The Adulteress: Predator

At the window of my house I looked out through the lattice. I saw among the simple, I noticed among the young men, a youth who lacked judgment. He was going down the street near her corner, walking along in the direction of her house at twilight, as the day was fading, as the dark of night set in. Then out came a woman to meet him, dressed like a prostitute and with crafty intent. (She is loud and defiant, her feet never stay at home; now in the street, now in the squares, at every corner she lurks.)  She took hold of him and kissed him and with a brazen face she said: “I have fellowship offerings at home; today I fulfilled my vows. So I came out to meet you; I looked for you and have found you! I have covered my bed with colored linens from Egypt. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon. Come, let’s drink deep of love till morning; let’s enjoy ourselves with love! My husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey. He took his purse filled with money and will not be home till full moon.”  (Proverbs 7:6-20) 

Sometimes, an adulterous person is depicted as a victim. He/She just happens to meet that special someone while he/she just happens to be married to someone else. He/she just gets carried away. These might be considered the amateur adulterers, but that isn’t the picture that Solomon paints of this adulteress, or her young man. Since the text starts with the young man, we will, too.
He’s a youth lacking in judgment. The evidence of this is that he heads into her neighborhood. He goes looking for trouble. And our society says that when a youth (of any gender) wanders somewhere looking for trouble or wanders somewhere with the belief that trouble has no right to happen, that youth is a victim when trouble does happen.  

Out comes the woman. What can we determine about her? First off, Solomon has apparently seen and heard her before. She’s loud. She’d defiant. I would suggest that her attitude is one of aggressive entitlement. She’s got a ‘tude and she doesn’t care who knows. She would say that she has nothing to be ashamed of. She’s just doing what comes naturally, just enjoying herself, and it’s between to consenting adults, so what business is it of ours?

But she also wants to pretend she’s respectable. She may be a member of a church congregation. She at least pretends to be. She says she’s fulfilled her vows. The meat she has at home must be eaten, and her husband isn’t home. He won’t be home for perhaps as long as twenty-seven days.

Do you have the impression that she’s done this sort of thing before? I do. She’s got her routine down and probably doesn’t even need a checklist as she prepares to go out for the evening. It seems to me that this is the sort of adulteress that the prophets had in mind when they described Israel as a adulteress. She’s a predator, just as much as a rapist is, out on a trophy hunt every bit as much as the guys hunting lions and elephants are.