UASV DAILY DEVOTIONAL, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2021

Immorality Leads to Death

Proverbs 2:18-19 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)
¹⁸ for her house sinks down to death,
    and her tracks lead to the dead;^[1]
19 none who go to^[2] her, none shall return,
    nor do they reach paths of life.

The young man is delivered from the sensual woman by the protection of wisdom. This adulteress woman has set aside the Word of God, following a path that leads to death, taking the young man with her. Her words to him are so smooth and flattering that he cannot see the trail leading to her house of death. Thus, any who involves themselves with the immoral, sensual woman will very quickly discover in some cases and over time in others that they have made a profoundly horrifying, severe mistake.

The immoral woman’s house sinks down to death. Of course, every man who has sexual relations with an immoral sensual woman does not end up dying from the experience itself, although, in rare cases, this has been the result. Here we are talking about her lifestyle being a lifestyle of death in the sense of spiritual, emotional, and financial death in the short term and a permanent physical death if one does not turn back from their evil ways.

Yes, this sensual woman’s tracks lead down to death, as the blinding sin of fornication and adultery are extremely destructive, for they lead to death. (Cf. 8-9, 12, 15) In the book of Proverbs, death is shown to be of a slow, gradual descent as one is led astray (5:23) and suddenly as he is broken beyond healing. (29:1) The strange woman (2:16) refers to those who set aside what was in harmony with the Mosaic Law and thus distanced and estranged themselves from God. Therefore, the immoral sensual woman (prostitute) was not necessarily a foreigner.

“The strange woman,” the prostitute, is described as one “who forsakes the companion of her youth,” which is referring to the husband of her young womanhood. She has ignored and disregarded the prohibition on adultery that was a part of the covenant of her God, the Mosaic Law covenant. (Ex. 20:14) Her tracks lead to the dead. Those having sexual relations with her might never return or find their way back to the paths of life, as there is a point of no return, namely death, eternal destruction from which they cannot come back. A wise man of discernment and thinking ability is aware of the tricks and lures of immorality, and he wisely avoids getting trapped in them. All should guard against entertaining and developing immoral desires.

Immorality may be the way to what loose men and women call “worldly, experienced, suave,” making a person wise in Satan’s world, but it is not the way the pure wisdom of God, which gives us a better life now and eternal life to come. Immorality may feel good at the moment o the fallen flesh, but it will not “take hold of that which is truly life.” (1 Tim. 6:19) Once one goes down the path of having sexual relations with the immoral person, they have stepped off of the path that leads to eternal life, and they may never find their way back. One never knows if their heart becomes so callused that it becomes unfeeling, and they go beyond repentance, from which they cannot return. This would be the place of no-return, Sheol, gravedom. In other words, they die while they have fallen away. Now, worse still, they will suffer the punishment that the apostle Paul refers to as eternal destruction (2 Thess. 1:8-9), and Jesus called Gehenna. (Mark 9:43-48) This is no matter not to take seriously. We do not want to be like the inexperienced youth, who lacked a pure, clean, moral heart, clean purpose, intention, motivation. He, therefore, placed himself in the way of what may have appeared to be an innocent appearing situation, easy prey when it came to sexual immorality.

[1] (Heb. Rephaim; the spirits of the departed) People who are no longer living

[2] I.e. having relations with

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