TRUNEWS with Rick Wiles - Morning Manna - July 24, 2025 - Proverbs 7:13-17 - The Layers of Temptation

Episode Date: July 24, 2025

In today’s Morning Manna, we examine Proverbs 7:13–17, where Solomon peels back the seductive tactics of temptation. From physical contact and visual seduction to emotional manipulation and religious deception, the Scripture paints a vivid picture of how temptation operates with precision and power. This isn’t just about one young man and one immoral woman—it’s a timeless warning about how sin targets our senses, flatters our ego, and sets a trap for the soul. Join us as we uncover the multi-layered strategy of temptation and learn how to guard our hearts against its deceitful pull.Join the leading community for Conservative Christians! https://www.FaithandValues.comYou can partner with us by visiting https://www.FaithandValues.com/donate, calling 1-800-576-2116, or by mail at PO Box 399 Vero Beach, FL 32961.Get high-quality emergency preparedness food today from American Reserves!https://www.AmericanReserves.comIt’s the Final Day! The day Jesus Christ bursts into our dimension of time, space, and matter. Now available in eBook and audio formats! Order Final Day from Amazon today!https://www.amazon.com/Final-Day-Characteristics-Second-Coming/dp/0578260816/Apple users, you can download the audio version on Apple Books! https://books.apple.com/us/audiobook/final-day-10-characteristics-of-the-second-coming/id1687129858Purchase the 4-part DVD set or start streaming Sacrificing Liberty today. https://www.sacrificingliberty.com/watchThe Fauci Elf is a hilarious gift guaranteed to make your friends laugh! Order yours today! https://tru.news/faucielf

Good morning everybody. Welcome to Morning Man. His Thursday and I'm here alone. Doc Burkhardt is at home recovering from eye surgery yesterday. All's well. I think he's in the class today but not participating. And my understanding is he'll be back here tomorrow, maybe with a patch on his eye, I don't know, but hopefully everything went well and he can get back to work very soon. So we are in the seventh chapter of the book of Proverbs, and yesterday we made it to verse 12, so we're going to pick it up at verse 13 today and probably go to verse 17. If we have time, we'll continue on, but I have a feeling that's about as many verses as we'll be able to get in in today's class.

I want to pray, then I'll read the Word, and we'll begin our study. Almighty God, our wonderful Heavenly Father, Father, we thank you for this beautiful day. We thank you for life, abundant life, eternal life, all made possible by your Son Jesus Christ. Thank you, Father, for sending your Son to reconcile us with you and to reverse the curse that was placed upon mankind at the Garden of Eden. And we are blessed, Father. Father, your sons and daughters are here from all over the world to study your Word, and so we invite the Holy Spirit to come and take His place at the head of the table and direct this class. Enlighten us, illuminate our hearts, show us the wisdom that is in your Word. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. All right, well, let's look at

of Jesus Christ. Amen. All right, well let's look at Proverbs chapter 7, verses 13 through 17. So she called him and kissed him with an impotent face. She said to him, Sacrifices of peace offerings are with me. Today I have paid my vows. Therefore I came out to meet you, to diligently seek your face, and I have found you. I have spread my couch with carp myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon." Very vivid word picture in these verses. So let's dig in and see the deeper meaning. Again, if this is your first time, my style of teaching is I break each verse into parts and try to extract as much meaning from each part. And then we also look at the…beyond the surface level.

What's the hidden…what's the deeper meaning of these verses? On the surface, this is talking about a sexually promiscuous woman who is tempting a young man. That's on the surface, but there's something much deeper in these verses. So yesterday, as we read, As we read, it said the young man had passed through the street near her corner. He went the way to her house in the twilight, in the evening of the day, in the middle of the night and in the darkness. And behold, there was a woman met him with the attire of a prostitute, and with crafty intent she is loud and stubborn. Her feet don't stay in her house.

Now she is in the streets, now in the squares, and lurking at every corner. streets, now in the squares, and lurking at every corner. Now here, this is where we're at today. So she caught him and kissed him with an impudent face she said to him. So verse 13 details this immoral woman's immediate, details this immoral woman's immediate, aggressive, physical initiation of contact. What was the purpose of it? To disarm the young man. She made the first move.

It was to disarm him. And she was creating a false sense of intimacy. She had a strategy, she had a plan, she's done this many times, she knows what she's doing. For this young man, this is probably his first time, first time with somebody like this, a woman of this character. And so he's not quite sure what to expect. So she takes the initiative. She runs up to the man, this young man, and she immediately kissed him this feeling in him, wow, this woman is lovable, she's really affectionate. The word so, so she called him. That indicates a direct consequence of her lying in wait at every corner, what we studied yesterday.

This is now the successful execution of her predatory strategy. She was waiting. She was lying in wait at every corner. He's been, she was waiting. She was lying and waited every corner. He's finally there. She makes her move. She's executed her first action. She called him. That implies a sudden, decisive, forceful, physical initiation of contact. She took the young man by surprise. She asserted her dominance over him. She caught him. She's in control.

Who's in control? Temptation. The woman is temptation. Again, forget that…well, I don't say forget, but to go beyond the surface level, this is more than talking about a prostitute. This is talking about temptation. Temptation caught him. Caught who? The young man who was lured to her corner, not by her, but by his own desires to find somebody like her. But she was lying in wait, knowing it's dark.

As sure as anything, there's going to be another young man come down that street tonight because every night there's another one. And so it's this young man's turn. She knows what to do. She catches him. She takes him by surprise. He stands back, wow. This woman makes moves. She's, she's caught me by surprise. I, I, I, I'm overtaken by this woman. Okay. She asserts her dominance over him. She's got an aggressive proactive nature. She doesn't wait for him to make the contact on her. She takes the initiative.

She ran to him. She grabbed him. Okay, she ensnared him. Like he's here. He's on my corner. He's now in my trap. It's like the Venus fly trap is now closing. The insect has gone inside the Venus fly trap and the petals are closing. She's got him. The moment he stepped on her corner, it was her corner. The moment his feet stepped on her

corner, he was in her trap. darkness, now there's direct physical contact. So for the young man, the physical initiation left him little room to escape or resist. He's got a woman with her arms around him kissing him. He wasn't prepared for this. I mean, he was mine. He was hoping it was going to go there, but he wasn't expecting it to go so fast. That's the point I want you to see. He wasn't expecting it to go so fast, and he wasn't expecting her to be the one who initiated the contact. So he's caught off guard. She's now dominating him.

She kissed him. It was an intimate act, but it was a false intimacy. She didn't care about him. She wanted him to believe that she cared. And she did this deliberately, she did it immediately. As I said earlier, to disarm his defenses, to break down his boundaries, to create a deceptive sense that she's familiar with him. So the physical contact was her strategy and was calculated to do what? As I said, to disarm him, she has invaded his space. She is now stirring his passions. She's blurring his moral judgment.

And she's bypassing any rational thought or moral resistance that could still be in this young man's mind. So the kiss is the introduction. There's more to come. There's a lot more than this kiss. She's drawing him deeper into the trap, and she's sending signals to him, I'm available for whatever. So we're we're being warned here as disciples that here's here's the message folks.

What is it? What's the message? What's the lesson that we need to take out of this verse? Temptation can be aggressive. It can be assertive. It will seek to take dominance and control over your mind and your body. This is temptation. The woman is temptation. That's the message. It doesn't matter what That's the message. It doesn't matter what is the type of temptation. Of course here it's sexual, but again it can apply to any type of temptation. The message here is when you get to temptation's corner, when you put your feet on the corner that's owned by temptation.

You are you have now put yourself in the position for temptation to become aggressive, far more aggressive than you ever imagined to assert itself to dominate you. This young man, he was gone at this point. It was over for him. The moment she put her arms around him and kissed him, it was over, finished. And then the second part says, and with an impotent face. This focuses on this woman's bold, shameless, defiant demeanor. It means she had an unashamed face. Her face was brazen.

She had a brazen countenance, gaze. She know, she was bold, she was shameless, she was openly defiant of God's moral order. And where does this brazenness come from? It comes from a hardened conscience, a seared heart. She was impervious to shame. She didn't care about public opinion. Remember, this is out in the street corner. So a complete lack of shame is a very dangerous indicator that you're dealing with someone with profound moral corruption. Her look, her unashamed look, again, it was designed to overpower him, to intimidate him, to disarm. If any remaining resistance that he had, she revealed her aggressive dominant nature. She was in control, and he was now the passive one. That face, that unashamed face, is also a confirmation of a cunning heart. That was

in verse 10. And her stubborn nature, that was verse 11. It's an outward expression of her inner rebellion. Complete lack of modesty, again, rejection of social boundaries, obviously contempt for moral boundaries. And it shows that her demeanor, her demeanor was fearless, unashamed, and that reflected her complete immersion in a life of sin. She no longer had any boundaries. And that's where she's taking this young man into her world, a world with no moral boundaries. And then the third part of this verse says, "'And she said unto him.'"

So what are we seeing here? Verse 13, So she called him, she kissed him with a brazen face, she said unto him, said unto him. Now there's a transition from physical action and a visual demeanor with her face. There's now powerful verbal seduction. She is setting the stage for her deceptive speech. And then the next one is the second one, the third one, the fourth one, the fifth one, the sixth one, the seventh one, the eighth one, the eighth one, the eighth one, the eighth one, the

eighth one, the eighth one, the eighth one, the eighth one, the eighth one, the eighth one, the eighth one, the eighth one, the eighth one, the eighth one, the eighth one, the eighth one, the eighth one, the eighth one, the eighth one, the eighth one, the

eighth one, the eighth one, the eighth one, the eighth one, the eighth one, the eighth one, the eighth one, the eighth one, the eighth one, the eighth one, the eighth one, the eighth one, the eighth one, the eighth one, the eighth one, the eighth one, the eighth one, the eighth one, the eighth one, the eighth one, the eighth one, the eighth one, the seduction. It sets the stage for her deceptive words, which will become her primary tool

for the final step of ensnaring this young man and leading him into the act of sin. So there's a layered approach to temptation. It goes from subtle external cues to direct physical contact and then manipulative verbal persuasion. Three part layer to temptation. It is a multifaceted strategy. It combines aggressive physical contact, she caught him, deceptive intimacy, she kissed him, a brazen demeanor, and now deceptive speech. These are the signs you watch for in whatever

situation you find yourself in. So the lesson for us is that temptation often comprehensive, multi-sensory approach, engaging various senses, are the sense of sight, the sense of hearing, the sense of touch. She's using all the senses now to overwhelm this young man. Again, she's in control. She's dominating. The Bible doesn't describe this young man, but I mean, you could have a mental picture. Here's You could have a mental picture. Here's a strong young man, physically strong, taller than her, obviously bigger than her. He could be six foot tall, and she could be five foot four,

but she's in control. 5'4", but she's in control. Her physical height does not intimidate her. His physical height does not intimidate her. She's in control. This is what temptation does. Temptation is aggressive and it takes control of you. You think you're tall enough, you're strong enough, you're big enough, you're experienced enough, and you can handle this. And what Proverbs is telling you is,

temptation has been around for thousands of years. You've only been around for a few decades. Temptation has been around since the Garden of Eden. Temptation is experienced. Temptation knows every trick that men and women will fall for. Temptation knows all the words, all the phrases, all the looks. Temptation has got thousands of years of experience. So if you think, if you're in your 20s, your 30s, your 40s, So if you think, if you're in your 20s, your 30s, your 40s, whatever age, if you think you're smarter than temptation, you're foolish because temptation is experienced. And so now we go beyond physical desire. She's now manipulating this young man with his emotions, his intellect. She's now speaking. See, she did the physical touch that disarmed him. She kissed him. He definitely

disarmed now. She gave him a look. He's under her spell. What's next? The speech. Now, see the progression? So, the introduction of her words in this narrative is building the anticipation for the alluring, dangerous message that she's about to deliver to this unsuspecting young man who has walked himself into her trap. Her words are the final moment. This is where she goes in for the kill. If this young man had any

chance to bolt, get out of there, he lost it when she started speaking. I mean, he's mesmerized by her. He's standing there. She's taking control of him. And so now she uses deceptive speech to rationalize the sin she's inviting him to participate in with her. So once physical and visual boundaries are crossed, the verbal seduction is the next step. We get to verse 14. I have peace offerings with me. This day have I paid my vows. That's an interesting thing to say. I have peace offerings with me. Here's a harlot seducing a young man, and now she's talking about offerings and vows? Those are religious things. Offerings and vows. Why is she saying this to this young man? Sacrifices

of peace offerings are with me. Today I have paid my vows." Remember her speech is deceptive. It's seductive. She is attempting to put this young man at ease. His heart is racing, his palms are sweaty, every hormone in his body is firing. She brought him to that position, and now she's trying to put him at ease. And she's using…she's using talk about her offerings and her vows. What is it…what's the meaning of this? We've got to remember the context. This is Jewish Israel thousands of years ago. Peace offerings, which were fellowship offerings, were voluntary sacrifices in Israelite worship that involved the worshiper partaking of the sacrifice meat in a communal meal.

So the Jews who were participating in an act of worship to God, after they sacrifice After they sacrifice the lamb or whatever animal they sacrifice, they would then sit down at a table together and eat the sacrificed animal. It's a fellowship. A peace offering is a fellowship offering. What she's saying here is, I have performed all of my duties. I am currently in a state of ritual purity. In other words, I'm clean to touch right now. Remember? It's still true today in Judaism. Judaism is a religion of the mind. Christianity

is a religion of faith of the heart. So, in Judaism, you can think about sin, you can imagine sin, you can do all those things, you just can't do it, okay? There was also an emphasis on physical purity, on being cleansed, at being—that you've gone through all of the rituals, and, you know, the rabbi has stamped his approval on you. You are an upright Jewish woman. What she's saying to this young man is, I'm—right now, I'm clean. Okay, right now is a good time to do what you want to do because I'm clean. It's literally the message that she's driving home here. I have been I've been religiously purified by doing all of my religious duties. I'm clean. You can enjoy me right now in this state of cleanness." You got to understand how they're thinking about rituals. And so she's saying that…she's also saying, look, there's an abundance of food, there's

an abundance of wine. I just came from a dinner. There's plenty of leftovers, okay? I just participated in the fellowship offering meal So she's not only she appealing to this young man to say, okay You're not a you're not a dirty harlot. Like I thought you you're actually You go to I get it now you you go to the to the temple you go to the temple, you go to the synagogue. Oh, I thought, you know, he's thinking in his mind,

I thought she was a whore, I thought she was a harlot. Here, this woman goes to the synagogue. She's okay. So she's, this is all part of her deception. And she said, this day have I paid my vows. She's reinforcing her deceptive claim of religious ritual purity. She's creating a false sense of purity in the mind of this young man. She's saying, don't look at me as a streetwalker.

I belong to the synagogue. I go to the temple. I do all the things I'm supposed to do. And right now I am ritually clean. I've been, I just went through all the rituals. Right now is a good time, okay? Right now is a good time. This is what, this is the message she's passing on to him. In other words, I've paid my dues, I paid my vows, I paid my dues. I've been cleansed at the ritual. It's okay right now.

And she said this day, you notice she said this day have I paid my vows. In other words, nothing I haven't done anything yet to become dirty. I'm clean today. This is your time. This is your opportunity. You've got the right moment because in the eyes of the synagogue, of the rabbi, I'm clean right now. I did all my rituals. This is the moment you need to act. Again, this is all creating this false sense of Again, this is all creating this false sense of security for this young man. She's duping him with her words. Then we get down to verse 15. I forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee."

Modern English says, therefore I came out to meet you, to diligently seek your face, and I have found you. She's such a liar. She's lying to this young man. She's falsely claiming that she specifically sought this young man above any other young man in the city. It's you. It's you I've been looking for. It's you I've been dreaming about. It's you I've been looking for. It's you I've been dreaming about.

It's you I've been waiting for. You. What's she doing? She's flattering his ego. What's he thinking? I've never met you before. What's she implying? I've been watching you.

I've seen you on the street. I've seen you in the shops. I've been watching you. I've seen you on the street. I've seen you in the shops I I've been wanting you. I've been desiring you You're the one i'm after forget about all these other men you it's you see she's she's appealing to his ego She's making him believe he is the most desirable young man in the city. This is how temptation deceives people. Temptation lies. Temptation deceives. So she's pretending. This is part of her strategy.

She's deliberately crafting a false narrative to make this young man believe that he alone is the only person, the only male in the city that she desires and she's been looking for and waiting for and she's so happy he's there. Where is he at? On her corner. That's why she ran up and grabbed him and kissed him. See it's all part of this. If he was a minute or two earlier was thinking whoa I've never seen this woman before. I've never talked to her. And she's grabbed me, she's kissing me. Now his mind is saying, oh, that's why she ran up and grabbed me.

This is why she ran up and kissed me. She's been looking at me. She's been desiring me. She's been wanting me. I didn't know that. I didn't know that she was a secret admirer. This is all part of her lies. This is how temptation deceives the victim.

Remember, temptation is a predator. Temptation is looking for someone to take down. Temptation has no morality. Temptation has no conscience. Temptation will say and do whatever it must say and do in order to take you down. Temptation doesn't want you. Temptation wants your soul. Just remember that. Doesn't matter how beautiful you are as a woman. Doesn't matter how handsome you are as a woman. It doesn't matter how handsome you are as a man. Temptation really doesn't care. Temptation is after your soul. Temptation desires to defile your soul, to suck the life out of your soul, to leave you lying there depleted,

leave you lying there depleted, unable to cope with what temptation just did to you. That's the purpose, to destroy your self-image. So we see her aggressive, predatory nature, but yet when I say that, she runs up and kisses him. There's her aggressive, predatory nature. But now she puts her mask on. She starts, when she looks at him and when she speaks to him, she has her mask on. If she removed her mask, she would be hideous looking because sin is hideous looking. Nobody would have an intimate relationship with sin if they saw what it really looks like.

It's ugly. So they wear a mask. The demon is hideous, so the human is wearing a mask to disguise, to cover up who is really talking. Because who was really talking to this young man was not the prostitute but the demon of prostitution that was in her. That's who's talking to her. The demon is talking through her to get to that young man's soul. The demon is hunting for his soul. The demon doesn't care about his physical body. The demon cares about his soul. The demon cares about his soul. I want to say cares, not care in the sense of concern for it. The demon is desiring to find that young man's soul and defile it, make it filthy dirty,

to damage it. That he would go for years with the guilt and shame of participating in this act with this woman. So she goes from this aggressive a predatory lying in wait. Remember she was lying in wait. She was in the darkness. She was at the corner waiting. And now she's turned this situation into an intimate personal encounter.

She's flattering this young man. She has softened and lowered his defenses. She's caused him to bypass his rational judgment. She's put him to sleep. She's got him under her spell. He'll believe anything now. You see, temptation uses flattery and illusion. And what's the illusion here? She has this young man believing he was special. He was the only young man in the entire city

she was waiting for. That's the illusion. And he's buying into it. He believes this young woman. After all, she already kissed him. She's already hugged him. She's now expressing her desire for him. And that she's had this desire. This is what she's telling him. She's already hugged him. She's now expressing her desire for him and that she's had this desire. This is what she's telling him. I've had this desire for you for quite some time.

So what she's doing is her strategy is to make this what just a few minutes ago seemed like a chance encounter. The young man, I'm just walking down the street late at night. Now he knows where he's going, but he's still gotta use his rational thinking. I was just walking down the street and this woman runs up and grabs me and kisses me and tells me she's been waiting for me.

What is she doing? She's trying to create the image that this is not a chance encounter. Again, this was part of her deception. She's creating a false reality. She's saying, what she's doing, she's manipulating circumstances to make it appear that their meeting was fate.

She's saying to this young man, you and I were meant to meet. This is not my chance. Yes, I've been watching you. Yes, I've been desiring you, but I didn't know you were going to be walking down the street tonight. What a coincidence! Isn't this amazing? This is not by chance.

This is not a coincidence. You and I were meant to meet as the lie of temptation. And then, diligently to seek thy face. Let's look at, Therefore I came out to meet you and diligently seek your face. This is an exaggerated claim of an effort to seek him. I, what's she saying to him? I've been dreaming about you. You're in my thoughts day and night.

I can't stand it anymore. I've got to find you. You're in my thoughts day and night. I can't stand it anymore. I've got to find you. I came outside. I know it's midnight. I just came outside with the hope. Maybe this is the night that you come walking past my house. All this is a lie. She's never seen this guy before. She doesn't know his name. She knows nothing about him. She just knows he's got a soul that she can rob. That's all she knows. Every lie she's telling, she's told to every other guy. Temptation is old. Oh, if you saw how old temptation is, it's old and wrinkled. It's decrepit, it's been around for thousands of years.

But it gets inside a young person, doesn't have to be just young, but it gets inside a human and says, I'm gonna use your mouth, I'm gonna use your eyes, I'm gonna use your hands. But temptations, all wrinkled up. It's old, really old. But she's flattering him. I diligently came out here to seek your face. Your face is so handsome. I think about it day and night. I've been dreaming about you. I actually gone to bed and and I was in my sleep and I was having to

dream about you and I got out of bed at midnight. I came outside just hoping tonight would be the night you walk down the street. It's all a lie but this is the extent that temptation will go to deceive you. She's trying to further flatter his ego to make him feel uniquely desired and invaluable. It's a very sophisticated tactic. She's creating this false sense sense of romantic interest in this young man, that she has a deep, personal, profound desire for him, and it's all a lie. Look, this goes on every day in workplaces, in restaurants, in bars, wherever. It goes on every day between men and women. There's somebody lying to somebody else. You're the one I want. You're the one I dream about. You're the one I

can't live without you. And it's all a lie. They know this person's married. They know this person has a family. What are they doing? They're going to rob their soul. They're going to break up their marriage They're going to destroy their life and then walk away Just walk away. It's all a head game This stuff goes on every day in in in the romantic sexual context of this of this verse but this as i've said before this this is beyond just romantic sexual activity. This has to do with business, with money, with power, prestige. The same tactics are

used. Satan uses the same tactics. A person who's hungry for prestige, to be highly honored, to be famous, see they'll fall for this. They'll fall for flattery. Oh, you're the person. We've been looking for you. You're the star. We could make you famous. There's the flattery, there's the appeal to ego. So she's making this young man feel desirable. He's indispensable, he's invaluable. There's nobody else that compares to him. And you know what? Nobody's ever talked to him like this. Oh, there's a key point.

Nobody has ever talked to him like this. This is satisfying. This is fulfilling an emptiness in him. He needed to hear somebody say these words to him. Be careful about your emptiness. somebody say these words to him. Be careful about your emptiness. Satan will send people to you to speak the words that you inwardly desire to hear. Be very careful when you are in a weakened state. Satan will send people to deceptively speak words that you desire to hear, but it's meant to entrap you. So she has meticulously crafted her words to ensnare him. She knows what she's a, she's a pro. She's an artist in this work of taking somebody's soul from them. You know, diligently seeking your face. It's a blatant lie. She knows that she's lied to

many. But she wants him to believe he's the only man that she's looking for, again, all to lower his defenses. And now she says, and I have found you. You just see her face light up. Her eyes get big, a smile. I found you. You're here. I've been waiting and waiting and looking and dreaming and yearning and now

you're here. I have found you." And again, this young man is still standing there. Boy, really? Is this really happening to me? And she's just pouring on all of the fake She's just pouring on all of the fake affections she can dish out. She's saying this chance encounter is not by chance. You came here because we were meant to meet. And this is a special moment we should celebrate we should take we should we shouldn't waste this special moment you were meant you and I were meant to come together at this day this

moment on this corner let's not waste this moment. This is a special moment for both of us to remember. She's making this young man feel chosen. She's affirming his unique appeal. She's appealing to this young male's ego, young male's ego, reinforcing this young man's feeling of being uniquely discovered, that he's special, he's desirable in her eyes. I have found you. Again, she's creating a false sense of destiny, of inevitability about their meeting. She's laying the groundwork for the next step. So, her, let me say this,

her claims are deceptive reversal. She was lying in wait. She was not diligently seeking him. Do you see, catch the lie? She was lying in wait. And yet she's making this young man believe, I've been out here walking the streets looking for you. I've been up and down 10 blocks hoping to find you. That's a lie. She was lying in wait.

She was in the darkness. She was at the corner waiting on him to come by. the corner waiting on him to come by. She wasn't out looking for him. She didn't know who he was. But she knew when he came down the street to her corner, that's him. She doesn't know his name, never saw him before, but that's him. So the lesson for us is to discern flattery when it's used to cover up a predatory intention, when it's playing on our ego playing on our ego and our desire to feel valued by somebody else. Her claim that she found him completely turned to tables. Instead of him wandering into sin, she's now making it appear that she was seeking him. I mean, when he left the group, remember he was with the group, the simpletons and the young people, he left that group and started walking down the street, blocks away.

The man of wisdom was watching through the window, through the lattice. He's watching this young man. The young man didn't run. He walked every step, took him closer and closer to the corner. Why was he going to a particular corner? He knew that the prostitute lived at the corner. Her house was at the corner. He casually walked in her direction. She hid in the darkness waiting on whoever would be the next victim. Didn't matter to her. There's gonna be a victim. Somebody's gonna come down that street looking for her house.

But she makes this young man believe, it's you. Oh, I've been waiting on you. You're the one. I can't live without you. This is a special moment. Let's not mess up this moment. Let's not lose this special moment. Let's take advantage of it. So temptation can cunningly frame chance encounters and make it sound like

providential arrangements. Be very careful. Be very careful when somebody starts flattering you and saying, I was meant to meet you. Now look, there are times when we know that, hey, this is a divinely appointed, I've had those happen, divinely appointed meetings, but when somebody is flattering you, your ego, and saying, this is an amazing moment. You better hold on to your wallet. You better whatever, just be prepared. There's personal touch. There is flattery, and now there's speech, all right? And she's declaring, I have found you. There's this progression. Let me get to verse 16. I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt." So now the woman, she's still talking and she's progressing, her entrapment is progressing. Her words are becoming more seductive. She's moved on from, I was searching for you,

I was longing for you, I found you, and now she's saying, and I have prepared my bed for you. What's this young man thinking? Wow, this woman's really, she's really in love with me. Not only was she out here at midnight looking for me, not only has she been dreaming about me, but she's prepared her bed for me. This is amazing. He's got to be thinking, this is amazing. I didn't expect anything like this to happen tonight. So now she's appealing to his sensory pleasure and the allure of luxury.

Hey, this isn't just a harlot. This is a high-class woman. this isn't just a harlot. This is a high-class woman. This isn't a hooker that lives in a trashy one-room apartment with cockroaches. No, that's not. This woman has fine furniture. She's got fine linens. This is a woman of class, of style. See, again, don't... Temptation can fool you by the appearance of somebody that you say,

well, this person is upper class. This person is well-off. This person is educated. This person's in society. You wouldn't think that a woman who lives like that is a harlot, a hooker. Well, that goes on a lot in high income neighborhoods. Okay, that hookers just have different levels of pricing. So now she's describing the lavishness of her bedroom. She's giving this young man a mental picture of her bedroom.

And she's saying, I have invested a lot of money. I've put a lot of effort and resources in my bedroom. It's a special bedroom. And so she's creating this image, this word picture, to entice this young man to take the next step. And she's still using flattery. the next step. Again, she's still using flattery. This is still part of her technique, but she's moved beyond flattery. She's now shifting into the next phase of her seductive speech, her strategy to appeal to this young man's desire for physical pleasure and comfort.

I mean what she's saying is, hey, we're not going to do this in a hammock. We're not going into the stable and lay down in straw. You got to see my house. You got to see my bedroom. Come on in. She's already created a picture. Like he's never seen anything like this before. She's created a picture of something he's never seen before, never experienced before. So she's designing in detail

everything that he's going to experience. She's leaving nothing out. She has coverings of tapestry, meaning her quilts, her blankets are beautiful. They're colorful. They've been woven with artistic design, fine linen, embroidered. She has decorative fabrics in her room. Her room, the decorations of her bedroom indicate splendor, wealth, luxury, high-class living. She's describing the aesthetic appeal of her bedroom, and she's saying it's extravagant. I don't use burlap sacks for my blankets. I've got fine quilts,

beautiful quilts. She describes in detail the bedroom giving him this word picture. And then with carved works. So she's talking about sculptures. She's talking about perhaps the wooden bed frame is sculpted and it has intricate designs in it. She has art in her room. There's opulence. There's artistry. This is a beautiful room. Who has carved works in their bedroom? Somebody who's well-off, somebody who has high class taste, somebody who likes luxury, somebody who likes refinement, somebody who likes to

live at the upper level. And again, this young man's thinking, I've never experienced anything like this. I've never seen it. And I'm the one she wants. I'm the one she's been dreaming about. This is amazing. She could have anybody, but she wants me. It's just part of her life. And then she says, and with fine linen of Egypt. She carries, she takes it even farther. She goes, I imported my linens from Egypt. I didn't buy this down at the,

you know, at the feed mail store. I had my bed linens imported from Egypt. They are designer linens. These are the best linens you could buy. So she's describing a luxurious bedroom. She's got exotic, expensive materials. She's creating a word picture in this young man's mind that her bedroom is furnished with expensive, high quality, luxurious fabrics, carved art, imported materials of the finest fabrics. Again, she's creating an image here for him that he's like, I've got to go in. I just got to go in.

I got to go see this. I got to experience this. Again, she's creating this image that she has status, she has opulence, she has a life of ease, she's got money, and she's wealthy enough that she can import fine linen from Egypt. And then verse 17, I'm going to end it here. "'I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.'" So she's not done describing the bedroom. She's going to hit one more of his senses, his sense of smell. She's touching all of his senses. Now it's the sense

of smell. She's saying, when you walk into my bedroom, oh, it's going to smell so nice. There's myrrh, there's aloes, there's cinnamon. Maybe she's got incense burning in the room. She has, it's an atmosphere of sensuality. She's, she's presenting to this young man a meticulous invitation, it's a seductive invitation that now focuses on alluring aromas meant to intoxicate this young man. What she's saying to herself is, if I don't have you yet, go wait until you walk into my room and smell the aromas If you have any resistance to my spell it will disappear the moment you walk into the room

She said i've perfumed my bed I've saturated the bed with pleasant aromas. She's appealing to the sense of smell that bypasses rational thought, that directly influences emotions and desires. She's creating an atmosphere of luxury, mystery, deep, profound sensual pleasure. It's all designed to overwhelm this young man's judgment. She's immersing him in images in his mind. She's created images in his mind of what is waiting for him. And she says she's perfumed her bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.

All three were expensive. She didn't buy these things down at the drugstore. She had to import them too. Myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. Again, she's letting this young man know, I'm a woman of class, I'm a woman of style, I'm a woman of high class living. I'm inviting you, I've been waiting on you,

I've been desiring you, come on in. So myrrh has a deep, aromic scent. It's associated with luxury. Of course, we know it's used in anointing and ceremonial rituals, but it conveys a sense of richness. Aloe's, this is referring to wood,

not the medicinal plant. This is referring to wood, not the medicinal plant. Aloe's produce a sweet, intensely aromatic scent. It's used in perfumes. Cinnamon. Cinnamon, at that time, was rare. It was costly. And it, too, was valued for its warm, sweet, intensely aroma qualities. So she's blending all three.

And she's saying, when you walk into my room, the aroma is going to overtake you. This is going to be a memorable moment with you and me together in this beautiful atmosphere. So, her words are meant to create an intoxicating atmosphere. She's making him drunk with desire. He is now in a drunken state. He's gone. He's lost us. He can't win this battle at this point. Well, tomorrow, today's Thursday, so tomorrow is Faith Friday. And I was hoping we could get chapter seven done this week, but we can't. So on Monday, I will pick up with verse 18. But tomorrow is Faith Friday, and I have another

lesson from the book of Daniel. And of course, we have Holy Communion on Friday, so be back here tomorrow. And continue to pray for Doc for his speedy recovery. And we're looking forward to him returning. Thank you everybody. Appreciate you being here today and I hope Morning Manna has been a blessing to you. That's it for today. I'll see you tomorrow on Faith Friday.