Verses 20-23 indicate the start of a new section and stress again the importance of the precepts that follow. Solomon regarded the instruction he was giving as an expression of God's law (cf. v. 23; Ps. 109:105).
The immoral act begins with the lustful look (v. 25). That is the place to weed out the temptation, when it is still small.
"Playing with temptation is only the heart reaching out after sin."79
In verses 27-29 we have a series of physical analogies designed to illustrate spiritual cause and effect. Adultery brings inescapable punishment. One may contain the fire (v. 27) at first, but others will discover it if it continues to burn. "His clothes"(v. 27) may imply outward reputation, namely, what others see, as often in Scripture. "Touches her"is probably a euphemism for sexual intimacy (cf. Gen. 20:6; 1 Cor. 7:1).
"But sex is a normal desire, given to us by God,' some people argue. Therefore, we have every right to use it, even if we're not married. It's like eating: If you're hungry, God gave you food to eat; if you're lonely, God gave you sex to enjoy.' Some of the people in the Corinthian church used this argument to defend their sinful ways: Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods' (1 Cor. 6:13, NKJV). But Paul made it clear that the believer's body belonged to God and that the presence of a desire wasn't the same as the privilege to satisfy that desire (vv. 12-20)."80
Verses 30-35 draw another kind of comparison. Adultery is a practice everyone looks down on because it is never necessary. It is always the product of lack of self-control. It is this lack of self-restraint that seems to be the reason an unfaithful husband should not be a church elder (1 Tim. 5:6).
"The picture of the adulterer as social outcast may seem greatly overdrawn. If so, the adjustment that must be made is to say that in any healthysociety such an act is social suicide."81
