As a ring of gold in a swine’s snout, – What a waste of precious jewelry! Placing a ring of gold in a swine’s snout makes about as much sense as sticking a rose into a pile of dung or spreading whipped cream on a bowl of vomit. The swine is still unclean, the dung still stinks, and the vomit is still inedible.

So is a lovely woman who lacks discretion. – (This is the first instance of a direct similitude in this book.) Outward beauty is wasted on a woman devoid of inward grace, modesty, and chastity.

1. This is true in the physical realm. A harlot may apply makeup to her face and surgically enhance her body, but she is still an abomination.
2. This is true in the spiritual realm. A natural woman may adorn herself with outward religion, but she is still unjustified before God and full of death and uncleanness, hypocrisy and lawlessness (as is the man in Luke 18:9-14; Matthew 23:27f).
3. This is true in the ecclesiastical realm. False religion may be “arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls”, but it is still “the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth” (Revelation 17:4f).