“Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house:”
My Notes
What Does Proverbs 5:8 Mean?
"Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house." The father's warning about the adulterous woman is geographic, not just moral: don't go near her. Don't walk her street. Don't approach her door. The instruction is spatial distance — physical removal of yourself from the proximity of temptation. The sin is defeated by geography before it's defeated by willpower.
The phrase "remove thy way far" (harchiq me'aleha darka — make your path far from upon her) means reroute yourself: don't just resist when you're near her. DON'T BE NEAR HER. The way — the path, the route, the daily journey — must be redirected so that it doesn't pass her door. The wisdom is in the routing, not in the resisting.
The "come not nigh the door of her house" (al tiqrav el petach beytah — don't approach the entrance of her house) adds a specific boundary: the door is the boundary. Don't approach it. Don't test your resolve at the threshold. Don't see how close you can get. Stay far. The door you approach is the door you'll enter.
Reflection Questions
- 1.What door are you approaching that wisdom says you should be far from?
- 2.How does defeating temptation through geography (distance) differ from defeating it through willpower?
- 3.What route in your daily life passes too close to a 'door' you shouldn't be near?
- 4.What would 'removing your way far' look like practically for your specific temptation?
Devotional
Don't go near her. Don't walk her street. Don't approach her door. The warning isn't 'be strong if you're near her.' The warning is 'DON'T BE NEAR HER.' The sin is defeated by distance, not by willpower at the doorstep. The best defense isn't strength at the threshold. It's never reaching the threshold.
The 'remove thy way far' is a rerouting instruction: change your path. Take a different street. Alter your route so that her door isn't on your journey. The wisdom isn't in resisting the temptation when you're standing on her doorstep. The wisdom is in never standing on her doorstep. The person who relies on willpower at the door has already failed the geography test.
The 'come not nigh the door' sets the boundary early: the door is where the decision appears to happen, but the actual decision happened miles earlier — when you chose the route that passed her house. By the time you're at the door, the battle is nearly lost. The approach IS the compromise. The proximity IS the failure. The wisdom of Proverbs says: don't trust yourself at the threshold. Trust the distance.
This applies to every temptation, not just sexual: the website you know you shouldn't visit, the relationship you know is toxic, the substance you know you can't control, the spending pattern you know destroys you. The instruction is the same: REMOVE YOUR WAY FAR. Don't test your resistance. Remove the proximity.
What 'door' are you approaching that wisdom says you should be far from?
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
Remove thy way far from her,.... The way of the mind, walk, and conversation; keep at the greatest distance from her;…
Here we have,
I. A solemn preface, to introduce the caution which follows, Pro 5:1, Pro 5:2. Solomon here addresses…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture