Last time we discussed the simple.

All who come into this world come in as simple and it is an obligation for those who are not simple to bring into the lives of the simple those things which will make them complex. And those things principally are the principles of the Word of God.

There is no excuse for a young man or a young woman to be simple.

The only time that the Bible encourages simplicity is in the matter of evil. For Paul writes in:

Romans 16:19,  For your obedience is come abroad unto all men. I am glad therefore on your behalf: but yet I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil.

So our children are to be wise unto that which is good.

God gives 18 to 20 years for children to be given words which will take the simplicity out of them so that they will become discerning young men and women, able to make right decisions.

For the thing lacking in the simple is discernment, the ability to make right decisions, decisions based upon the principles of the Word of God.

Now it was most likely that the father had seen these young men on many occasions and that they were together roaming the streets looking for some entertainment, something to engage themselves in other than profitable employment.

The father looked, the father beheld which is a word that indicates consideration, thought and discernment on his part.

This father was a learning father as well as a teaching father and considered what he saw and that consideration led him to a teaching lesson for his son.

He was not a simple father but was able to discern simplicity in others so he was able to teach his own son about the characteristics of those who are simple.

This discernment led him to look particularly at one of the youths that was prominent amongst the group.

The father separated mentally one of the youths because of what he observed.

Perhaps it was what he said, perhaps is was because of what he wore, perhaps it was his leadership of the others.

But it was also based upon the path this boy took as he left the group to go in the direction of the strange woman.

Most likely it was all of these that led him to the conclusion about this boy that he was a young man void of understanding.

Today it seems easy to point out young men of simplicity as they walk along the road, as you see them in the eating places or the shopping places.

There are numerous examples of them for teaching purposes and fathers ought not to neglect these teaching opportunities that present themselves in normal day to day activities.

You may be accused of profiling for the sake of teaching your own, but go ahead and do it anyway.

But use good solid conclusions that are based on consideration, thought and discernment.

Children also have minds and can tell when arguments are not well founded.

You too have to be prepared.

But this young man was void of understanding.

He had never been told by his father to call understanding his kinswoman.

Apparently this had never been important in his home.

This void or lack of understanding in this particular boy was apparently very easy to notice and this void was related to his actions that are further described by the father.

What is so important about understanding that affects a young man’s actions?

Understanding simply defined means standing under.

The sense of the word understanding is to support: it means a holding.

It means to hold in the mind.

Isn’t it interesting that God placed the mind at the top of the body as if to show that all parts or the body were to be subject to the mind.

So understanding is something in the mind that is a framework upon which to attach principles of life.

Here is a computer example that perhaps applies.

A computer disk comes to you in a simple condition.

It is not usable in that condition and must be given understanding.

To do this the disk must be formatted so that it can be used on your computer.

Formatting means the compartmentalization of the disk into rings and sectors.

Each location on the disk is then addressed as to where it is on the disk, which ring and which sector.

There is now a framework in which information can be placed and recalled when needed.

The disk itself creates a file allocation table where addresses of information are kept that tell where information is stored.

So the simple disk has been made complex but by making it complex it has become useful.

In its simple state it was useless.

So likewise the simple mind is made complex by understanding.

Understanding is a complication of the mind that causes simplicity to decrease.

It brings subtlety, knowledge and discretion to the mind.

It is a full affirmation of the mind to truth.

It is the acceptance of truth as that on which to build a life.

Truth then is the framework of the mind on which all decisions of life pass though and are judged.

One of the marks of wisdom is whenever wisdom instructs she uses words of understanding.

Her words are words that promote understanding.

Wisdom's words are not designed to confuse but they are always designed to enlighten, to clarify, to separate.

Wisdom uses words that advance the knowledge of the holy because the knowledge of the holy is understanding, Solomon tells us in the proverbs.

Without the knowledge of the holy all understanding is built on shifting sands pushed by the winds of change.

And as on sand there are no absolute foundation.

Wisdom presents foundational principals upon which understanding is built.

And unless those foundational principals are received there will be no true understanding.

Understanding gives knowledge as to what are right things, what are right causes, who is speaking words of understanding or words that are not of understanding.

Understanding gives the ability to know right from wrong,

Understanding provides discernment; the ability to separate that which honors God from that which does not honor God.

The man of understanding will know the demagogue when he hears him speak on the radio, television or on the street.

He will recognize the words of a false preacher or a false leader who makes use of popular prejudices and false claims and promises to gain personal power and standing.

The man of understanding will perceive words whether they are words that contribute to his knowledge of the holy or whether they cater to his flesh.

Our proverbs father is a man of discernment.

Discernment means the ability to separate mentally.

Discernment is the ability to take things apart mentally and examine and compare each part.

Ladies do this when they shop at the grocery store and pick up numerous cans and compare the contents and the nutritional values and the price given against information that they have accumulated from other sources.

Some shoppers do not do this but take the first foods they see.

They are simple shoppers. They are not discerning shoppers.

There is an advertisement on television where we see a wife, printing computer generated pictures of what she wants her husband to pick up from the store on his way home from work.

She knows that he is a simple shopper, but she is a discerning shopper and the only way to get what she wants is to give him an exact picture of what she wants.

But don’t count on it.

He is faced with low fat, no fat, 2% fat, low salt, no salt, caffeine, no caffeine, low sodium, no sodium, extra calcium, not chemically grown but naturally grown.

So choices require discernment.

Discernment means to distinguish; to see the difference between two or more things, to judge.

Our father considered and separated the simple ones and found a particular young man upon which to focus his attention.

This young man was worthy to learn from and a right example to use to teach his own son.

For this young man was going to do what a young man will do who does not have understanding.

Son, this is where the lack of understanding will lead.

For understanding gives knowledge as to what are right things, what are right causes, who is speaking words of understanding or words that are not of understanding.

Understanding gives the ability to know right from wrong,

Understanding provides discernment; the ability to separate that which honors God from that which does not honor God.

The man of understanding will perceive words whether they are words that contribute to his knowledge of the holy or whether they cater to his flesh.

The man of understanding will have the ability to discriminate, the ability to know what contributes to understanding or what takes away from understanding.

The man of understanding will know the flattery of the lips of the strange woman immediately when it is presented and will not be influenced by those words at all.

But this youth was void of understanding.

His youth was wasted in temporal things, temporal teachings and eternal things were never given their due.

For true understanding concerns eternal things, things that concern God’s program and plan.

This framework of truth was never built in his mind therefore he is a man void of understanding.

His decisions are governed by his flesh and we are told in Romans 7:18 that in our flesh dwelleth no good thing.

So this is the fate of the boy void of understanding.

In the natural man the flesh will lead, for there is no other to lead.

There have been no words, no commandments, no law given on which to build up understanding in this boy’s mind.

Do we wonder then that his flesh is in charge?

Do we wonder at his decision making ability and at his discernment?

No, we do not wonder if we understand and believe the Word of God.

Too often Christians exhibit their unbelief in God’s word when they exhibit surprise and astonishment when the flesh shows itself in the varied and diverse sins of the natural man.

But without the ammunition of the words, the commandments, and the law of the father, which will result in conversion, there is to be no other result but the rule of the flesh, the rule of the natural man.

That is what it means to understand the scripture that tell us that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.

Without the Word of God the flesh is naturally in charge.

So he passes though the street, following his natural desires, without the hedge, without his fingers being bound, without the right words on the tablet of his heart.

That hedge, those words would have had him walking in the company of others of the same heart and walking in other places where the temptation of the strange woman would not have been so prominent.

But he was not on her street by accident, he did not leave the company of his friends without forethought for he knew where she lived, he knew her house, he knew her corner and he headed there to put his flesh in a place where it could have its way.

For his flesh was in charge.

He was simply a pawn in the hands of his flesh.

We are given a hint later in this passage that at the time he chose to walk her street there was no full decision to yield to his flesh but there seems to be on his part a desire to be close to sin without engaging fully in it for we read in verse 21:

So we see the typical road that sin uses.

In the mind there may only be a desire to play with sin but without intention of engaging in sin.

There may be a desire of getting close to sin but without sinning.

But sin has a way of getting its way with a man who has a sinful heart.

It is like saying to your wife, Let’s go look at cars, but I have no intention of buying a car."

Have you ever said that?

In saying that you think the flesh is strong when the flesh is always weak.

It is never strong.

There must be something given of God to overcome the flesh.

You do not consider the fair speech of the salesman nor do you consider the flattering of his lips that forces you to yield from your declaration of having intention of buying a vehicle.

The salesman will point out those characteristics of the vehicle that suit just you.

He will point out your name written all over this vehicle.

If you are a 4 wheel drive kind of a fellow he has just what you need.

If you are getting a family car he will play to your wife and say: "You will look especially good in this car."

But that is what happens to the simple who have no intention of sinning not that buying a car is necessarily sinning!

But in the man void of understanding there is no framework in which to measure the fair speech, no framework in which to judge the flattering lips.

There is no understanding that will keep the simple from gathering with others of like simplicity and of choosing to walk the street upon which the strange woman dwells.

The boy who is void of understanding is among the simple.

His simplicity opens him up to all impressions of evil.

Evil loves the simple for the head of the simple is empty.

The young man does not intend to deliberately sin but he places himself in the way of sin when in contrast, those who have been prepared by their fathers will be in the company of like minds or be at home doing something profitable.

There has been no preparation for this day.

No words given, no commandments spoken, no law impressed in which to arm this boy.

This boy walks without the hedge, without the binding upon the fingers, without an engraved heart.

There has been no "keeping from" in order to prepare for a "going to."

The lesson of separation has not been taught and has not been learned.

And we wonder why young men and young women do the things that they do!

So by knowing this boy, that he is void of understanding, that he abides among the simple, it is easy to predict his next step as he passes

There is such a thing as a home court advantage.

The simple do not believe this as we see demonstrated here for he now enters the territory, he enters the home court of the strange woman.

He has not called wisdom his sister, nor understanding his kinswoman.

These women he has spurned so that he may pass close to another woman here described as a strange woman.

He goes in the twilight, light enough to see, but dark enough to conceal his actions and knowing that full darkness will soon come to conceal his sin.

She is where he expects her to be.

For she has her own corner.

Is she a harlot?

She dresses as a harlot and her actions label her as a harlot.

But she is married for we are given later that the good man of the house is on a long journey and has taken a bag of money with him, indicating a lengthy absence.

She may not be a full fledged harlot in the exact sense of the word but she plays the harlot for she is unfaithful with her body.

But she is indeed an adulteress and her clothes advertise her intentions.

For the heart will have its way in the clothes we wear.

The heart will demand its way and eventually the clothes we wear will reflect our heart.

Genesis 38:13,  And it was told Tamar, saying, Behold thy father in law goeth up to Timnath to shear his sheep. ¹⁴And she put her widow’s garments off from her, and covered her with a veil, and wrapped herself, and sat in an open place, which is by the way to Timnath; for she saw that Shelah was grown, and she was not given unto him to wife. ¹⁵When Judah saw her, he thought her to be an harlot; because she had covered her face.

So we see in those days when you saw a woman with a veil you would assume she was a harlot.

And perhaps she had other distinctions to reveal her status.

In the beginning of this chapter we have listened to this father as he instructs his son in the importance of heeding his word.

For this father is a teaching father because he has that which is most valuable to teach.

The more valuable to you is your subject matter, the greater should be your desire to pass that along to those who do not have knowledge of it.

It is wonderful to teach that which you yourself value for it makes all the difference in the world as to how you teach it.

A person who does not like math will have difficulty teaching math with all the energy and enthusiasm that is necessary to be the best teacher he or she can be.

But this father knows the importance of what he has to give to his son and by knowing that, can stress to his son that same importance.

This father has the Word of God and we have it to.

There is no teaching more important than the Word of God and we must impart that to our children first by our living the Word of God.

If we do not live the Word of God we simply communicate to our children that it is not important to us.

But this father intends for his son to be clothed in his word and to be hedged about with his word so that when he is faced with temptations to sin in matters that are herein described, he will have the proper weapons in which to resist those temptations.

So he describes what takes place in the life of one who has not been clothed in his father’s words, who has not been hedged about with commandments and law and will like a sheep led to the slaughter simply go where his deceitful and wicked heart desires to go.

And that way is always the way of the flesh for the flesh is weak indeed.

So this father relates to his son the following experience.

Proverbs 7:6-12,  For at the window of my house I looked through my casement, ⁷And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding, ⁸Passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house, ⁹In the twilight, in the evening , in the black and dark night: ¹⁰And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtle of heart. ¹¹(She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house: ¹²Now is she without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner.)

We are told that this woman is subtle of heart.

This means that she is cunning, she is wise in worldly ways, she has a way about her to get her own way.

She is determined and has an agenda, she has an aim to her life.

But this young man, void of understanding, is aimless. That is always a result of the lack of understanding.

Aimlessness! What am I here for, what is my purpose?

This young man is no match for this woman of evil purposes for he is devoid of preparation for the cunning of her subtle heart.

She is loud and stubborn we are told.

There is no restraint on her mouth for there is no guard on the door of her lips.

She is defiant and rebellious.

She is unreasonably obstinate, she is inflexibly fixed in her opinions, she is not to be moved or persuaded by reasons.

That is what it means to be stubborn.

The stubborn one always says, don’t upset my ways with the truth.

She finds no pleasure in making her home a place of comfort and joy for her husband and her family, for her feet abide not in her house.

She finds her place outside of the home in the streets, and places of commerce.

She is not an example of what a godly woman is to be as described in Titus 2:5 where we are told that a godly woman is:

The devil is busy in our age to promote discontent of the woman in the home.

It is all around us, that there is to be no contentment to be found in the home.

Our culture tells the woman to look outside the home where the real action is.

Most anyone that does find contentment in the home will face ridicule one way or another.

The devil wants Mother out of the home, in places of commerce, in public places, in the streets.

The devil is interested in confusion in the role of a man and a woman for he is the author of confusion.

It is interesting to see the connection of the harlot like attire of today and women’s flight from being keepers of the home to careers in places of commerce, places where her talents and abilities can be rewarded by other than her family and home activities.

Places where she can be attractive and noticed by other than her husband.

The attire of many women today in places of commerce and public places is easily compared to a harlot’s attire which is used to advertise her services.

So this connection of harlot like attire with discontent with the keeping of the home is as old as Solomon.

She left her home and in leaving she wore the attire of an harlot.

Proverbs 7:13-14,  So she caught him, and kissed him, and with an impudent face said unto him, ¹⁴I have peace offerings with me; this day have I paid my vows.

So she caught him.

This word caught is the same word that you would use to describe when catching a big fish.

Now you do not catch a big fish without the proper bait nor did she catch this fish without the proper bait.

For she was dressed in the attire of an harlot, she had the proper hook to catch the simple, she was subtle of heart and she knew what she was after just as a good fisherman knows what he is after.