7.1 My son, keep my words and treasure up my commandments with you; keep my commandments and live, keep my teachings as the apple of your eye; bind them on your fingers, write them on the tablet of your heart.

Say to wisdom, "You are my sister," and call insight your intimate friend; to preserve you from the loose woman, from the adventuress with her smooth words.

In these first nine chapters, Solomon is dealing with anti-wisdom, the foolish things many people do that destroy wisdom before they even get started on the right road. Before we can start move forwards, we have to stop moving backwards.

The apple of the eye is the pupil, the opening through which light and the information it carries enters. We react to that information and make decisions and judgments of what is right and wrong, good and bad. Solomon’s figure of speech is telling us to let God’s laws and his teachings be the criteria by which we judge between good and evil. "The eye is the lamp of the body", said Jesus, "If the light within you is darkness, how great is the darkness!" (Matthew 6:22). Keep your eyes focused on wisdom. Do not be distracted.

Under the Old Covenant, the Ten Commandments were written on tablets of stone, but Solomon tells us that they can be written in our hearts instead. This is the New Covenant relationship between God and man of which Paul says: "After that time, says the Lord, I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them in their minds" (Hebrews 10:16).

Love wisdom and understanding, and they will deliver you from the adulteress, says Solomon. Consult them day by day for advice, as you might a sister and a close friend.

7.2 For at the window of my house I have looked out through my lattice, and I have seen among the simple, I have perceived among the youths, a young man without sense, passing along the street near her corner, taking the road to her house in the twilight, in the evening, at the time of night and darkness.

And lo, a woman meets him, dressed as a harlot, wily of heart. She is loud and wayward, her feet do not stay at home; now in the street, now in the market, and at every corner she lies in wait. She seizes him and kisses him, and with impudent face she says to him: "I have offered my sacrifices, and today I have paid my vows; so now I have come to meet you, to seek you eagerly, and I have found you.

I have decked by couch with coverings, coloured spreads of Egyptian linen; I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon. Come, let us take our fill of love till morning; let us delight ourselves with love. For my husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey; he took a bag of money with him; at full moon he will come home."

With much seductive speech she persuades him; with her smooth talk she compels him. All at once he follows her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a stag is caught fast till an arrow pierces its entrails; as a bird rushes into a snare; he does not know that it will cost him his life.

And now, O sons, listen to me, and be attentive to the words of my mouth. Let not your heart turn aside to her ways, do not stray into her paths; for many a victim has she laid low; yea, all her slain are a mighty host. Her house is the way to the grave, going down to the chambers of death.

To conquer the innocent and simple-minded, the harlot paints an attractive picture and tells a seductive tale. She is very direct and suggestive. The phrase "Let us take our fill of love" is more explicitly rendered "Let us revel in the breasts!" -- and the following phrase should read: "Let us vibrate with joy!"

The young man here has no sense – he has ignored the advice Solomon gave earlier, and is foolishly walking right past her house under the cover of the darkness of evening, exposing himself to temptation. No doubt he knows better, but is weak, lacking resolve, and has no real commitment to Wisdom in his heart. He foolishly flirts with temptation.

Control your mind and emotions, says Solomon. Steer well clear. Do not let it happen. It is not inevitable. It is our choice.

The way of the flesh can be very alluring, but end up enslaving us to all manner of sin –drunkenness, fornication, adultery, murder even, and all manner of perversions. Those who practise such things are being extremely un-wise, because they will have no part in the Kingdom of God, says Paul (Galatians 5:21). Perhaps that is the death Solomon is referring to in these verses.