Charles Ellicott Commentary Proverbs 2:16-19

"To deliver thee from the strange woman, Even from the foreigner that flattereth with her words; That forsaketh the friend of her youth, And forgetteth the covenant of her God: For her house inclineth unto death, And her paths unto the dead; None that go unto her return again, Neither do they attain unto the paths of life:" — Proverbs 2:16-19 (ASV)

Besides the literal sense of this passage, as given above, commentators have very generally found in it a spiritual meaning, a warning against idolatry and apostasy. The union of Israel to God is so frequently spoken of in the prophets under the figure of a marriage, and their rejection of Him for idols as adultery, that the passage may well bear this further sense, especially since Jeremiah (Jeremiah 3:4) has borrowed this very phrase, guide of her youth, for a passage in which he is rebuking the Jews for their faithlessness. The figure is also very common in the New Testament, describing the union of Christ and the Church.