The New English Bible translates the term "foolish woman" as Lady Stupidity.  In some ways both terms are misleading as there is no term that adequately describes the woman described.  The father is presenting the case to his son of the need to make choices in life.  In so doing he conveys the differences in the outcomes between the choices that his son will make in life.  In Hammurabi's Code of case law there is the term "sister of the gods" and along with it, prostitute and how they may get along in the community in certain instances.  His code of case law based on precedent was in part based on codes of law that existed before his kingdom.  Reading various parts of the Old Testament reveals that the principles of these laws were known from the Jordan River Valley to Mesopotamia.  Although the Ten Commandments was not based on the Code of Hammurabi it is clear from scripture presented before the Exodus in the Book of Genesis that these ways of getting along with people according to the the accepted legal practices in deciding disputes were utilized by Abraham and his family.  At least as long ago as 4,000 years people discerned that the prostitute and adulteress had in attendance with them unseen guests from Sheol.  This was not based on religious theory of various theologies, but accepted experiential knowledge.  It seems that the identification of these beings is of a supernatural kind. The implication in the passage from Proverbs 9:18 is that dead people of some kind are there in spirit with the foolish woman, or that supernatural beings with a negative bent to their disposition may hang about. 

It is obvious that the father is telling his son to make good choices based on the experience of others and what is known about Wisdom- Lady Wisdom and Folly- Lady Stupidity. The bargain struck between one or the other has vastly different consequences for whoever encounters these personages in any age, 4,000 years ago or today. One choice leads to Eternal Life and the other to Eternal Death. The Christian knows that Jesus came to pay for our sins and offers Eternal Life and forgiveness to the adulterer, adulteress, prostitute, and any other person who has made bad choices or had them made for them in some way leading to more bad choices. 

01/29/04 11:33:16 AM