Ecclesiastes 9:9(v18)Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your life of vanity, which he has given you under the sun, all your days of…
Hebrews 4:13(v21)There is no creature that is hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and laid open before the eyes of him to whom we must give an…
Proverbs 15:3(v21)Yahweh’s eyes are everywhere, keeping watch on the evil and the good.
Malachi 2:14-15(v18)Yet you say, ‘Why?’ Because Yahweh has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously,…
1 Corinthians 7:2-5(v15)But, because of sexual immoralities, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband. Let the husband give his wife…
Show all 44 cross-references
Job 34:21(v21)“For his eyes are on the ways of a man. He sees all his goings.
Jeremiah 32:19(v21)great in counsel, and mighty in work; whose eyes are open to all the ways of the children of men, to give everyone according to his ways,…
Hebrews 13:4(v15)Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the bed be undefiled; but God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.
Psalms 11:4(v21)Yahweh is in his holy temple. Yahweh is on his throne in heaven. His eyes observe. His eyes examine the children of men.
Psalms 128:3(v16)Your wife will be as a fruitful vine in the innermost parts of your house, your children like olive plants around your table.
Song of Solomon 7:3(v19)Your two breasts are like two fawns, that are twins of a roe.
Jeremiah 16:17(v21)For my eyes are on all their ways. They are not hidden from my face. Their iniquity isn’t concealed from my eyes.
Jeremiah 23:24(v21)Can anyone hide himself in secret places so that I can’t see him?” says Yahweh. “Don’t I fill heaven and earth?” says Yahweh.
Hosea 7:2(v21)They don’t consider in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness. Now their own deeds have engulfed them. They are before my face.
Job 31:4(v21)Doesn’t he see my ways, and count all my steps?
Psalms 119:168(v21)I have obeyed your precepts and your testimonies, for all my ways are before you.
Proverbs 5:18-19(v15)Let your spring be blessed. Rejoice in the wife of your youth. A loving doe and a graceful deer— let her breasts satisfy you at all times.…
Song of Solomon 2:9(v19)My beloved is like a roe or a young deer. Behold, he stands behind our wall! He looks in at the windows. He glances through the lattice.
Song of Solomon 4:5(v19)Your two breasts are like two fawns that are twins of a roe, which feed among the lilies.
Song of Solomon 8:14(v19)Come away, my beloved! Be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices!
2 Chronicles 16:9(v21)For Yahweh’s eyes run back and forth throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward…
Job 14:16(v21)But now you count my steps. Don’t you watch over my sin?
Psalms 127:3(v16)Behold, children are a heritage of Yahweh. The fruit of the womb is his reward.
Psalms 139:1-12(v21)Yahweh, you have searched me, and you know me. You know my sitting down and my rising up. You perceive my thoughts from afar. You search…
Song of Solomon 4:15(v18)a fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, flowing streams from Lebanon.
Jeremiah 17:10(v21)“I, Yahweh, search the mind. I try the heart, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.”
Genesis 24:60(v16)They blessed Rebekah, and said to her, “Our sister, may you be the mother of thousands of ten thousands, and let your offspring possess the…
Deuteronomy 33:28(v16)Israel dwells in safety, the fountain of Jacob alone, In a land of grain and new wine. Yes, his heavens drop down dew.
Judges 12:9(v16)He had thirty sons. He sent his thirty daughters outside his clan, and he brought in thirty daughters from outside his clan for his sons.…
Psalms 17:3(v21)You have proved my heart. You have visited me in the night. You have tried me, and found nothing. I have resolved that my mouth shall not…
Psalms 68:26(v16)“Bless God in the congregations, even the Lord in the assembly of Israel!”
Proverbs 5:15(v19)Drink water out of your own cistern, running water out of your own well.
Song of Solomon 2:17(v19)Until the day is cool, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be like a roe or a young deer on the mountains of Bether.
Song of Solomon 4:12(v18)My sister, my bride, is a locked up garden; a locked up spring, a sealed fountain.
Isaiah 48:21(v16)They didn’t thirst when he led them through the deserts. He caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them. He also split the rock and…
Proverbs 6:24(v20)to keep you from the immoral woman, from the flattery of the wayward wife’s tongue.
Proverbs 7:5(v20)that they may keep you from the strange woman, from the foreigner who flatters with her words.
Revelation 2:23(v21)I will kill her children with Death, and all the assemblies will know that I am he who searches the minds and hearts. I will give to each…
1 Kings 11:1(v20)Now king Solomon loved many foreign women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians,…
Proverbs 22:14(v20)The mouth of an adulteress is a deep pit. He who is under Yahweh’s wrath will fall into it.
Proverbs 23:27-28(v20)For a prostitute is a deep pit; and a wayward wife is a narrow well. Yes, she lies in wait like a robber, and increases the unfaithful…
Proverbs 23:33(v20)Your eyes will see strange things, and your mind will imagine confusing things.
2 Samuel 12:4(v19)A traveler came to the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to prepare for the wayfaring man who had come…
Proverbs 2:16-19(v20)to deliver you from the strange woman, even from the foreigner who flatters with her words, who forsakes the friend of her youth, and…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (21 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Geneva Bible translators1599 · Public DomainOn vv15, 17, 18, 20, 21He teacheth us sobriety, exhorting us to live of…
He teacheth us sobriety, exhorting us to live of our own labors and to be beneficial to the godly that want.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv15–21Pro 5:15 Drink waters out of thine own cistern,…
Pro 5:15 Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.
Ver. 15. Drink waters out of thine own cistern.] After other preservatives from fornication, as not to think of or speak with the harlot, not to come near the doors of her house, &c., but to consider the many mischiefs that follow upon it - a diseased body, a damned soul, a poor purse, &c. - here the wise man prescribeth wedlock as a remedy properly ordained by God for that end. {1Co 7:2; 1Co 7:9} And because not the having of a wife, but the loving of her keeps a man honest; therefore it follows, {Pro 5:19} "Let her be as the loving hind," &c.
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And running waters.] Heathen writers also set forth a wife by waters: as Hesiod {a} bids men not to pass over a running water without prayers to the gods - that is, not to render unto their wives due benevolence till they have sought God, as Johannes Grammaticus interprets it. A pious precept: marriage, as well as food, must be sanctified by the word and prayer, and God be called in to bless this physic to the soul. Lust makes the heart hot and thirsty: God therefore sends men to this well, to this cistern. Compare Isa 65:1. The Hebrews call a woman נקבה, i.e., perforata {Gen 1:27}
{a} Hesiod. in Ergis.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole1685 · Public DomainOn vv15–21This metaphor contained here, and Pro 5:16-18, is to…
This metaphor contained here, and Pro 5:16-18, is to be understood either,
1. Of the free and lawful use of a man’s estate, both for his own comfort, and for the good of others. Or rather,
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2. Of the honest use of matrimony, as the proper remedy against these filthy practices. This best suits with the whole context, both foregoing and following; and thus it is explained in the end of Pro 5:18. So the sense is, Content thyself with those delights which God alloweth thee, with the sober use of the marriage bed. Why shouldst thou ramble hither and thither, trespassing against God and men, to steal their waters, which thou mightest freely take out of thine own cistern or well. The ground of the metaphor is this, that waters were scarce and precious in those countries, and therefore men used to make cisterns and wells for their own private use. And the same metaphor of
waters, and of a pit, or well, is applied to things of this nature elsewhere, as Pro 23:27; Isa 48:1; 51:1.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry1710 · Public DomainOn v15Solomon, having shown the great evil that there is…
Solomon, having shown the great evil that there is in adultery and fornication, and all such lewd and filthy courses, here prescribes remedies against them.
I. Enjoy with satisfaction the comforts of lawful marriage, which was ordained for the prevention of uncleanness, and therefore ought to be made use of in time, lest it should not prove effectual for the cure of that which it might have prevented. Let none complain that God has dealt unkindly with them in forbidding them those pleasures which they have a natural desire of, for he has graciously provided for the regular gratification of them. "Thou mayest not indeed eat of every tree of the garden, but choose thee out one, which thou pleasest, and of that thou mayest freely eat; nature will be content with that, but lust with nothing." God, in thus confining men to one, has been so far from putting any hardship upon them that he has really consulted their true interest; for, as Mr. Herbert observes, "If God had laid all common, certainly man would have been the encloser." - Church-porch. Solomon here enlarges much upon this, not only prescribing it as an antidote, but urging it as an argument against fornication, that the allowed pleasures of marriage (however wicked wits may ridicule them, who are factors for the unclean spirit) far transcend all the false forbidden pleasures of whoredom.
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1. Let young men marry, marry and not burn. Have a cistern, a well of thy own (Pro 5:15), even the wife of thy youth, Pro 5:18. Wholly abstain, or wed. - Herbert. "The world is wide, and there are varieties of accomplishments, among which thou mayest please thyself."
2. Let him that is married take delight in his wife, and let him be very fond of her, not only because she is the wife that he himself has chosen and he ought to be pleased with his own choice, but because she is the wife that God in his providence appointed for him and he ought much more to be pleased with the divine appointment, pleased with her because she is his own. Let thy fountain be blessed (Pro 5:18); think thyself very happy in her, look upon her as a blessed wife, let her have thy blessing, pray daily for her, and then rejoice with her. Those comforts we are likely to have joy of that are sanctified to us by prayer and the blessing of God. It is not only allowed us, but commanded us, to be pleasant with our relations; and it particularly becomes yoke-fellows to rejoice together and in each other. Mutual delight is the bond of mutual fidelity. It is not only taken for granted that the bridegroom rejoices over his bride (Isa 62:5), but given for law. Ecc 9:9, Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of thy life. Those take not their comforts where God has appointed who are jovial and merry with their companions abroad, but sour and morose with their families at home.
3. Let him be fond of his wife and love her dearly (Pro 5:19): Let her be as the loving hind and the pleasant roe, such as great men sometimes kept tame in their houses and played with. Desire no better diversion from severe study and business than the innocent and pleasant conversation of thy own wife; let her lie in thy bosom, as the poor man's ewe-lamb did in his (Sa2 12:3), and do thou repose thy head in hers, and let that satisfy thee at all times; and seek not for pleasure in any other. "Err thou always in her love. If thou wilt suffer thy love to run into an excess, and wilt be dotingly fond of any body, let it be only of thy own wife, where there is least danger of exceeding." This is drinking waters, to quench the thirst of thy appetite, out of thy own cistern, and running waters, which are clear, and sweet, and wholesome, out of thy own well, Pro 5:15. Co1 7:2, Co1 7:3.
4. Let him take delight in his children and look upon them with pleasure (Pro 5:16, Pro 5:17): "Look upon them as streams from thy own pure fountains" (the Jews are said to come forth out of the waters of Judah, Isa 48:1), "so that they are parts of thyself, as the streams are of the fountain. Keep to thy own wife, and thou shalt have," (1.) "A numerous offspring, like rivers of water, which run in abundance, and they shall be dispersed abroad, matched into other families, whereas those that commit whoredom shall not increase," Hos 4:10. (2.) "A peculiar offspring, which shall be only thy own, whereas the children of whoredom, that are fathered upon thee, are, probably, not so, but, for aught thou knowest, are the offspring of strangers, and yet thou must keep them." (3.) "A creditable offspring, which are an honour to thee, and which thou mayest send abroad, and appear with, in the streets, whereas a spurious brood is thy disgrace, and that which thou art ashamed to own." In this matter, virtue has all the pleasure and honour in it; justly therefore it is called wisdom.
5. Let him then scorn the offer of forbidden pleasures when he is always ravished with the love of a faithful virtuous wife; let him consider what an absurdity it will be for him to be ravished with a strange woman (Pro 5:20), to be in love with a filthy harlot, and embrace the bosom of a stranger, which, if he had any sense of honour or virtue, he would loathe the thoughts of. "Why wilt thou be so sottish, such an enemy to thyself, as to prefer puddle-water, and that poisoned too and stolen, before pure living waters out of thy own well?" Note, If the dictates of reason may be heard, the laws of virtue will be obeyed.
II. "See the eye of God always upon thee and let his fear rule in thy heart," Pro 5:21. Those that live in this sin promise themselves secresy (the eye of the adulterer waits for the twilight, Job 24:15); but to what purpose, when it cannot be hidden from God? For, 1. He sees it. The ways of man, all his motions, all his actions, are before the eyes of the Lord, all the workings of the heart and all the outgoings of the life, that which is done ever so secretly and disguised ever so artfully. God sees it in a true light, and knows it with all its causes, circumstances, and consequences. He does not cast an eye upon men's ways now and then, but they are always actually in his view and under his inspection; and darest thou sin against God in his sight, and do that wickedness under his eye which thou durst not do in the presence of a man like thyself? 2. He will call the sinner to an account for it; for he not only sees, but ponders all his goings, judges concerning them, as one that will shortly judge the sinner for them. Every action is weighed, and shall be brought into judgment (Ecc 12:14), which is a good reason why we should ponder the path of our feet (Pro 4:26), and so judge ourselves that we may not be judged.
III. "Foresee the certain ruin of those that go on still in their trespasses." Those that live in this sin promise themselves impunity, but they deceive themselves; their sin will find them out, Pro 5:22, Pro 5:23. The apostle gives the sense of these verses in a few words. Heb 13:4, Whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. 1. It is a sin which men with great difficulty shake off the power of. When the sinner is old and weak his lusts are strong and active, in calling to remembrance the days of his youth, Eze 23:19. Thus his own iniquities having seized the wicked himself by his own consent, and he having voluntarily surrendered himself a captive to them, he is held in the cords of his own sins, and such full possession they have gained of him that he cannot extricate himself, but in the greatness of his folly (and what greater folly could there be than to yield himself a servant to such cruel task-masters?) he shall go astray, and wander endlessly. Uncleanness is a sin from which, when once men have plunged themselves into it, they very hardly and very rarely recover themselves. 2. It is a sin which, if it be not forsaken, men cannot possibly escape the punishment of; it will unavoidably be their ruin. As their own iniquities do arrest them in the reproaches of conscience and present rebukes (Jer 7:19), so their own iniquities shall arrest them and bind them over to the judgments of God. There needs no prison, no chains; they shall be holden in the cords of their own sins, as the fallen angels, being incurably wicked, are thereby reserved in chains of darkness. The sinner, who, having been often reproved, hardens his neck, shall die at length without instruction. Having had general warnings sufficient given him already, he shall have no particular warnings, but he shall die without seeing his danger beforehand, shall die because he would not receive instruction, but in the greatness of his folly would go astray; and so shall his doom be, he shall never find the way home again. Those that are so foolish as to choose the way of sin are justly left of God to themselves to go in it till they come to that destruction which it leads to, which is a good reason why we should guard with watchfulness and resolution against the allurements of the sensual appetite.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv15–21Drink waters out of thine own cistern,.... Arguments being…
Drink waters out of thine own cistern,.... Arguments being used to dissuade from conversation with an adulterous woman, taken from the disgrace, diseases, poverty, and distress of mind on reflection, it brings a man to; the wise man proceeds to direct to marriage, as a proper antidote against it: take a wife and cleave to her, and enjoy all the pleasures and comforts of a marriage state. As every man formerly had his own cistern for the reception of water for his own use, Kg2 18:31; so every man should have his own wife, and but one: and as drinking water quenches thirst, and allays heat; so the lawful enjoyments of the marriage bed quench the thirst of appetite, and allay the heat of lust; for which reason the apostle advises men to marry and not burn, Co1 7:9; and a man that is married should be content with his own wife, and not steal waters out of another cistern. The allusion may be to a law, which, Clemens of Alexandria (t) says, Plato had from the Hebrews; which enjoined husbandmen not to take water from others to water their lands, till they themselves had dug into the earth, called virgin earth, and found it dry and without water;
and running waters out of thine own well; the pure, chaste, and innocent pleasures of the marriage state, are as different from the embraces of an harlot, who is compared to a deep ditch and a narrow pit, Pro 23:27; as clear running waters of a well or fountain from the dirty waters of a filthy puddle; see Pro 9:17. Some interpret these words, and what follows, of persons enjoying with contentment the good things of life they have for the support of themselves and families; and of a liberal communication of them to the relief of proper objects; but not to spend their substance on harlots. Jarchi understands by the "cistern", the law of Moses: but it may be better applied to the Scriptures in general, from whence all sound doctrine flows, to the comfort and refreshment of the souls of men; and from whence all doctrine ought to be fetched, and not elsewhere.
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(t) Stromat. l. 1. p. 274.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley1765 · Public DomainOn vv15, 16, 18, 19Drink - Content thyself with those delights which God…
Drink - Content thyself with those delights which God alloweth thee in the sober use of the marriage-bed.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn vv15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21Verse 15. Drink waters out of thine own cistern]…
Verse 15. Drink waters out of thine own cistern] Be satisfied with thy own wife; and let the wife see that she reverence her husband; and not tempt him by inattention or unkindness to seek elsewhere what he has a right to expect, but cannot find, at home.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn vv15, 16, 18, 19, 20Pro 5:15. Drink waters out of thine own cistern…
Pro 5:15. Drink waters out of thine own cistern — “The allegory here begun is carried on through several verses. It has been differently understood; but the interpretation which seems most generally followed, is that of those who conceive that the wise man here subjoins a commendation of matrimony, and the chaste preservation of the marriage- bed, for the propagation of a legitimate offspring, to his dehortation from illegitimate embraces, and stolen waters; and Schultens observes, that no figure is more elegant or more common among the easterns than this.” — Dodd. Bishop Patrick’s paraphrase on the verse is, “Marry; and in a wife of thy own, enjoy the pleasures thou desirest, and be content with them alone; innocent, chaste, and pure pleasures; as much different from the other, as the clear waters of a wholesome fountain are from those of a dirty lake or puddle.”
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes1834 · Public DomainOn vv15, 16, 19, 20, 21The teacher seeks to counteract the evils of mere…
The teacher seeks to counteract the evils of mere sensual passion chiefly by setting forth the true blessedness of which it is the counterfeit. The true wife is as a fountain of refreshment, where the weary soul may quench its thirst. Even the joy which is of the senses appears, as in the Song of Solomon, purified and stainless (see Pro 5:19 marginal reference).
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Charles Bridges1846 · Public DomainOn vv15, 20Desire after forbidden enjoyments naturally springs from dissatisfaction with…
Desire after forbidden enjoyments naturally springs from dissatisfaction with the blessings in possession. Where contentment is not found at home — drinking out of our own cistern†1 — it will be sought for, however vainly, abroad. Conjugal love is chief among the earthly goods in mercy granted by God to his fallen and rebellious creature. Enjoy then with thankfulness thine own, and desire not thy neighbour’s well. (Exo 20:17 . 2Sa 11:2-3 .) If a happy issue is given (Psa 127:3-5 ; Psa 128:1-6 .), let it be as fountains (Compare Num 24:7 ; Deu 33:28 ; Psa 68:26 ; Isa 48:1 ) dispersed abroad, to fertilize with godly influence the way through which their course may be directed. (Compare Zec 8:5 .) Rejoice with the wife of thy youth. (Deu 24:5 . Ecc 9:9 .) Regard her as the special gift of thy Father’s hand. (Pro 19:14 .) Cherish her with gentleness and purity (Gen 24:67 ), as the loving hind and pleasant roe.†2 Whatsoever interrupts the strictest harmony in this delicate relationship, opens the door to imminent temptation. Tender, well-regulated, domestic affection is the best defense against the vagrant desires of unlawful passion. Yea — it is consecrated by the Word of God itself to the high purpose of shadowing out "the great mystery — loving and cherishing our own flesh, even as the Lord the Church." (Eph 5:25, Eph 5:29 .)
Footnotes:
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†1 The beauty of the figure is illustrated from the circumstance, that the houses of the East appear each to have had their own cistern. 2Ki 18:31 .
†2 Compare 2Sa 12:3 . The hind and the roe were objects of special delight (Song of Son 2:17 ; Song of Son 3:5 ) and endearment — a picture of the lively delight, which the wife naturally engages; relaxing in her society from severer duties, and taking the liveliest pleasure in her company. As Bishop Davenant beautifully observes — ’Abroad the man may consider himself as tossing in the waves; but at home with the wife, in repose, as in a desired haven.’ — On Col 3:19 .
Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs (1846) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary1859 · Public DomainOn vv15–19Well. Live comfortably on your own property, (Cajetan) with…
Well. Live comfortably on your own property, (Cajetan) with your own wife. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown1871 · Public DomainOn vv15, 17, 18, 19, 21By figures, in which well, cistern, and fountain [Pro…
By figures, in which well, cistern, and fountain [Pro 5:15, Pro 5:18] represent the wife, and rivers of waters [Pro 5:16] the children, men are exhorted to constancy and satisfaction in lawful conjugal enjoyments. In Pro 5:16, fountains (in the plural) rather denote the produce or waters of a spring, literally, "what is from a spring," and corresponds with "rivers of waters."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon1874 · Public DomainOn vv15, 18, 19, 20, 21EXHORTATION TO CHASTENESS AND PROPER CONJUGAL DUTIES, Pro_5:15-23.
EXHORTATION TO CHASTENESS AND PROPER CONJUGAL DUTIES, Pro_5:15-23.
15-17. Drink waters — Waters often stand for posterity. Num_24:7. Fountains, wells, and cisterns, in the East were regarded as of great importance. Hence they were largely used metaphorically for that which is noble, desirable, and even sacred. Compare Psa_68:26; Isa_43:1; Son_4:12; Gen_26:15-20; Jer_18:14. These verses, under an allegory, contain an exhortation to restrain the sexual appetite within the boundaries of thine own married life. The figure is eminently Oriental and vivid, but chaste; and the subject is treated with the utmost delicacy of language and purity of thought. By the fountains of Pro_5:16 is commonly understood lawful issue, of which a man need not be ashamed, but, on the contrary, lead them forth into the streets as his joy and pride. But some versions have a negative before the word fountains. Let NOT thy fountains, etc. Fountains then would mean our sexual gratifications, and they are forbidden here to rove. The sense would then harmonize well with the next verse, where the same thought is, after the Hebrew manner, presented under a fuller form. Zockler translates interrogatively: “Shall thy streams flow abroad as water in the streets?” So, also, Conant. There is no sign of the interrogative, but this is sometimes omitted, as in Psa_56:7.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn vv15, 16, 19, 2115–19. The remedy against sin is to be found…
15–19. The remedy against sin is to be found in the holy estate which God has ordained. “The resemblance between the two Books (the Song of Solomon and the Book of Proverbs) in their treatment of this subject is singularly striking.” Speaker’s Comm., ad loc.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers1878 · Public DomainOn vv15, 17, 18, 19, 21(15-20) Drink waters out of thine own cistern .…
(15-20) Drink waters out of thine own cistern . . .—In these verses Solomon urges his disciples to follow after purity in the married life; he pictures in vivid terms the delights which it affords as compared with the pleasures of sin.
Out of thine own cistern.—The “strange woman,” on the other hand, says, “Stolen waters are sweet” (Pro_9:17). The same figure is employed in Son_4:15, where a wife is compared to “a fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon.” In Jer_2:13 God compares Himself to a “fountain of living waters,” and complains that Israel had deserted Him, and hewed out for themselves “broken cisterns that can hold no water.” This passage in Proverbs has in like manner often been interpreted as an exhortation to drink deeply from the living waters of the Holy Spirit given in the Word and Sacraments (Joh_7:37).—For ref. see Bishop Wordsworth.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary1880 · Public DomainOn vv15–21Vers. 15-19. Commendation of the chaste intercourse of marriage.…
Vers. 15-19. Commendation of the chaste intercourse of marriage. In this section the teacher passes from admonitory warnings against unchastity to the commendation of conjugal fidelity and pure love. The allegorical exposition of this passage, current at the period of the Revision of the Authorized Version in 1612, as referring to liberality, is not ad rem. Such an idea had no place certainly in the teacher"s mind, nor is it appropriate to the context, the scope of which is, as we have seen, to warn youth against indulgence in illicit pleasures, by pointing out the terrible consequences which follow, and to indicate, on the other hand, in what direction the satisfaction of natural wants is to be obtained, that so, the heart and conscience being kept pure, sin and evil may be avoided.
Drink waters out of thine own cistern, etc.; i.e. in the wife of your own choice, or in the legitimate sphere of marriage, seek the satisfaction of your natural impulses. The pure, innocent, and chaste nature of such pleasures is appropriately compared with the pure and wholesome waters of the cistern and the wellspring. The "drinking" carries with it the satisfying of a natural want. Agreeably with oriental and scriptural usage, "the wife" is compared with a "cistern" and "well." Thus in the Song of Solomon the "bride" is called a spring shut up, a fountain sealed". (Son_4:12) Sarah is spoken of under exactly the same figure that is used here, viz. the bor, or "cistern," in Isa_51:1. The figure was not confined to women, however, as we find Judah alluded to as "waters" in Isa_48:1, and Jacob or Israel so appearing in the prophecy of Balaam. (Num_24:7) The people are spoken of by David as they that are "of the fountain of Israel". (Psa_68:26) A similar imagery is employed in the New Testament of the wife. The apostles St. Paul and St. Peter both speak of her as "the vessel (to skeuov )". (see 1Th_4:4 and 1Pe_3:7) The forms of the original, b"or and b"er, standing respectively for "cistern" and "well," indicate a common derivation from baar, "to dig." But bor is an artificially constructed reservoir or cistern, equivalent to the Vulgate cisterna, and LXX aggeiov , while b"er is the natural spring of water, equivalent to the Vulgate putens. So Aben Ezra, who says, on Lev_2:3-6, Bor is that which catches the rain, while b"er is that from within which the water wells up." This explanation, however, does not entirely cover the terms as used here. The "waters" (Hebrew, mayim) may be the pure water conveyed into the cistern, and not simply the water which is caught in its descent born heaven. The parallel term, "running waters" (Hebrew, noz"lim), describes the flowing limpid stream fit, like the other, for drinking purposes. A similar use of the terms is made in the Son_4:15, "a well of living waters (b"er mayim khayyim) and streams (v"noz"lim) from Lebanon." It may be remarked that the allusion to the wife, under the figures employed, enhances her value. It indicates the high estimation in which she is to be held, since the "cistern" or "well" was one of the most valuable possessions and adjuncts of an Eastern house. The teaching of the passage, in its bearing on the subject of marriage, coincides with that which is subsequently put forward by St. Paul, in 1Co_7:9.
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Home joys.
I THE HOME IS A DIVINE INSTITUTION OF THE FIRST IMPORTANCE FOR THE WELFARE OF MANKIND. Here and throughout the Bible the sanctity of the home is insisted on as something to be guarded inviolably. It is evident that this beautiful institution is in harmony with our nature. To live according to nature is not to indulge ill-regulated passions, to follow chance impulses, to subordinate reason and conscience to instinct and appetite. It is to live so as to secure the harmonious working of our whole nature and of the general body of mankind. Thus regarded, family life is natural; it falls in best with the requirements of the race, it ministers best to its advancement. Polygamy is always degrading. As men rise in the moral scale they cast it off. The home is the foundation of the state. Where home life is most corrupt social and political institutions are in greatest danger. The homes of England are the surest guardians of her internal order and peace. May no corrupt casuistry ever dare to lay its foul finger on these holy shrines! The worst fruits of atheism and of the confessional are seen in specious pretexts for committing that horrible sacrilege.
II IN ORDER TO PROTECT THE HOME GOD HAS MADE IT TO BE A FOUNTAIN OF PURE AND WHOLESOME JOYS. They who break through the restraints of home life in the feverish thirst for illicit delights little know what joys they are losing. The poison fruits of a pandemonium let a blight fall on the sweet, fresh beauty of what might have been a very garden of Eden. For the restraints which look to libertines so irksome are just the very conditions of the most lasting, most satisfying, most; wholesome of human joys. The strong love of husband and wife, the parents" pleasure in their children, the innumerable little interests of the home circle, and all that is typified by the "fireside," are delights unknown to men who profess to make the pursuit of pleasure their aim in life. "The first sure symptom of a mind in health Is rest of heart and pleasure felt at home.
III TO BE PRESERVED IN THEIR INTEGRITY, THE HOME JOYS MUST BE CAREFULLY GUARDED AND REVERENTLY CHERISHED. The serpent is in the garden; beware of its wiles. Temptations seek to break up the confidence and peace of the family circle. Not only must gross infidelity be shunned as a deadly sin, but all approaches to a breach of domestic sanctity must be dreaded. Levity, as well as immorality, may go far to spoil the waters of the purest fountain of delight. Mere indifference may wreck the home joys. These joys must be cherished. Courtship should not end with the wedding day. Husbands and wives should beware of neglecting mutual respect and consideration under the influence of familiarity. Why should a man be more rude to his wife than to any other woman? Surely marriage is not designed to destroy courtesy. There should be an element of reverence in wedded love. Mutual sympathy each taking interest in the occupations and cares of the other; mutual confidence the avoidance of secrets between husband and wife on the mistaken flea of sparing pain; and mutual forbearance, are requisites for the preservation of the sweetness of the fountains of home joy.
Vers. 15-21. Fidelity and bliss in marriage.
The counterpart of the foregoing warning against vice, placing connubial joys in the brightest light, of poetic fancy.
I IMAGES OF WIFEHOOD. The wife is described:
1. As a spring, and as a cistern. Property in a spring or well was highly, even sacredly, esteemed. Hence a peculiar force in the comparison. The wife is the husband"s peculiar delight and property; the source of pleasures of every kind and degree; the fruitful origin of the family. (comp. Isa_51:1 Son_4:12)
2. As wife of ones youth. " (Cf. Deu_24:5 Ecc_9:9) One to whom the flower of youth and manhood has been devoted. The parallel description is "companion of youth". (Pro_2:17) Her image, in this case, is associated with the sunniest scenes of experience.
3. As a "lovely hind, or charming gazelle. " A favourite Oriental comparison, and embodied in the names Tabitha and Dorcas, which denote "gazelle." There are numberless uses of the figure in Arabian and Persian poets. The beautiful liquid eye, delicate head, graceful carriage of the creature, all point the simile. Nothing can surpass, as a husband"s description of a true wife, Wordsworth"s exquisite stanza beginning"She was a phantom of delight, When first she gleam"d upon my sight; A creature not too bright or good For human nature"s daily food; For transient sorrows, simple wiles, Praise, blame, love, kisses, tears, and smiles.
II IMAGES OF THE HUSBAND"S BLISS.
1. It is like taking draughts from a fresh and ever-running stream. There is "continual comfort in a face, the lineaments of gospel books.
2. It is a peculiar, a private possession. Ver. 16 should be rendered interrogatively; it conveys the contrast of the profaned treasures of the unchaste woman"s love, and thus fits with ver. 17. The language of lovers finds a true zest in the word, "My own!" Life becomes brutish where this feeling does not exist.
3. Yet it attracts sympathy, admiration, and good will. Ver. 18 is the blessing wished by the speaker or by any looker on. Wedding feasts bring out these feelings; and the happiness and prosperity of married pairs are as little exposed to the tooth of envy as any earthly good.
4. It is satisfying; for what repose can be more sweet and secure than that on the bosom of the faithful spouse? It is enrapturing, without being enfeebling, unlike those false pleasures, "violent delights with violent endings, that in their triumph die" (ver. 19).
III CONCLUDING EXHORTATION (ver. 20), founded on the contrast just given.
1. The true rapture (the Hebrew word shagah, "reel" as in intoxication, repeated) should deter from the false and vicious.
2. To prefer the bosom of the adulteress to that of the true wife is a mark of the most vitiated taste, the most perverted understanding. J.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator1887 · Public DomainOn vv15, 16, 17, 21Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running…
Pro_5:15
Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.
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Spiritual resources
I. Man has independent spiritual resources.
1. He has independent sources of thought. Every sane man can and does think for himself.
2. He has independent sources of experience. No two have exactly the same experience.
3. He has independent powers of usefulness. Every man has a power to do some thing which no other can.
II. Man Is Bound To Use These Resources. Drink waters out of thine own cistern. Do not live on others self-drawing.
1. Honours our own nature.
2. Increases our own resources.
3. Contributes to the good of the universe. The man who gives only what he has borrowed from others adds nothing to the common stock. The subject--
(1) Indicates the kind of service which one man can spiritually render another.
(2) Suggests an effective method to sap the foundation of all arrogant assumptions. Let every man become self-helpful, and the influence of those who arrogate a lordship over the faith of others will soon die out.
(3) Presents a motive for thankfully adoring the great Creator for the spiritual constitution He has given us. We have resources, not of course independent of Him, the primal fount of all power, but independent of all creatures. (Homilist.)
Family joys
A painter lays down a dark ground to lean his picture on, and thereby bring its beauty out. Such is the method adopted in this portion of the Word. The pure delights of the family are about to be represented in the sweetest colours that nature yields--wedded love mirrored in running waters; surely we have apples of gold in pictures of silver here. And in all the earlier part of the chapter the Spirit has stained the canvas deep with Satans dark antithesis to the holy appointment of God. The Lord condescends to bring His own institute forward in rivalry with the deceitful pleasures of sin. How beautiful and how true the imagery in which our lesson is unfolded! Pleasures such as God gives to His creatures, and such as His creatures, with advantage to all their interests can enjoy--pleasures that are consistent with holiness and heaven, are compared to a stream of pure running water. And specifically the joys of the family are running waters out of thine own well. This well is not exposed to every passenger. It springs within, and has a fence around it. We should make much of the family and all that belongs to it. All its accessories are the Fathers gift, and He expects us to observe and value them. But because the stream is so pure, a small bulk of foreign matter will sensibly tinge it. The unguarded word, neglected thoughtfulnesses, or slovenly and careless ways. But careful abstinence from evil is only one, and that the lower, side of the case. There must be spontaneous outgoing activity in this matter, like the springing of flowers, and the leaping of a stream from the fountain. All the allusions to this relation in Scripture imply an ardent, joyful love. Husband and wife, if they are skilful to take advantage of their privileges, may, by sharing, somewhat diminish their cares, and fully double their joys. But we must take care lest the enjoyments of home become a snare. God is not pleased with indolence or selfishness. If the family is well ordered, ourselves will get the chief benefit, but we should let others share it. (W. Arnot, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary1892 · Public DomainOn v21Pro_5:21. Pondereth, or “marketh out.”
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Pro_5:21. Pondereth, or “marketh out.”
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Pro_5:22. Shall be holden, rather “is holden.”
Pro_5:23. Without, “for lack of.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Pro_5:21-23
These verses contain three reasons why the way of sin should be avoided, and the way which God has appointed should be followed.
I. Because there is no place secret enough to commit sin. The sinner often comforts himself with the thought that what he has done, or is in the habit of doing, is not known—that the actors of the deed were the only persons privy to it. The text declares that there is no such thing as a secret place, because there is no place where the eyes of the Eternal do not penetrate. God is a witness of every crime committed in secret. He is not only a witness after the deed, but of the deed. Therefore there is no place secret enough to be a place of sin. The thought of the ever-present God should deter the sinnner.
1. Because the Divine presence is a pure presence. People who are in the habit of committing the sin against which the whole of this chapter is directed, would possibly shrink from being guilty of it in the presence of a pure man or woman. How much more should they be deterred by the fact that the eye of the pure and holy God is upon them.
2. Because the presence of God is the presence of One who has authority to punish. The presence of the chief magistrate of a nation would be sufficient to prevent the most hardened criminal from committing crime. A thief would not steal before the face of the man whom he knew could punish him. The presence of God is the presence of the highest authority in the universe, of One who is irresponsible to any other for His acts (Job_9:12), of One who hast power most terrible, of One who has always visited this sin with penalty. The presence of such an Authority ought surely to make the adulterer quake at the very thought of his sin.
II. Because, though the sinner may not be apprehended by human law, he shall be laid hold of and bound by his own deeds (Pro_5:22). Many sinners of this kind go at large in the world, and are never reached by human law. No officer of justice will ever lay his hand upon them, and no material chains will ever bind them. But they are already taken and imprisoned by their own evil habits, which have bound them in chains of increasing thickness as the acts of sin have been repeated. This is a thraldom from which escape can come in only two ways. A man must either cease to be, or he must repent, before he can be free. Annihilation would set him free, because in ceasing to be he would cease to sin. But the repentance demanded by God is the only thing which will break his chains and permit him to retain his existence. We have no proof that there will ever be any way of escape by the first means, but we have abundant proof that the second is open to all men on this side of death.
III. Because the unrepentant adulterer will die as he has lived—a fool (Pro_5:23). A fool is a man without knowledge, one who acts from impulse rather than from reason. The sinner here pourtrayed is not a fool because he has not had instruction, but because he has not heeded it. Nature, History, Revelation and Conscience were his instructors, but he has disregarded them all. If he had listened to them he would have gained an experimental knowledge of the blessedness of godliness and purity, of which he must now go out of the world as ignorant as he entered it.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Pro_5:21. Practical atheism is the root of human depravity. The eye, even of a child, is a check upon a man, but the thought of an all-seeing God inspires no alarm.—Bridges.
The sin is not against man, nor dependent on man’s detection only. The secret sin is open before the eyes of Jehovah. In the balance of His righteous judgment are weighed all human acts, this not excepted. There is a significant emphasis in the recurrence of the word used of the harlot herself in Pro_5:6 : “She ponders not, but God does.”—Plumptre.
Because the ways of a sinful man are not before his own eyes, therefore are they before the eyes of God; because sinful man doth not ponder his goings, therefore the Lord pondereth them; because man doth not look on his ways with the eye of care, therefore the Lord looketh on them with the eye of wrath; because man doth not weigh his goings in the balance of due consideration, therefore God doth weigh them in the balance of severe justice. The opening of our eyes over our sins is the shutting of God’s eye towards them; the shutting of our eyes upon them is the opening of God’s eyes against them. For though we hide our ways from ourselves, we cannot hide them from God. We hide Him from ourselves; we do not hide ourselves from Him.—Jermin.
The meaning is, that directly in God’s eyes are the ways of every man, as though there were no other creature in the universe; as though the wise man were saying, “Why, because the way seems smooth, and you seem helped in your folly, do you go on in your impenitency, and embrace the bosom of this wanton?” “For” the way of every man is directly in the sight of God. He takes the most emphatic interest in our schemes, whether we are doing well or ill. He helps us either in sinning or doing right, for “He levels all (one’s) paths” (see Critical Notes). Not that we are to involve Him in the folly of any sin, but if a man desires to drink, He levels the way for Him. If he wishes liquor, He gives it; if he desires to steal, He gives the eye and the nerve.… The Divinity seems to help the struggling, whether saint or sinner, but the impenitent must not therefore imagine that it is righteous to go on.—Miller.
Pro_5:22. The licentious flatter themselves that in old age, when the passions are less fiery, they will easily extricate themselves from the dominion of their lusts, and repent and seek salvation. But Job_20:11 declares that the old sinner’s “bones are full of the sins of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust.” Augustine, after experience, says: “While lust is being served the habit is formed, and whilst the habit is not being resisted necessity is formed.”—Fausset.
Pro_5:23. Surely it is most just that he who lived without following instruction should die without having instruction; he that in his life would not do as he was instructed, deserveth that at death he should not be instructed what to do.—Jermin.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann1924 · Public DomainOn v15Chastity Contrasted with Unchastity
Chastity Contrasted with Unchastity
v. 15. Drink waters out of thine own cistern and running waters out of thine own well, seeking the satisfaction of permitted desire and intercourse only and alone within the bounds of holy wedlock.
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v. 16. Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad and rivers of waters in the streets, in the proper enjoyment of marital love.
v. 17. Let them be only thine own, that is, the waters of this fountain in lawful wedlock, and not strangers’ with thee, in illegitimate intercourse.
v. 18. Let thy fountain be blessed, the children of lawful wedlock being gifts of the Lord, and rejoice with the wife of thy youth. Cf Deu 24:5; Ecc 9:9.
v. 19. Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe, or the graceful gazelle, emblems of the graceful, fascinating, lively nature of a young wife; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times, her bosom charming her husband, and be thou ravished always with her love, said of the ecstatic joy of the loving husband which meets with the glad approval of God within holy wedlock.
v. 20. And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, with a wanton harlot, professing the same delight in her company which he might and should lawfully have with the wife given him by the Lord, and embrace the bosom of a stranger? of one in whose case such familiarity is excluded by the prohibition of the Sixth Commandment.
v. 21. For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and He pondereth all his goings, His omniscience marking the conduct of every person and noting every unchaste desire, thought, word, and act.
v. 22. His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, overtake every evil-doer, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins, as fetters holding him captive and keeping him securely for the final punishment.
v. 23. He shall die without instruction, for want of correction, because he would not accept it, and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray, thus bringing destruction upon himself. Such is the way of the libertine, a few years of forbidden voluptuousness followed by everlasting condemnation.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv15, 18, 20water from your own cistern ... running water from…
water from your own cistern ... running water from your own well
These two phrases mean basically the same thing. The writer speaks of a man sleeping only with his wife as if he drank water only from his own cistern or well. (See: Parallelism and Metaphor)
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running water
The writer speaks of fresh or flowing water as if the water were running. AT: "fresh water" or "flowing water" (See: Metaphor)
Should your springs ... your streams of water flow in the public squares?
The writer asks this rhetorical question to emphasize that his son should not do these things. AT: "Your springs should not ... your streams of water should not flow in the public squares." (See: Rhetorical Question)
Should your springs ... your streams of water flow in the public squares?
Here the words "springs" and "streams of water" are likely euphemisms for male reproductive fluids. Possible meanings for these metaphorical phrases are 1) sleeping with women other than one's wife is spoken of as if it were allowing one's water to flow in the public streets or 2) having children with women other than one's wife is spoken of as if it were allowing one's water to flow in the public streets. (See: Euphemism and Metaphor)
public squares
Open areas in a city or town where two or more streets meet. A common place for people to meet each other and talk.
Let them be
The word "them" refers to the "springs" and "streams of water" and what they stand for.
Tyndale Open Study Notes2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv15, 19, 215:15-18 To drink from one’s own well (see also…
5:15-18 To drink from one’s own well (see also Song 4:12, 15) is to enjoy sexual relations within marriage. Rather than expend sexual energy on immoral women, a man should cultivate a healthy sexual relationship with his wife. Sex is not to be shared with strangers. This honors marriage (Gen 2:22-25) and keeps the seventh commandment (Exod 20:14 and Deut 5:18).
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv15, 17, 18, 20, 21 He teacheth us sobriety, exhorting us to live of…
He teacheth us sobriety, exhorting us to live of our own labors and to be beneficial to the godly that want.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv15–21 Pro 5:15 Drink waters out of thine own cistern,…
Pro 5:15 Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.
Ver. 15. Drink waters out of thine own cistern.] After other preservatives from fornication, as not to think of or speak with the harlot, not to come near the doors of her house, &c., but to consider the many mischiefs that follow upon it - a diseased body, a damned soul, a poor purse, &c. - here the wise man prescribeth wedlock as a remedy properly ordained by God for that end. {1Co 7:2; 1Co 7:9} And because not the having of a wife, but the loving of her keeps a man honest; therefore it follows, {Pro 5:19} "Let her be as the loving hind," &c.
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And running waters.] Heathen writers also set forth a wife by waters: as Hesiod {a} bids men not to pass over a running water without prayers to the gods - that is, not to render unto their wives due benevolence till they have sought God, as Johannes Grammaticus interprets it. A pious precept: marriage, as well as food, must be sanctified by the word and prayer, and God be called in to bless this physic to the soul. Lust makes the heart hot and thirsty: God therefore sends men to this well, to this cistern. Compare Isa 65:1. The Hebrews call a woman נקבה, i.e., perforata {Gen 1:27}
{a} Hesiod. in Ergis.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv15–21 This metaphor contained here, and Pro 5:16-18, is to…
This metaphor contained here, and Pro 5:16-18, is to be understood either,
1. Of the free and lawful use of a man’s estate, both for his own comfort, and for the good of others. Or rather,
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2. Of the honest use of matrimony, as the proper remedy against these filthy practices. This best suits with the whole context, both foregoing and following; and thus it is explained in the end of Pro 5:18. So the sense is, Content thyself with those delights which God alloweth thee, with the sober use of the marriage bed. Why shouldst thou ramble hither and thither, trespassing against God and men, to steal their waters, which thou mightest freely take out of thine own cistern or well. The ground of the metaphor is this, that waters were scarce and precious in those countries, and therefore men used to make cisterns and wells for their own private use. And the same metaphor of
waters, and of a pit, or well, is applied to things of this nature elsewhere, as Pro 23:27; Isa 48:1; 51:1.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v15 Solomon, having shown the great evil that there is…
Solomon, having shown the great evil that there is in adultery and fornication, and all such lewd and filthy courses, here prescribes remedies against them.
I. Enjoy with satisfaction the comforts of lawful marriage, which was ordained for the prevention of uncleanness, and therefore ought to be made use of in time, lest it should not prove effectual for the cure of that which it might have prevented. Let none complain that God has dealt unkindly with them in forbidding them those pleasures which they have a natural desire of, for he has graciously provided for the regular gratification of them. "Thou mayest not indeed eat of every tree of the garden, but choose thee out one, which thou pleasest, and of that thou mayest freely eat; nature will be content with that, but lust with nothing." God, in thus confining men to one, has been so far from putting any hardship upon them that he has really consulted their true interest; for, as Mr. Herbert observes, "If God had laid all common, certainly man would have been the encloser." - Church-porch. Solomon here enlarges much upon this, not only prescribing it as an antidote, but urging it as an argument against fornication, that the allowed pleasures of marriage (however wicked wits may ridicule them, who are factors for the unclean spirit) far transcend all the false forbidden pleasures of whoredom.
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1. Let young men marry, marry and not burn. Have a cistern, a well of thy own (Pro 5:15), even the wife of thy youth, Pro 5:18. Wholly abstain, or wed. - Herbert. "The world is wide, and there are varieties of accomplishments, among which thou mayest please thyself."
2. Let him that is married take delight in his wife, and let him be very fond of her, not only because she is the wife that he himself has chosen and he ought to be pleased with his own choice, but because she is the wife that God in his providence appointed for him and he ought much more to be pleased with the divine appointment, pleased with her because she is his own. Let thy fountain be blessed (Pro 5:18); think thyself very happy in her, look upon her as a blessed wife, let her have thy blessing, pray daily for her, and then rejoice with her. Those comforts we are likely to have joy of that are sanctified to us by prayer and the blessing of God. It is not only allowed us, but commanded us, to be pleasant with our relations; and it particularly becomes yoke-fellows to rejoice together and in each other. Mutual delight is the bond of mutual fidelity. It is not only taken for granted that the bridegroom rejoices over his bride (Isa 62:5), but given for law. Ecc 9:9, Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of thy life. Those take not their comforts where God has appointed who are jovial and merry with their companions abroad, but sour and morose with their families at home.
3. Let him be fond of his wife and love her dearly (Pro 5:19): Let her be as the loving hind and the pleasant roe, such as great men sometimes kept tame in their houses and played with. Desire no better diversion from severe study and business than the innocent and pleasant conversation of thy own wife; let her lie in thy bosom, as the poor man's ewe-lamb did in his (Sa2 12:3), and do thou repose thy head in hers, and let that satisfy thee at all times; and seek not for pleasure in any other. "Err thou always in her love. If thou wilt suffer thy love to run into an excess, and wilt be dotingly fond of any body, let it be only of thy own wife, where there is least danger of exceeding." This is drinking waters, to quench the thirst of thy appetite, out of thy own cistern, and running waters, which are clear, and sweet, and wholesome, out of thy own well, Pro 5:15. Co1 7:2, Co1 7:3.
4. Let him take delight in his children and look upon them with pleasure (Pro 5:16, Pro 5:17): "Look upon them as streams from thy own pure fountains" (the Jews are said to come forth out of the waters of Judah, Isa 48:1), "so that they are parts of thyself, as the streams are of the fountain. Keep to thy own wife, and thou shalt have," (1.) "A numerous offspring, like rivers of water, which run in abundance, and they shall be dispersed abroad, matched into other families, whereas those that commit whoredom shall not increase," Hos 4:10. (2.) "A peculiar offspring, which shall be only thy own, whereas the children of whoredom, that are fathered upon thee, are, probably, not so, but, for aught thou knowest, are the offspring of strangers, and yet thou must keep them." (3.) "A creditable offspring, which are an honour to thee, and which thou mayest send abroad, and appear with, in the streets, whereas a spurious brood is thy disgrace, and that which thou art ashamed to own." In this matter, virtue has all the pleasure and honour in it; justly therefore it is called wisdom.
5. Let him then scorn the offer of forbidden pleasures when he is always ravished with the love of a faithful virtuous wife; let him consider what an absurdity it will be for him to be ravished with a strange woman (Pro 5:20), to be in love with a filthy harlot, and embrace the bosom of a stranger, which, if he had any sense of honour or virtue, he would loathe the thoughts of. "Why wilt thou be so sottish, such an enemy to thyself, as to prefer puddle-water, and that poisoned too and stolen, before pure living waters out of thy own well?" Note, If the dictates of reason may be heard, the laws of virtue will be obeyed.
II. "See the eye of God always upon thee and let his fear rule in thy heart," Pro 5:21. Those that live in this sin promise themselves secresy (the eye of the adulterer waits for the twilight, Job 24:15); but to what purpose, when it cannot be hidden from God? For, 1. He sees it. The ways of man, all his motions, all his actions, are before the eyes of the Lord, all the workings of the heart and all the outgoings of the life, that which is done ever so secretly and disguised ever so artfully. God sees it in a true light, and knows it with all its causes, circumstances, and consequences. He does not cast an eye upon men's ways now and then, but they are always actually in his view and under his inspection; and darest thou sin against God in his sight, and do that wickedness under his eye which thou durst not do in the presence of a man like thyself? 2. He will call the sinner to an account for it; for he not only sees, but ponders all his goings, judges concerning them, as one that will shortly judge the sinner for them. Every action is weighed, and shall be brought into judgment (Ecc 12:14), which is a good reason why we should ponder the path of our feet (Pro 4:26), and so judge ourselves that we may not be judged.
III. "Foresee the certain ruin of those that go on still in their trespasses." Those that live in this sin promise themselves impunity, but they deceive themselves; their sin will find them out, Pro 5:22, Pro 5:23. The apostle gives the sense of these verses in a few words. Heb 13:4, Whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. 1. It is a sin which men with great difficulty shake off the power of. When the sinner is old and weak his lusts are strong and active, in calling to remembrance the days of his youth, Eze 23:19. Thus his own iniquities having seized the wicked himself by his own consent, and he having voluntarily surrendered himself a captive to them, he is held in the cords of his own sins, and such full possession they have gained of him that he cannot extricate himself, but in the greatness of his folly (and what greater folly could there be than to yield himself a servant to such cruel task-masters?) he shall go astray, and wander endlessly. Uncleanness is a sin from which, when once men have plunged themselves into it, they very hardly and very rarely recover themselves. 2. It is a sin which, if it be not forsaken, men cannot possibly escape the punishment of; it will unavoidably be their ruin. As their own iniquities do arrest them in the reproaches of conscience and present rebukes (Jer 7:19), so their own iniquities shall arrest them and bind them over to the judgments of God. There needs no prison, no chains; they shall be holden in the cords of their own sins, as the fallen angels, being incurably wicked, are thereby reserved in chains of darkness. The sinner, who, having been often reproved, hardens his neck, shall die at length without instruction. Having had general warnings sufficient given him already, he shall have no particular warnings, but he shall die without seeing his danger beforehand, shall die because he would not receive instruction, but in the greatness of his folly would go astray; and so shall his doom be, he shall never find the way home again. Those that are so foolish as to choose the way of sin are justly left of God to themselves to go in it till they come to that destruction which it leads to, which is a good reason why we should guard with watchfulness and resolution against the allurements of the sensual appetite.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv15–21 Drink waters out of thine own cistern,.... Arguments being…
Drink waters out of thine own cistern,.... Arguments being used to dissuade from conversation with an adulterous woman, taken from the disgrace, diseases, poverty, and distress of mind on reflection, it brings a man to; the wise man proceeds to direct to marriage, as a proper antidote against it: take a wife and cleave to her, and enjoy all the pleasures and comforts of a marriage state. As every man formerly had his own cistern for the reception of water for his own use, Kg2 18:31; so every man should have his own wife, and but one: and as drinking water quenches thirst, and allays heat; so the lawful enjoyments of the marriage bed quench the thirst of appetite, and allay the heat of lust; for which reason the apostle advises men to marry and not burn, Co1 7:9; and a man that is married should be content with his own wife, and not steal waters out of another cistern. The allusion may be to a law, which, Clemens of Alexandria (t) says, Plato had from the Hebrews; which enjoined husbandmen not to take water from others to water their lands, till they themselves had dug into the earth, called virgin earth, and found it dry and without water;
and running waters out of thine own well; the pure, chaste, and innocent pleasures of the marriage state, are as different from the embraces of an harlot, who is compared to a deep ditch and a narrow pit, Pro 23:27; as clear running waters of a well or fountain from the dirty waters of a filthy puddle; see Pro 9:17. Some interpret these words, and what follows, of persons enjoying with contentment the good things of life they have for the support of themselves and families; and of a liberal communication of them to the relief of proper objects; but not to spend their substance on harlots. Jarchi understands by the "cistern", the law of Moses: but it may be better applied to the Scriptures in general, from whence all sound doctrine flows, to the comfort and refreshment of the souls of men; and from whence all doctrine ought to be fetched, and not elsewhere.
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(t) Stromat. l. 1. p. 274.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv15, 16, 18, 19 Drink - Content thyself with those delights which God…
Drink - Content thyself with those delights which God alloweth thee in the sober use of the marriage-bed.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21 Verse 15. Drink waters out of thine own cistern]…
Verse 15. Drink waters out of thine own cistern] Be satisfied with thy own wife; and let the wife see that she reverence her husband; and not tempt him by inattention or unkindness to seek elsewhere what he has a right to expect, but cannot find, at home.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv15, 16, 18, 19, 20 Pro 5:15. Drink waters out of thine own cistern…
Pro 5:15. Drink waters out of thine own cistern — “The allegory here begun is carried on through several verses. It has been differently understood; but the interpretation which seems most generally followed, is that of those who conceive that the wise man here subjoins a commendation of matrimony, and the chaste preservation of the marriage- bed, for the propagation of a legitimate offspring, to his dehortation from illegitimate embraces, and stolen waters; and Schultens observes, that no figure is more elegant or more common among the easterns than this.” — Dodd. Bishop Patrick’s paraphrase on the verse is, “Marry; and in a wife of thy own, enjoy the pleasures thou desirest, and be content with them alone; innocent, chaste, and pure pleasures; as much different from the other, as the clear waters of a wholesome fountain are from those of a dirty lake or puddle.”
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv15, 16, 19, 20, 21 The teacher seeks to counteract the evils of mere…
The teacher seeks to counteract the evils of mere sensual passion chiefly by setting forth the true blessedness of which it is the counterfeit. The true wife is as a fountain of refreshment, where the weary soul may quench its thirst. Even the joy which is of the senses appears, as in the Song of Solomon, purified and stainless (see Pro 5:19 marginal reference).
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Charles Bridges 1846 · Public Domain On vv15, 20 Desire after forbidden enjoyments naturally springs from dissatisfaction with…
Desire after forbidden enjoyments naturally springs from dissatisfaction with the blessings in possession. Where contentment is not found at home — drinking out of our own cistern†1 — it will be sought for, however vainly, abroad. Conjugal love is chief among the earthly goods in mercy granted by God to his fallen and rebellious creature. Enjoy then with thankfulness thine own, and desire not thy neighbour’s well. (Exo 20:17 . 2Sa 11:2-3 .) If a happy issue is given (Psa 127:3-5 ; Psa 128:1-6 .), let it be as fountains (Compare Num 24:7 ; Deu 33:28 ; Psa 68:26 ; Isa 48:1 ) dispersed abroad, to fertilize with godly influence the way through which their course may be directed. (Compare Zec 8:5 .) Rejoice with the wife of thy youth. (Deu 24:5 . Ecc 9:9 .) Regard her as the special gift of thy Father’s hand. (Pro 19:14 .) Cherish her with gentleness and purity (Gen 24:67 ), as the loving hind and pleasant roe.†2 Whatsoever interrupts the strictest harmony in this delicate relationship, opens the door to imminent temptation. Tender, well-regulated, domestic affection is the best defense against the vagrant desires of unlawful passion. Yea — it is consecrated by the Word of God itself to the high purpose of shadowing out "the great mystery — loving and cherishing our own flesh, even as the Lord the Church." (Eph 5:25, Eph 5:29 .)
Footnotes:
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†1 The beauty of the figure is illustrated from the circumstance, that the houses of the East appear each to have had their own cistern. 2Ki 18:31 .
†2 Compare 2Sa 12:3 . The hind and the roe were objects of special delight (Song of Son 2:17 ; Song of Son 3:5 ) and endearment — a picture of the lively delight, which the wife naturally engages; relaxing in her society from severer duties, and taking the liveliest pleasure in her company. As Bishop Davenant beautifully observes — ’Abroad the man may consider himself as tossing in the waves; but at home with the wife, in repose, as in a desired haven.’ — On Col 3:19 .
Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs (1846) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv15–19 Well. Live comfortably on your own property, (Cajetan) with…
Well. Live comfortably on your own property, (Cajetan) with your own wife. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv15, 17, 18, 19, 21 By figures, in which well, cistern, and fountain [Pro…
By figures, in which well, cistern, and fountain [Pro 5:15, Pro 5:18] represent the wife, and rivers of waters [Pro 5:16] the children, men are exhorted to constancy and satisfaction in lawful conjugal enjoyments. In Pro 5:16, fountains (in the plural) rather denote the produce or waters of a spring, literally, "what is from a spring," and corresponds with "rivers of waters."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv15, 18, 19, 20, 21 EXHORTATION TO CHASTENESS AND PROPER CONJUGAL DUTIES, Pro_5:15-23.
EXHORTATION TO CHASTENESS AND PROPER CONJUGAL DUTIES, Pro_5:15-23.
15-17. Drink waters — Waters often stand for posterity. Num_24:7. Fountains, wells, and cisterns, in the East were regarded as of great importance. Hence they were largely used metaphorically for that which is noble, desirable, and even sacred. Compare Psa_68:26; Isa_43:1; Son_4:12; Gen_26:15-20; Jer_18:14. These verses, under an allegory, contain an exhortation to restrain the sexual appetite within the boundaries of thine own married life. The figure is eminently Oriental and vivid, but chaste; and the subject is treated with the utmost delicacy of language and purity of thought. By the fountains of Pro_5:16 is commonly understood lawful issue, of which a man need not be ashamed, but, on the contrary, lead them forth into the streets as his joy and pride. But some versions have a negative before the word fountains. Let NOT thy fountains, etc. Fountains then would mean our sexual gratifications, and they are forbidden here to rove. The sense would then harmonize well with the next verse, where the same thought is, after the Hebrew manner, presented under a fuller form. Zockler translates interrogatively: “Shall thy streams flow abroad as water in the streets?” So, also, Conant. There is no sign of the interrogative, but this is sometimes omitted, as in Psa_56:7.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv15, 16, 19, 21 15–19. The remedy against sin is to be found…
15–19. The remedy against sin is to be found in the holy estate which God has ordained. “The resemblance between the two Books (the Song of Solomon and the Book of Proverbs) in their treatment of this subject is singularly striking.” Speaker’s Comm., ad loc.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv15, 17, 18, 19, 21 (15-20) Drink waters out of thine own cistern .…
(15-20) Drink waters out of thine own cistern . . .—In these verses Solomon urges his disciples to follow after purity in the married life; he pictures in vivid terms the delights which it affords as compared with the pleasures of sin.
Out of thine own cistern.—The “strange woman,” on the other hand, says, “Stolen waters are sweet” (Pro_9:17). The same figure is employed in Son_4:15, where a wife is compared to “a fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon.” In Jer_2:13 God compares Himself to a “fountain of living waters,” and complains that Israel had deserted Him, and hewed out for themselves “broken cisterns that can hold no water.” This passage in Proverbs has in like manner often been interpreted as an exhortation to drink deeply from the living waters of the Holy Spirit given in the Word and Sacraments (Joh_7:37).—For ref. see Bishop Wordsworth.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv15–21 Vers. 15-19. Commendation of the chaste intercourse of marriage.…
Vers. 15-19. Commendation of the chaste intercourse of marriage. In this section the teacher passes from admonitory warnings against unchastity to the commendation of conjugal fidelity and pure love. The allegorical exposition of this passage, current at the period of the Revision of the Authorized Version in 1612, as referring to liberality, is not ad rem. Such an idea had no place certainly in the teacher"s mind, nor is it appropriate to the context, the scope of which is, as we have seen, to warn youth against indulgence in illicit pleasures, by pointing out the terrible consequences which follow, and to indicate, on the other hand, in what direction the satisfaction of natural wants is to be obtained, that so, the heart and conscience being kept pure, sin and evil may be avoided.
Drink waters out of thine own cistern, etc.; i.e. in the wife of your own choice, or in the legitimate sphere of marriage, seek the satisfaction of your natural impulses. The pure, innocent, and chaste nature of such pleasures is appropriately compared with the pure and wholesome waters of the cistern and the wellspring. The "drinking" carries with it the satisfying of a natural want. Agreeably with oriental and scriptural usage, "the wife" is compared with a "cistern" and "well." Thus in the Song of Solomon the "bride" is called a spring shut up, a fountain sealed". (Son_4:12) Sarah is spoken of under exactly the same figure that is used here, viz. the bor, or "cistern," in Isa_51:1. The figure was not confined to women, however, as we find Judah alluded to as "waters" in Isa_48:1, and Jacob or Israel so appearing in the prophecy of Balaam. (Num_24:7) The people are spoken of by David as they that are "of the fountain of Israel". (Psa_68:26) A similar imagery is employed in the New Testament of the wife. The apostles St. Paul and St. Peter both speak of her as "the vessel (to skeuov )". (see 1Th_4:4 and 1Pe_3:7) The forms of the original, b"or and b"er, standing respectively for "cistern" and "well," indicate a common derivation from baar, "to dig." But bor is an artificially constructed reservoir or cistern, equivalent to the Vulgate cisterna, and LXX aggeiov , while b"er is the natural spring of water, equivalent to the Vulgate putens. So Aben Ezra, who says, on Lev_2:3-6, Bor is that which catches the rain, while b"er is that from within which the water wells up." This explanation, however, does not entirely cover the terms as used here. The "waters" (Hebrew, mayim) may be the pure water conveyed into the cistern, and not simply the water which is caught in its descent born heaven. The parallel term, "running waters" (Hebrew, noz"lim), describes the flowing limpid stream fit, like the other, for drinking purposes. A similar use of the terms is made in the Son_4:15, "a well of living waters (b"er mayim khayyim) and streams (v"noz"lim) from Lebanon." It may be remarked that the allusion to the wife, under the figures employed, enhances her value. It indicates the high estimation in which she is to be held, since the "cistern" or "well" was one of the most valuable possessions and adjuncts of an Eastern house. The teaching of the passage, in its bearing on the subject of marriage, coincides with that which is subsequently put forward by St. Paul, in 1Co_7:9.
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Home joys.
I THE HOME IS A DIVINE INSTITUTION OF THE FIRST IMPORTANCE FOR THE WELFARE OF MANKIND. Here and throughout the Bible the sanctity of the home is insisted on as something to be guarded inviolably. It is evident that this beautiful institution is in harmony with our nature. To live according to nature is not to indulge ill-regulated passions, to follow chance impulses, to subordinate reason and conscience to instinct and appetite. It is to live so as to secure the harmonious working of our whole nature and of the general body of mankind. Thus regarded, family life is natural; it falls in best with the requirements of the race, it ministers best to its advancement. Polygamy is always degrading. As men rise in the moral scale they cast it off. The home is the foundation of the state. Where home life is most corrupt social and political institutions are in greatest danger. The homes of England are the surest guardians of her internal order and peace. May no corrupt casuistry ever dare to lay its foul finger on these holy shrines! The worst fruits of atheism and of the confessional are seen in specious pretexts for committing that horrible sacrilege.
II IN ORDER TO PROTECT THE HOME GOD HAS MADE IT TO BE A FOUNTAIN OF PURE AND WHOLESOME JOYS. They who break through the restraints of home life in the feverish thirst for illicit delights little know what joys they are losing. The poison fruits of a pandemonium let a blight fall on the sweet, fresh beauty of what might have been a very garden of Eden. For the restraints which look to libertines so irksome are just the very conditions of the most lasting, most satisfying, most; wholesome of human joys. The strong love of husband and wife, the parents" pleasure in their children, the innumerable little interests of the home circle, and all that is typified by the "fireside," are delights unknown to men who profess to make the pursuit of pleasure their aim in life. "The first sure symptom of a mind in health Is rest of heart and pleasure felt at home.
III TO BE PRESERVED IN THEIR INTEGRITY, THE HOME JOYS MUST BE CAREFULLY GUARDED AND REVERENTLY CHERISHED. The serpent is in the garden; beware of its wiles. Temptations seek to break up the confidence and peace of the family circle. Not only must gross infidelity be shunned as a deadly sin, but all approaches to a breach of domestic sanctity must be dreaded. Levity, as well as immorality, may go far to spoil the waters of the purest fountain of delight. Mere indifference may wreck the home joys. These joys must be cherished. Courtship should not end with the wedding day. Husbands and wives should beware of neglecting mutual respect and consideration under the influence of familiarity. Why should a man be more rude to his wife than to any other woman? Surely marriage is not designed to destroy courtesy. There should be an element of reverence in wedded love. Mutual sympathy each taking interest in the occupations and cares of the other; mutual confidence the avoidance of secrets between husband and wife on the mistaken flea of sparing pain; and mutual forbearance, are requisites for the preservation of the sweetness of the fountains of home joy.
Vers. 15-21. Fidelity and bliss in marriage.
The counterpart of the foregoing warning against vice, placing connubial joys in the brightest light, of poetic fancy.
I IMAGES OF WIFEHOOD. The wife is described:
1. As a spring, and as a cistern. Property in a spring or well was highly, even sacredly, esteemed. Hence a peculiar force in the comparison. The wife is the husband"s peculiar delight and property; the source of pleasures of every kind and degree; the fruitful origin of the family. (comp. Isa_51:1 Son_4:12)
2. As wife of ones youth. " (Cf. Deu_24:5 Ecc_9:9) One to whom the flower of youth and manhood has been devoted. The parallel description is "companion of youth". (Pro_2:17) Her image, in this case, is associated with the sunniest scenes of experience.
3. As a "lovely hind, or charming gazelle. " A favourite Oriental comparison, and embodied in the names Tabitha and Dorcas, which denote "gazelle." There are numberless uses of the figure in Arabian and Persian poets. The beautiful liquid eye, delicate head, graceful carriage of the creature, all point the simile. Nothing can surpass, as a husband"s description of a true wife, Wordsworth"s exquisite stanza beginning"She was a phantom of delight, When first she gleam"d upon my sight; A creature not too bright or good For human nature"s daily food; For transient sorrows, simple wiles, Praise, blame, love, kisses, tears, and smiles.
II IMAGES OF THE HUSBAND"S BLISS.
1. It is like taking draughts from a fresh and ever-running stream. There is "continual comfort in a face, the lineaments of gospel books.
2. It is a peculiar, a private possession. Ver. 16 should be rendered interrogatively; it conveys the contrast of the profaned treasures of the unchaste woman"s love, and thus fits with ver. 17. The language of lovers finds a true zest in the word, "My own!" Life becomes brutish where this feeling does not exist.
3. Yet it attracts sympathy, admiration, and good will. Ver. 18 is the blessing wished by the speaker or by any looker on. Wedding feasts bring out these feelings; and the happiness and prosperity of married pairs are as little exposed to the tooth of envy as any earthly good.
4. It is satisfying; for what repose can be more sweet and secure than that on the bosom of the faithful spouse? It is enrapturing, without being enfeebling, unlike those false pleasures, "violent delights with violent endings, that in their triumph die" (ver. 19).
III CONCLUDING EXHORTATION (ver. 20), founded on the contrast just given.
1. The true rapture (the Hebrew word shagah, "reel" as in intoxication, repeated) should deter from the false and vicious.
2. To prefer the bosom of the adulteress to that of the true wife is a mark of the most vitiated taste, the most perverted understanding. J.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv15, 16, 17, 21 Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running…
Pro_5:15
Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.
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Spiritual resources
I. Man has independent spiritual resources.
1. He has independent sources of thought. Every sane man can and does think for himself.
2. He has independent sources of experience. No two have exactly the same experience.
3. He has independent powers of usefulness. Every man has a power to do some thing which no other can.
II. Man Is Bound To Use These Resources. Drink waters out of thine own cistern. Do not live on others self-drawing.
1. Honours our own nature.
2. Increases our own resources.
3. Contributes to the good of the universe. The man who gives only what he has borrowed from others adds nothing to the common stock. The subject--
(1) Indicates the kind of service which one man can spiritually render another.
(2) Suggests an effective method to sap the foundation of all arrogant assumptions. Let every man become self-helpful, and the influence of those who arrogate a lordship over the faith of others will soon die out.
(3) Presents a motive for thankfully adoring the great Creator for the spiritual constitution He has given us. We have resources, not of course independent of Him, the primal fount of all power, but independent of all creatures. (Homilist.)
Family joys
A painter lays down a dark ground to lean his picture on, and thereby bring its beauty out. Such is the method adopted in this portion of the Word. The pure delights of the family are about to be represented in the sweetest colours that nature yields--wedded love mirrored in running waters; surely we have apples of gold in pictures of silver here. And in all the earlier part of the chapter the Spirit has stained the canvas deep with Satans dark antithesis to the holy appointment of God. The Lord condescends to bring His own institute forward in rivalry with the deceitful pleasures of sin. How beautiful and how true the imagery in which our lesson is unfolded! Pleasures such as God gives to His creatures, and such as His creatures, with advantage to all their interests can enjoy--pleasures that are consistent with holiness and heaven, are compared to a stream of pure running water. And specifically the joys of the family are running waters out of thine own well. This well is not exposed to every passenger. It springs within, and has a fence around it. We should make much of the family and all that belongs to it. All its accessories are the Fathers gift, and He expects us to observe and value them. But because the stream is so pure, a small bulk of foreign matter will sensibly tinge it. The unguarded word, neglected thoughtfulnesses, or slovenly and careless ways. But careful abstinence from evil is only one, and that the lower, side of the case. There must be spontaneous outgoing activity in this matter, like the springing of flowers, and the leaping of a stream from the fountain. All the allusions to this relation in Scripture imply an ardent, joyful love. Husband and wife, if they are skilful to take advantage of their privileges, may, by sharing, somewhat diminish their cares, and fully double their joys. But we must take care lest the enjoyments of home become a snare. God is not pleased with indolence or selfishness. If the family is well ordered, ourselves will get the chief benefit, but we should let others share it. (W. Arnot, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v21 Pro_5:21. Pondereth, or “marketh out.”
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Pro_5:21. Pondereth, or “marketh out.”
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Pro_5:22. Shall be holden, rather “is holden.”
Pro_5:23. Without, “for lack of.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Pro_5:21-23
These verses contain three reasons why the way of sin should be avoided, and the way which God has appointed should be followed.
I. Because there is no place secret enough to commit sin. The sinner often comforts himself with the thought that what he has done, or is in the habit of doing, is not known—that the actors of the deed were the only persons privy to it. The text declares that there is no such thing as a secret place, because there is no place where the eyes of the Eternal do not penetrate. God is a witness of every crime committed in secret. He is not only a witness after the deed, but of the deed. Therefore there is no place secret enough to be a place of sin. The thought of the ever-present God should deter the sinnner.
1. Because the Divine presence is a pure presence. People who are in the habit of committing the sin against which the whole of this chapter is directed, would possibly shrink from being guilty of it in the presence of a pure man or woman. How much more should they be deterred by the fact that the eye of the pure and holy God is upon them.
2. Because the presence of God is the presence of One who has authority to punish. The presence of the chief magistrate of a nation would be sufficient to prevent the most hardened criminal from committing crime. A thief would not steal before the face of the man whom he knew could punish him. The presence of God is the presence of the highest authority in the universe, of One who is irresponsible to any other for His acts (Job_9:12), of One who hast power most terrible, of One who has always visited this sin with penalty. The presence of such an Authority ought surely to make the adulterer quake at the very thought of his sin.
II. Because, though the sinner may not be apprehended by human law, he shall be laid hold of and bound by his own deeds (Pro_5:22). Many sinners of this kind go at large in the world, and are never reached by human law. No officer of justice will ever lay his hand upon them, and no material chains will ever bind them. But they are already taken and imprisoned by their own evil habits, which have bound them in chains of increasing thickness as the acts of sin have been repeated. This is a thraldom from which escape can come in only two ways. A man must either cease to be, or he must repent, before he can be free. Annihilation would set him free, because in ceasing to be he would cease to sin. But the repentance demanded by God is the only thing which will break his chains and permit him to retain his existence. We have no proof that there will ever be any way of escape by the first means, but we have abundant proof that the second is open to all men on this side of death.
III. Because the unrepentant adulterer will die as he has lived—a fool (Pro_5:23). A fool is a man without knowledge, one who acts from impulse rather than from reason. The sinner here pourtrayed is not a fool because he has not had instruction, but because he has not heeded it. Nature, History, Revelation and Conscience were his instructors, but he has disregarded them all. If he had listened to them he would have gained an experimental knowledge of the blessedness of godliness and purity, of which he must now go out of the world as ignorant as he entered it.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Pro_5:21. Practical atheism is the root of human depravity. The eye, even of a child, is a check upon a man, but the thought of an all-seeing God inspires no alarm.—Bridges.
The sin is not against man, nor dependent on man’s detection only. The secret sin is open before the eyes of Jehovah. In the balance of His righteous judgment are weighed all human acts, this not excepted. There is a significant emphasis in the recurrence of the word used of the harlot herself in Pro_5:6 : “She ponders not, but God does.”—Plumptre.
Because the ways of a sinful man are not before his own eyes, therefore are they before the eyes of God; because sinful man doth not ponder his goings, therefore the Lord pondereth them; because man doth not look on his ways with the eye of care, therefore the Lord looketh on them with the eye of wrath; because man doth not weigh his goings in the balance of due consideration, therefore God doth weigh them in the balance of severe justice. The opening of our eyes over our sins is the shutting of God’s eye towards them; the shutting of our eyes upon them is the opening of God’s eyes against them. For though we hide our ways from ourselves, we cannot hide them from God. We hide Him from ourselves; we do not hide ourselves from Him.—Jermin.
The meaning is, that directly in God’s eyes are the ways of every man, as though there were no other creature in the universe; as though the wise man were saying, “Why, because the way seems smooth, and you seem helped in your folly, do you go on in your impenitency, and embrace the bosom of this wanton?” “For” the way of every man is directly in the sight of God. He takes the most emphatic interest in our schemes, whether we are doing well or ill. He helps us either in sinning or doing right, for “He levels all (one’s) paths” (see Critical Notes). Not that we are to involve Him in the folly of any sin, but if a man desires to drink, He levels the way for Him. If he wishes liquor, He gives it; if he desires to steal, He gives the eye and the nerve.… The Divinity seems to help the struggling, whether saint or sinner, but the impenitent must not therefore imagine that it is righteous to go on.—Miller.
Pro_5:22. The licentious flatter themselves that in old age, when the passions are less fiery, they will easily extricate themselves from the dominion of their lusts, and repent and seek salvation. But Job_20:11 declares that the old sinner’s “bones are full of the sins of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust.” Augustine, after experience, says: “While lust is being served the habit is formed, and whilst the habit is not being resisted necessity is formed.”—Fausset.
Pro_5:23. Surely it is most just that he who lived without following instruction should die without having instruction; he that in his life would not do as he was instructed, deserveth that at death he should not be instructed what to do.—Jermin.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v15 Chastity Contrasted with Unchastity
Chastity Contrasted with Unchastity
v. 15. Drink waters out of thine own cistern and running waters out of thine own well, seeking the satisfaction of permitted desire and intercourse only and alone within the bounds of holy wedlock.
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v. 16. Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad and rivers of waters in the streets, in the proper enjoyment of marital love.
v. 17. Let them be only thine own, that is, the waters of this fountain in lawful wedlock, and not strangers’ with thee, in illegitimate intercourse.
v. 18. Let thy fountain be blessed, the children of lawful wedlock being gifts of the Lord, and rejoice with the wife of thy youth. Cf Deu 24:5; Ecc 9:9.
v. 19. Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe, or the graceful gazelle, emblems of the graceful, fascinating, lively nature of a young wife; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times, her bosom charming her husband, and be thou ravished always with her love, said of the ecstatic joy of the loving husband which meets with the glad approval of God within holy wedlock.
v. 20. And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, with a wanton harlot, professing the same delight in her company which he might and should lawfully have with the wife given him by the Lord, and embrace the bosom of a stranger? of one in whose case such familiarity is excluded by the prohibition of the Sixth Commandment.
v. 21. For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and He pondereth all his goings, His omniscience marking the conduct of every person and noting every unchaste desire, thought, word, and act.
v. 22. His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, overtake every evil-doer, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins, as fetters holding him captive and keeping him securely for the final punishment.
v. 23. He shall die without instruction, for want of correction, because he would not accept it, and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray, thus bringing destruction upon himself. Such is the way of the libertine, a few years of forbidden voluptuousness followed by everlasting condemnation.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv15, 18, 20 water from your own cistern ... running water from…
water from your own cistern ... running water from your own well
These two phrases mean basically the same thing. The writer speaks of a man sleeping only with his wife as if he drank water only from his own cistern or well. (See: Parallelism and Metaphor)
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running water
The writer speaks of fresh or flowing water as if the water were running. AT: "fresh water" or "flowing water" (See: Metaphor)
Should your springs ... your streams of water flow in the public squares?
The writer asks this rhetorical question to emphasize that his son should not do these things. AT: "Your springs should not ... your streams of water should not flow in the public squares." (See: Rhetorical Question)
Should your springs ... your streams of water flow in the public squares?
Here the words "springs" and "streams of water" are likely euphemisms for male reproductive fluids. Possible meanings for these metaphorical phrases are 1) sleeping with women other than one's wife is spoken of as if it were allowing one's water to flow in the public streets or 2) having children with women other than one's wife is spoken of as if it were allowing one's water to flow in the public streets. (See: Euphemism and Metaphor)
public squares
Open areas in a city or town where two or more streets meet. A common place for people to meet each other and talk.
Let them be
The word "them" refers to the "springs" and "streams of water" and what they stand for.
not for strangers with you
"do not share them with strangers"
translationWords
cistern
fountain
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv15, 19, 21 5:15-18 To drink from one’s own well (see also…
5:15-18 To drink from one’s own well (see also Song 4:12, 15) is to enjoy sexual relations within marriage. Rather than expend sexual energy on immoral women, a man should cultivate a healthy sexual relationship with his wife. Sex is not to be shared with strangers. This honors marriage (Gen 2:22-25) and keeps the seventh commandment (Exod 20:14 and Deut 5:18).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.