In Proverbs 5:18 what is meant by "your wife in your youth"?

Question

Please help me understand the meaning of,"your wife in your youth" in Proverbs 5:18. Thank you in advance.

NIV Proverbs 5: 15Drink water from your own cistern, running water from your own well. 16Should your springs overflow in the streets, your streams of water in the public squares? 17Let them be yours alone, never to be shared with strangers. 18May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth. 19A loving doe, a graceful deer— may her breasts satisfy you always, may you ever be intoxicated with her love. 20Why, my son, be intoxicated with another man’s wife? Why embrace the bosom of a wayward woman?

Hebrew Interlinear:

http://biblehub.com/interlinear/proverbs/5-18.htm

Answer 1

The phrase in Hebrew is אֵשֶׁת נְעוּרֶךָ, "the wife of your youth".

The entire second line of the verse is וּשְׂמַח מֵאֵשֶׁת נְעוּרֶךָ, which is usually translated "rejoice in the wife of your youth".

The use of "rejoice" for this translation is probably the closest English gets to the meaning of the Hebrew imperative שְׂמַח (smach), but "rejoice" lacks the implication of satisfaction that smach has in Hebrew usage. So the Hebrew phrase not only means "rejoice" but it also contains the imperative "be satisfied with". That is, the phrase is a double entendre.

Furthermore, the use of the preposition מֵ, (mey), "from" before "wife" rather than the usual בְ, (be) "in" with the verb smach, makes it clear that the intent of the verse is "Be satisfied with [your first wife,] the wife that you married when you were young[, and don't go looking for satisfaction in additional women]. From the vantage point of my 65 years of age I can vouch that this is in fact trustworthy advice.

Answer 2

In Proverbs 5:18 what is meant by “your wife in your youth”?

The Bible is not priggish on sexual relation, for the wise King Solomon said:

Proverbs 5:18-19 (NRSV)

18 "Let your fountain be blessed,and rejoice in the wife of your youth, 19 a lovely deer, a graceful doe. May her breasts satisfy you at all times; may you be intoxicated always by her love."

The phrase "let your fountain be blessed " refers to sexual gratification, and loving satisfaction and enjoyment that a married couple have within the marital arrangement, so King Solomon rhetorically asks:

20 "Why should you be intoxicated, my son, by another woman and embrace the bosom of an adulteress?"(Prov. 5:20 NRSV)

One should be steadfast to see life with the woman that you first married, Solomon said:

Ecclesiastes 9:9 (NASB)

9 "Enjoy life with the woman whom you love all the days of your fleeting life which He has given to you under the sun; for this is your reward in life and in your toil in which you have labored under the sun."

Military law exempted men from military service for one year ,in order to give happiness to his wife, and perhaps have a child because the husband may die in battle.

Deuteronomy 24:5 (NASB)

5 “When a man takes a new wife, he shall not go out with the army nor be charged with any duty; he shall be free at home one year and shall give happiness to his wife whom he has taken."

Answer 3

Understood allegorically, the "wife of thy youth" basically means Wisdom. Proverbs 1:6 makes clear that what follows are "dark sayings" -- i.e., parables, allegories and enigmas; those limited to literal interpretation will miss the riches Proverbs offers. Throughout Proverbs Wisdom is personified as a woman.

The wife of thy youth is contrasted with the "strange woman" (harlot) of Proverbs. In commentaries of Church Fathers the strange woman is variously interpreted as a symbol for: (1) sexual pleasure; (2) all sensual pleasure; (3) interest generally in the material world (as opposed to spiritual-mindedness); (4) secular learning; and (5) false religious doctrines.

Answer 4

Solomon had many wives. He was saying do not forget your first wives because there is a beautiful relationship there. Abraham, David, Solomon, Jacob all had multiple wives. It is a difficult argument to say Solomon who had many wives was advocating for monogamy.

Answer 5

I am a wife, once divorced after 3 years and two children due to adultery by my first husband. We ended up divorced, not through my choice, but my husband. Two years later, I married a man who had been previously married and his wife was the adulter. We lived together for 40 years, married 38, we loved each other and had a great deal of respect. He passed away in Jan2022. I started looking a year ago for someone to share the remainder of my life with. Do you think God would find any of that wicked?