I turned my heart to know and to search out and to seek wisdom and the scheme of things, and to know the wickedness of folly and the foolishness that is madness. And I find something more bitter than death: the woman whose heart is snares and nets, and whose hands are fetters. He who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is taken by her. Behold, this is what I found, says the Preacher, while adding one thing to another to find the scheme of things— which my soul has sought repeatedly, but I have not found. One man among a thousand I found, but a woman among all these I have not found. See, this alone I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes.
Comment: I can’t imagine this being read by a ‘feminist’ and not having a line drawn through it. Context is all important, and in this passage I think that we have to almost ‘imagine’ the context – for in a sense this gem of thinking is just dropped here, it seems ‘out of the blue’ – though there is obviously a connection with wisdom and foolishness as talked about before.
Solomon pictures a person determined to seek wisdom. But in his manhood he wants sex, and turns to a professional ‘harlot’. His heart is ensnared; when he plans to stop, she ‘fetters’ him emotionally, maybe with threats to expose him, and he likes what he is getting at any rate! It is a rare man who can break free but the harlot almost certainly will find another guy to ‘fetter’. God gives us all a good start but we all can scheme to our own hurt!
Prayer: Your Word is so relevant to daily life Father. Help me to hear and obey Your thinking.
As I read it! 