Beware of a Smooth Palate

The reason why thinking ability is essential in maintaining moral purity in an unclean world is that the ways of an immoral person are seductive. Solomon warns: “As a honeycomb the lips of a strange woman keep dripping, and her palate is smoother than oil.

In this proverb, the wayward person is portrayed as “a strange woman”​—a prostitute.a The words with which she seduces her victim are as sweet as comb honey and smoother than olive oil. Do not most immoral sexual advances begin this way? For example, consider the experience of an attractive 27-year-old secretary named Amy. She relates: “This man at work gives me a lot of attention and praises me at every opportunity. It feels nice to be noticed. But I can clearly see that his interest in me is strictly sexual. I am not going to be taken in by his advances.” The flattering words of a seducer or a seductress are usually attractive unless we recognize their true nature. For this we need to exercise our thinking ability.