Prov. 5-7
In all three of these chapters, Solomon warns against the adulterous woman. He addresses “my son” in these proverbs, so the warnings make sense. The temptation toward sexual impurity is very strong, especially among young men. The amount of time he spends on the issue certainly gives it a lot of weight. But do Solomon’s words apply only to men avoiding adulterous women? While that seems to be the primary message, I don’t think his words are limited to that.
First, sexual impurity in general, and adultery specifically, is something that we can all fall prey to. So I’d say Solomon’s words are a warning to us all about the foolishness of chasing after sexual temptations. Second, Solomon had a LOT of women in his life. His words in Proverbs 5:15-19, where he speaks of drinking water from your own cistern and rejoicing in the wife of your youth, suggest that he may have come to appreciate the wisdom of sticking faithfully with one mate. Besides the deeper joy that comes from the “inch wide, mile deep” relationship model (vs the mile wide, inch deep model), all those extra female influences in Solomon’s life pulled his heart in all kinds of ‘not toward God’ directions. So perhaps there is an admonition that staying faithful to one spouse improves our chances of staying faithful to God.
And with that thought, let me take this whole “adulterous woman” idea in a third direction. The Bible often refers to Israel as an adulterous woman, making many connections to Israel’s faithlessness to God. So it doesn’t seem a big stretch to me to put pretty much anything that tries to take the place of God in our lives in the role of Solomon’s adulterous woman. His words of warning could be a metaphor for anything that lures us away from our first love – God.
Ultimately, the adulterous woman – whether the literal one or perhaps a figurative one – causes harm in our relationships with both our neighbor (note Solomon’s words about the jealous husband) and our God. Given that God’s two greatest commandments are to love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself, it is no small wonder that Solomon focuses on her so much!
John 20
Thomas said that he would not believe that Jesus had risen unless he not only saw for himself the holes in Jesus’ hands and side, but placed his fingers and hands into those holes. I can appreciate his desire for some concrete evidence! But I wonder if it was really the concrete evidence that swayed Thomas in the end. Jesus appeared to His disciples again, eight days later, when Thomas was with them. He looked directly at Thomas and told him to “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe” (John 20:27). Verse 28 says, “Thomas answered Him, ‘My Lord and my God!’”. What it doesn’t say is that Thomas put his fingers and hands in Jesus’ holes.
Granted, Jesus’ standing there in front of him showing him the holes may well have been concrete enough. But I think the greater evidence lay in Jesus’ words themselves. Jesus not only knew that Thomas, specifically, of all the people in that room, had said that he needed that physical, concrete evidence to believe that Jesus had really risen, but He also knew the specific evidence that Thomas had demanded – that he wanted to put his fingers in Jesus’ hands and his hand in Jesus’ side. Thomas didn’t have to ask…Jesus knew. Personally, I think that would have done it for me.