"Do Not Desire Her Prettiness"

Solomon begins the next segment of his counsel by saying:  "Observe, O my son, the commandment of your father, and do not forsake the law of your mother. Tie them upon your heart constantly; bind them upon your throat."    The reason? "When you walk about, it will lead you; when you lie down, it will stand guard over you; and when you have woken up, it itself  will make you  its concern." -Proverbs 6:20-22.

Can a Scriptural upbringing really safeguard us from the snare of sexual immorality?  Yes, it can. We are assured:  "The commandment is a lamp, and a light the law is, and the reproofs  of discipline are the way of life, to guard you against the bad woman, against the smoothness of the tongue of the foreign woman." (Proverbs 6:23, 24) Remembering the counsel of God's Word and using it as 'a lamp to our foot and a light to our roadway' will help us  resist the smooth invitations of a bad woman, or a bad man for that matter. -Psalm 119:105.

"Do not desire her prettiness in your heart," admonishes the wise king, "and may she not take you with her lustrous eyes."  Why? "because in behalf of a woman prostitute one comes down to a round loaf of bread; but as regards another man's wife, she hunts even for a precious soul." -Proverbs 6:25, 26. 

Does Solomon refer to an adulterous wife as a prostitute? Perhaps. Or it could be that he distinguishes between  the consequences of committing immorality with a prostitute  and those resulting from adultery with another man's wife.  The one having intimacies with a prostitute can  be reduced to "a round loaf of bread"-to extreme poverty.  He may even  succumb to painful and crippling sexually transmitted  diseases. On the other hand, the one seeking intimacies  with another's marriage mate would be in greater immediate danger under the Law. An adulterous wife endangers the "precious soul" of her illicit partner.  "More than the shortening of life by dissipation . . . is intended.," says one reference work.  "The sinner is liable to the death penalty." (Leviticus 20:10; Deuteronomy 22:22) In any case, regardless of her physical beauty, such a woman is not to be desired.

Next time: 'Do Not Rake Fire Into Your Bosom'

From the Watchtower magazine, 2000