do what our basest instincts crave. The way of Christ means putting aside those desires. It means embracing the new creation that we are by our Baptism into Christ. It means setting aside base instinct and saying, “I am not an animal, a mere beast, that I should just act on my appetites. I am created in the image of God to live a godly life.” Many years ago, struggling with the question, “Why do we pray before we eat?” I settled on this answer: “We pray before we eat because we are not animals, who just tear into the food in front of them. We are children of God, and we can wait long enough to say, ‘Thank you,’ and to wait for everyone to be seated at the table together.” I continue to think it’s a good answer, and I think it’s indicative of the way of wisdom: wisdom means acting like a human, not some animal.