Amazing!

Proverbs 30:20

Such is the way of an adulterous woman; she eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness.

Equally amazing is how an adulterous woman can satisfy her sexual appetites, shrug her shoulders, and then say, “What’s wrong with that?” (NLT Life Application Study Bible).

No-one seems to know much about Agur, the writer/compiler of Proverbs 30. One thing that we do know is that Agur was not a scientist (Proverbs 30:18-19). When Agur watched eagles in the sky and snakes on the rocks he was amazed by their movements. Agur couldn’t understand how a ship could be navigated across the ocean without GPS, and he wasn’t too sure about matters of romance either. But all of these mysteries paled into insignificance when Agur considered how people could do something that crossed the boundaries of behavior laid down by God and then ask, “What did I do wrong?” Although Agur used an adulterous woman as an example, the same principle applies to many other scenarios and situations, as it has since the day that Adam and Eve shared forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden.

If Agur lived today he could read books or watch television documentaries to gain an understanding of eagles and snakes, ocean navigation techniques, and love. But Agur would have been absolutely stunned to discover that adultery and the like have become completely acceptable to so much of society. As it was in the days of Noah, so it is now. Men and women do as they please, eat and then wipe their mouths and ask, “What did I do wrong?” We see it in our politicians, in our workplaces, in our churches, and even in our families. And no-one is amazed anymore. Now that is amazing, especially when history records the rise and fall of societies, and the reasons that they fall.

As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.

“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. (Matthew 24:37-43 NIV)