Proverbs 7:15

Pro 7:15 Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee.

Ver. 15. Therefore came I forth.] As having much good cheer at home, as at all peace offerings they had. Gluttony is the gallery that lustfulness walks through. {a}

Diligently to seek thy face.] Or, Thy person, not thy purse; thee, not thine do I seek. Quis credit? who belives that?

And I have found thee.] By a providence, no doubt; God must have a hand in it, or else it is marvel. "God hath given me my hire," said Leah; "because I have given my maid to my husband." {Gen 30:18} See 1Sa 23:7 Zec 11:5.

{a} Sine cerere et libero friget Venus.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Pro 7:15-20. Therefore came I forth to meet thee — As not being able to take any pleasure in my feast without thy company; and I have found thee — By a happy providence of God complying with my desires, to my great joy, I have found thee speedily and most opportunely. Thus this wicked woman pretended that she came forth on purpose to meet this youth, from a peculiar affection, as if she had had a prior acquaintance and intimacy with him. I have decked my bed, &c. — She desires to inflame his lusts by the mention of the bed, and by its ornaments and perfumes. The good man is not at home — Whom she does not call her husband, lest the mention of that name should awaken his conscience or discretion. He hath taken a bag of money with him — Which is an evidence he designs to go far, and to stay a considerable time; and will come home at the day appointed — Or, at the day of full moon, as Dr. Waterland translates יום הכסא, Houbigant renders the clause, Nor will he return to his house before the full moon. The woman plainly gives this as a reason for removing all apprehensions and fears of detection from the simple youth she is soliciting to destruction.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry,.... Made use of by the ancients (o) for bed clothes: beautiful ornaments, as Gersom; and precious garments, as Jarchi. She had adorned her bed with curtains and clothes, very delightful to the eye, and inviting; and had well corded it, as some interpret it, with cords of fine linen, and all to allure her lovers; she soon discovered her lustful inclinations, what her heart was upon, and says this, and more, to fire the young man's lust, and cause him to follow her: so the church of Rome adorns her places of worship in the most pompous manner; which are the beds in which she commits adultery, Rev 2:22; and also her images to strike the minds of people, and draw them into her idolatrous worship;

with carved works; perhaps the bed's head, tester, and posts, were all carved, and cut out of cedar wood and others, as Gersom observes; though some think: this refers to the variety of work in tapestry, which look like incisions and carvings, or the network, and agnet holes made therein: this may be very well applied to the carved work, and carved images, set up in the Romish churches;

with fine linen of Egypt; the sheets, pillows, and bolsters, made thereof, and so soft to lie upon; which was reckoned the best and finest, though not the strongest. Pliny says (p), of the linen of Egypt, that it had less strength and firmness in it (it being so fine); but bore the best price, and was the most gainful and profitable. The word used is not what is elsewhere met with, even when the linen of Egypt is mentioned, and indeed is nowhere else used: the Targum renders it, an Egyptian covering; and so most of the Oriental versions interpret it of bed coverings of tapestry painted, brought out of Egypt. The word is used in the Chaldee language for cords; and may here signify threads of linen twisted together, or linen cords, with which the harlot's bed was corded, and looked beautiful. Pliny (q) says, there were four sorts of linen in Egypt; Tanitic, Pelusiac, Butic, and Tenterytic; so called from the names and provinces where they were cultivated; and perhaps the Etun of Egypt may be the Tanitic: the fine linen, called "byssus", was brought out of India into Egypt; and is said to grow upon a tree as high as the poplar, and its leaves like a willow (r). Egypt is very properly made mention of in this account; it being one of the names of the city of Rome, of the great city, which is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt, and equal to both for lust and luxury, Rev 11:8.

(o) Vid. Homer. Odyss. 4. c. 299. & Odyss. 7. prope finem. (p) Nat. Hist. l. 19. c. 1. (q) Ibid. (r) Philostrat. Vit. Apollen. l. 2. c. 9.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Diligently to seek thy face; as not being able to take any pleasure in my feast without thy company.

I have found thee, by a happy providence of God complying with my desires.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

15. Came I… to meet thee — She either knew who he was, or pretended to do so. She counted herself happy in finding the very man she was seeking!

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Therefore came I forth to meet thee. As though she would invite the youth to a pious rite, she speaks; she uses religion as a pretext for her proceedings, trying to blind his conscience and to gratify his vanity. Diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee. (see on Pro_1:28) She tries to persuade her dupe that he is the very lover for whom she was looking, whereas she was ready to take the first that offered. Spiritual writers see in this adulteress a type of the mystery of iniquity, or false doctrine, or the harlot described in Revelation. (Rev_2:20 etc.; Rev_17:1, etc.; Rev_18:9, etc.)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

and I have found you In order that I find you.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.