If they (sinners) say, “Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood; let us wantonly ambush the innocent;
Here, in verse 11, the sinner directly offers, presumably, an enticement previously mentioned in verse 10. The offer here is a sin, not of passion, but of planning. The enticement appeals to the child’s instinct for thrills. For violence, money, power and comradeship. (a). All of these aspects are, to some extent, good virtuous instincts. However, they are misplaced, particularly when considering the subject they are planned against in the second half of the verse. “Let us wait” says the sinner, let us make a plan to commit a sin and then follow through with it. The verse continues and tells us who the sin is committed against; it is against an innocent person. The second part of the verse also states that the sinner is waiting to ambush the innocent subject. Therefore, to some degree the innocent person is helpless against the attack. As the attack is designed to be sprung on them when they are not suspecting it. Also note, that the enticement can be made by yourself to yourself, for after all, you are a sinner as well. Cf Romans 3:23; see also Romans 3:10–12. The enticement is one of waiting and planning to commit a sin against an innocent and helpless person.
It can be assumed that this verse is a trope for a type of sinful enticement that sinners may make. The next three verses will outline other types of enticing offers the sinner offers to the author’s child. Rather than depicting a crime of passion or an isolated moral slip, this trope defines wrongdoing through specific characteristics.
(a). Goldingay, John E. “Proverbs.” New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition, edited by D. A. Carson et al., 4th ed., Inter-Varsity Press, 1994, p. 587.
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