“A striking comparison is laid out in the 9th chapter of Proverbs. It begins with Wisdom, building her house. In light of what we have seen regarding the identification of Wisdom with Christ in Chapter 8, we have here a picture of the establishment of the Church and its ministry. Its table is furnished with provisions from God, like the wedding feast to which the elect are gathered. Messengers are sent forth to invite the simple to the feast, which signifies the call of the gospel to those who are perishing. Bread and wine are the staples of the banquet, pointing to the body and blood of Christ.

The picture is complete. All that is needful or desirable has been provided in advance by the Wisdom of God. Yet soon another voice is heard, inviting the simple to a rival banquet. It is the clamorous voice of the foolish woman. Matthew Henry writes, ‘Carnal sensual pleasure I take to be especially meant by this foolish woman; for that is the great enemy to virtue and inlet to vice.’ She sets herself up in competition with the Church, posing as a counterfeit. She too has a house, from which she calls to those who ‘go right on their ways.’ She holds forth ‘stolen water’ and bread, which must be eaten in secret-yet she presents them as more desirable than what God has provided, because they have been ‘liberated’ from His control.

What a poignant picture this is of Satan’s attempts to offer empty counterfeits of the perfect provisions that Christ has made for His Church-designed to appeal to the fleshly nature of man and distracting them from the way of truth.” (Comin 200-201)