Whose Voice Are You Storing in Your Heart? — Proverbs 7

“My son, keep my words

and store up my commandments within you.

Keep my commandments and live;

keep my teaching as the apple of your eye.”

　　　　　　　　　　— Proverbs 7:1–2

“To keep you from the adulterous woman,

from the foreign woman whose words are smooth.”

　　　　　　　　　　— Proverbs 7:5

At first glance, these words may sound strict.

Be careful of sexual temptation.

Proverbs 7 begins with the voice of a father calling,

“My son.”

A command also appears in Genesis:

“From every tree of the garden you may surely eat.”

Only afterward does God speak of the tree from which they must not eat.

The first command is:

Receive.

That, too, is a command.

When I hear the words of Proverbs 7,

“My son, keep my commandments,”

I cannot help but hear an echo of Genesis 2:

“You may surely eat from every tree of the garden.”

Proverbs 7 presents two voices.

The voice of the father.

The voice of temptation.

Rather than asking which voice presents the better argument,

the text seems to ask:

Which voice have you stored in your heart?

“My son, keep my words,

and store up my commandments within you.”

The Hebrew word is צָפַן (tsaphan)—

“to store up,”

“to treasure,”

“to hide away for safekeeping.”

The emphasis is not,

“Gain more knowledge,”

but

“Store it within you.”

These words are spoken before the moment of temptation arrives.

The young man does not make his choice only when temptation appears.

The deeper question is:

Which voice has he been listening to all along?

The father's voice is present.

The woman's voice is present.

The young man stands between them.

Before speaking about the adulterous woman,

the text first says,

“My son.”

Proverbs 7 is not merely a study of temptation.

It quietly asks a question that remains relevant today:

Whose voice are you storing in your heart?

Whose Voice Are You Listening To?