9. Black and dark night. Literally, “in the pupil [of the eye] of night and darkness.” The pupil is the dark, central part of the eye. The pupil of the night evidently refers to the period of total darkness between the evening twilight and the dawn of day.
The young man erred when he thus placed himself in the way of temptation. He may have had no deliberate intention of sinning, but he took pleasure in venturing on the borders of transgression. His case is typical of that of many moral offenders today, who, while permitting indiscreet associations, have no intention of selling their soul to base lust. Suddenly they find themselves in a snare from which they seem powerless to extricate themselves. They should have positively repulsed the first prompting of evil. “Touch not; taste not; handle not” (Col. 2:21) is the only safe course to pursue in these matters. “Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall” (1 Cor. 10:12).