This chapter picks up the other side of sexual misconduct: prostitution. We have been focusing on adultery. Now the writer switches attention to the matter of prostitution. He uses an observer, a third party, to record what he sees: a man hooking up with a prostitute in his neighborhood.
A prostitute reduces you to an ATM machine. You reduce them to an object for your pleasure.
The man is just as much to blame for what happens as the woman. He is heading in the wrong direction at the wrong time (vv8-9). He knows what part of town to cruise. He isn’t accidentally going her direction. He is toying with temptation. And she is ready for him. She is “out there” (vv11-12). She offers him a free sample (v13), and the invitation for more (vv14-20) seemingly without consequences. That pesky husband won’t be around to catch them.
She paints a seductive picture of sexual pleasure. She makes him feel special (v15). She has thought about him and she wants him. She has made the perfect spot for their encounter. Everything is prepared. This isn’t love. This is cold calculated manipulation.
He was toying with temptation and she catches him. He was walking close to the flame to see what heat was like, and he caught on fire. It happened in an instant (v22). One moment he is fine, the next he is caught. This is one good reason to stay further from temptation. You never know the instant you will be caught, the moment you will give in.
And it is a very costly choice, indeed. The young man isn’t special. He is just one more in a long string of victims.
And of course she is a victim as well. She has been reduced to selling her soul and body. We don’t know the reasons, but here she is. Perhaps her husband has abandoned her and she must do this to stay alive, pay the bills. But I don’t get that impression from reading this. There is too much delight in her pursuit of him.
The Arnold Journey 