PROVERBS 6
27 Can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned?
28 Or can one walk on hot coals and his feet not be scorched?
29 So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife; none who touches her will go unpunished.
30 People do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his appetite when he is hungry,
31 but if he is caught, he will pay seven fold; he will give all the goods of his house.
32 He who commits adultery lacks sense; he who does it destroys himself.
33 He will get wounds and dishonor, and his disgrace will not be wiped away.
34 For jealousy makes a man furious, and he will not spare when he takes revenge.
35 He will accept no compensation; he will refuse though you multiply gifts.
– Proverbs 6:27-35
PROVERBS 6 AFTERMATH OF ADULTERY
A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses
The Lord loathes the unfaithful; they will not go unpunished
Do you really think a moment of pleasure doesn’t result in a consequence?
When you take another man’s wife or another woman’s husband
You are an abomination to the Lord for he wants total loyalty
When you stir jealousy from another man’s spouse, you will suffer
To get a lover out of marriage is like plunging into the pit of darkness.
In this book, Solomon stresses the aftermath of adultery. He challenges those who are contemplating dabbling into someone else’s spouse to think again if they ever fall into the prey of the devil to take someone that does not belong to them. They may have the thrill of the secrecy and the lies and hiding at the moment they are enjoying the affair, but in the end, it brings so much destruction and conflicts.
He mentions the effect of this sin in verse 32 where the adulterer is actually really hurting himself more than anyone else. Lust is a sin against our own bodies. Since we are the temples of the Holy Spirit, we ought to treat our bodies holy and sanctified only for what it was created for. If you have no spouse yet, you are supposed to stay pure and not defile your own body for the sake of staying pure for Christ.
REFLECTION
- What are the results of adultery in the adulterers and those around them?
- Why do we need to take this commandment very seriously?
