BIBLIOTHECA SACRA
157 (October-December 2000): 397-409
Copyright © 2000
by
"DRINK WATER FROM YOUR OWN
CISTERN": A LITERARY STUDY OF
PROVERBS 5:15-23
Robert
B. Chisholm Jr.
IN
PROVERBS 1-9 THE FATHER-TEACHER repeatedly addresses
the subject of sexual behavior as he instructs his
son-pupil
about how to live skillfully (see
1-27).
This article focuses on Proverbs
which the father seeks to convince his son that
genuine sexual
satisfaction comes only within the
context of marriage. The father's
pedagogical technique, which balances realism and
rhetoric, is in-
structive for modern teachers who
seek to give young men moral
guidance in this area.
PROVERBS
5:15-23 IN ITS IMMEDIATE LITERARY CONTEXT
Verses
15-23 are the climax to a speech that begins in verse 1. The
tire chapter displays the pattern of the instruction
genre, which
combines exhortation with persuasive motivating arguments.l Its
structure may be outlined as follows:
Cycle One (vv. 1-6)
General exhortation to
pay attention (v. 1)
Motivating argument (vv.
2-6)
Cycle Two (vv. 7-14)
Expanded
general exhortation to pay attention2 and specific
Robert
B. Chisholm Jr. is Professor of Old Testament Studies, Dallas Theological
minary,
1 William McKane, Proverbs, Old Testament
Library (
70),
3, 311. As Michael V. Fox explains, "In order to make a lasting
impression,
e father must not only command; he must
persuade" ("Ideas of Wisdom in Prov-
bs 1-9," Journal of
Biblical Literature 116 [1997J: 622 [italics hisJ).
2 In verse 7 the father
addresses his "sons" and uses plural verb forms. In verse 8
398
BIBLIOTHECA SACRA / October-December
2000
exhortation
concerning improper behavior (vv. 7-8)
Motivating argument (vv.
9-14)
Cycle Three (vv. 15-23)
Specific exhortation
concerning proper behavior (v. 15)
Motivating argument (vv.
16-17)3
Blessing and anticipated
consequence of its realization
(vv. 18-19a)4
Specific exhortation
reiterating proper behavior (v. 19b)5
Motivating argument (vv.
20-23)
In the first cycle the father urges his
son to listen to his in-
struction (v. 1), for it will
provide the discretion (v. 2) necessary to
avoid the fatally attractive promiscuous woman (vv.
3-6).
The second cycle reiterates the need
to listen (V. 7), but it adds
a more specific command to avoid the promiscuous
woman (v. 8). It
then describes the negative consequences that
typically overtake
those who fail to heed this warning (vv. 9-14).
In
the third cycle the father offers the antidote to promiscuity
as he urges his son to intoxicate himself with the
sexual. satisfac-
tion that marriage has to
offer (v. 15).6 Through the
effective use of
metaphor and hyperbole he depicts the son's wife
as a bountiful
and inexhaustible source of sexual pleasure (vv.
16-17) on whom
he even pronounces a blessing (vv. 18-19a). He
then reiterates the
exhortation (v. 19b), which he buttresses with a
rhetorical question
(v.
20) and some concluding observations about God's moral ad-
ministration of the world (vv.
21-23).
he returns to the singular.
3 Many understand verse
17 as an exhortation, but the following discussion sug-
gests that the verse should be understood as part of
the motivating argument.
4 This assumes that verse
18b, introduced by waw plus an imperative, is subordi-
lnate to the preceding clause
(which contains a jussive) and expresses a consequence
of the blessing (see v. 18a) being realized.
5 This assumes that the
prefixed verb forms in verse 19 express instruction ("let
her breasts/love intoxicate. ..be
captivated"). Another option is to take the prefixed
(verb form j~Uuray; as an extension of the
blessing ("may her breasts/love intoxicate"). In
this case the final clause, like verse 18b, can be
understood as a consequence of the
rblessing being realized
("you will be captivated").
6 Daniel J. Estes
observes that this unit "recommends the enjoyment of sexual
(delights within the boundaries of marriage as an antidote against
the allurements
of the adulteress" (Hear, My Son: Teaching and Learning in Proverbs 1-9 [Grand ;
Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997],
114).
"Drink
Water from Your Own Cistern": A Literary Study of Proverbs 5:15-23 399
COMMENTARY
VERSE
15
In
the first poetic line the father urges his son to quench his sexual
thirst by "drinking" from his own
"cistern." Though the father, for
rhetorical reasons, waits until verse 18 to
identify the reality be-
hind the image, the cistern represents the son's
wife, while the
"water" symbolizes the sexual satisfaction she is
capable of sup-
plying.
In verse 15b the father transforms
the image of a cistern (rOB),
a manmade receptacle for catching runoff water,
to that of a well
(rxeB;), which contains fresh water supplied by underground
streams.7 The son's wife, he
says, is like a well filled with fresh
ter, not a mere cistern containing
runoff water!8
VERSES
16-17
In
verses 16-17 the father supports his exhortation with a moti-
vating argument. Once more he
transformed his metaphor,
changing the image of a well (see v. 15b) into
that of a natural
fountain (j~r;Oqm;, "your fountain,"
in v. 18a) from which streams
flow.9 The son's wife, rather
than being a mere cistern or well, is
more like a bubbling fountain that produces streams
of sexual sat-
isfaction. Springs/streams are
viewed as the handiwork of God (Ps.
104:10), in contrast to manmade cisterns and
wells.
Through the
transformation of the metaphor the
father pictures the son's wife
as a gift from God and paves the way for the
blessing he mentioned
inverse 18a.
7 The term Myliz;no refers elsewhere to
streams that bubbled out of a rock in the wil-
derness (Ps. 78:16), the
streams of
44:3),
and the waves of the
synonymous with the phrase Myy.iHa Myima,
"living (i.e., running/fresh) water." The latter
refers to streams (Zech. 14:8) or to the fresh water
produced by a well (Gen. 26:19)
or a spring, in contrast with a cistern (Jer.
"living water" is associated with a well, while Myliz;no refers to mountain streams. Both
refer metaphorically to the sexual pleasures the
young lady has to offer her hus-
band. In Proverbs
of Solomon 4:15, to the fresh water supplied by a
well.
8 On cisterns in ancient
tence Strategy in the Period
of the Judges" (Ph.D. diss., Southern Baptist Theologi-
cal Seminary, 1984), 48-56; and David C. Hopkins,
The Highlands of
catur, GA: Almond, 1985),
95-96. On wells in ancient
Village
Subsistence Strategy," 57-58; and
97-98.
9 On springs in ancient
egy," 41-45; and
400
BIBLIOTHECA SACRA / October-December
2000
To emphasize her capacity to
satisfy, he pictures these
"springs"10 and "streams of water"
flowing through the streets and
public squares.11 The wife is more than
capable of quenching the
young man's thirst, making it unnecessary to seek
water from any
other source.
The references to streets and city
squares are at first puzzling.
After
all, the street (CUH) and city square (bOHr;) were public places
(Prov.
However,
the description may be purely hyperbolic, or the imper-
fect UcUpy;, "they are
dispersed," may be taken in a modal manner,
indicating capability.13 In either case
the statement is ironic.14 The
wife is capable of attracting and satisfying many
men, just like a
prostitute or adulteress. But despite her
tremendous capabilities,
her streams of sexual satisfaction belong solely to
the son (v.
17a).15
They are off-limits to other men (MyrizA, v. 17b).16
10 Normally NyAf;ma, spring, an rOqm; , “fountain, are roughly
synonymous see
form "springs" probably refers to the
abundant water that gushes from the fountain
(giving the impression of many springs in one) and disperses
into many streams
(as if coming from
multiple springs).
11
Similar imagery is employed in Song of Solomon 4:12-15. The young man's
lover, with whom he has not yet consummated his love,
is first likened to an en-
closed spring and a sealed fountain (v. 12). But then,
anticipating sexual consum-
mation, he compares her to a
garden fountain, a well containing fresh water, and
mountain streams (v. 15).
12 See Paul A. Kruger,
"Promiscuity or Marriage Fidelity? A Note on Prov.
13 For other examples of
this use of the imperfect, see Bruce K. Waltke and M.
O'Connor,
An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax
(
brauns, 1990), 507, where it
is labeled the "non-perfective of capability." See espe-
cially Deuteronomy 1:12 (in
comparison with Deut. 1:9) and 2 Samuel 22:39 (in
companson wIth
Ps. 18:39).
14 Commenting on the
father's pedagogical approach in chapters 1-9, Fox observes
that he "revels in ironies" ("Ideas
of Wisdom in Proverbs 1-9," 623).
15 The imperfect Uyh;yi at the beginning of
verse 17 is taken as indicative, describing
a continuing situation.
16 The masculine form
clearly refers to other men, not women. The masculine plu-
ral form is used elsewhere
of male lovers (Jer.
women. If prostitutes or adulteresses were intended,
the feminine form tOrzA would
have been used. See Proverbs 2:16; 5:3, 20; 7:5;
the "precise definition" of the term it,
"outsider," derives from "the immediate con-
text in which its user is thinking and
speaking" ("rUz/rzA," in Theological Dictionary of
the Old Testament, ed. G. Johannes and Helmer
Ringgren, trans. David E. Green
[
other than the son, all of whom are outside the
bounds of his marriage and to whom
the son's wife is therefore off limits. (See
Deuteronomy 25:5, where it refers to any
man outside a deceased man's family. See also Psalm
109:11.)
Drink
Water from Your Own Cistern": A Literary Study of Proverbs 5:15-23 401
The father's rhetorical strategy in
these verses is clear-cut. He
paints the word picture of a cistern filled with
water. He trans-
forms that image to a well filled with fresh water
and then turns
the well into a fountain, a gift from God that
produces streams of
thirst-quenching water. After pointing
out that the son's wife has
what it takes to satisfy many men, he emphasizes
that she belongs
solely to the son. By transforming the image of the
wife from a pas-
sive receptacle to an active
source of abundant satisfaction, and by
then emphasizing that she is reserved for the son
alone, the father
makes her look exceedingly desirable. With such a
special source of
sexual satisfaction reserved just for him, why would
he want to
seek sexual pleasure anywhere else?
This interpretation of these verses
differs from the way others
have interpreted them. Some see the springs/streams
of water as
symbolizing the young man's sexual potency (perhaps
his semen),
rather than the sexual satisfaction provided by his
wife.17 Accord-
ing to this view the son
must reserve his sexual potency for his wife
and not spread it throughout the community.
Proponents of this
view must translate verse 16 as a rhetorical
question expecting a
negative answer ("Should your springs be
dispersed...?") and
must take the morphologically ambiguous prefixed
verb form at the
beginning of verse 17 (Uyh;yi) as a jussive
("Let them be yours
alone!").18 McKane
and Clifford defend this view by arguing that
the springs/streams of verse 16 are plural, while
the cistern and
well of verse 15 are singular.
However, this interpretation is
inconsistent with verse 15,
where water represents the sexual satisfaction
produced by the
'wife, symbolized by the cistern/well. McKane's
and Clifford's ar-
gument is specious, for the
springs/streams correspond to the water
(Myima)/fresh water (Myliz;no) of verse 15 (Hebrew forms that are dual and
plural, respectively), not the well/cistern, which are
the source of
the water/fresh water. In other
words the cistern (v. 15), well (v.
15), and fountain (v. 18) correspond, as do the
water contained in
the cistern (v. 15), the fresh water available in
the well (v. 15), and
the streams produced by the fountain (v. 16). Since
the springs are
produced by the son's fountain, they can be
spoken of as belonging
to him (indicated by the suffix on
"springs" in v. 16).
17 See, for example, McKane, Proverbs,
318-19; and Richard J. Clifford, Proverbs:
A Commentary, Old Testament Library
(Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1999),
68,71.
18 This line of
interpretation may be reflected in Codex Vaticanus
and Codex Si-
naiticus, which negate the verb
in verse 16a (J1Ij) and translate it as if it were an
extension of the exhortation in verse 15.
402
BIBLIOTHECA SACRA / October-December
2000
Furthermore
no interrogative markers are in verse 16,19 and
this view has difficulty explaining how the son's
sexual potency
should be kept to himself (V. 17a; note j~D,bal;-one would think it
would be shared with the wife) and not shared with
other men (MyrizA
in v. 17b is masculine). For this view to work,
sexual potency mu~t
refer by metonymy to the children it produces and
verse 17b must
then allude to providing children for other men in
the community
by means of their promiscuous wives.20
Garrett says the springs and streams
refer to the "husband's .
sexual affections" (just as the cistern
symbolizes "the affections of
his wife"). The young man is not to share
these affections with
other women, but is to reserve them for his wife. In
this way the
husband and wife "fill and refresh each
other."21 However, this
view, like the preceding one, fails to take the
imagery of water in a .
consistent way, requires taking verse 16 as a
rhetorical question,
and has difficulty explaining verse 17. One would
think the son
should share his sexual affections with his wife, not
keep them to
himself.
Some say that the springs/streams of
verse 16 are the children
produced by the sexual activity enjoined in verse
15.22 This view is
preferable to the ones just mentioned, for it
allows one to take the
verb forms in verses 16-17 in a straightforward,
indicative man-
ner. In this case verse 17
might be pointing out that these children,
though overrrunning the
public places, belong only to the man who
fathered them. In this way the teacher emphasizes
the public in-
fluence that derives from
fathering many children with one's wife.
19 The rhetorical question
in verse 20 is introduced by the interrogative word hm.AlA
"why?" Other rhetorical questions in Proverbs 1-9 are
similarly marked (
27-28;
8:1). Of course interrogative sentences do not have to be marked (see Gesen-
ius' Hebrew Grammar, ed. E.
Kautzsch and A. E. Cowley, 2d ed. [
1910],473, para. 150a, which cites
Proverbs
are no formal interrogative indicators, one should
assume an interrogative sentence
tonly if the context demands it.
The context makes no such demands in this case.
Though
he takes verse 16 as a rhetorical question, R. N. Whybray
admits that "the
most obvious rendering would be as a positive statement"
(Proverbs, New Century
Bible
Commentary [
Structure
and Ethos of the Wisdom Admonitions in Proverbs (
1982), 49. Nel takes
verse 16 as a rhetorical question, but acknowledges that one
expects the motivation to begin "with a metaphoric
wisdom saying."
20 See, for example,
Robert L. Alden, P~overbs (
21 Duane A. Garrett,
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, New AmerIcan
Com-
mentary (Nashville: Broadman, 1993), 93.
22 See, for example, L.
A. Snijders, "The Meaning of zar
in the Old Testament," Old
Testament
Studies 10 (1954): 93; and Robert Alter, The Art of
Biblical Poetry (New
"Drink
Water from Your Own Cistern": A Literary Study of Proverbs 5:15-23 403
However,
this view, like those mentioned above, fails to take the
water imagery of verses 15-17 in a consistent manner.
Further-
more Clifford points out that "nowhere in the
Bible do springs and
streams of water symbolize descendants."23
Kruger, emphasizing the distinction
between private and
common property, understands the springs/streams,
which are ac-
cessible to the public, as
symbolizing lewd women, who stand in
contrast to the son's wife, symbolized by the
privately owned cis-
tern and well. Verse 16 describes the behavior of
such lewd women
who lurk on the street corners "in search of
paramours."24
However,
this interpretation crumbles when one notices that a
second person masculine singular pronominal suffix is
attached to
"springs" in verse 16, suggesting that the springs,
whatever they
symbolize, belong to the son. Like the cistern,
well, and fountain,
they are his private property.25
Furthermore this view requires
understanding the water referred to
in verse 17 as being the pri-
vately owned water of verse
15, rather than the springs/streams of
verse 16.26 But the most natural subject
of the plural verb Uyh;yi is the
immediately preceding "streams of water" (Myima-ygel;Pa).
Others correctly see the streams as
representing the wife's
sexual capacity, but then they interpret verses 16-17
as alluding to
promiscuity. In this view the logic of verses 15-17
is as follows: The
young man should find sexual satisfaction from his
wife. Otherwise
she will become dissatisfied and vindictive and
share her sexual
favors with other men throughout the community.27
The references
to the street and public square might seem to
support this view, for
they suggest activity outside the privacy of the
home. However,
Clifford
rightly labels this view as "unlikely, for it proposes as an
everyday motive the relatively unlikely
possibility (in that culture)
of the wife's adultery."28
Furthermore, as already noted, if the lan-
guage is taken in an ironic
manner, the references to the
23 Clifford, Proverbs: A Commentary, 68.
24
Kruger, "Promiscuity or Marriage Fidelity?" 66-67.
25 Kruger emphasizes the
significance of the pronominal suffix in verses 15 and
17-18,
but he omits any reference to its appearance in verse 16 (ibid.,
66, n. 29).
26 Ibid.,
66.
27 See, for example, Nel, The Structure and Ethos of the Wisdom Admonitions
in
Proverbs, 50; R. B. Y. Scott, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Anchor Bible (
Doubleday,
1965), 58; and Roland E. Murphy, Proverbs,
Word Biblical Commentary
(Nashville: Nelson, 1998), 32.
28 Clifford, Proverbs: A Commentary, 68.
404
BIBLIOTHECA SACRA / October-December
2000
street/public square contribute
powerfully to the father's rhetorical
strategy.
VERSES
18-19a
In these verses the father concludes his motivating
argument with
a prayer of blessing for the son's wife (v. 18a).
Likening her to a
fountain (the source of the springs and streams
pictured in vv.
16-17),
he prays that she will "be blessed" (j`UrbA ... yhiy;). Though
some see this as referring to the ability to bear
children, both the
preceding and following contexts suggest that the
capacity to pro-
vide sexual pleasure is in view.29
The pronouncement of a blessing is a
highly effective rhetori-
cal device, for a blessing was not mere well-wishing,
but a powerful
and effective appeal to the sovereign God to endue
the object
blessed with special capacity and power.30
The blessing caps off the
father's argument, for it invited God into the
situation. If God re-
sponds positively to the
father's prayer (and why wouldn't He?), the
blessing gives the son additional motivation to
confine his sexual
activity to the marriage bed. It makes little
sense to seek sexual
pleasure with another woman when one's wife
possesses a special
divine endowment to satisfy one's sexual needs.
Following the jussive yhiy; at the beginning of
verse 18, the im- .
perative with the prefixed waw at the beginning of verse 18b may
be taken as an indirect volitive
indicating purpose or conse-
quence.31 When God blesses the
son's "fountain," he will derive
genuine sexual satisfaction from her.32
The
father identifies the reality behind the water-source (cis-
29 See Garrett, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs,
93, and C. H. Toy, The Book
of Proverbs, International Critical Commentary (New York:
Scribner's Sons, 1899),
114.
30 Though many believe
that blessings are rooted in a magical view of the power of
the spoken word, this seems doubtful. Blessings (as
well as curses) were a way of
invoking divine intervention. Ultimately they
depended on the divine will for ful- .,
fillment. See Christopher W.
Mitchell, The Meaning of BRK "To Bless" in
the Old
(Testament
(
pretation on the subject see
Timothy G. Crawford, Blessing and Curse in
Syro-Palestinian
Inscriptions of the Iron Age (New York: Peter Lang, 1992), 16--26.
31 See Genesis 20:7 and
the other examples cited in Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar,
325, para. 110 i.
Mitchell points out the cause-effect relationship here and cites an
Aramaic parallel. He writes, "The
wife who is blessed by God becomes a source of joy
for her husband" (The Meaning of BRK "To
Bless" in the Old Testament, 124).
32 The construction Nmi
HameWA, "get pleasure from," appears only
here and in Ecclesias-
tes 2:10, where Qoheleth observed that he derived pleasure from all his
hard work.
"Drink
Water from Your Own Cistern": A Literary Study of Proverbs 5:15-23 405
tern, well, fountain) as the "wife of your
youth,"33 whom he then
describes as being "an affectionate doe"
and "an attractive female
goat" (v. 19a). These appositional phrases mix
reality with meta-
phor, for the genitives MybihAxE) and NHe more naturally describe
the wife
than a doe or female goat. The word MybihAxE occurs only here and in
Hosea 8:9, where it refers metaphorically to
illicit "lovers." In Prov-
erbs
appropriate translation). The word 11J is used of a
"charming" (or
perhaps "kind") woman in
woman in 31:30, where it stands parallel to ypiyo, "beauty." In the
context of
("attractive" is an appropriate translation). By
comparing the son's
wife to a doe and a female goat, the father again
reveals his
awareness of his son's elemental sexual urges. By
implication the
metaphor likens the son to a buck or a male goat,
two animals well-
known for their powerful sexual drive during the
mating season.34
VERSES
19b-23
In
verse 19b the father reiterates his earlier exhortation. Building
on the drinking metaphor of verse 15, he urges his
son to be intoxi-
cated with and captivated by
his wife's love at all times.35 The He-
brew text reads hAyD,Da, "her
breasts," at the beginning of the poetic
line,36 but the form should probably be revocalized as HAyd,Do, "her
love," which forms a tighter synonymous
parallel with h.tAbAhExa, "her
love," in the following line.37 The
word MydiDo, "love,"
refers to roman-
tic, sensual love in the Song of Solomon (1:2, 4;
with the verb hvArA, "drink one's
fill, be intoxicated," in Proverbs
where the adulteress says to her lover, "Come,
let's drink our fill of
33 The phrase means
"the wife whom you married when you were young.” Usage
elsewhere suggests that a man was sometimes
tempted to divorce his first wife (Isa.
54:6;
Mal. 2:14-15). Similar expressions include "bridegroom of her youth" i.e.,
the
man to whom she was betrothed/married when she was
young, Joel 1:8), sons of
youth" (i.e., sons born to a man when he was
still young, Ps. 127:4), and "companion
of youth" (i.e., the husband a woman marries
in her youth, Prov.
whom one has known from youth, Jer.
3:4).
34 In the Song of Solomon
the young lady compared her lover to a stag who
bounded over the hills to her home and waited
longingly to enter (2:8-9, 17;
35 The prefixed verb 1~j~
is taken as a jussive expressing the father's instruction.
The
verb hG,w;Ti in the following line
is understood as an Imperfect of Instruction.
36 The word dDa, "breast," occurs only here and in Ezekiel 23:3,
8, 21.
37 The correspondence
between tfe-lcAb;, "at all
times," and dymitA
"continually,"
sug-
gests the lines are to be understood as synonymous.
406
BIBLIOTHECA SACRA / October-December
2000
love until morning."38
The father begins his motivating
argument with a rhetorical
question that challenges the son to consider the
absurdity of mari-
tal infidelity. It would
make no sense whatever for the son to seek
sexual satisfaction with a woman other than his wife
(v. 20).39
Why?
The father has already given adequate justification for mari-
tal fidelity, but he
concludes his argument with some observations
about God's moral administ