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Solomon, having told us of the excellency of Wisdom, and of the blessings she has to confer on her children, now bids us consider the consequences of listening to sin, when she, the foolish woman, utters her invitation. We learn -

I. THAT SIN IN ITS LATER DEVELOPMENTS IS A VERY ODIOUS THING. What a painful and repulsive picture we have here of the foolish woman, who, though utterly ignorant and unworthy (ver. 13), assumes a conspicuous position in the city, places herself "on a seat in the high places," speaks with a "clamorous" voice, and, herself unaddressed, calls aloud to those who are going on their way! When we present the scene to our imagination, we instinctively shrink from it as repelling and odious. All sin is hateful in the sight of God; to him it is "that abominable thing" (Jeremiah 44:4). And to all the pure in heart it is also, though not equally, repulsive. In its later stages and final developments it is simply and thoroughly detestable.

II. THAT TEMPTATION TO SIN BESETS THE UNWARY AS WELL AS THE EVIL MINDED. Folly addresses herself to "passengers who go right on their ways" (ver. 15). There are those who go wilfully and wantonly in the way of temptation. They seek the company of the profane, the attentions of the immoral. These walk into the net, and are ensnared. Then there are others who have no thought of evil in their heart; they are not "purposing to transgress;" but as they pass right on their way, the temptress throws her net at if not over them, that she may entangle them. The path of human life is beset with spiritual perils; it is necessary to be prepared against all forms of evil. We must not only be upright in intention, but wary and well armed also. "Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary," etc. (1 Peter 5:8).

III. THAT TO UNSANCTIFIED HUMAN NATURE SIN IS SOMETIMES A TERRIBLY SEDUCTIVE THING. "The foolish woman," though she is said to "know nothing," yet knows enough to say truly, "Stolen waters are sweet," etc. (ver. 17). It is useless, because it is false, to deny that vice has its pleasures. Lasciviousness, revelry, avarice, usurpation, have their delights; and there is a peculiar pleasure in snatching unlawful gratifications rather than in accepting those which are honourable. When our nature is unregenerated and unsanctified, when passion is at its height, when in the soul there is the ardour and energy of youth, vice has powerful attractions. The young may well provide themselves against the dark hour of temptation with "the whole armour of God," or they may not be able to stand victorious.

IV. THAT THOSE WHO HAVE ABANDONED THEMSELVES TO SIN ARE IN THE EMBRACE OF RUIN. "He knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell' (ver. 18). Not only is it true

(1) that those who yield themselves to guilty passion are on the high road to ultimate perdition; but it is also true

(2) that they are already in the depth of ruin. They are "dead while they live" (1 Timothy 5:6); they are "in the depths of hell" (text). To be sacrificing manhood or womanhood on the altar of an unholy pleasure, or an immoral gain, or an enslaving lamination; to be sinning continually against God, and to be systematically degrading our own soul to be falling lower and lower in the estimation of the wise until we become the object of their pity or their scorn; - this is ruin. No need to wait for judgment and condemnation; the guests of sin are in the depths of hell. If near the door, if on its step, if in its hall, "escape for thy life" (see Wardlaw, in loc.). - C.

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KJV: A foolish woman is clamorous: she is simple, and knoweth nothing.

WEB: The foolish woman is loud, Undisciplined, and knows nothing.