O my son, O son of my womb, O son of my vows, do not spend your strength on women, your vigor on those who ruin kings (Proverbs 31:2).

Does anyone else notice the unusual juxtaposition of this Proverb?!?  It's nestled within the 31st chapter of Proverbs -- which is best known for its description of the "Wife of Noble Character," explaining, at quite great length, the incalcuable value of a godly wife.  It's immediately preceded by a reference to the fact that King Lemuel (the advice-giver in this chapter) got all of his best material from his mother.  And it's advice that is specifically directed at the king's son, the offspring presumably produced from the king's own marriage.  And yet -- King Lemuel has the gall to suggest that his son should avoid women, and watch out for them as people who destroy kings and kingdoms!  Doesn't that seem ridiculous and hypocritical?!?  It certainly makes you wonder...

I think it comes down to the verse's use of the plural and its overall context.

First of all, it seems significant to me that the prince is warned to not spend his strength on women.  Not woman.  Not a wife or a mother -- but women.  The plural noun seems to me that the verse is directed at the dangers of womanizing, not the dangers of women themselves.  Surely, this is at least something to consider.

And then there's the context.  The beginning of Proverbs 31 is a conversation between a king and his son, who will presumably rule after him.  They talk about how kings should (or, rather, should not) use alcohol (verses 4-7).  They talk about the king's responsibility to care for the disadvantaged and downtrodden within the kingdom (verses 8-9).  Thus, it would make sense that the second verse is talking about the dangers of women because of the ways that kings had traditionally shown themselves to be so easily sidetracked by womanizing tendencies.  It's very interesting, in this regard, to note that this particular handful of verses is delivered by the otherwise unknown King Lemuel and not King David or King Solomon -- who both had significant difficulties during their reigns because of problems with women -- even thought these two wrote the vast majority of the rest of the wisdom literature in the Old Testament.  Consequently, I wonder if the warning about spending one's strength on wisdom was originally intended more for kings than for ordinary guys.

Even so, I think we do well to take these warnings to heart, today.  Because of socio-economic dynamics, broader cultural trends, and the unprecedented availability of por nography -- today's men have a temptation that was previously available only to kings like Lemuel and his son.  The availability of "women" today can be such a tempting opportunity that we forget the dangers that go along with them.  Naturally, there's something beautiful and empowering about healthy relationships with key women (such as an advice-giving mother and a wife of noble character); but if we ever let our interests stray too far and too frequently, we put ourselves in danger.  Danger of wasting our strength (notice the parallels to Proverbs 5:7-11) and coming to ruin.  And I, for one, don't want that any more than King Lemuel did!