“With much seductive speech adultery persuades him; with her smooth talk she compels him” (v 21)

“I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.  If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away.” (Matthew 5.28)

The one drawn to adultery is like an ox going to the slaughter (v 22).

An ox is a beast of burden.  It is a servant; it belongs to its master.  And so we, who are servants of the Most High, when we are drawn to adultery – even in the heart – abandon our master and allow ourselves to be led away by the enemy.  We are no longer fit or capable of being his servants.

The one drawn to adultery is like a stag bounding toward the trap until an arrow pierces it (v 23).

We are like the great wild deer in its forest home.  We have been made to live quietly and peaceably, drinking from the streams of God’s delight.  But in hearing the call of lust we forget our home and bound toward it, believing we can partake of it without coming to harm.  But suddenly we are shot with the arrow, our innocence lost and the freedom of our forest home gone. 

The one drawn to adultery is like a bird rushing in to a snare, not knowing that it will cost him his life (v 23).

Finally, then, the Word tells us of our sublime vocation: to soar aloft, far above the earth and its passing allurements.  But in stooping down to impurity our wings are clipped, as it were, and we are as good as dead, our spirit fallen.

Repent, then, and seek purity above everything, that God may reveal you to yourself, and you awaken to the awareness of your profound dignity, vocation, and happiness.