Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.
Ver. 15. Drink waters out of thine own cistern.] After other preservatives from fornication, as not to think of or speak with the harlot, not to come near the doors of her house, &c., but to consider the many mischiefs that follow upon it - a diseased body, a damned soul, a poor purse, &c. - here the wise man prescribeth wedlock as a remedy properly ordained by God for that end. 1 Corinthians 7:2 ; 1Co 7:9 And because not the having of a wife, but the loving of her keeps a man honest; therefore it follows, Pro 5:19 "Let her be as the loving hind," &c.
And running waters.] Heathen writers also set forth a wife by waters: as Hesiod a bids men not to pass over a running water without prayers to the gods - that is, not to render unto their wives due benevolence till they have sought God, as Johannes Grammaticus interprets it. A pious precept: marriage, as well as food, must be sanctified by the word and prayer, and God be called in to bless this physic to the soul. Lust makes the heart hot and thirsty: God therefore sends men to this well, to this cistern. Compare Isaiah 65:1. The Hebrews call a woman נקבה, i.e., perforata Gen 1:27
a Hesiod. in Ergis.