Proverbs 1:10

The general counsel of Pro 1:9 is here followed by a more special warning: My son, if sinners entice thee Consent thou not. The בּני (Note: The accent Pazer over the בּני has the force of Athnach.) (my son) is emphatically repeated. The intensive from חטּאים (signifies men to whom sin has become a habit, thus vicious, wicked. פּתּה (Pi. of פּתה, to open) is not denom., to make or wish to make a פּתי; the meaning, to entice (harmonizing with πείθειν), פּתּה obtains from the root-meaning of the Kal, for it is related to it as pandere (januam) to patere: to open, to make accessible, susceptible, namely to persuasion. The warning 10b is as brief as possible a call of alarm back from the abyss. In the form תּבא (from אבה, to agree to, to be willing, see Wetstein in Job, p. 349) the preformative א is wanting, as in תּמרוּ, Sa2 19:14, cf. Psa 139:20, Ges. 68, 2, and instead of תּבה (= תּאבה, Kg1 20:8) is vocalized not תּבא (cf. Pro 11:25), but after the Aram. תּבא (cf. יגלי); see Gen 26:29, and Comment. on Isaiah, p. 648; Gesen. 75, 17.

Here Solomon gives another general rule to young people, in order to their finding out, and keeping in, the paths of wisdom, and that is to take heed of the snare of bad company. David's psalms begin with this caution, and so do Solomon's proverbs; for nothing is more destructive, both to a lively devotion and to a regular conversation (Pro 1:10): "My son, whom I love, and have a tender concern for, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not." This is good advice for parents to give their children when they send them abroad into the world; it is the same that St. Peter gave to his new converts, (Act 2:40), Save yourselves from this untoward generation. Observe, 1. How industrious wicked people are to seduce others into the paths of the destroyer: they will entice. Sinners love company in sin; the angels that fell were tempters almost as soon as they were sinners. They do not threaten or argue, but entice with flattery and fair speech; with a bait they draw the unwary young man to the hook. But they mistake if they think that by bringing others to partake with them in their guilt, and to be bound, as it were, in the bond with them, they shall have the less to pay themselves; for they will have so much the more to answer for. 2. How cautious young people should be that they be not seduced by them: "Consent thou not; and then, though they entice thee, they cannot force thee. Do not say as they say, nor do as they do or would have thee to do; have no fellowship with them." To enforce this caution, I. He represents the fallacious reasonings which sinners use in their enticements, and the arts of wheedling which they have for the beguiling of unstable souls. He specifies highwaymen, who do what they can to draw others into their gang, Pro 1:11-14. See here what they would have…

1:10-19 The father warns his child not to join a gang of sinners in their plan to pounce on the innocent, for their evil actions will rebound on themselves (see 28:10; Pss 9:15; 35:8). The evil way is a path of violence and robbery.