At the window of my house I looked out through the lattice. I saw among the simple, I noticed among the young men, a youth who lacked judgment. He was going down the street near her corner, walking along in the direction of her house at twilight, as the day was fading, as the dark of night set in. -Proverbs 7:6-9
I like the way the writer sets the scene for us in these verses. He makes himself the proverbial bystander looking at another man’s life. The young man he sees is simple and lacking in judgment. Remember, in the ancient times when this was written there were no streetlights to light the path after dark. At night people stayed inside and kept both warm and safe. This young man was not expecting to be home by dark.
I appreciate the statement “He was…walking along in the direction of her house” because it places some responsibility on the young man for his actions. He chose to walk that road. I believe at best that he was naive. He might not have been expecting to seek out sex that night.
Maybe he was just curious, maybe he heard some other guys talking about their experiences down at the corner after dark. Scripture does not answer these questions. What I can tell you is that I have heard countless stories of men who, like this young man, suffered the consequences of taking that first curious step down the wrong path.
For example, Jerry would surf the Internet after his wife was in bed. Jerry soon met someone online in a chat room and grew very fond of her, even to the point of wanting to leave his wife and family to be with her. The woman refused to meet with Jerry until he officially left his wife.
When Jerry told his wife he wanted a divorce, his wife asked if she could go with him to meet this other woman. For whatever reason, Jerry agreed. They arrived together at the house where this woman lived. When they knocked on the door, a man greeted them. Needless to say, this deception shocked Jerry. He sought professional help and gratefully returned to his wife.
I can tell many sad stories about numerous Christian men who were traveling on business trips and visited a hotel bar without any intention of having sex. There they met a woman who was looking for a naïve and simple man. One thing led to another, and adultery was consummated. The same story is told by Christian men who have gone to a strip club or massage parlor and encountered a seductress there. Now, these seductress stories are becoming even more frequent with the social media boom. In all of these cases the men were “walking in the direction of her house.” Most of these incidences occur “after hours” and in the wrong section of town or in a place where a man of principle wouldn’t go.