The book of Proverbs is an astounding collection of wise sayings written mostly by Solomon. He credited his father David with teaching him wisdom (Prov 4:1-4), and he sought to pass on his wisdom to his son Rehoboam. The phrase “my son” appears 23 times in the book, showing that Solomon was writing specifically to his son, although obviously the scriptures apply to everyone. The first 9 chapters of Proverbs repeatedly address warnings to a young man to avoid sexually immoral relations with women. Solomon personifies wisdom as a virtuous woman to be sought after and contrasts her with a sexually immoral woman. It is sad that Solomon did not follow his own advice. He married 700 wives and also had 300 concubines (1Ki 11). This is enough women to have a different one very day for almost 3 years. Not only is this polygamy but he chose pagan women who turned his heart away from God. He later describes the emptiness he came to know in the book of Ecclesiastes.
In Proverbs 7:9-21, Solomon describes the components of the luring of a woman into sin. She operates under the cover of darkness. Not only do people often use literal darkness to hide their sinful activity but there is a spiritual application as well. She is a woman who does not stay home. She is out prowling the street looking for a victim. The devil prowls like a lion (1Pet 5:8). Lions also use the cover of darkness to hunt. She tells her victim that she has peace offerings and has paid her vows. She appeases his conscience with false, superficial religious claims. She says she has satisfied her religious duties and so she came to seek him as though she had her eye on him for some time. This is flattery which appeals to a man’s desire to be wanted. She also describes how she had prepared her bedchamber for him. She calls fornication/adultery love instead of lust. She says he does not have to be worried about the consequences of getting caught because her husband is far away and won’t be back soon. This is the same trick the serpent used on Eve in the garden. God had said the consequence for sin is death (Gen 2:17). The serpent told her she would not die (Gen 3:4). The lie is that sin is not destructive but pleasurable and even profitable. While that may be true sometimes in the short term, it is never true in the long run. Sin may have pleasure for a season, but Moses understood by faith that it is better to suffer a little now and gain eternal spiritual benefits than to enjoy sin for a little while and suffer for eternity. (Heb 11:5). With her fair speech and flattery she pushed him into sin, not foreseeing his own spiritual and even literal death. The word forced in verse 21 has the connotation of chased or hunted as it is used in Isaiah 13:14.
This passage not only warns against sexual sin, but all sin. The enemy of our souls uses the same tactics to push people into doing things they know are wrong. He does not change his methods because he does not have to. People have been falling for them for thousands of years and continue to do so. He just puts different masks on them to suit his targets. We need to be aware of his tactics so we can defeat them with the word of God like Jesus did (Mt 4:1-11, 2Cor 2:11).