The Stolen Waters

Robert Wurtz II

A foolish woman is clamorous; She is simple and knows nothing. For she sits at the door of her house, On a seat by the highest places of the city, To call to those who pass by, Who go straight on their way: “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here”; And as for him who lacks understanding, she says to him, “Stolen water is sweet, And bread eaten in secret is pleasant.” But he does not know that the dead are there, That her guests are in the depths of hell (Proverbs 9:13-18)

 

 

Throughout Proverbs, we have both literal and figurative “foolish women” that illustrate truth. As a literal foolish woman, she allures men into her bed with a promise: “Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.” Understand that drinking water out of one’s own (or out of another fountain) is (Proverbs 3:15-20) the symbol of sexual intercourse in married life or of intercourse between the unmarried, particularly of adulterous intercourse (Keil & Delitzsch).

 

Notice that the literal foolish woman acknowledges that what she offers the potential partners in sexual sin is “stolen.” In other words, carnal knowledge with the wife is exclusive to the husband or as the seductive woman, “the good man of the house” (Proverbs 7:18-27). In other words, she gives the love that belongs to her husband to someone else, stealing something exceedingly precious from him that can never be repaid.

 

A Symbol of Satan’s Great Lie

 

Figuratively, the foolish woman symbolizes the tempter who seduces his victims with the ancient lie, “Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.” This is the deception of the Serpent in the Garden. It suggests that sin is more fulfilling than righteous living.

 

The foolish man goes into her house, but he does not know that the dead are there, That her guests are in the depths of hell (Proverbs 9:17-18). The result isn’t fulfillment, but it’s marital death, physical death, and spiritual death.

 

Good and God-given Desires

 

Under Divine inspiration, Solomon admonished his sons to “drink water from their own cistern.” This was a metaphor for saying that there is a proper way to fulfill their good and God-given desire for sexual relations with their wife. Our lawful spouse is the proverbial “well” from which we must drink. You mustn’t allow others to drink from your well, nor can you drink from any other well. This is the simplicity of the command.

 

The temptress in Proverbs 9 contradicts God, saying, “Stolen waters are sweet.” She is tempting a man to desire what is strictly forbidden and could cost him both his spiritual and physical life.

 

This temptation implies that it is more pleasurable to have sexual relations if it is a sin than if it is within the confines of biblical marriage. This so-called sweetness is, in fact, a deadly poison. When acted on, it poisons the mind and becomes a stronghold.

 

In time, the foolish adopt this thinking pattern, which recalibrates the mind to live by the “stolen waters are sweet” mantra. This process is one way that sin corrupts the mind and hardens the heart towards God.

 

The Pleasure of Sin for a Season

 

Matthew Henry once said, “The pleasures of prohibited lusts are boasted of as more relishing than those of prescribed love.” Put another way, the enemy says, “Things gained through transgression are more sweet and pleasant than what may be rightfully obtained.” (David Guzik) The sin of adultery and other like sins often originate from this same deception.

 

The writer of Hebrews spoke of the “deceitfulness of sin” and how it hardens the heart into an evil heart of unbelief (Hebrews 3:13). The more a person entertains the “stolen waters are sweet” ideology, the more difficult they are to reach with the truth of God’s word. Each drink of that stolen water brings death, and the hardness death brings.

 

Jesus told the woman at the well who had been with no less than six men, “If you had known who it was that asked you to give him a drink, you would’ve asked, and he would’ve given you Living water.” We can’t say for sure, but she might’ve been drinking “stolen waters” all her life (so to speak), and here is Jesus offering her living waters instead. This is the sweetness her soul craved and God’s provision for it. Stolen waters are just a worthless and deadly substitute.

 

Learning Wisdom

 

The young man should have grown in wisdom over time to have detected the trap of this foolish woman, but sometimes, even older men fail, as did Solomon. When they ought to be teachers, they need one to teach them again the first principle of wisdom, which is the fear of God.

 

Foolishness and sin are partners. “There is nothing more inconsistent with wisdom than the service of those impure lusts which have been the ruin of all those who have been led by them.” (Benson)

 

Living Waters or Stolen Waters?

 

As Christians, we are called to drink the living water freely. What happens when a man or woman trades the life-giving waters for the cup of stolen waters? The heart begins to harden. Solomon says that they imbibe but cannot see that the dead are there. The intoxicating and hardening effects of stolen waters set in until they become her guests in the depths of hell (Proverbs 9:18), but still, no sweetness is found—only gall and bitterness.