"Jehovah Himself Gives Wisdom"

"To Deliver You From the Bad Way"

In what way will wisdom, knowledge, thinking ability and discernment prove to be a safeguard? "[They are] to deliver you from the bad way," says Solomon, "from the man, speaking perverse things, from those living the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness, from those who are rejoicing in doing bad, who are joyful in the perverse things of badness; those whose paths are crooked and who are devious in their general course." -Proverbs 2:2-15.

Yes, those who cherish true wisdom avoid association with anyone "speaking perverse things," That is, things contrary to what is true and right. Thinking ability and discernment furnish protection against those who reject the truth only to walk in the ways of darkness and against those who are devious and who find pleasures in evil deeds. -Proverbs 3:32.

How grateful we can be that true wisdom and its associated qualities also protect us from the bad way of immoral men and women! Solomon adds that these qualities are "to deliver you from the strange woman, from the foreign woman, who has made her own sayings smooth, who is leaving the confidential friend of her youth and who has forgotten the very covenant of her God. For down to death her house does sink and down to those impotent in death her tracks. None of those having relations with her will come back, nor will they regain the paths of those living." -Proverbs 2:16-19.

"The strange woman," the prostitute, is portrayed as one who leaves "the confidential friend of her youth" -likely the husband of he young womanhood. (Compare Malachi 2:14) She has forgotten the prohibition on adultery that was a part of the Law covenant. (Exodus 20:14) Her tracks are leading to death. Those having company with her might never "regain the paths of those living," since sooner or later they may reach a point of no return, namely death, from which they cannot come back. A man of discernment and thinking ability is aware of the lures of immorality and wisely avoids getting entangled in them.

Next time: 'The Upright Will Reside in the Earth'

Watchtower, 1999