Proverbs 2:18 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Her house inclineth unto death— Adultery was forbidden under pain of death, both of the man and woman. See Leviticus 20:10. Deuteronomy 22:22. Or otherwise the meaning may be, "Her house is a place of death to him that enters it; he will there find the death of his soul, and the loss of his innocence. It may be considered in some sort as a kind of grave, where he goes to bury himself alive. Her ways lead to hell: Unhappy he who knows her, and attaches himself to her." It is added, And her paths unto the dead: רפאים Rephaim, the giants; those first and great opposers of God, who for their execrable misdeeds were condemned to the place of darkness, See Job 26:5. Thus we are taught that the next point of wisdom is to be learned from the dear-bought experience of others; who have been ruined, body and soul, by those lewd courses to which they were enticed; and here the wise man leads us back as far as the old world, which was wholly destroyed by such villainies as men's brutal lusts and passions lead them to commit. I cannot recommend to my young readers a better comment on this subject than Mr. Ostervald's excellent Treatise on Uncleanness.