10. On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, and Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, the seven chamberlains that served in the presence of Ahasuerus the king, 11. To bring Vashti the queen before the king with the crown royal, to show the people and the princes her beauty H3308: for she was fair H2896 to look on. 12. But the queen Vashti refused to come at the king's commandment by his chamberlains: therefore was the king very wroth, and his anger burned in him.
Genesis 3:6
And when the woman saw that the tree was good H2896 for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
Proverbs: 31. 30.
Favour H2580 is deceitful, and beauty H3308 is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised.
Genesis 6:1-2
1. And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, 2. That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair H2896; and they took them wives of all which they chose.
Proverbs 6:25
Lust not after her beauty H3308 in your heart; neither let her take you with her eyelids.
H2580: favor, grace, charm → desirableness: a fruit and an effect of beauty (H3308)
H2896: good, fair, beautiful → desirable (as seen / perceived)
Favor / grace / charm (H2580), which is deceitful, is what causes to see/appreciate beauty (H3308), which is vain; that is, to find a certain object good / fair / beautiful (H2896), and therefore desirable as it is seen / perceived.
If acted upon, charm (H2580), as an enticing agent, triggers lust / desire, as an action that the beholder or party who considers a given object of desire is responsible for. That is the state of desiring something. The surrounding circumstances will determine if it is evil or not. Ex: "You lust, and have not: you kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: you fight and war, yet you have not, because you ask not. 3. You ask, and receive not, because you ask amiss, that you may consume it upon your lusts (or desires for pleasures)." (James 4:2-3) It is essential to have one's senses exercised to discern both good and evil (Hebrews 5:14) and not follow after deceitful lusts (Ephesians 2:3; Mark 4:19; 1 Timothy 6:9-10).
The eye must be good (Matthew 6:22-23). Favor / grace / charm does not need to deceive, invariably, whether what is desired is a fruit, a woman, money, something intrinsically evil or whose coveting itself (or the love of it) is evil because it is forbidden or unlawful.
When wisdom is lacking (we can ask God for more wisdom - James 1:5), the hour of temptation can become fatal (leading to sin / iniquity, and then to death). One is deceived then indeed when he or she fails to properly discern between good and evil, or simply fails to choose good over evil, especially knowing to do good and not doing it (James 4:17).
James 1:14-17
14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his **own lust/desire,** and enticed (by whatever is found to be charming / desirable). 15 Then the lust/desire, when it has conceived, bears sin; and the sin, when it is finished (accomplished), brings forth death. 16 ***Don’t be deceived, my beloved brothers.***
17 Every ***good gift*** and every ***perfect gift*** is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, nor turning shadow.
Matthew 7:11
If you then, being evil, know how to give **good gifts** to your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give **good things** to those who ask him?
1 Corinthians 12:31-13:3
12:31 But **covet (desire to have) earnestly the best gifts:** and yet I show you a more excellent way. → 13:1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and do not have ***charity/love,*** I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 2. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and do not have ***charity,*** I am nothing. 3. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and do not have ***charity,*** it profits me nothing.
In Solomon's case, his eye ended up being full of darkness. And that did not end well for him. He turned away from his first love. That is not a pattern all must follow.
1 Kings 11:4-6
4. For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father. 5. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. 6. And Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and went not fully after the LORD, as did David his father.
Matthew 6:22-23
22 “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
Lust → sin → death is surely not the dangerous path that a saint will be on in the hour of temptation. If that's the case, then where is the Holy Spirit? A man who can resist the devil should do just that. Nothing less is expected of him. And there should be no reason for any woman to suppose that a man who simply notices her beauty in whatever context it may be has slipped on a slippery slope of lust, sin and death. That is ridiculous and surely the devil's plan to create confusion, distrust and fear. However men are wired, a man of God is rewired or hopefully he is in that process of rewiring by the renewing of his mind (Romans 12:1-2), so that the clichés that the world applies to men no longer describe him. He is alive and overcoming the world, not dead in trespasses and sins, and he keeps himself so that the wicked one touches him not (1 John 5:18). Both men and women will be judged according to their own doings.
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1 John 5:18
We know that whosoever is born of God sins not; but he that is begotten of God keeps himself, and that wicked one touches him not.
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2 Timothy 3:16-17
16. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17. That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
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These exhortations are words for believers to HEAR and DO:
Galatians 5:24-25
24. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts. 25. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
2 Timothy 1:7
For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
Romans 8:1-4
1. There is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. 3. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: 4. That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
James 1:22
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
Romans: 8:8-14
8. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. 9. But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if any man does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. 10. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also give life to your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwells in you. 12. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13. For if you live according to the flesh, you shall die: but if you through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live. 14. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
Galatians: 6:7-8
7. Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap. 8. For he that sows to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that sows to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
Galatians: 5:16-23
16. This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust/desire of the flesh. 17. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that you cannot do the things that you would. 18. But if you be led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20. Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21. Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. 22. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23. Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
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Deuteronomy 6:6-9
6. And these words, which I command you this day, shall be in your heart: 7. And you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when ou rise up. 8. And you shall bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9. And you shall write them upon the posts of you house, and on your gates.
Mark 12:30-31
30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength: this is the first commandment. 31 And the second is like, namely this, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.
10/02/2015, 8:33 PM
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See also:
Walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16)
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