If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk secretly for the innocent without cause;
Verse 10 warns the son not to give in when sinners entice him. Verse 11 shows what their invitation sounds like: join an ambush and share the profit.
The Setting: A World of Influences
Proverbs has been building the positive side. Here it turns to the evil side, and one writer notes which sin comes first.
This closes the positive side, the development of good, that introduces the Proverbs. The evil side is next considered. "My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent." Evil is in the world — deceit, and motives for sin. What is put forward first here is the desire for wealth, and the wrong and violence used to get it. Corruption and violence are the two marks of sin and the fruits of self-will in a fallen world. Here man is not treated as lost and sinful in his nature. He is under influences. He belongs to this world and lives in it, but there is a way of wisdom in it. Violence is dealt with first, driven by the craving for prosperity in this world; but to lie in wait for blood like this is to lie in wait for your own soul.
The Pull of "Come With Us"
The offer opens with "come with us". One writer weighs how natural that pull feels — and how dangerous it is.
Here the soul is warned against listening to the voice of enticement. For Satan has many instruments, eager to draw others into evil; and companionship is as natural as it is dangerous. And in this the least scrupulous take the lead — their mouth full of cursing and bitterness, their feet swift to shed blood.
Secrecy Is the Signal
The plan is hidden, and its target has done nothing wrong. Both facts tell the son what the invitation is worth.
Those who do not know the Lord use many ways to entice others. What they plot together may start as foolish pranks, but they are meant to harm someone, and may end in bloodshed. Their lurking in secret should be enough to convince the intended victim to keep far from their company (v. 11). If such people can get others out of their way — even by murder (v. 12) — they expect the road to be clear for their evil work. Greed is their motive, and it is not because they want another to prosper that they entice him into the same path as theirs.
No Safe Distance
Some think they can take the company and stop short of the crime.
"My son, do not walk in the way with them, keep your foot from their path" (v. 15). Some think they may go at least some distance with such people, thinking they are strong enough to resist strong temptation. But this attitude is itself fatal. A person like that has already slipped, and will find himself utterly weak very soon.
The Trap and the Trappers
The trap turns. The men who set it end up caught in it.
Listen — for in vain is the net spread in the sight of any bird. In reality they lie in wait for their own blood, as surely as God knows how to deliver. How many a person who is plotted against escapes, while those greedy for gain lose their own lives — the end in this world of their wicked schemes!
Seeing the trap is half the lesson. The other half is who you walk away from.
"Surely, in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird" (v. 17). The believer should know that evil people are spreading their nets. If his eyes are open, he will see it and avoid the net. In avoiding the net, he will also avoid the people who spread it.
Summary
- Enticement. The first danger a young person meets outside the home is not an argument but an invitation. It promises wealth won by violence.
- Company. The bait is "come with us". Companionship feels natural, and that is what makes it dangerous. The least scrupulous set the pace.
- Ambush. They lie in wait secretly for someone innocent — and secrecy is the warning sign. Greed, not goodwill, is why they want you with them.
- Refusal. There is no safe stretch of that road. Thinking you can walk part of it and stop is itself the slip.
- Reversal. A net spread in open sight catches nothing. Those who set it lie in wait for their own blood. The one who watched and refused walks free.