Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Adult Sunday School Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/bb/bb20000521.htm

PROVERBS: ALIGNING TO GOD'S FIXED MORAL ORDER
Part II: Sparking The Reader's Motivation To Heed God's Fixed Moral Order
L. Motivating YOUNG MEN To Offset The Lure Of Immoral Women By The Appeal Of God's Order
(Proverbs 8:1-36)
  1. Introduction
    1. When a parent seeks to get his maturing offspring to counter the lure of an immoral party, he recognizes that his task is great, for the evil party unfairly uses the God-given sexual drive to his own errant ends.
    2. Solomon was aware that you can't just say "No" to a young prince about immorality -- you have to deal with a replacement that attractively offsets the immoral lures around him.
    3. Proverbs 8:1-36 works to that end, offering a teaching example for parents with maturing children:
  2. Motivating YOUNG MEN To Offset The Lure Of Immoral Women By The Appeal Of God's Order.
    1. As we noted before, Solomon structured the book of Proverbs after the Egyptian literary genre of a sboyet to train young princes to adhere to an observed fixed moral order for blessing.
    2. Solomon knew he had created a vulnerability vacuum in telling his son to avoid harlots in Proverbs 7 when the youth had been created by God to "be fruitful and multiply". Hence, Solomon sought to fill that attraction vacuum with the righteous attraction of God's fixed moral order itself as follows:
      1. The question of Proverbs 8:1, beginning with the Hebrew, halo is a rhetorical question, and it signals the presence of an assured fact, cf. Biblia Hebraica, p. 1163; G.K.C., Gesenius' Hebrews Grammar, p. 474; Bible Knowledge Commentary, O.T., p. 921. Thus, God's fixed moral order is assuredly seen in an appealing light in direct contrast to the harlot of chapter 7, Ibid., B.K.C., O.T.
      2. Accordingly, Solomon sought to show his young son(s) how God's attractive, righteous fixed moral order meets the allurement of an immoral woman at every juncture, and readily defeats it as follows:
        1. Where the immoral woman creeps out to the market square and lures a young man at secretive times of the day, God's fixed moral order raises its obvious voice to counter the harlot's lure in very public ways all over the world to noblemen and naive young men, Proverbs 7:8-12 with 8:1-3, 4-5.
        2. God's fixed moral order offers a much superior attraction to that of harlots for the young man: (a) God's fixed moral order has integrity and honesty where a harlot is full of painful, costly deceptions, Proverbs 8:6-9 versus 7:14-20. (b) God's fixed moral order offers instruction and knowledge more valuable than riches where the prostitute takes the youth's hire and leaves him eventually bankrupt, Proverbs 8:10-11 versus 7:21-23.
        3. God's fixed moral order appeals to a young ruler's desire to rule effectively, offering knowledge, discretion, counsel, sound judgment, understanding, might, all the things that make rulers effective, Proverbs 8:12-16. In contrast, a harlot brings a young man down to death, Proverbs 7:25-26.
        4. God's fixed moral order appeals to a young man's hope of finding riches, honor, enduring wealth and prosperity, Proverbs 8:17-21. All a harlot can do is drain a man of these things, Prov. 7:25-26.
        5. God's fixed moral order provides longevity of blessing that a young ruler longs to have, for it has been around since God's creation and was used by God in making the marvelous creative order, Proverbs 8:22-31. In contrast, all a harlot can do is cause chaos, ruin and death, Proverbs 7:26.
      3. In summary, Solomon personified the call of God's fixed moral order in Proverbs 8:32-36, showing the great importance behind one's choice either to heed or to reject it as follows:
        1. Solomon taught that just what his sons wanted would be met in heeding that order: heeding it and seeking its truths daily would produce a long life and God's favor, Proverbs 8:32-35.
        2. However, failing to seek after it, to heed it and hating it would produce a short life span, Prov. 8:36.
Lesson: Solomon sought to counter the VACUUM of allurement left by telling his son "Just Say No!" to alluring harlots by revealing how God's fixed moral order COUNTERED that allurement with its own invaluable offerings at EVERY point for EVERY man who was ANYWHERE in the world!

Application: In telling our maturing children to RESIST immorality, we must FILL the temptation VACUUM created by our saying "No!" We can do so by revealing how, at every point, heeding God's fixed moral order more than compensates whatever pleasure loss one fears for refusing to be immoral!