He who loves pleasure will be a poor man. He who loves wine and oil won’t be rich.
Parallel Translations
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He who loves pleasure will be a poor man. He who loves wine and oil won’t be rich.
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He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man: he that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich.
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He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man; he that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich.
Cross-references (7)
Passages linked to Proverbs 21:17 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Proverbs 23:21 for the drunkard and the glutton shall become poor; and drowsiness clothes them in rags.
- 1 Timothy 5:6 But she who gives herself to pleasure is dead while she lives.
- 2 Timothy 3:4 traitors, headstrong, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
- Proverbs 5:10-11 lest strangers feast on your wealth, and your labors enrich another man’s house. You will groan at your latter end, when your flesh and your body are consumed,
- Proverbs 21:20 There is precious treasure and oil in the dwelling of the wise; but a foolish man swallows it up.
- Luke 15:13-16 Not many days after, the younger son gathered all of this together and traveled into a far country. There he wasted his property with riotous living. When he had spent all of it, there arose a severe famine in that country, and he began to be in need. He went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed pigs. He wanted to fill his belly with the husks that the pigs ate, but no one gave him any.
- Luke 16:24-25 He cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue! For I am in anguish in this flame.’ “But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that you, in your lifetime, received your good things, and Lazarus, in the same way, bad things. But here he is now comforted, and you are in anguish.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (21 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Pro 21:17 He that loveth pleasure [shall be] a…
Pro 21:17 He that loveth pleasure [shall be] a poor man: he that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich.
Ver. 17. He that loveth pleasure, &c.] Luxury is attended by beggary. Pleasure may be had, but not loved. Isaac loved venison a little better haply than he should; Esau loved hunting, hence he grew profane, and though not a beggar, yet worse. The prodigal in the gospel "spent his substance with riotous living"; {Luk 15:13} so did Apicius the Roman, who, hearing that there were seven hundred crowns only remaining of a vast estate that his father had left him, feared want, and hanged himself. {a} Marcus Livius, another goods waster, boasted when he died that he had left nothing for his heir, praeter coelum et caenum, more than air and mire. {b} Roger Ascham, schoolmaster to Queen Elizabeth, and her secretary for the Latin tongue, being too much addicted to dicing and cock fighting, lived and died a poor man. {c}
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{a} Seneca.
{b} Valer.
{c} Camden’s Elizab.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain He that loveth pleasure, that gives up himself to…
He that loveth pleasure, that gives up himself to the pursuit and enjoyment of sensual and immoderate pleasures,
shall be a poor man; takes the ready course to poverty.
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Wine and oil are put for all delicious fare and luxurious feasting; for wine and oil were much used in feasts in those parts.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain Here is an argument against a voluptuous luxurious life,…
Here is an argument against a voluptuous luxurious life, taken from the ruin it brings upon men's temporal interests. Here is 1. The description of an epicure: He loves pleasure. God allows us to use the delights of sense soberly and temperately, wine to make glad the heart and put vigour into the spirits, and oil to make the face to shine and beautify the countenance; but he that loves these, that sets his heart upon them, covets them earnestly, is solicitous to have all the delights of sense wound up to the height of pleasurableness, is impatient of every thing that crosses him in his pleasures, relishes these as the best pleasures, and has his mouth by them put out of taste for spiritual delights, he is an epicure, Ti2 3:4. 2. The punishment of an epicure in this world: He shall be a poor man; for the lusts of sensuality are not maintained but at great expense, and there are instances of those who want necessaries, and live upon alms, who once could not live without dainties and varieties. Many a beau becomes a beggar.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man,....…
He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man,.... Or "sport" (c) and pastime, music and dancing, cards and dice, hunting and hawking, and other sensual gratifications; a man that indulges himself in these things, and spends his time and his money in such a way, is very likely to be a poor man, and generally is so in the issue;
he that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich; that is, that loves them immoderately; otherwise in moderation they may be both loved and used; "wine" and "oil" are put for high living, luxurious feasts, costly entertainments; which being so, and continually made, will not suffer a man to be rich. The sense is, that an epicure, one that makes a god of his belly, that is both a winebibber and a glutton, that indulges to rich eating and drinking, in course lessens his substance, and leaves little for his heir: and this holds good with respect to spiritual as to temporal things; such persons are poor, and not rich in spiritual things, that indulge to carnal pleasure, and the gratification of their sensual appetite.
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(c) "laetitiam", Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Mercerus, Cocceius, Schultens.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Wine and oil - Delicious fare and luxurious feasting.…
Wine and oil - Delicious fare and luxurious feasting. Wine and oil were much used in feasts in those parts.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 17. He that loveth pleasure] That follows gaming,…
Verse 17. He that loveth pleasure] That follows gaming, fowling, hunting, coursing, c., when he should be attending to the culture of the fields, shall be a poor man and, I may safely add, shall be so deservedly poor, as to have none to pity him.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Pro 21:17. He that loveth pleasure — That gives…
Pro 21:17. He that loveth pleasure — That gives himself up to the pursuit and enjoyment of sensual pleasure; shall be a poor man — Takes the ready course to poverty. He that loveth wine and oil — Which were much used in feasts in those parts; that is, he that loves to feast and live delicately; shall not be rich — For the lusts of sensuality are not maintained but at a great expense.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Wine and oil - i. e., The costly adjuncts…
Wine and oil - i. e., The costly adjuncts of a princely banquet. The price of oil or precious unguent was about equal to the 300 days’ wages of a field laborer Mat 20:2. Indulgence in such a luxury would thus become the type of all extravagance and excess.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Charles Bridges 1846 · Public Domain What then? are we to have no pleasure? This…
What then? are we to have no pleasure? This were indeed to drive men from religion. Why — pleasure is the very character of the ways of God (Pro 3:17 ); pleasure infinitely more satisfying "than in the time that corn and wine increased." (Psa 4:6-7 .) Are we not, again, to rejoice in our earthly comforts? "The living God giveth us richly all things to enjoy."†1 This large flow of happiness is more than doubled by the rule of "thanksgiving." (1Ti 4:4-5 .) Yet, strange as it may seem, the way to enjoy pleasure is not to love it; to live above it;†2 to "rejoice as though we rejoiced not; to use the world, as not abusing it" (1Co 7:30-31 ); never pursuing it as our portion, or as making the happiness of an immortal being. The man, who gives his whole heart and time to the love of pleasure, and sacrifices to it all his prudence and foresight, is surely on the highroad to poverty.†3 On the same road is he that loveth wine, under the power of a "mocking delusion."†4 He that loveth oil — one of the most precious fruits of Canaan†5 — may find, that ’those who could not live without dainties came to want necessaries.’†6 But the most melancholy sight in the universe is the man, immured in the prison-house of selfishness, who sacrifices to the love of pleasure the interest of his immortal soul. Salvation is thrown away as a thing of nought.†7 Fearful indeed is the poverty, the utter, eternal ruin of this willful infatuation. "Woe unto you that are rich; for ye have received your consolation. Son! remember that thou in thy lifetime receivest thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented."†8
Youth indeed dreams of uninterrupted pleasure, and sees not the illusion of the charming perspective. But earthly joys are vain indeed. They may leave us; we must leave them. To place our happiness in this, is to build upon the wave, which rolls from under us, and plunges us into the depths of despondency.
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But the double-dealing professor asks — ’May we not combine the two pleasures of the world and religion?’ But the object of the man of God is, first to awaken, then to satisfy, a holy appetite. And for this end he knows he must separate himself from all that mixture of worldly pleasure, which, while so far from quickening or nourishing, tends utterly to quench it.
’Thrice fools are we’ — exclaims a glowing Christian — ’who, like new babes in the cradle, know not that there is a kingdom before them!’†9 What wonder, that those who know not heaven should take their portion on earth! But should not the heirs of heaven live above the love of earth, having no more sympathy with the sensual devotee; than with the pleasure of "the sow wallowing in the mire"? Mark well, then, the danger and temptation, the need of unceasing watchfulness, that in the necessary use you keep within its due measure — the heart loosened here, and fixed above. (Luk 21:34 .) For should you be growing in the love of earthly pleasure, you shall be a poor man, indeed; growing indifferent to prayer; heartless and dead to God; fancying shadows to be substance, and despising the true substance as a shadow. Heavenly pleasures will lose their sweetness, as earthly pleasures are relished. ’Certainly the more a man drinketh of the world, the more it intoxicateth.’†10 Our spiritual character is our glory. Personal holiness is indispensable to the spiritual enjoyments. Keep then ever before you, as the witness of your better experience, the emptiness†11 and bitterness†12 of the world’s pleasures, and the all-sufficiency of your real portion.†13 And shall a man’s appetite and poisoned taste, blot out these records — this solemn judgment of experience? God forbid!
Footnotes:
†1 1Ti 6:17 . Compare Ecc 2:26 ; Ecc 3:22 ; Ecc 9:7-9 .
†2 It is a fine remark of Cyprian’s — ’The greatest pleasure is to have conquered pleasure; nor is there any greater victory than that, which is gained over our own appetites.’ — De bono Pudicitiæ.
†3 Pro 21:20. The instance of the profligate, Pro 5:10-11 ; of Samson, Jdg 16:1-21 ; of the Prodigal, Luk 15:13-16 .
†4 Pro 20:1; Pro 23:21 .
†5 Deu 8:8; Deu 11:14 . Jdg 9:9 . Psa 23:5 . Mic 6:15 . Hab 3:17 .
†6 Henry in loco. Compare Isa 32:9-12 ; Isa 47:8-9 . Zep 2:15 . Rev 18:7 .
†7 Ecc 11:9. 1Ti 5:6 . 2Ti 3:4 . 1Pe 4:3-5 .
†8 Luk 6:24; Luk 16:25 . Compare Psa 17:14 .
†9 Rutherford’s Letters.
†10 Lord Bacon’s Essays.
†11 Ecc 2:11.
†12 Pro 14:13.
†13 Psa 16:5-6; Psa 17:15 ; Psa 73:25-26 .
Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs (1846) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Rich. Economy is constantly recommended. (Calmet) --- Those who…
Rich. Economy is constantly recommended. (Calmet) --- Those who squandered away their goods, were fined by the Areopagites. (Atheneus iv. 19.)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Costly luxuries impoverish.
Costly luxuries impoverish.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 17. He that loveth pleasure — “Pastime,” (Geneva,) enjoyment,…
17. He that loveth pleasure — “Pastime,” (Geneva,) enjoyment, particularly of the appetite.
A poor man — Literally, a man of want, a needy man.
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Wine and oil — Olive and other oils were used as articles of diet, and also prepared with spices and perfumed as an unguent; hence, wine and oil became emblems of luxury and delicacy. The structure of the original might lead us to read it thus: “The needy man, who is fond of enjoyment, who loves wine and oil, (luxurious and expensive living,) shall not become rich” — shall not lay up wealth. On the use of oil as an unguent, compare Psa_23:5; Psa_45:7; Deu_28:40; Rth_3:3; Mat_6:17; Mar_14:3; Luk_7:46, etc.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 17. wine and oil] “The costly adjuncts of a…
17. wine and oil] “The costly adjuncts of a princely banquet. Among these the oil, or precious unguent, was always most conspicuous (Psa_23:5; Psa_45:7, and especially Wis_2:7). And when we consider its price, the 300 denarii of Joh_12:5, the 300 days’ wages of a field labourer, (Mat_20:2), we can well understand how indulgence in such a luxury would become the type of all extravagance and excess.” Speaker’s Comm. ad loc.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (17) Wine and oil.—The accompaniments of a feast. The…
(17) Wine and oil.—The accompaniments of a feast. The oil, or precious unguents, were poured over the head (comp. Psa_23:5). It was the excessive love and gratitude of the two Marys (Luk_7:38; Joh_12:3) which prompted them to anoint the Lord’s feet. These perfumes were sometimes of great value, the “pound of ointment of spikenard” (Joh_12:3) was worth “more than three hundred pence” (£10 12s. 6d.), the wages of a day labourer (Mat_20:2) for nearly a year.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man;…
He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man; qui diligit epulas, Vulgate; for feasts are chiefly, though not exclusively, intended. He shall become "a man of want" (machesor) as Pro_11:24. He that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich. "Wine and oil" were the usual adjuncts of banquets. (Psa_23:5 Psa_104:15) Some unguents used for anointing honoured guests were very costly. The pound of spikenard expended by Mary of Bethany was worth mere than three hundred pence the wages of a labourer for nearly a whole year. (see Joh_12:3 Mat_20:2) Indulgence in such luxuries would be a token of prodigality and extravagance, which are the sure precursors of ruin; while, on the other hand, according to the trite proverb, Magnum vectigal est parsimonia. That fulness of meat and luxurious habits tend to spiritual poverty and the loss of grace, need not be insisted on. Septuagint, "A man in want (endehv ) loveth mirth, loving wine and oil unto wealth (eiv plouton )." Some translate the last words, "in abundance," as if the meaning was that the poor endeavours to mitigate the severity of his lot by getting all the pleasure he can from creature comforts however procured. Others think that a negative has fallen out of the Greek, which should be, "not unto wealth," i.e. he shall not be enriched thereby.
The love of pleasure.
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The love of pleasure is here described as a cause of poverty. No doubt this was meant to refer to physical destitution. But we cannot fail to see many other forms of poverty resulting from the same foolish infatuation.
I IT IMPOVERISHES A MAN"S PURSE. This direct meaning of the text is not without its valise. No man desires to come down in the social scale and to lose the comforts of life. But least of all will the pleasure lover welcome such a prospect. High minded, unselfish, unworldly men submit to the loss of all things, and "count them but dung" for the sake of some noble cud. The pleasure lover is not of this category. To him earthly loss must be a terrible infliction. Therefore, while the text may be of use for all, it is a direct argumentum ad hominem for such a person, Now, experience proves the truth of it.
1. For pleasure a man neglects his business. In the present day of hard competition such folly is fatal.
2. Many pleasures are costly. Thy cannot be had without great expenditure, and the passion for them leads to reckless extravagance.
3. Some pleasures destroy the business powers of a man. They are literally dissipations. Brain and nerves are weakened, and the degraded slave of self-indulgence becomes a wreck, unable to fight the stern battle of life. The drunkard is incompetent. The dissolute man is lacking in business promptness and energy. Other men will not trust the pleasure seeker, and so business forsakes him.
4. There are pleasures the, directly impoverish. Gambling now so fearfully prevalent is a direct road to poverty.
II IT IMPOVERISHES A MAN"S INTELLECT. Even though the pleasure seeker be prudent enough to preserve his fortune from shipwreck, or so exceedingly wealthy that he cannot easily squander all iris possessions, lie may and he will impoverish himself. Though he may always have money in his purse, his own mind will be emptied of all worthy possessions. The love of pleasure directly weakens the intellect. The physical effect of dissipation impoverishes the brain. The exciting distractions of a life of gayety destroy the powers of deep, continuous thinking. The mind is thus wasted away in frivolity. The pleasure seeker will not have patience to study solid literature, to think out great truths, to discuss with serious men grave questions of life and death. Exciting novels and plays will be his staple intellectual food, and the result will be mental ruin.
III IT IMPOVERISHES A MAN"S HEART. The pleasure seeker is often supposed to he a good-natured man because he is a genial companion. No doubt in any loose-living, self-indulgent men have shown great generosity to their friends. But that is because they are not given up to pure pleasure seeking. In itself pleasure seeking is selfish, hard, cruel. The Romans of the old empire made a fine art of the cultivation of pleasure, and they became monsters of cruelty. The tortures of the amphitheatre furnish, d them with the most exquisite delights. Pleasure-loving Roman ladies treated their poor slave girls with heartless cruelty. It is a gross mistake to suppose that kindliness goes with pleasure seeking, and that its opposite is a sour, ill-natured Puritanism.
IV IT IMPOVERISHES A MAN"S SOUL. The greatest loss is not that of money, nor even that of thought or heart. The chief treasure which the pleasure lover loses is the pearl of great price the kingdom of heaven. He may gain the whole world, but he loses his own soul. Pleasure seeking destroys the spiritual faculties. It is not required that the Christian should be an ascetic, denying himself innocent delights, nor is it to be supposed that all pleasures are evil. The evil is the love of pleasure. Even the love of pleasures that are innocent in themselves may be the rock on which a soul is ruined, if this be the supreme passion of that soul, eclipsing the love of God.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man.
Pro_21:17
He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man.
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The love of pleasure
Here is the secret of the failure of nine-tenths of our unsuccessful young men. They loved pleasure and gave themselves up to its pursuit, and so they have never got on, and never will. When poverty comes as the result of idleness and sloth and self-indulgence, it is both a curse and a shame. Poverty is, of course, a relative term. A leading business man says that only three out of every hundred who enter upon mercantile life become ultimately successful. The failures are largely due to causes that are within the young mens own control. Some young men fail through trying to acquire money by any other means than good honest work; and when a young fellow once gets on this line of rail you may say he is done for. Some remain poor because they lack business capacity. Others fail through sheer downright laziness; others through mistaking their calling, others through instability or lack of originality and enterprise. Some through extravagant sanguineness and boastfulness. What does the wise man mean by pleasure? We are all so constituted that the love of happiness is both a necessity of our nature and a positive duty. There is no truer index of character than the kind of object or pursuit that affords us our intensest pleasure. The word pleasure is often used in the Bible in a distinctly evil sense, as denoting voluptuousness and carnality. The text reads in the margin He that loveth sport shall be a poor man. Certain forms of sport in moderation are perfectly legitimate. But incalculable mischief is being wrought amongst our young men by a too great fondness for sports and amusements. The inordinate craving for excitement has much to do with the ruin of some young men. It has been the same in every age, but we should have learned more wisdom by this time of day. (Thain Davidson, D. D.)
Self-indulgence source of poverty
Self-indulgence is prevalent amongst all classes.
I. It involves an extravagance of expenditure. Pleasure is an expensive divinity. The largest fortunes must often be laid upon its altar.
II. It involves a fostering of laziness. The self-indulgent man becomes such a lover of ease that effort of any kind becomes distasteful; the spirit of industry forsakes him. He that loveth pleasure, shall be a poor man; he that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich. But whilst it is true that self-indulgence leads to material poverty, it also leads to intellectual poverty. The man who would get his soul strong in holy resolves and righteous principles must agonise to enter in at the strait gate of habitual reflection, holy labour and earnest worship. This the self-indulgent man will not do. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
Moderation in pleasure
Let not your recreations be lavish spenders of your time; but choose such which are healthful, short, transient, recreative, and apt to refresh you; but at no period dwell upon them, or make them your great employment; for he that spends his time in sports, and calls it recreation, is like him whose garment is all made of fringes, and his meat nothing but sauces: they are healthless, chargeable, and useless. And, therefore, avoid such games which require much time or long attendance, or which are apt to steal thy affections from more severe employments. For, to whatsoever thou hast given thy affections, thou wilt not grudge to give thy time. Natural necessity teaches us that it is lawful to relax and unbend our bow, but not to suffer it to be unready or unstrung. (Jeremy Taylor.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain "He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man:…
CHAPTER 22
WINE
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"He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man: He that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich."- Pro_21:17
THE Septuagint translation has an interesting addition to the proverb in Pro_12:2. After "He that tilleth his land shall have plenty of bread, but he that followeth after vain persons is void of understanding," it adds, "He who is sweet in pastimes of wine-drinking shall have dishonor in his strongholds." Drinking is the natural opposite of hard and honest work. When the love of it takes possession of a man he is sure to become a useless and unproductive member of society. A drunken people are in the end an incapable people; their wealth declines, their industries pass over to soberer rivals, their qualities of brain and muscle gradually disappear. This is partly owing to the deterioration of mind and body which results from the excessive use of stimulants; but it is still more due to a wider cause: drinking in all its branches is indulged in as a pleasure. Why do we not admit it? why do we always try to present it in another light, saying that it is for healths sake, by a doctors orders; or for works sake, by a proved necessity? Is it not that we are secretly conscious of taking the drink because we like it? We know it is a self-indulgence, and we are a little ashamed of it; and as self-indulgence is always fatal in the long run to all the habits and activities which men very properly honor, we should dearly like to screen it under a decent pretext which might preserve our self-respect. We know quite well that "he that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man; he that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich." {Pro_21:17} Drinking is after all only a pronounced symptom of a large vice -self-indulgence.
A great step is taken when we have learnt to quietly and candidly face this fact: we drink, as a society, as a nation, -each of us drinks in public or in private, -simply because it is pleasant. It is a habit governed by one supreme and absolute law-we like it. We know quite well that alcohol is not a food; that is proved by the most irrefragable scientific evidence; and if in alcoholic drinks there are certain nutritive elements, we could if we chose secure the benefit of them without any admixture of alcohol. We know that in many cases the alcohol is actually deleterious, that it produces specific and very terrible diseases, that it lowers the tone of the whole system and makes us liable to all kinds of secondary troubles. We may urge that alcohol is a medicine, and a useful medicine; but it is not as a medicine we use it. If a doctor prescribes castor-oil, or quinine, we throw aside the medicine on the first opportunity, often before it has done its work. Alcohol is the only medicine which we continue to take for a lifetime because the doctor prescribed it for a month. Would it not be better then to clear our minds of cant, and to set the whole matter on its right basis? Intoxicants are drunk as a form, as the most universal form, of self-indulgence. In some mysterious way, for some mysterious reasons which we cannot fathom, they gratify an instinctive appetite, they are naturally and generally attractive, they exercise a spell over the physical system. If the taste is, as some people say, acquired, it was acquired by mankind in prehistoric times, and is part of our inherited constitution as men. For instance, Mr. Gaule, a police-court missionary in Birmingham, relates a recent experience, one out of many in his fourteen years of labor. A young married woman, twenty-eight years of age, died a shocking death from drinking. Up to the age of twenty-six she had been a teetotaler, and did not know what the taste of drink was. She was a leading member of the Gospel Temperance Mission, and sang the solos at the meetings. Then she was taken ill, the doctor ordered brandy, and it proved like the first taste of blood to a tame tiger. She could never again be kept from it, and at last it killed her. The craving there must have been in the very blood.
We have a taste for these intoxicants, latent or realized. The stimulating influence is pleasant, the narcotic influence is pleasant. The immediate effect on the body is pleasant, the immediate effect on the mind is pleasant. Drink produces a sense of great self-satisfaction, promotes a flow of conversation and a feeling of good-fellowship; it quickens at first several of our mental faculties; it excites the imagination, and carries its devotee far away from the actual, which is painful and harassing, into a kind of ideal world, which is cheerful and agreeable. So powerful is its temporary influence that in the words of King Lemuel "there is positively a recommendation to give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto the bitter in soul; let him drink and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more." {Pro_31:6-7} An injunction which must not of course be mistaken for a Divine precept, but only for a reminder of the fact-a fact which may be observed without any moral judgment being passed upon it-that while men who require all their mental and moral faculties to be in full activity {Pro_31:4-5} must eschew the use of intoxicating drinks, the dying, the despairing, the very poor and miserable, may find a certain relief in drinking. Men who are in the enjoyment of health, and wish to discharge effectively the days duties, have no excuse for the employment of an agent which only serves to lull the mind into forgetfulness and to reduce the pain of consciousness to the lowest possible point.
Strange to say, while men are thus naturally inclined to use intoxicants, nature has been most lavish in pandering to their tastes. There are trees in tropical climates which have but to be gashed, and an intoxicating juice flows out, ready at once for use. Almost every natural juice ferments if it is left alone. The palm-tree, the potato plant, the sugar cane, beet-root, the cereals, as well as the grape, yield readily these intoxicating drinks, at a surprisingly low cost. Very little human labor is needed, very simple apparatus will suffice, so that a very few enterprising firms can deluge a whole continent with fiery intoxicants.
We drink because we like it, -not for our good, as we pretend, but for our pleasure, as we are half ashamed to confess. The taste is natural to us, - natural to savages, natural to civilized men, natural, so far as we know, to men of all climates and all races. And nature has made it singularly easy to gratify the taste.
Now one might almost suppose that the conclusion to be drawn would be, "Let us drink, let us take this element as a good gift of God." And that was the feeling of more primitive times. In the Vedas, for instance, Indra is praised as reeling with the intoxicating Soma which his worshippers have offered to him; drunkenness is regarded as a kind of inspiration. But no; as Wisdom asserts herself, and demands a hearing, she more and more decisively classes this taste for intoxicants with certain other tastes which are natural to us, but none the less dangerous; and she treats the bountiful provision which nature has made for the gratification of the taste as one of those innumerable temptations with which men in this present life are surrounded, -in conflict with which they prove their manhood, -by victory over which they acquire strength of moral principle and consistency in virtue.
As the reason within gathers power and authority, and as her clear light is replenished by the revelation of Divine Wisdom, all the spurious attractions of drinking are weakened, the glamour is destroyed, and the truth is recognized that "wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and whosoever erreth thereby is not wise"; {Pro_20:1} more and more it appears that the power of wine is the power of the animal within us, and that the widespread influence of it is a sign that the animal within us dies slowly; we learn to measure the growth of reason by the degree of mastery which has been obtained over the low appetite; and we understand that striking antithesis of the New Testament religion, "Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit."
The way then in which we are brought to look at the drink question is this: here is a powerful natural temptation, a seduction which nature herself offers to the body, a foe which always has a traitor in collusion with it inside the assaulted citadel. This enemy is ingenious in its argumentation: it approaches usually under the guise of a friend; it says-and not without truth-that it comes to give pleasure to poor harassed and toil-worn mortals; it persuades them that it is a wholesome food, and when that contention is shattered it would have them believe that it is a medicine. When it has gained an entrance into the fortress, by fair means or foul, it at first proceeds very dociley, and seems to justify its presence by numberless obvious benefits. Sometimes it will successfully hide all the evil it is working, as if its purpose were to beguile new victims and to acquire a more unbounded sway over the old.
As religious men, as spiritual beings, whom God claims to become His children, we are called upon to face this subtle, powerful, and all-persuasive foe. We are to do our best to understand its ways-we look to science to help us and to teach us. We are then to take every weapon within our reach to resist its approach, argument, persuasion, entreaty; we are to lose no opportunity of unveiling the tactics of the foe, and rousing those who are imperiled to a sense of their danger; then as Christian citizens we are bound to use all the influence we possess to hold this terrible natural temptation within the straightest limits, and to fortify all the powers of resistance in our fellow-men to the highest possible degree.
In such a crusade against the enemy of our race, few things are more effectual than a vivid and accurate delineation of the effects which drink produces-such a delineation, for instance, as that which is given in Pro_23:29-35. Let us proceed to examine this remarkable passage.
"Whose is woe? Whose is woe?" asks the Teacher. Who is it whose constant and appropriate language is that of lamentation-the piteous cry of pain, the agonized exclamation of remorse? "Whose are contentions?" Who is it that lives in an atmosphere of perpetual strife and loud quarrellings? "Whose is groaning?"-that sustained sigh of desponding and irremediable misery. "Whose are causeless wounds?"-not only the bruise and the gash which result from furious sparrings or unforeseen falls, but also wounds of the spirit, self-loathing and shame, the thought of what might have Lees, the realization of a ruined home, and of suffering wife and little ones, and the conviction that the evil can now never be undone. "Whose is the darkling of the eyes?" Who is it whose eyes have that horrible inflamed, lack-luster look, which is the exact opposite of the light and clearness and sparkle proper to the human eye?
The answer to these questions is given in a sentence, "Theirs who tarry over the wine, theirs who go to try the mixture." It is not of course suggested that all who drink wine, nor even all who take it habitually, fall into the horrible condition which has just been described; this condition is the result of lingering over the drink, spending hours in tippling, devoting time and thought to tasting various brands and samples, becoming a connoisseur of strong beverages, allowing the subject to occupy an appreciable proportion of ones time. It is not the use, but the abuse, of the thing which in this passage is reprobated. But now we are reminded of the great difficulty which occurs in distinguishing between the use and the abuse. There is no sharply-defined limit. There is no mechanical monitor which at once reminds us, "Here use ceases and abuse begins." Almost the only rule that can be given is, that whenever the cup seems in the least degree attractive, then danger is near and it is necessary to abstain. "Look not on wine when it reddens, when it gives its gleam in the cup; it goes down so smoothly!" It is the peculiarity of this substance that it can only be taken safely when it has comparatively no attractions, when it is taken under orders, and as it were against the grain. If it is really pleasant to us, we can never tell where the pleasantness melts into a dangerous fascination, where the color and the sparkle and the agreeable tingle which make it pass so easily down the throat have become the lure and the spell of a poisonous reptile. For this pleasant indulgence, which seems to be perfectly innocent, what is the issue of it? "Its end-like a serpent it bites, and like a basilisk it stings." One evil result of it is that it rouses into perilous activity the dormant passions; even pure men and women under this potent influence become impure. The eyes which are excited with wine will turn readily to loose and degraded women. The fall which might have been easily avoided in a state of sobriety will be inevitable when the reason is silenced, the will enfeebled, and the desire inflamed by this seductive poison.
Another evil effect is that the sense of truth entirely disappears. What a misleading maxim is that of the Romans, In vino veritas! While it is a fact that the intoxicated man will blab many things which were best kept concealed, there is nothing which deteriorates truthfulness so rapidly as the use of alcohol. The drinker becomes crafty and deceitful and untrustworthy. The miserable brain is haunted with chimaeras, the imperious appetite suggests all kinds of subterfuges and evasions, the very "heart speaks frauds." Yes, nothing could be more accurate than this: the effect of drink is not so much to make the lips lie, as to make the inner man essentially insincere and deceptive. No man admits that he is a drunkard, even to his own heart; long after all his friends know it, and are beginning to despair of him, even when he has had several attacks of delirium tremens and is a confirmed dipsomaniac, the most he will allow is that he has sometimes taken a little more than is good for him, but so very little seems to upset him. Ah, "thine heart shall utter froward things," i.e., frauds. Everyone who has had any dealings with the miserable victims of drink will sorrowfully confirm this statement.
The insecurity of the habit is incredible. It leads to the destruction of every faculty which God has mercifully given us to protect us from danger and guide us through life. The ready perception of things is marred, the quick rallying of the attention is delayed, the exercise of the understanding is prevented, the will is paralyzed, the conscience dies. "Thou shalt be as he who lieth down in the heart of the sea,"-as one in a calenture who strides into the merciless waves under the impression that he is walking on flowery meadows. Thou shalt be "as he that goeth to bed on the masts head,"-where the position is precarious even if the sea be perfectly calm, but becomes sure destruction if the winds awake and the ship begins to climb large billows and to plunge down into their unquiet troughs. And then, worst of all, when there is a temporary recovery from this abominable state of drunkenness, and the feeble wails of repentance begin to be heard, what can be more disconnected-more futile-more abject-more irrational than his words? "They have smitten me," he says; "I have not been sick,"-as if forsooth he were the victim of some violence offered to him by others, instead of being the author of his own stripes; as if he were quite right and well, and the disease were not deep in his own passion-haunted heart. "They have stricken me," he continues to whine, "I have not known it." Footpads have attacked him, he would have us believe, and that is the explanation of his begrimed and blood-smeared face, his torn clothes, and his empty pockets. "When shall I awake?" he mutters, as the swimming sensation in the head, and the unsteady stagger in his step, remind him that he is not quite himself. And then-is it possible? Yes, his next remark is, I will seek it again. I will go and get another drink. His miserable mind, the victim and the mint of lies, having persuaded him that all the mischief came from some cause other than himself, and had nothing to do with the one degrading habit which really produced it, he proposes at once to seek the very agent which is his undoing, to heal his intoxication by getting drunk again.
This vivid and forcible picture of the miserable sufferings, the contemptible vices, and the helpless bondage which result from intoxicating drink is all the more impressive because there is no attempt made to enforce total abstinence as a principle. If, however, it is duly considered and understood, it is very likely to produce total abstinence as a practice, just as the object lesson of the drunken helot led every Spartan youth to turn with unspeakable loathing from the imbruting vice. Modest minds, observing how the mighty are fallen, how this one cause has ruined the strongest, the best, and the most attractive of their fellow-creatures, insidiously leading them on, mocking them, and luring them into dangerous and poisonous marshes, will be inclined to say, as Daniel said, "I will abstain; I may be safe or I may not; if I am safe all I gain is a certain amount of animal pleasure; if I am not, what I lose is health, honor, wealth, even life itself, -not the body only, but the soul too." The gain from the use of these things is very measurable and insignificant; the loss from their abuse is immeasurable, and the passage from use to abuse escapes at once our Observation and control.
But, after all, wisdom urges temperance in drinking only as a part of a much larger principle. If temperance in drinking stands alone and unconnected with this larger principle, it is a blessing of a very doubtful kind, so doubtful indeed that the pharisaism, the intolerance, the dogmatism, which are able to subsist with "Temperance" in the limited sense, have often been the most serious hindrance to temperance in its larger and nobler meaning.
It is the desire of pleasure which is at the root of the mischief: "He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man." Men are "lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God." The appetites which are natural to us hold undisputed sway, they are fleshly; the great spiritual appetites, which are supernatural, are quite feeble and inoperative. Men ask for that which is pleasant, and even when they become religious it is only to obtain pleasure, a greater and a more lasting pleasure; thus there is an intemperance, which we call fanaticism, even in religious beliefs and in religious practices. But what men need is that the desire of God, for His own sake, should be so inflamed in them as to burn up all other desires. And this desire can only be created by His Holy Spirit. The competing and manifold desires of pleasure can only be mastered and expelled when that great, absorbing, and embracing desire of God has been securely settled in the human heart by the Holy Spirit. True temperance is really one of the nine fold fruits of the Spirit, and is of little value, a mere spurious product, unless it is accompanied by love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and meekness. Such passages as we have been considering in the book of Proverbs may give us a wholesome horror and hatred of drunkenness, and may even lead us to a prudential temperance-they may even make us as sober as pious Mohammedans or Buddhists; but if we are to become really temperate a higher power must intervene, we must be "born of the Spirit." Is it not remarkable how nothing short of the highest remedy-the new birth-is effectual for curing even the slightest of human infirmities and sins?
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain Pro_21:5. Thoughts, rather the counsels, the calculatings.
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Pro_21:5. Thoughts, rather the counsels, the calculatings.
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Pro_21:6. Vanity tossed to and fro. Rather a fleeting breath. The Hebrew word hebel, here translated vanity, means rapour.
Pro_21:7. Robbery, or violence, rapacity.
Pro_21:8. Zöckler translates the first clause of this verse, “Crooked is the way of the guilty man.” Fausset remarks that the Hebrew word ish (man) expresses a man once good; froward implies his perversity, by having left the good way. Right, i.e., direct, straightforward.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_21:5; Pro_21:7; Pro_21:17
TWO ROADS TO WEALTH
I. The most likely road to lead to wealth.
1. Thoughtful diligence as opposed to thoughtless haste. We have before considered the necessity of thought before action (see on chap. Pro_20:18), and the same idea is conveyed in the use of the first noun here (see Critical Notes). But although it is wise and necessary to think before we act, thinking must only be preparatory to action, and must not take its place. It is good for a man to make a good plan of his house before he begins to build; but a house on paper only will not shelter him from the winter storms. It is advisable for the captain to study his chart well before he embarks upon his voyage, but if he does no more he will never reach the desired port. So it is good for a man to take counsel with himself and others before he sets out upon the voyage of commercial life—before he begins to build for a competency or a fortune; but after the thought and with the thought there must be action, and there must be painstaking and persevering action. He must not be all eagerness to-day and indifference to-morrow—he must not work hard this week and neglect his business next week;—such a man may get rich by a mere chance speculation or by a dishonest act, but, apart from all higher considerations, it is not the best road, because it is not the most likely road. No doubt there are men who have made their fortunes by short cuts—by what is called luck, or by craft and robbery—but these are the exceptions, and the way of diligent perseverance is the one by which riches are generally gotten.
2. Self-denial as opposed to self-indulgence. “He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man: he that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich” (Pro_21:17). He who spends in self-indulgence as fast as he earns will be always poor. The lover of pleasure and luxury will not be a lover of hard work, and as we have just seen, it is that alone by which most men grow rich. And the extravagant and idle man will not be very likely to keep within his means, and to confine himself to honest ways of making money. And both these roads are roads which lead in the end to ruin. It is not likely that Solomon here refers to any poverty except material poverty. But it is also true that no man whose heart is set upon the gratification of his own selfish desires—whose life is one of self-indulgent ease—can ever be rich in the only true and lasting riches. He must always be in poverty as to character, as to intellectual wealth, and as to the gratitude and respect of those whom he might bless with his riches. “If, therefore, ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man’s (or another’s), who shall give you that which is your own?” Luk_16:11-12). He is a poor man who has nothing but what he must leave behind him when he leaves the world. The greatest millionaire has nothing he can call his own if he has not a godly character.
II. The only blessed road to wealth, viz., the way of truth as opposed to lying, the way of honesty as opposed to dishonesty. We need not consider these sins separately, for they are inseparable in human character and conduct. The liar is a thief, for by his tongue he cheats men of their rights, and the thief lies in action as well as in word. Solomon does not say that thieves and liars shall not grow rich. As a matter of fact they often do, and leave far behind them in their race those who are plodding slowly on in the path of honest diligence. But he looks to the end of such a way of making money, and of those who so make it. It often vanishes like a vapour (see Critical Notes), while the man who made it still lives. One falsehood leads to another, and a little dishonesty bringing success leads to another and another, each one on a larger scale, until the bubble becomes too thin, and it bursts and all is gone. But if the rogue keeps his fortune till the last—if he meets death a rich man, and is buried with all the pomp of wealth,—retribution awaits him before the tribunal of a righteous God. He sought death and destruction while he lived, and he found it even here;—destruction of character and spiritual death, and he who here “refused to do judgment” goes to meet his judge a morally self-ruined man—one whose spiritual deathblow has been dealt by his own hand. (On this subject see also Homiletics on chap. Pro_13:11, page 306.)
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Pro_21:5. Haste may have much of diligence in the temperament. But as indolence is its defect, this is its excess, its undisciplined impulse. The hand too often goes before, and acts without the judgment. Hence our English philosopher wisely counsels us—“not to measure dispatch by the times of sitting, but by the advancement of the business.” A wise man had it for a bye-word, when he saw men hasten to a conclusion—“Stay a little that we may make an end the sooner.” To choose time is to save time, and an unreasonable motion is but “beating the air.” The heavenly race is not to be run by so many heats, but by a steady course. “Run,” not with haste or speed, but “with patience the race set before us.” (Heb_12:1.) The seed springing up in haste withered. (Mat_13:20-21.)—Bridges.
Pro_21:6. They seek death because they not only walk in the way to it, but run and fly with post haste as if they were afraid they should come too late or that hell would be full before they got thither. Thus Balaam’s ass never carries him fast enough after the wages of wickedness. Set but a wedge of gold before Achan, and Joshua that could stop the sun in his course, cannot stay him from fingering of it. Judas, in selling his Master, what he doth, doth quickly.—Trapp.
Treasures; literally stores; from a root to shut up. “Tongue;” standing for all instruments of labour (see comment on chap. Pro_12:6). “Lying;” not telling lies in the worldly sense, for, so put, decent sinners would miss the signification, but lying in that high sense in which the most honest worldling may fill the portrait. “Tongue;” just coincident with fact, is of the haste of the last verse; that untrue uttering of thought against conviction in one’s self, and, therefore, hardly to be dreamed of as spared by the Most High. Stores got by this lying career of business may seem solid, because they may be whole blocks of granite in some fire-proof square mile of street; and yet as to their possession the wise man employs a singularly intensive figure. They are driven breath! Surely he will pause at that! But no! They are driven breath as of men chasing after death!… The meaning is, that the hot breath of a man rushing to his doom is like the money made by the deceived impenitent. First, it is utterly perishable; second, it betokens the speed; and third, the voluntary rush to get himself to ruin.—Miller.
And forget not what the “lying tongue” includes—that he is chargeable with the evil who pretends, in any way, to be what he is not, to have what he has not, not to have what he has, to have said what he has not said, or to have done what he has not done, or not to have said and done what he has said and done; who tries to gain an end by any word, or act, or look, or even by silence and concealment designed to convey a false impression—by any means whatever not in harmony with honest truth—with “simplicity and godly sincerity.” This, says Solomon, “is a vanity tossed to and fro of them that seek death.” It is a “vanity;” inasmuch as it involves both folly and sin—the folly being made evident in ultimate detection, exposure, shame, and loss—loss of character, loss of confidence, and many a time loss of even what the falsehood had acquired. It is “tossed to and fro.” Men learn it from one another. The man who has been imposed upon retaliates—he has no satisfaction until he has succeeded in duping him by whom he has himself been taken in, in practising on him an equal or a better trick. It is practised with little thought—with the vanity of a light and inconsiderate mind—and laughed at, in many instances, when it proves successful, instead of engendering remorse. Success produces a hundred imitators: and the cheats and the dupes are successively reversed, the dupe becoming in his turn the cheat, and the cheat the dupe.—Wardlaw.
Pro_21:17. Self-indulgence is not human happiness; it is a delirium, not a delight. It is a mere titillation of the dying nerves, not a Divine thrill of our imperishable sensibilities and powers. Its music is the notes of a maniac, not the strains of a seraph.—David Thomas.
He may be rich secularly. For here is a proverb that on earth has but a partial verity. But now, spiritually it is as settled as the heavens. “He that loveth his life shall lose it” (Joh_12:25). A man cannot scale heaven for its “wine.” Unless a man gets higher objects than himself, he cannot see the kingdom of God. And, therefore, it is literally true that the wealth that the soul attains is never made by the very most feverish desire to escape, or by the very most impassioned thirst for the mere joy of heaven. “Man;” the higher name for man. He may be ever so skilful.… “Loving;” not, if it loves, but because it loves. It is no harm to love happiness; but it cannot be in loving it, or because we love it, that we can create everlasting riches.—Miller.
Strange as it may seem, the way to enjoy pleasure is not to love it; to live above it; to “rejoice as though we rejoiced not; to use the world, as not abusing it” (1Co_7:30-31); never pursuing it as our portion, or as making the happiness of an immortal being. The man who gives his whole heart and time to the love of pleasure, and sacrifices to it all his prudence and foresight, is surely on the highroad to poverty. On the same road is he that loveth wine, under the power of a “mocking delusion.” He that loveth oil—one of the most precious fruits of Canaan—may find, that “those who could not live without dainties came to want necessaries.”—Bridges.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain v. 17. He that loveth pleasure, the delights of…
v. 17. He that loveth pleasure, the delights of costly luxuries, shall be a poor man; he that loveth wine and oil, perfumed oil used as a cosmetic, shall not be rich, for his property and earnings will be squandered for useless baubles and dangerous luxuries.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 is ransom for
is ransom for
The word "ransom" is a metaphor for one person who takes the place of another person. Here the person who does what is wrong is punished instead of the person who does what is right. (See: Metaphor)
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the treacherous
a person who harms those who trust him by lying and otherwise dealing falsely
upright people
"righteous people" or "honest people" or "just people"
translationWords
love
wine
oil
evil
ransom
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 21:17 The expenses of wine and luxury prevent people…
21:17 The expenses of wine and luxury prevent people from amassing their resources—they spend rather than save.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.