Proverbs 7:26

The book of Proverbs gives us insights into so many different areas of life. The book gives us instruction on how to live our lives for God. Here is a proverb that gives us insight about fleeing sin:

Proverbs 7:26 (NASBStr)

For many are the victims she has cast down,

And numerous are all her slain.

Proverbs 7:26 (KJV)

For she hath cast down many wounded:

yea, many strong men have been slain by her.

Proverbs 7:26 (ESV)

for many a victim has she laid low,

and all her slain are a mighty throng.

The KJV might be the preferred version here only because it uses the phrase "many strong men" have been slain, instead of simply "numerous" are all her slain (the problem comes from the Hebrew word having almost a double meaning: "mighty" as in more than a few and "mighty" as in strong.)   Perhaps the duel meaning is intended.  Perhaps what Solomon is saying is, "many, mighty men" have been slain by the adulterous woman (again, Solomon is using a double meaning ... the adulterous woman is a real person and a personification of "folly").   Solomon wants us to know that despite our personal thought of our own strength, many mighty men have fallen when faced with the temptation of adultery (i.e. folly).  Folly gets the best of everyone.   Solomon, of course knew first hand the story of his father, King David, a mighty man, who succumbed to his mother, Bathsheba.   God allows us to see the sin of David to remind us that even a man with a heart for God can fall into corruption at the beck and call of folly.   The story we read in chapter seven is full of a graphic description of how folly, in the form of an adulterous woman, can entrap us and ensnare us.   But, here it is not the skill of her enticement that is mentioned, but the cost.   Note what Paul tells us:

1 Corinthians 10:12

Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.

The enticements of folly, in any form, are difficult to fight in our fleshly strength.    That is why Paul prayed for the Colossians that they would have strength to persevere (see Colossians 1:11-14).  We can not fight folly in our flesh.  Even mighty men are seduced by her.   We must rely on Christ to give us strength to fight off sin.  In Romans 7 Paul tells us that he, too, would fall into sin and succumb to its temptations.   After he admits this failing, he tell us who will deliver us from temptation.   Even Paul recognized his limits and needed Christ:

Romans 7:24-25

Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.

Only Christ can deliver us from sin and the power of her seductive ways.  Remember, folly has cast down many strong men.