Widow at the Window – Proverbious – Day 37 – Proverbs 7:6-23

Proverbious | David Lindner

A few years ago, before we lived in our current house, we lived in a neighborhood that had a few older people in it. We actually lived in a town which had a larger than normal older person population. You had to give up on the idea of getting anywhere fast. There were just too many of them. It wasn’t going to happen.

Two of our neighbors were actually widows. One of them went to our church and the other didn’t go to church. Both were lonely and we could, at times, catch them watching us out their windows. One was a little more agressive about it. The other told me she just loved watching my wife and I play with our dog.

Of course what they observed out their window was quite different than what the wise man saw out of his. Our neighbors just saw us playing with out dog, mowing the lawn, weeding the flower bed and taking out the trash. The wise man saw this:

Proverbs 7:6-23

For at the window of my house
through my window lattice I looked out
and I saw among the naive—
I discerned among the youths—
a young man who lacked wisdom.
He was passing by the street near her corner,
making his way along the road to her house
in the twilight, the evening,
in the dark of the night.
Suddenly a woman came out to meet him!
She was dressed like a prostitute and with secret intent.
(She is loud and rebellious,
she does not remain at home—
at one time outside, at another in the wide plazas,
and by every corner she lies in wait.)
So she grabbed him and kissed him,
and with a bold expression she said to him,
“I have fresh meat at home;
today I have fulfilled my vows!
That is why I came out to meet you,
to look for you, and I found you!
I have spread my bed with elegant coverings,
with richly colored fabric from Egypt.
I have perfumed my bed
with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
Come, let’s drink deeply of lovemaking until morning,
let’s delight ourselves with sexual intercourse.
For my husband is not at home;
he has gone on a journey of some distance.
He has taken a bag of money with him;
he will not return until the end of the month.”
She persuaded him with persuasive words;
with her smooth talk she compelled him.
Suddenly he went after her
like an ox that goes to the slaughter,
like a stag prancing into a trapper’s snare
till an arrow pierces his liver—
like a bird hurrying into a trap,
and he does not know that it will cost him his life.

Okay, so this translation caught me a little off guard on one phrase, “fresh meat.” As much as I love saying phrases like sexual intercourse when I know my mom is following this series, fresh meat was not something I was expecting to find. So, I did as any good student should do, and I looked up what it actually meant.

What this is likely talking about is the meat this woman had left over after making a sacrifice. Her fresh meat are the left overs from a sacrifice she made. Do you get that? She cares so little for worship that she is using the left-overs of her time of worship to seduce a man. That ought to express to you just how far this woman has gone.

From our window in that house, we also observed some interesting things. There were quite a few passersby who weren’t reluctant to let all the ugly parts of their life hang out for all of us to see from inside our homes. We never saw anything like was seen in this passage. What we need to remember is that we need to be the people who stay inside our houses. Not literally. You can’t use this an an excuse to never go out again. But, we need to be more like the widows who lived across from us.

When we are aware of perverse ways, we should never get close to them. We should do everything we can to stay clear of them. Otherwise, we may find ourselves being led to our very death. This we learn from the wise man, instant gratification is not worth your life.