"With her many persuasions she entices him; with her flattering lips she seduces him"
Notice that the adulteress woman is the aggressor. Without her actions the man would not be drawn into the destructive embrace of sexual sin. It is always this way: lust initiates, lust is the aggressor, lust seeks to persuade. It does not want to let you decide whether you should; it seeks to decide for you by more and more aggressive actions. This is true of men who are the lustful initiator and women who are the lustful initiator. This is why lust seeks more and more room to ply its trade. It wants to be protected under free speech rights so that it can be more aggressive with its images. It wants to break down laws so that predatory individuals can attack married partners and lure them away from their spouses without any danger of legal recourse. It wants to flood the mind with lustful ideas, images, and songs so that people are already primed for sexual suggestion.
persuasions
This is the Hebrew word leqach, which means learning, teaching, instruction, persuasions. This predatory person has many teachings, many persuasions. This person is not just asking if you want to do this sin. Lust has many ways to instruct and compel you to move in its direction. Notice that the lustful person just keeps piling on temptations until you give in. There are multiple forms of touch, sound, sight, smell, words, listening, stories, etc., which seek to convince you that you are important and that you are the object of affection and desire – one after another after another until one begins to believe the hype and go with the fleshly urges that are boiling within. That is why Scripture says to flee. You cannot just stand there and resist.
I know of many young men and young ladies who have thought that they would be able to resist the suggestions of lust. But they weren't strong enough; they should have just run for their lives. The way to resist the temptation to lust is to get away from the source of it.
entices
This is the Hebrew word natah, which means stretch out, spread out, incline, bend. All of the teaching and instruction that lust is doing is getting the student to bend into the lust and to want to know more. You don't want to know more; you don't want to bend in lust's direction. You want to learn about real intimacy, not the shortcut that lust offers.
flattering
This is the Hebrew word cheleq, which means smoothness, seductiveness, flattery. The idea behind flattery is overemphasizing a person's strengths and/or inventing a strength that the person does not have. Everyone likes to have their victories and strengths celebrated. But one can become addicted to the attention and focus.
We are all drawn in the direction of those who will value us. Focus on our strengths and minimize our weakness. The formula for good people skills becomes the means of temptation when we celebrate what is not true, or when it is so overblown that even the praised individual knows that it is not true of him/her.
If a young lady begins to sing your praises in ways that you know is not true, then it is flattery. If a young man begins to sing your praises in a way that is not true, than it is flattery. Flattery is a tool of temptation. You are being led somewhere if someone is puffing you up with things that are not true. Figure out the endgame and disconnect the machine that is pumping hot air into your ego.
seduces
This is the Hebrew word nadach, which means to impel, thrust, banish. Solomon uses a very interesting word here to talk about what the temptress is doing to the man. She is impelling him; she is thrusting him in a direction that he would not normally go. This is very interesting and provides a basis of evaluation of a temptation. Is this feeling that I am feeling at this moment something that I would normally do or something that I would pursue, or is it instead something that I am being presented with that is not normal, or something that I am being sucked or pulled into? If it is the latter, then you are being tempted to do evil even though the activity may be pleasurable. There will be consequences. Watch out.
Until tomorrow,
Gil Stieglitz
