Mishlei Perek 5

Hi everybody. Welcome to NachDaily, covering the entire Tanach one perek at a time. Today we’ll be discussing Mishlei, perek 5, containing 23 pessukim. In this perek, Shlomo Hamelech primarily warns us to stay away from the Isha Zarah, Foreign Woman. He enumerates the destruction that engaging in conduct with this promiscuous and dangerous woman will bring upon you. As it says in passuk gimmel, “ki nofes titofna sifsay zarah, v’chalak m’shemen chikah - for the lips of the female stranger drip honey, and her palate is smoother than oil.” Shlomo Hamelech explains for almost the entire perek that engaging in a relationship with her will only lead to death. She will remove you from true life, preventing you from obtaining wisdom. Stay as far away from her as possible, because in the end you’ll see how destructive she really was. So who is this Isha Zarah, foreign demonic woman? There are many levels as to what this refers. The simplest is the pshat brought by the Vilna Goan, who brings the Gemarah in Sanhedrin 75a: “Mishecharav Beis Hamikdash nital ta’am biah v’nitein lovrey aveira - Since the Bais Hamikdash was destroyed, people chase illicit relationships.” In the moment they look as enticing as “dripping honey,” extremely desirable and pleasurable. In the end, however, the small level of pleasure received leads to a life of destruction. It causes difficulty in so many areas of one's life, as enumerated in this perek. It seems that nowadays the proliferation of the Isha Zarah h