Son, let me tell you about the harlot.

For she was not always a harlot.

But by her will she became a harlot.

When she was young she had a guide.

When she was young she made a covenant with her God.

She was married and she vowed to be faithful to the husband of her youth but she forsook his guidance and soon forgot her vows.

His guidance was not important to her nor were her vows to her God important.

She feared neither her husband nor her God because she was froward.

At one time her hand was to the plow, her eyes were on the furrows but she looked back and her heart was revealed.

She had eyes for corrupting another and she became the harlot that she was in her heart.

So the father gives the son a key to knowing one who is a harlot in her heart.

He is wise and by his wisdom he equips his son with an early warning signal for knowing those who are harlots in their heart.

Wisdom is like that in providing early warnings of danger.

(That is the purpose of the "Projector", to project the light of the word of God on the issues of the day.

What does it mean to project light?

It means to send it ahead.

It means to send light into darkness early on.

It is to be a scout that warns of danger at an early stage.

It is a nip it in the bud kind of light.

It is like the flashlight shining ahead on a dark path, the stronger the flashlight, the farther the light extends, and the earlier the warning comes of danger ahead)

This father, by wisdom, is like that flashlight.

He is there to provide an early warning signal to his son of those who are harlots in their heart.

Son, take care to guard against one who flatters with her lips.

She is spreading a net for your feet because she is catering to your flesh.

The word flatter is from the root word, flat.

So a flatterer is one who makes flat.

It means to take that which is not smooth and to make it smooth by false praise.

It means to soothe by praise.

It is like petting down the fur of an angry cat.

It means to satisfy, to gratify, to indulge, to encourage self love by praise.

It is false praise meant to exalt the one praised in his own estimation and confirm his good opinion of himself.

It is that which encourages the one flattered to say "Its about time someone finally recognized that virtue in me!"

It is false commendation bestowed for the purpose of gaining favor and influence, or to accomplish some purpose.

It is using the fallen nature of another person, the weakness of the flesh of another, to advance ones own cause.

This proverbs father tells his son that the discretion and understanding that wisdom provides, are to deliver the son from the evil man and from the strange woman who flatters with her lips.

Flattery is false commendation bestowed for the purpose of gaining favor and influence, or to accomplish some purpose.

It is using the fallen nature of another person, the weakness of the flesh of another, to advance ones own cause.

This is the broad definition of harlotry.

Harlotry is that which uses the natural baseness of man to gain advantage.

It is taking advantage of the natural self esteem of a person to gain personal advantage.

But in its essence it is merely the selling of lies for advantage.

That is what a flatterer is, a seller of lies.

And one who succumbs to flattery is simply the buyer of lies.

So flattery is the process whereby lies are bought and sold.

Flattery then is the merchandising of lies!

The self esteem proponents provide plenty of opportunities to buy lies.

There are multitudes desiring to be flattered in order to keep their self esteem empowered and energized.

Self esteem requires the care and attention of constant lies or half truths if it is to continue.

It is like a balloon which leaks daily and has to be blown up or it shrivels.

And lies are that which keeps it puffed up.

No wonder so many young and gullible people are flattered out of their innocence and their property by such seduction!

Doesn't our fallen nature love the teaching that molasses catches more flies than vinegar?

That saying caters to the hypocrite, the flatterer.

Aren't we taught to put on the charm when something is personally desired?

Don't we use these natural enticements to get our way?

Don't we prostitute ourselves for advantage?

Prostitute means a base hireling; a mercenary; one who offers himself to infamous employments for hire.

There is a lot more prostituting going on than that which happens on the streets.

So boiled down flattery in its essence is simply harlotry!

But this proverbs father arms his son with wisdom to know harlotry whenever it sticks its head up.

Wisdom is God's early warning system to guard against danger and this father tells his son that flattering reveals a harlot of the heart, if not in fact.

Flattering, Son, is a work of the harlot!

This is danger son, for strange women and men are bent on corrupting you and intend, by catering to the natural weakness of your flesh, to snare you on their paths of death.

Shouldn't the wise father give this help to a son in whom the father has a vision for service and devotion to God?

Anything else would be neglect.

See how important this is Son?

Following the flattery of the harlot is a pathway to death.

This is a path of no return for it is a path of the flesh.

Avoid her, give her no hint of notice.

Yield nothing to her knowing that there is no strength in your flesh.

Listen to the admonition of Solomon who experienced the work of the harlot.

As he wrote in Ecclesiastics 7:26,  And I find more bitter than death the woman, whose heart is snares and nets, and her hands as bands: whoso pleaseth God shall escape from her; but the sinner shall be taken by her.

Who is prepared to escape this one whose heart is snares and nets?

Can any be delivered from the one whose hands are as manacles, handcuffs as we say in our day?

What is a man's defense against one who captures in snares and nets of the heart and who binds the hands of her victims?

Is there any defense against such entanglements?

Paul as he wrote in 1 Corinthians 10:13 says that God is faithful:

What way of escape does God provide along with the temptation of the harlot?

Solomon says here in our proverbs passage that "Whoso pleaseth God shall escape from her".

How do you please God, Son? You please God by trusting in his word.

You operate according to his word and you are safe from the harlots of this world.

You see how the father keeps pointing the son to the word of God as his only true defense?

You see how single minded the father is about the word of God entering into his son's heart?

You see why the father desires that knowledge become pleasant to his son's soul.

This father realizes that decisions concerning harlots are spiritual decisions and spiritual weapons are the only effective weapons that God gives.

This is the defense that a father is to desire for his children.

Proverbs 2:16-19 Continued,  To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words; Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God. For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead. None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.

Solomon has said in the book of Ecclesiastes that Whoso pleaseth God shall escape from the strange woman, from the stranger who flatters with her words.

And we know that a man pleases God by faith in God's word.

God desires those who simply believe him and those who believe him are in a place of safety from the strange woman.

You operate according to his word and you are safe from the harlots of this world.

This scriptural father is most interested in rearing a son who knows that the word of God is his only true defense.

This father realizes that decisions concerning harlots are spiritual decisions and spiritual weapons are the only effective weapons that God gives.

We must teach that wisdom to our children because it places their flesh in the proper place.

There is no hope in the flesh as we see the plight of the sinner who is taken by the strange woman.

The sinner has no such defense against the harlot as her snares and nets and her manacles trap and capture the defenseless.

The sinner has only his flesh as a defense against the harlot and how can flesh be defense against flesh?

Can flesh cast out flesh?

Is the flesh in which dwelleth no good thing to be depended on to cast out that which satisfies it.

Is there something good in the flesh that can cast out flesh?

Jesus asked, Can Satan cast out Satan.

If he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand?

In the same manner flesh cannot overcome the flesh.

Only by the Spirit of God can the flesh be subdued.

This father instructs his son that:  whoso pleaseth God shall escape from her; but the sinner shall be taken by her.

But what is the purpose of escape from her heart and from her hands?

What is the purpose of being delivered from the evil man, from the man that speaks froward things?

Son, discretion shall preserve you, understanding shall keep you.

But what are you to be kept for? Are you just to be kept?

Are you to be kept to glory in your safety?

Are you to be kept for self and for self's profit?

The father answers this as he continues his instruction in:  Go to Proverbs 2:20