The Godly Man (Prov. 22:14)

We all like compliments; and words that offer flattery sound good to our ears. But we are warned against women who so freely offer words of flattery to men. In this verse, the mouth of a strange woman is compared to a deep pit. And it is far too easy to misstep and fall into the abyss. Pits are easy to fall in, but very difficult to get out of.

Perhaps Solomon was enticed to sin as he listened to the immoral woman, and now tries to make his sons aware of taking the same slippery steps. He often speaks about her and the dangers of getting involved with her brings. “The words of an immoral woman may be as sweet as honey and as smooth as olive oil. But all that you really get from being with her is bitter poison and pain. If you follow her, she will lead you down to the world of the dead. She has missed the path that leads to life and doesn’t even know it” (Prov. 5:3-6, CEV).

He also warns his son: “For the lips of an immoral woman drip honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil; but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death, her steps lay hold of hell. Lest you ponder her path of life—her ways are unstable; you do not know them” (Prov. 5:3-6).

Instead of following the immoral woman to the pit of hell, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful” (Ps. 1:1). Keep walking past the immoral woman; you will be safer, and godlier.