Avoid wrong turns

Proverbs 2:12-22

Unfaithfulness (vv.16–18) is an example of a wrong turn. Wisdom will ‘keep you from making wrong turns or following the bad directions’ (v.12, MSG). Wisdom will stop you from veering off course. It will stop you ‘traveling paths that go nowhere, wandering in a maze of detours and dead ends’ (v.15, MSG). Evil may look attractive, but it is perverse and leads to darkness.

Marriage is a ‘covenant… made before God’ (v.17). ‘Covenant’ is an important word describing Israel’s relationship with God – the old covenant; and our relationship with him under the new covenant. A covenant is a binding agreement that should not be broken.

To be involved in an adulterous relationship is wrong for both parties. In this case, it is the woman who has ‘left the partner of her youth’ and thereby ‘ignored the covenant she made before God’ (v.17). The man who commits adultery with her has fallen into the temptation to be seduced off the right path onto a path that ultimately ‘leads down to death’ (v.18).

Wisdom will keep you steering along the right paths (v.16a). It will ‘keep your feet on the tried-and-true paths’ (v.20, MSG). It will keep you walking with those who ‘walk straight’ (v.21, MSG).