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Give Me Your Heart

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Biblical Wisdom

Proverbs 23:26-28 -- My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways. For a prostitute is a deep pit; an adulteress is a narrow well. She lies in wait like a robber and increases the traitors among mankind.

Prostitutes go way back. In Genesis, heroic Tamar acted the whore to lure father-in-law Judah to provide an heir for her dead husband. In Joshua, Rahab (like Tamar, named as Christ’s ancestor in Matthew) hid Israel’s spies in Jericho. In Judges Samson lost hair and strength to Delilah’s nagging. Prostitutes were always available in Israel. They are available everywhere. So the father pleads with his son, “Give me your heart,” just as God asks us for our hearts. He warns the son about three dangers of visiting prostitutes, enslavement, impoverishment, and treachery.

Sexual sins enslave many. “A harlot is a deep pit, and an adulteress is a narrow well.” Fall into a deep pit, perhaps a cistern, and someone else must pull you out. Get wedged in a narrow well, and you can’t climb out. Being trapped below the earth in a pit or a well that someone has dug nicely describes enslavement to any sin, including sexual sins. The Internet, with its privately accessed pornography, brings new power to ancient sexual temptation. The Internet’s powerful sex images are a deep pit that warp and ensnare those who frequent them.

Sellers of sex are like robbers. They want your money. The prostitute, and often the pimp controlling her as his slave, offers the mirage of love, or at least lust, but their single-minded goal is your money. “High class” whores may hide rapaciousness behind glamour, and even sometimes affection, but they too exploit weakness and folly. Do not be fooled by them.

Finally, “Sex workers,” the current euphemism, ruin families by enticing men, ready to be enticed, to betray their wives. Deployed soldiers, for example, too often betray wives left behind; that is one reason some military marriages fail. Nothing fun or glamorous about the betrayal of adultery or its subsequent divorce!

Son, the proverb pleads, pay attention with your head and your heart. Do not frequent prostitutes, or spend your nights with Internet sex. When you do, you deal with ruthless people who know how to pull you in ever deeper, enslave you, and take your money. The prostitute, the stripper, and their Internet companions are deep pits and narrow wells, all of them robbers. Once addicted to them, you find escape hard.

Explore Christ-centered education in a vocational context at Geneva College - admissions@geneva.edu | 800-847-8255.

Dr. Bill Edgar, former chair of the Geneva College Board of Trustees, former Geneva College President and longtime pastor in the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (RPCNA)

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Photo by Gary Meulemans on Unsplash

Opinions expressed in the Geneva Blog are those of its contributors and do not necessarily represent the opinions or official position of the College. The Geneva Blog is a place for faculty and contributing writers to express points of view, academic insights, and contribute to national conversations to spark thought, conversation, and the pursuit of truth, in line with our philosophy as a Christian, liberal arts institution.

Jan 4, 2021

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