Proverbs -- 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.
Prostitutes were always available in Israel. They are available everywhere. He warns the son about three dangers of visiting prostitutes, enslavement, impoverishment, and treachery. Sexual sins enslave many. 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. 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. Do not be fooled by them. 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.
