"The mouth of an adulteress is a deep pit; he who is cursed of the Lord will fall into it"
adulteress
This is the Hebrew word zur which means stranger. It is translated adulteress, alien, foreigner, enemy.
What is interesting is that the word means someone who is strange to you; someone who should not be in your life. This could be an adulteress but it could also be any stranger, a business associate, or a new acquaintance who is really strange or different. It is the mouth of this strange person which captivates. It is what they say that captivates you.
deep pit
This is two Hebrew words amoq which means deep and shuchah which means pit.
Solomon is trying to paint a picture in our minds of what will happen to a person who lets a stranger come into their life and dominate their life. You will be going into a very deep pit – one in which there is no way out; one in which it is very confining; one in which it ends up being you and this stranger.
Remember that this is the mouth of the stranger that is this deep pit. It is what they say that begins to wall you into a very deep, isolated place. "You don't want to go there." "You don't want to do that." "Come be with me." "This is what you want to do." They begin to slowly but surely tell you what you don't want to do and what you do want to do. They are building a pit with their words. They tell you to get rid of certain friends and relationships. They tell you to add certain new activities. They tell you to break agreements and commitments that you had in the past until you are really the prisoner of their words.
Probably the classic example in our generation is what Yoko Ono did to John Lennon. She completely walled him off from all his old relationships through her words until she had him completely isolated to her.
cursed
This is the Hebrew word zaam which means to be indignant. It is translated angry, become enraged, cursed, denounced. The idea in this verse is clearly that God is angry at this person.
Notice that before they ever fell into the trap of the stranger, the Lord was angry at them. This is what is interesting to me. They are under His displeasure and that is what allows them or moves them to being trapped by the words of an adulteress or a stranger.
Now if as you are reading this and you are seeing that you are falling victim to this very process, cry out to God and ask for His forgiveness. Repent – stop doing what you are doing; stop doing the thing that you were doing that brought about His displeasure. You cannot escape this prison of their words through listening to their words. Everyone around you – your old friends and relationships – are waiting to welcome you back but there must be repentance.
fall
This is the Hebrew word naphal which is translated to fall, to abandon, to allot, etc. This is what is said in Romans when the Apostle Paul says that God gave them over to the lust of their mind. This idea is that before you can fall victim to the charms of a wicked person, you must already have been pursuing a course of action that is displeasing to the Lord.
The idea is that if you have wandered far from the path of righteousness, there is a pit that you will fall into. That pit is not a literal pit, but it is a psychological pit which will be made by the words of a stranger. It will hold you tight until you repent. Life will be incredibly narrow and surrounded by this person who seemed like they were the answer, but they became your prison.
Until tomorrow,
Gil Stieglitz