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Do Not Be Inexperienced and Unwise lacking a Good and Moral Heart

Proverbs 2:16 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)
¹⁶It will save you from the strange^[1] woman,
from the foreign^[2] woman with her smooth^[3] words,

This verse and verse 12 begin with the same Hebrew phrase, “to deliver [or save] from …” (לְהַצִּילְךָ you will be saved). In verses 12 “it” delivers us from “the way of evil, from the man who speaks perverse things” Here, “it” delivers the son and us by extension from the wayward (strange) woman and the immoral (foreign) woman. Who or what is “it” referring to that will deliver or save us? In 2:10-11, “it” is wisdom, knowledge, thinking ability, and discernment.

The word “stranger” was applied to those who forsook what was in harmony with the Mosaic Law and so were estranged from God. Thus, the one morally estranged harlot or prostitute is referred to as a “strange (Heb. zār) woman.” (Prov. 2:16; 5:17; 7:5) This immoral woman is the harlot repeatedly condemned in the book of Proverbs (cf. 5:1-23; 6:20–29; 7:1-27; 22:14; 23:27), as well as the rest of the Scriptures (Ex. 20:14; Lev. 20:10). She is referred to as the “foreign (נָכְרִי nokri) woman” because initially in the Israelite history, such immoral women, who were morally alienated from God came from outside of Israel, but in time, the term foreign woman came to include any prostitute or adulteress. Her smooth words were flattering and seductive.

In this case, she is an adulteress, literally “a strange or foreign woman,” which can be rendered a wayward wife or woman. We have either a foreigner or a Jew carrying on like a wild shameless, untamed foreigner who is not domestic and cultivated. It is not her shameless physical appearance alone that seduces; it is also her smooth, seductive words. She deceives the unsuspecting young man by appealing to his ego with flattering words. Guard against entertaining and cultivating immoral desires. You do not want to be like the inexperienced young man, who lacked a good and moral heart. He put himself in the way of an easy approach by a woman who enslaved herself in a life of immorality and, therefore, sought in the inexperienced and unwise to join her on this treacherous path that could only end badly.

Wisdom, knowledge, thinking ability, and discernment saves us from the wayward (strange) woman and the immoral (foreign) woman. These women live a life of spiritual wickedness, the immoral desires of the unholy, impure mind. This leads to fleshly lusts, which in turn defile the body. It is a war against the soul. Only the unclean, impure man would have anything to do with these women. The man with Godly wisdom, knowledge, thinking ability, and discernment would never put himself in any compromising, innocent appearing situation where he would be found alone with such women. If a pastor must counsel such a woman who has happened into the church, he is to do so with his office door open and another person present. This kind of wisdom delivers him from the allurements of the wayward (strange) woman and the immoral (foreign) woman. It must be remembered that all imperfect humans are mentally bent toward evil, with a treacherous heart. Even though the pastor may have control over his body and mind through the new person, he has put on, and these women are treacherous until they have done so themselves. Even then, no pastor or any man for that matter should spend an unreasonable amount of time alone. Do not test God by placing oneself in any compromising situations, no matter how innocent they seem.

[1] That is, one morally estranged from God

[2] Or immoral; one morally alienated from God

[3] Or seductive