Sin deceives us, hides its consequences, and leads us toward destruction. In Proverbs 7:18–23, an adulterous woman promises pleasure and secrecy to a young man who does not recognize the danger. Her words illustrate how temptation appeals to our desires while concealing the harm that follows. The passage calls us to listen to God’s wisdom and turn away from sin.
Below, we will consider the lies sin tells, the harm it conceals, and why turning to God matters more than simply fearing the consequences. For the preceding part of the account, see what Proverbs 7 teaches about temptation.
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Table of contents
Proverbs 7 gives us a vivid picture of sin’s destructiveness. The young man follows the woman without recognizing where the path leads. Verses 22–23 compare him to an ox going to slaughter, a trapped stag, and a bird rushing into a snare. The pleasure he sees conceals a danger he does not understand.
Sin Lies to Us
I will pick up at verse 18 with the harlot speaking to the foolish young man:
Proverbs 7:18 Come, let us take our fill of love till morning; let us delight ourselves with love.
In the same sentence, the woman twice uses the word love, but she is inviting the young man into adultery. Her words make betrayal sound desirable. This is one way sin deceives us: it gives a pleasing name to something God calls evil. Take your mind back to the fall. God said:
Genesis 2:17 Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
When the devil tempted Eve:
Genesis 3:4 The serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.
The devil told Eve the exact opposite of what God said. Sin does the same with us.
Romans 7:11 Sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, DECEIVED ME and through it killed me.
Paul said sin deceived him.
Hebrews 3:13 Exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by THE DECEITFULNESS OF SIN.
We should exhort each other daily so we aren’t deceived by sin. What are some of the ways sin deceives us? What are some of the lies it tells us?
- This won’t ruin your family.
- This won’t hurt your friends and loved ones.
- This won’t become an addiction.
- You’ll be able to stop whenever you want.
Sin Says, “You Won’t Get Caught”
There is one lie in particular that sin always tells us, and it’s in verses 19 and 20:
Proverbs 7:19 For my husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey; 20 he took a bag of money with him; at full moon he will come home.”
Unbelievably, right after talking to the young man about love, she talks to him about her husband, whom she’s supposed to love. All the verses we read up to this point would have led us to believe the harlot was unmarried. But now we see she was some poor man’s wife. When he went out of town, she went out to hunt. The harlot said her husband is gone, but that’s not her point. She’s trying to tell the foolish young man he won’t get caught, which is one of the main lies sin tells us.
If you think about it for a moment, there’s almost always one thing people must be convinced of before they sin, and it’s this lie the harlot was telling the foolish young man: “Nobody will know. You can get away with it.” Who would have stolen, committed adultery, lied, or gossiped if they thought they would be caught?
Proverbs 7:9 says he went out “in the twilight, in the evening, at the time of night and darkness.” So when we combine him going out at night with the harlot’s words, we can imagine how confident he was that nobody would know. But someone has been watching him:
Proverbs 7:6 For at the window of my house I have looked out through my lattice, 7 and I have seen among the simple, I have perceived among the youths, a young man lacking sense,
The narrator has seen what the young man thought he was doing in secret. That observation also reminds us of a greater truth: we might hide sin from other people, but we cannot hide it from God.
God Won’t Be Mocked
Galatians 6:7 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.
Paul’s warning addresses a common deception: believing we can sow sinful choices without reaping their consequences. Let’s not mistake delayed consequences for God’s approval. God will not be mocked.
Numbers 32:23 BEHOLD, you have sinned against the Lord, and BE SURE YOUR SIN WILL FIND YOU OUT.
We are to behold everything in Scripture. There’s nothing we’re supposed to ignore or overlook. But when we see a verse telling us to behold, we know we’re supposed to pay special attention. In this case, we are to behold that our sin will find us out.
Sometimes people seem to escape the consequences of sin. We should not assume that a delay means God approves, or that we can see everything He is doing in someone’s life. Hebrews 12 warns us that God disciplines His children:
Hebrews 12:7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
God’s children should take this warning seriously. His discipline is an expression of fatherly care, not permission to continue in sin. At the same time, we cannot determine another person’s standing with God merely by whether we can see immediate consequences.
When It Looked Like David Wouldn’t Get Caught
The foolish young man is tempted to commit adultery with this woman because her husband is away, and he thinks he will not get caught. Similarly, David was tempted to commit adultery with Bathsheba when he learned her husband was away, and he thought he would not get caught.
David also tried to conceal his wrongdoing. Second Samuel 11 records his adultery and his plan to have Uriah killed. The chapter closes by making God’s judgment of David’s actions explicit:
2 Samuel 11:27 David sent and brought [Bathsheba] to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord.
David’s arrangements could not hide his actions from God. Joab and others had been involved, so it would be wrong to say that nobody knew anything. But even if David could control what people knew, he could not escape the Lord’s judgment. In the next chapter, God sent Nathan to confront him. David’s sin brought severe consequences.
We may tell ourselves, “My spouse won’t find out. My children, parents, friends, boss, or church won’t find out.” But God sees what we do. Secrecy does not make sin safe.
Sin Makes Us More Like Animals
Because the foolish young man thought he wouldn’t be caught, he gave in:
Proverbs 7:21 With much seductive speech she persuades him; with her smooth talk she compels him. 22 All at once he follows her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a stag is caught fast 23 till an arrow pierces its liver; as a bird rushes into a snare;
Throughout the account, it seems like the harlot is hunting for prey. She goes after the foolish young man the way a hunter goes after an animal. But then the account spells it out for us.
I used to teach fifth grade, which is when students learn about similes. Similes compare one thing to another, and I told my students they could recognize them by using the words like or as. These two verses contain three similes comparing the foolish young man with each of these animals:
Proverbs 7:22 AS AN OX to the slaughter…AS A STAG is caught…23a…AS A BIRD rushes into a snare;
God compares the foolish young man to three animals because sin makes us more like animals.
James 1:14 Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.
Humans and animals share desires for food, shelter, companionship, and the protection of their offspring. But God calls us to exercise moral discernment and self-control. When we follow sinful desires without listening to His Word, the picture of an unsuspecting animal walking into danger becomes an apt warning.
[The young man] began to act like an animal. He was no longer acting like a young man made in the image of God. Humans are the only creatures in God’s creation who can choose what kind of creatures they’re going to be. God wants us to be sheep, but there are other options. We can be like horses or mules:
Psalm 32:9 Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you.
We can be like dogs or pigs:
2 Peter 2:22 What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.”
When we live outside the will of God, we lose our privileges as humans made in [God’s] divine image.
Warren Wiersbe, The Wiersbe Bible Commentary: Old Testament, Page 1069
This young man was acting without the understanding God calls us to exercise. The animal comparison describes his foolish conduct; it does not mean that a person who sins ceases to bear God’s image.
And when we give in to the lusts of the flesh to satisfy our desires, we look less like God and more like animals.
Sin Leads to Destruction
Another reason the foolish young man is compared with animals is animals are hunted, and the foolish young man is being hunted.
Proverbs 7:23a till an arrow pierces its liver;
Katie and I grew up in the mountains of northern California, where hunting and fishing were common. I hunted deer with my father and grandfather, so the image of a wounded animal is vivid to me.
The arrow piercing the liver is an image of deadly harm. The passage does not tell us exactly how long the animal suffers or compare the pain of different wounds. Its warning is clear without those details: the young man is pursuing pleasure on a path that can cost him his life.
Sin’s harm may unfold gradually, or consequences may come suddenly. James 1:14–15 describes the movement from desire to sin and finally to death. We should turn away before reaching the end of that path.
Sin Hunts the Foolish
Proverbs 7:23b he does not know that it will cost him his life.
This is one more similarity with animals: when they are being hunted, they don’t know they are about to die. And that is the case with the foolish young man. He’s as ignorant and oblivious as an animal.
“He does not know” are some of the best words in Scripture, describing almost everyone when they give in to temptation. The foolish young man didn’t know it would cost him his life. For many others, they didn’t know sin would cost them their marriage, children, job, finances, health, self-respect, you name it. There’s almost nothing sin won’t take from us, and in almost every situation the people didn’t know.
To drive this point home, the animals are described as oblivious to picture the young man’s obliviousness:
- He’s like the ox with no idea it will be slaughtered.
- He’s like the completely unsuspecting deer.
- He’s like the bird that has no idea it’s about to fly into a snare.
This is what ignorance looks like, and it applies to us. We can be ignorant of sin’s consequences. We think nothing will happen, which makes us like the dumb ox, the unsuspecting deer, the senseless bird, or the foolish young man.
Sin Is a Baited Hook
In verses 22 and 23, why is there such an emphasis on traps and snares, such as a stag caught fast [in a trap] and a bird caught in a snare? Because sin is a trap and a snare.
James 1:14 Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.
The Greek word for enticed is deleazō, a fishing term that means “to bait, catch by bait.” There are two reasons fishermen use bait, and sin does the same two things.
First, bait attracts the fish. Sin works in a similar way: it appeals to something we desire. James 1:14 describes us as being lured and enticed by our own desires.
The second reason fishermen use bait is to hide the hook. This is exactly what sin does: it hides the hook or the fact that it’s going to lead to pain, regret, and even death. This is one of the worst parts of sin. We don’t see it for what it is.
“We are too apt to forget that temptation to sin will rarely present itself to us in its true colors, saying, ‘I am your deadly enemy, and I want to ruin you forever in hell.’ Oh, no! Sin comes to us, like Judas, with a kiss. The forbidden fruit seemed good and desirable to Eve; yet it cast her out of Eden.”
J.C. Ryle, Holiness, Moody Publishers, 2010, p. 30.
No matter how strong the foolish young man’s desires were, if he knew it was going to cost him his life, would he have gone with the harlot? Of course not. So we can see why he gave in: he saw the bait but not the hook.
The Way Joab Approached Abner and Amasa
Joab is David’s nephew and great general. There’s no record of him ever losing a battle. But he was incredibly ruthless and ambitious. He was willing to help David murder Uriah, and he even betrayed David and joined his son, Adonijah, at the end of David’s life because he thought Adonijah would be the next king. Abner was Saul’s general who joined David, and Joab saw him as a threat:
2 Samuel 3:27 And when Abner returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside into the midst of the gate to speak with him privately, and there he struck him in the stomach, so that he died, for the blood of Asahel his brother.
It looked like all Joab wanted to do was speak privately with Abner. Abner was as unsuspecting as the foolish young man with the harlot, the animals stepping into the traps, or the fish biting the hook. But Joab mercilessly murdered him, and this is what sin wants to do with us.
Now we meet Amasa, another of David’s nephews, and Joab’s cousin. David’s rebellious son, Absalom, appointed Amasa as his general when he took the throne from David. So Joab sees him as a threat, too:
2 Samuel 20:9 And Joab said to Amasa, “Is it well with you, my brother?” And Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him. 10 But Amasa did not observe the sword that was in Joab’s hand (Amasa didn’t see the hook!). So Joab struck him with it in the stomach and spilled his entrails to the ground without striking a second blow, and he died.
Isn’t this how the harlot approached the foolish young man? With friendly, even flattering words, and then a kiss? And this is how sin approaches us: friendly, flattering, and attractive. Joab grabbed Amasa by the beard, apparently to give him the kiss of greeting, and with Amasa completely unsuspecting, used his other hand to murder him. This is how sin approaches us: hiding the sword or hook, using friendly words, and looking warm and inviting. But with every desire to kill us.
“Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.”
Turn to God from Sin
We talked about what sin does:
- it lies to us
- it tells us we will not get caught
- it makes us more like animals
- it leads to destruction
- it hunts the foolish
- it is a baited hook
But our greatest motivation to resist sin shouldn’t be any of these threats:
Isaiah 59:2 your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
The worst thing sin does is separate us from God, and this is the biggest reason we should resist temptation.
The Thessalonians offer an encouraging example. Paul commended their faith and the way they became examples to other believers. They were not a flawless church—he also corrected idleness in 2 Thessalonians 3:6–12—but their conversion shows us what turning from sin looks like:
1 Thessalonians 1:9 For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how YOU TURNED TO GOD FROM IDOLS to serve the living and true God,
Paul describes one change of allegiance: they turned to God from idols. The order of the words does not establish two separate stages of repentance. Turning from sin and turning to the Lord belong together. We resist sin by pursuing the God whom we love, not merely by fearing what sin might cost us.
Hopefully, our biggest fear is also that sin separates us from God, our Creator and Father, who loves us with a love that, according to Romans 8:38-39 neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from.
We should resist sin for many reasons, but first and foremost, because it separates us from God. Focusing on turning to God will help us resist sin.
