1 My son, keep my words and treasure up my commandments with you; 2 keep my commandments and live; keep my teaching as the apple of your eye; 3 bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart. 4 Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” and call insight your intimate friend, 5 to keep you from the forbidden woman, from the adulteress with her smooth words. 6 For at the window of my house I have looked out through my lattice, 7 and I have seen among the simple, I have perceived among the youths, a young man lacking sense, 8 passing along the street near her corner, taking the road to her house 9 in the twilight, in the evening, at the time of night and darkness. 10 And behold, the woman meets him, dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart. 11 She is loud and wayward; her feet do not stay at home; 12 now in the street, now in the market, and at every corner she lies in wait. 13 She seizes him and kisses him, and with bold face she says to him, 14 “I had to offer sacrifices, and today I have paid my vows; 15 so now I have come out to meet you, to seek you eagerly, and I have found you. 16 I have spread my couch with coverings, colored linens from Egyptian linen; 17 I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. 18 Come, let us take our fill of love till morning; let us delight ourselves with love. 19 For my husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey; 20 he took a bag of money with him; at full moon he will come home.” 21 With much seductive speech she persuades him; with her smooth talk she compels him. 22 All at once he follows her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a stag is caught fast 23 till an arrow pierces its liver; as a bird rushes into a snare; he does not know that it will cost him his life. 24 And now, O sons, listen to me, and be attentive to the words of my mouth. 25 Let not your heart turn aside to her ways; do not stray into her paths, 26 for many a victim has she laid low, and all her slain are a mighty throng. 27 Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death.
In the original language of Proverbs 7, the word treasure from verse 1 is tsaphan, meaning to hide. It is the same Hebrew word that was used to describe what Moses’ mother did for three months to protect her newborn son from Pharaoh’s deadly plan to reduce the Israelite population (Exodus 2:23). It’s also the same word used to describe Rahab’s undercover operation to protect the spies who entered Jericho (Joshua 2:4). To tsaphan is to have one’s heartstrings so attached to something or someone that forgetting it not an option. In fact, this something or someone becomes the bull’s eye target of all your thoughts and actions both day and night.
Pause: My son, keep my words and treasure up my commandments with you; keep my commandments and live; keep my teaching as the apple of your eye; bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart (vs. 1-3).
Ponder: What am I treasuring in my heart? What do I think of hour by hour? In the case of Moses’ mother, she couldn’t take her mind off safely hiding her son. Her every waking hour was focused on her baby’s sustenance and security. Do I treat God’s Word as a a precious gift to tsaphan within me? What physical reminders can I put up today to keep my eyes fixed on God’s words?
Pray: Lord, thank you for the picture of Moses’ mama hiding her son. May I handle your words and wise ways as treasures. I don’t want to forget them. Give me direction how to make your instruction visible in my life and in my home.
— Jaime Sherman