Commentary - Proverbs 5:21-23

Bird's-eye view

This brief, concluding section of Proverbs 5 serves as the ultimate ground for the preceding warnings against adultery. Solomon has just painted a vivid picture of the ruin that follows the strange woman, and now he explains the foundational reason why this ruin is inescapable. The reason is not simply that bad choices have bad consequences in a mechanistic way, but rather that all human choices are made on a lighted stage, before the eyes of a holy God. There is no private life. Yahweh is the great observer of all human conduct, and His universe is constructed with a moral grain. Sin, therefore, is not just a mistake; it is a self-destructive trap that captures and binds the sinner. The passage climaxes by describing the final state of the fool who rejects discipline. He does not just die; he dies in a particular way, staggering off the stage in a drunken stupor of his own making, intoxicated with his own folly.

The logic is simple and severe. God sees everything. Because God sees everything, sin cannot be hidden. Because sin cannot be hidden, it will inevitably do its work. The work of sin is to bind and kill. The wicked man becomes his own jailer and his own executioner. This is not just practical advice for a good life; it is a theological statement about the nature of reality. God's omniscience is the guarantee of His justice. The cords of sin are strong, but they are not ultimate. The ultimate reality is the gaze of God, from which no man can hide, and to which every man must give an account.

Outline

Context In Proverbs

Proverbs 5 is part of a larger section (chapters 1-9) where Solomon, as a father, is instructing his son in the foundational principles of wisdom. A recurring and central theme in these early chapters is the stark contrast between two ways of life, personified by two women: Lady Wisdom and Dame Folly, who often takes the form of the adulteress or "strange woman." Chapter 5 is a focused and potent warning against sexual sin. The father urges his son to prize the covenantal faithfulness of his own wife (vv. 15-20) and to avoid the destructive path of the adulteress (vv. 1-14). The final three verses (21-23) provide the theological capstone for the entire argument. They elevate the discussion from the merely pragmatic consequences of sin (ruin, regret, loss of wealth) to the ultimate theological reality: all of this happens under the watchful eye of Yahweh. This sets the stage for all the practical wisdom that follows in the rest of the book, grounding it in the character and omniscience of God.

Key Issues

The Unblinking Gaze

We live in an age that prizes privacy, but which has none. Men carry tracking devices in their pockets and post their follies online for all to see, and yet they operate under the delusion that their secret lives are actually secret. But the ultimate issue is not what can be discovered by a government agency or a curious employer. The ultimate issue is that there is no lead-lined room, no darkened alley, no encrypted thought that is hidden from the eyes of God. This is the truth that undergirds all biblical morality.

The modern secular man believes he lives in a morally neutral universe where he is the ultimate arbiter of right and wrong. He thinks his sins are his own business. But the writer of Proverbs tells us that this is a profound delusion. The universe is personal because it was made by a Person. Every action, every "track," is laid down in the presence of the living God. This is not meant to be a terrifying truth for the righteous, but a comforting one. It means that justice is not an illusion and that righteousness will be vindicated. But for the wicked, it is the most terrifying truth of all. It means that the final audit is coming, and the books will be perfectly kept.

Verse by Verse Commentary

21 For the ways of a man are before the eyes of Yahweh, And He watches all his tracks.

This is the great premise. The "ways of a man" refers to the entire course of his life, his conduct, his habits, his direction. The word for "tracks" or "paths" refers to the specific steps he takes along that way. God sees both the macro and the micro. He sees the overall trajectory of a man's life, and He scrutinizes every individual footstep. The verb "watches" here can also mean to weigh or to level. God is not a passive observer; He is an appraiser. He weighs our actions. He is the one who ensures that the path of the wicked is ultimately a dead end and the path of the righteous is made plain. This doctrine of divine omniscience is the foundation of all true wisdom. Without it, morality is just a matter of public relations.

22 His own iniquities will capture him who is the wicked one, And with the cords of his sin he will be held fast.

Here we see the outworking of the premise. Because God sees everything, sin is allowed to do its natural work. And the nature of sin is to enslave. The wicked man thinks he is exercising his freedom, but in reality, he is forging his own chains. The image is of a hunter being caught in his own trap. The very iniquities he commits are what "capture" him. He is not just punished for his sin; he is punished by his sin. The "cords of his sin" bind him. This is a process. One sin leads to another, and the cords are twisted together, becoming thicker and stronger until the man is "held fast," completely bound and unable to escape. This is a perfect description of addiction, but it applies to all besetting sin. The sinner becomes the prisoner of his own rebellion.

23 He will die for lack of discipline, And in the abundance of his folly he will stumble in intoxication.

This is the final state of the wicked man. His death is not an accident; it is a direct result of his life choices. He dies "for lack of discipline," or instruction. He refused to be taught. He rejected the wisdom of his father, the wisdom of God's law, and so he dies an uninstructed fool. The final phrase is striking. He stumbles or goes astray "in the abundance of his folly." The picture is of a man drunk. He is not just foolish; he has a great quantity of folly. He is intoxicated by it. He staggers through life, blind to reality, and eventually stumbles into the grave. This is not a noble tragedy. It is a sordid, pathetic, and self-inflicted end. He is drunk on himself, and his final hangover is death.

Application

The message of these verses is a severe mercy. The warning is stark, but it is given so that we might flee the trap. For the unbeliever, the application is straightforward: recognize that your life is not your own. You are living on God's property, breathing His air, and your every move is seen by Him. Your sin is not a secret, and it is binding you. It is a rope that will eventually hang you. The only escape is to cry out to the one who can break the cords, the Lord Jesus Christ. Repent of your folly and believe the gospel.

For the believer, this passage is a call to walk in the light. We are not saved by our own discipline, but we are saved unto discipline. We who have been freed from the ultimate penalty of sin must take care not to be entangled again in its cords. How do we do this? By remembering that our ways are before the eyes of our Father. This is not the gaze of a celestial policeman looking for a reason to write a ticket. It is the watchful eye of a loving Father who wants to protect us from the very folly that destroys the wicked. We should take our sins, especially our secret sins, seriously precisely because God does. We must confess them honestly, knowing that "if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9).

Ultimately, we see the gospel here in negative relief. The wicked man is captured by his own iniquities. But Jesus Christ, the truly righteous one, was captured and held fast by our iniquities. He was bound with cords so that we could be set free. He stumbled under the weight of a folly that was not His own, and He died for a lack of discipline that was ours. He drank the cup of God's wrath so that we might be sobered up from the intoxication of our sin and invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. He is the wisdom of God, and to reject Him is the greatest and most abundant folly of all.