Proverbs 7:24-27
“Now therefore, listen to me, my children; pay attention to the words of my mouth; do not let your heart turn aside to her ways, do not stray into her paths; for she has cast down many wounded, And all who were slain by her were strong. Her house the way to hell, descending to the chambers of death.”
Jesus- the wisdom of God- cautions us, God’s children not to allow our hearts to turn aside to the ways of the seducing spirit. The heart is an inclusive term that houses the mind, the will, and the emotions. Thus, God is directing us, in no uncertain terms to maintain control of our minds, wills and emotions when faced with a seducing spirit. Why? The first half of verse 26 tells us that the wounded are the ones who are in the greatest danger.
Gesiniues’ Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon describes the term wounded in more depth by stating that this term refers to those who are “slain by hunger.” In other words, those primarily at risk for being tempted by and falling prey to a seducing spirit are those who lack some need being met. This idea coincides with Proverbs 27:7 which states {paraphrased} that when your soul is lacking something, you will take anything to fill that lack.
Further, God warns us in the second half of verse 26 that those who the seducing spirit takes a hold of were strong. However, this translation in the New King James differs from several other translations but they all basically say one of two things. They either say that the amount of people who have been taken out by the seducing spirit is vast or they say that the type of human that has been taken out by the seducing spirit were at one time very physically strong. Further, there is a contextual translation of the phrase “were strong” that indicates precisely the opposite of the context presented in the NKJV translation. In that context, the phrase actually means “many feeble”. If we adopt this contextual difference, then the entirety of the verse remains in context and offers a solid understanding to promote wisdom. The jist would then be that those who are the most at risk to falling prey to the seducing spirit are the young, ignorant, {see verse 7} and those who are feeble in their minds, wills, and emotions due to lack of some necessary emotional or physical need.
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