Proverbs 5:11

And thou mourn at the last,.... Or roar as a lion, as the word (s) signifies; see Proverbs 19:12; expressing great distress of mind, horror of conscience, and vehement lamentations; and yet not

And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed, And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed.

Thou mourn at the last; bitterly bewail thy own madness and misery when it is too late. Thy flesh and thy body; thy flesh, even thy body; the particle and being put expositively. Consumed by those manifold diseases which filthy and inordinate lusts bring upon the body, of which physicians give a very large and sad catalogue, and the bodies of many adulterers give full proof.

Proverbs 5:11 And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,Ver. 11. And thou mourn at the last.] Heb., And thou roar; as being upon the rack of an evil conscience, and in the suburbs of hell, as it were: while "the just Lord" makes thee, even here, possess the sins of thy youth, and writes bitter things against thee. The word signifies, To roar as a lion, or as the sea, or as the devil doth. For the devils believe and tremble, or roar. Grecians ascribe the original, φρισσουσι, to the roaring of the sea. When thy flesh and thy body.] By the word here rendered body, there are those who understand the radical humour, the natural moisture that maintains life, and is much impaired by this sensual sin. Avicenna doubted not to say, that the emission of a little seed more than the body could well bear, was a great deal more hurtful than the loss of forty times so much blood. Gouts, palsies, epilepsies, &c., oft follow upon this sin: but the French disease is the natural fruit of it, such as will stick by men when their best friends forsake them. "Jezebel is cast into a bed, and they that commit adultery with her, into great tribulation." The Popish libidinous clergy are smitten with ulcers. Their pope, Paul the Fourth, died ex nimio veneris usu, saith the historian, by wasting his strength in filthy pleasure, as the flame consumeth the candle. φριξ est maris agitatio. Hom. Iliad. H. vide Eustath. Venus ab antiquis λυσιμελης dicta. Of persons, their lives, actions, desires: Given to, full of, or characterized by lust or lewdness; lustful, lecherous, lewd. Runius De Vit. Pontif.

(11) When thy flesh and thy body are consumed.—Ruin of health has followed ruin of property.

Verse 11. When thy flesh and thy body are consumed] The word שאר shear, which we render body, signifies properly the remains, residue, or remnant of a thing: and is applied here to denote the breathing carcass, putrid with the concomitant disease of debauchery: a public reproach which the justice of God entails on this species of iniquity. The mourning here spoken of is of the most excessive kind: the word נהם naham is often applied to the growling of a lion, and the hoarse incessant murmuring of the sea. In the line of my duty, I have been often called to attend the death-bed of such persons, where groans and shrieks were incessant through the jaculating pains in their bones and flesh. Whoever has witnessed a closing scene like this will at once perceive with what force and propriety the wise man speaks. And How have I hated instruction, and despised the voice of my teachers! is the unavailing cry in that terrific time. Reader, whosoever thou art, lay these things to heart. Do not enter into their sin: once entered, thy return is nearly hopeless.

11–14. The pangs of remorse and the upbraidings of conscience form the terrible climax to the loss of honour and health and substance. “ ‘Going down to the chambers of death,’ wise too late, the victim of his own sins remembers with unspeakable agony the voice of his teachers, the efforts of those who wished to instruct him.”—Horton.

Yet one more curse is attendant on impurity. Then, as now, disease was the penalty of this sin.

11. Thy flesh and thy body — The original words seem to imply a wasted body — the remnant or remains of thee — what is left after a life of licentious habits, putrid with the diseases which follow debauchery.