"Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised." Prov 31:30
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People have long argued over whether God is a man or a woman... certainly in the Word, the words Father, He, Him are used for the LORD exclusively, which would seem to bolster the argument.
However, it is obvious, as we saw last week, that the LORD transcends our human definitions of gender, encapsulating both male and female characteristics in His personality. Furthermore, if we stop to think, the following are obvious, and clearly communicated in the Bible...
(a) God is a Spirit, and Spirit has no gender --- we are all living spiritual beings and souls without gender (though with different and unique balances of male and female attributes) , living in a fleshy and gendered body...
In earlier studies we have remarked on the fact that the Word tells us to love EVERYBODY, regardless of gender. It is only the physical aspect of same-sex relationships which is condemned, as being against the natural order, and in violation of God's image.
God is not against same-sex love, He is against same-sex sex!! You will agree that loving someone as a brother, sister, friend, father, son, daughter.... is very different from wanting to have physical relationships with them!
(b) Women actually have a more prominent representation in the Word than men! It was a woman that kicked off the mystery of the salvation of God (Eve in the Garden), it was a woman that gave birth to the Messiah, women were treated as equals to men in as far as inheritance and property rights were concerned in the Law, it was a woman that was the first to see the risen Christ, the Church of Christ is likened to a Bride (in the Song of Solomon, and in the New Testament), and in the Book of Revelation, we see true and false religion painted in the imagery of a woman clothed with light, and as a harlot sitting on a beast respectively.
This last duality, ---- women painted in both positive and negative lights, is typical of the ruthless transparency and truth of the Word when it comes to describing any subject with complete truth and honesty, and we see that same duality in the book of Proverbs.
The book opens with Wisdom typified as a woman. "Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets.." Prov 1:20, and immediately we see the opposite ("Foolishness") " A foolish woman is clamorous: she is simple, and knoweth nothing. " Prov 9:13. These types are further broken down as we shall see below.....
a. The Virtuous and Wise Woman
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Pro_11:16 A gracious woman retaineth honour: and strong men retain riches.
Pro_12:4 A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband: but she that maketh ashamed is as rottenness in his bones.
Pro_14:1 Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands.
Pro_31:10 Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.
Pro_31:30 Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised.
b. The Foolish, Clamorous and Contentious woman
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Pro_9:13 A foolish woman is clamorous: she is simple, and knoweth nothing.
Pro_11:22 As a jewel of gold in a swine's snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion.
Pro_21:9 It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house.
Pro_21:19 It is better to dwell in the wilderness, than with a contentious and an angry woman.
Pro_25:24 It is better to dwell in the corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman and in a wide house
Pro_27:15 A continual dropping in a very rainy day and a contentious woman are alike.
Ouch... !!! ? Men take notice and beware.... shrews are not easily tamed!!!
Ladies will probably identify with this last set of proverbs below...
"For three things the earth is disquieted, and for four which it cannot bear: {1} For a servant when he reigneth; {2} and a fool when he is filled with meat; { and 3!} ..... For an odious woman when she is married; {4} and an handmaid that is heir to her mistress." - Prov 30:21-23
Hagar (Sarah's maid) is probably the best example ... who when she bore Abraham a son, began to despise her mistress....
c. The Strange (Foreign) and Adulterous Woman
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The Wisdom in the Book of Proverbs is designed as guide to protect the children of God from BOTH evil ---men AND ---women.
" When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul; Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee: To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things; Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness; Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked; Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths:
To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words; Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God. For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead. None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life." - Prov 2:10-22
Time after time, the book warns against the sins of adultery -- it is a sin against your neighbour and a breaking of a sworn covenant.
" My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding: That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.
For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil: But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell. Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them.
Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth. Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house: Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel: Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger;
And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed, And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof; And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me! I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.
Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well. Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets. Let them be only thine own, and not strangers' with thee. Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth. Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love. And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?
For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings. is own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins. He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray." - Prov 5:1-23
Pro_6:26 For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread: and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life.
Pro_6:32 But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul.
Pro_7:5 That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words.
Pro_23:27 For a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit.
.Pro_30:20 Such is the way of an adulterous woman; she eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness.
------------------CONCLUSION -----------------
Adultery is strongly condemned in the Word -- physical adultery being a type/representation of spiritual covenant breaking and pursuing false religion and gods. In the Old Testament, BOTH the man AND the woman, comitting adultery were to be stoned.... a pointer to how seriously the LORD takes the sanctity of marriage, and the marriage vows.
Yet there is Grace to be found even here.... you will recall we pointed to this proverb.... when we were talking about pledges and vows..
Pro_20:16 Take his garment that is surety for a stranger: and take a pledge of him for a strange woman.
Pro_27:13 Take his garment that is surety for a stranger, and take a pledge of him for a strange woman.
Repeated for emphasis, this proverb was fulfilled by Christ on the Cross, when his garments were stripped from Him. He died for the strange and adulterous woman also! Not convinced? Here is the Apostle Paul...
" Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither ---fornicators, nor idolaters, nor ----adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. --------And such were some of you:-------------but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." (1 Cor 6:9-11)
There is hope. There is hope for this land that has cast the sound teachings of the Bible behind itself in favor of complete hedonism and lawlessness... there is hope and grace aplenty for all who want it --- but we have to turn from our wicked ways, and acknowledge that we were in the WRONG... We pray that the conviction of the Spirit moves over this country to bring people to repentance and life, for it is beyond man's power to do it... all we can do is pray and petition the LORD for cleansing, repentance, and revival!!!
Hallelujah!!