Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes?
Parallel Translations
-
Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes?
-
Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?
-
Who crieth: 'Woe'? who: 'Alas'? who hath contentions? who hath raving? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (13)
Passages linked to Proverbs 23:29 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Ephesians 5:18 Don’t be drunken with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit,
- 1 Samuel 25:36-37 Abigail came to Nabal; and behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. Nabal’s heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk. Therefore she told him nothing until the morning light. In the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone.
- 2 Samuel 13:28 Absalom commanded his servants, saying, “Mark now, when Amnon’s heart is merry with wine; and when I tell you, ‘Strike Amnon,’ then kill him. Don’t be afraid. Haven’t I commanded you? Be courageous, and be valiant!”
- Proverbs 23:21 for the drunkard and the glutton shall become poor; and drowsiness clothes them in rags.
- Isaiah 5:11 Woe to those who rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink, who stay late into the night, until wine inflames them!
- Isaiah 5:22 Woe to those who are mighty to drink wine, and champions at mixing strong drink;
- Isaiah 28:7-8 They also reel with wine, and stagger with strong drink. The priest and the prophet reel with strong drink. They are swallowed up by wine. They stagger with strong drink. They err in vision. They stumble in judgment. For all tables are completely full of filthy vomit and filthiness.
- Luke 12:45-46 But if that servant says in his heart, ‘My lord delays his coming,’ and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken, then the lord of that servant will come in a day when he isn’t expecting him, and in an hour that he doesn’t know, and will cut him in two, and place his portion with the unfaithful.
- 1 Kings 20:16-22 They went out at noon. But Ben Hadad was drinking himself drunk in the pavilions, he and the kings, the thirty-two kings who helped him. The young men of the princes of the provinces went out first; and Ben Hadad sent out, and they told him, saying, “Men are coming out from Samaria.” He said, “If they have come out for peace, take them alive; or if they have come out for war, take them alive.” So these went out of the city, the young men of the princes of the provinces, and the army which followed them. They each killed his man. The Syrians fled, and Israel pursued them. Ben Hadad the king of Syria escaped on a horse with horsemen. The king of Israel went out, and struck the horses and chariots, and killed the Syrians with a great slaughter. The prophet came near to the king of Israel, and said to him, “Go, strengthen yourself, and mark, and see what you do; for at the return of the year the king of Syria will come up against you.”
- Proverbs 20:1 Wine is a mocker and beer is a brawler. Whoever is led astray by them is not wise.
- Nahum 1:10 For entangled like thorns, and drunken as with their drink, they are consumed utterly like dry stubble.
- Matthew 24:49-50 and begins to beat his fellow servants, and eat and drink with the drunkards, the lord of that servant will come in a day when he doesn’t expect it, and in an hour when he doesn’t know it,
- Genesis 49:12 His eyes will be red with wine, his teeth white with milk.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (18 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Pro 23:29 Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who…
Pro 23:29 Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?
Ver. 29. Who hath woe? who hath sorrow?] Whoredom is usually ushered in by drunkenness. Est Venus in vinis. It is Venus in the wines. Hence, {Rev 17:4} the whore cometh forth with a "cup," as with an instrument fit for the fulfilling of her lust; even as of old every one did openly bear in his hand at Rome the badge of that art that he professed. Solomon therefore having warned his young nobleman of whoredom, fitly shows him next the mischief of drunkenness; and this he doth by way of admiration or interrogation, that the drunkard may (will he, nill he) see, as in a glass, and so abhor his own absurdities, miseries, and mischiefs. The best that can come of drunkenness is repentance - that fairest daughter of so foul a mother - and that is not without its woe, and, alas! its sorrow and redness of eyes with weeping for sin. But few drunkards are taken in that fault.
Read full note →
Who hath babbling?] A great deal of small talk, telling all that’s within.
‘Condita cum verax aperit praecordia liber.’ - Horat.
When the wine is in, the wit is out.
Who hath redness of eyes?] Oculorum suffusio, the Vulgate reads suffossio. Drunkards have usually red and rich faces. Nasos instar coctilis cancri, {a} Noses like a boiled lobster; plenty of pustulaes or quots, as they call them. Briefly, drunkenness, like another Africa, is never without some new monster of mischief.
{a} Lavater.
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 From the sin of lust he proceeds to that…
From the sin of lust he proceeds to that of drunkenness, which doth frequently accompany it.
Babbling the sin of much and impertinent talking; or, tumultuous noise or clamour, which is usual among drunkards. See Pro 20:1.
Read full note →
Without cause; upon every slight occasion, which men inflamed with wine are very apt to take.
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 Solomon here gives fair warning against the sin of…
Solomon here gives fair warning against the sin of drunkenness, to confirm what he had said, Pro 23:20.
I. He cautions all people to keep out of the way of temptations to this sin (Pro 23:31): Look not thou upon the wine when it is red. Red wine was in Canaan looked upon as the best wine, it is therefore called the blood of the grape. Critics judge of wine, among other indications, by the colour of it; some wine, they say, looks charmingly, looks so well that it even says, "Come and drink me;" it moves itself aright, goes down very smoothly, or perhaps the roughness of it is grateful. It is said of generous strong-bodied wine that it even causes the lips of those that are asleep to speak, Sol 7:9. But look not thou upon it. 1. "Be not ruled by sense, but by reason and religion. Covet not that which pleases the eye, in hopes that it will please the taste; but let thy serious thoughts correct the errors of thy senses and convince thee that that which seems delightful is really hurtful, and resolve against it accordingly. Let not the heart walk after the eye, for it is a deceitful guide." 2. "Be not too bold with the charms of this or any other sin; look not, lest thou lust, lest thou take the forbidden fruit." Note Those that would be kept from any sin must keep themselves from all the occasions and beginnings of it, and be afraid of coming within the reach of its allurements, lest they be overcome by them.
Read full note →
II. He shows the many pernicious consequences of the sin of drunkenness, for the enforcement of this caution. Take heed of the bait, for fear of the hook: At the last it bites, Pro 23:32. All sin will be bitterness in the end, and this sin particularly. It bites like a serpent, when the drunkard is made sick by his surfeit, thrown by it into a dropsy or some fatal disease, beggared and ruined in his estate, especially when his conscience is awakened and he cannot reflect upon it without horror and indignation at himself, but worst of all, at last, when the cup of drunkenness shall be turned into a cup of trembling, the cup of the Lord's wrath, the dregs of which he must be for ever drinking, and shall not have a drop of water to cool his inflamed tongue. To take off the force of the temptation that there is in the pleasure of the sin, foresee the punishment of it, and what it will at last end in if repentance prevent not. In its latter end it bites (so the word is); think therefore what will be in the end thereof. But the inspired writer chooses to specify those pernicious consequences of this sin which are present and sensible.
1. It embroils men in quarrels, makes them quarrel with others, and say and do that which gives others occasion to quarrel with them, Pro 23:29. He asks, Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow? Who has not, in this world? Many have woe and sorrow, and cannot help it; but drunkards wilfully create woe and sorrow to themselves. Those that have contentions have woe and sorrow; and drunkards are the fools whose lips enter into contention. When the wine is in the wit is out and the passions are up; and thence come drunken scuffles, and drunken frays, and drunken disputes over the cups; many a vexatious ruining law-suit has begun thus. There is babbling, quarrels in word and the exchanging of scurrilous language; yet it rests not there: you shall have wounds without cause, for causes are things which drunkards are in no capacity to judge of, and therefore they deal blows about without the least consideration why or wherefore, and must expect to be in like manner treated themselves. The wounds which men receive in defence of their country and its just rights are their honour; but wounds without cause, received in the service of their lusts, are marks of their infamy. Nay, drunkards wound themselves in a tender part, for they have redness of eyes, symptoms of an inward inflammation; their sight is weakened by it, and their looks are deformed. This comes, (1.) Of drinking long, tarrying long at the wine, and spending that time in drunken company which should be spent in useful business, or in sleep, which should fit for business, Pro 23:30. O the precious hours which thousands throw away thus, every one of which will be brought into the account at the great day! (2.) Of drinking that which is strong and intoxicating. They go up and down to seek wine that will please them; their great enquiry is, "Where is the best liquor?" They seek mixed wine, which is most palatable, but most heady, so willingly do they sacrifice their reason to please their palate!
2. It makes men impure and insolent, Pro 23:33. (1.) The eyes grow unruly and behold strange women to lust after them, and so let in adultery into the heart. Est Venus in vinis - Wine is oil to the fire of lust. Thy eyes shall behold strange things (so some read it); when men are drunk the house turns round with them, and every thing looks strange to them, so that them they cannot trust their own eyes. (2.) The tongue also grows unruly and talks extravagantly; by it the heart utters perverse things, things contrary to reason, religion, and common civility, which they would be ashamed to speak if they were sober. What ridiculous incoherent nonsense men will talk when they are drunk who at another time will speak admirably well and to the purpose!
3. It stupefies and besots men, Pro 23:34. When men are drunk they know not where they are nor what they say and do. (1.) Their heads are giddy, and when they lie down to sleep they are as if they were tossed by the rolling waves of the sea, or upon the top of a mast; hence they complain that their heads swim; their sleep is commonly unquiet and not refreshing, and their dreams are tumultuous. (2.) Their judgments are clouded, and they have no more steadiness and consistency than he that sleeps upon the top of a mast: they drink and forget the law (Pro 31:5): they err through wine (Isa 28:7), and think as extravagantly as they talk. (3.) They are heedless and fearless of danger, and senseless of the rebukes they are under either from God or man. They are in imminent danger of death, of damnation, lie as much exposed as if they slept upon the top of a mast, and yet are secure and sleep on. They fear no peril when the terrors of the Lord are laid before them; nay, they feel no pain when the judgments of God are actually upon them; they cry not when he binds them. Set a drunkard in the stocks, and he is not sensible of the punishment. "They have stricken me, and I was not sick; I felt it not: it made no impression at all upon me." Drunkenness turns me into stocks and stones; they are scarcely to be reckoned animals; they are dead while they live.
4. Worst of all, the heart is hardened in the sin, and the sinner, notwithstanding all these present mischiefs that attend it, obstinately persist in it, and hates to be reformed: When shall I awake? Much ado he has to shake off the chains of his drunken sleep; he can hardly get clear of the fumes of the wine, though he strives with them, that (being thirsty in the morning) he may return to it again. So perfectly lost is he to all sense of virtue and honour, and so wretchedly is his conscience seared, that he is not ashamed to say, I will seek it yet again. There is no hope; no, they have loved drunkards, and after them they will go, Jer 2:25. This is adding drunkenness to thirst, and following strong drink; those that do so may read their doom Deu 29:19, Deu 29:20, their woe Isa 5:11, and, if this be the end of the sin, with good reason were we directed to stop at the beginning of it: Look not upon the wine when it is red.
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 Who hath woe?.... In this world and in the…
Who hath woe?.... In this world and in the other, in body and soul; diseases of body, distress of mind, waste of substance, and all manner of evils and calamities; if any man has these, the drunkard has: from whoredom, the Holy Ghost proceeds to drunkenness, which generally go together; and dissuades from it, by observing the mischiefs that come by it;
who hath sorrow? through pains of body, with the headache, &c. or through the agonies of the mind, and tortures of conscience, for sin committed; or through poverty and want, so Aben Ezra derives the word from one that signifies "poor"; and so it may be rendered, "who hath poverty" (n)? the drunkard; see Pro 23:21;
Read full note →
who hath contentions? quarrels and lawsuits, which often come of drunken bouts;
who hath babbling? or "loquacity" (o)? which drunkards are subject to; much vain babbling, foolish talk, scurrilous language, scoffs, jeers, especially at religion and religious men; and sometimes such men are full of talk about religion itself, and make great pretensions to it, and the knowledge of it, in their cups, when out of them they think and talk nothing about it;
who hath wounds without cause? from words, oftentimes, drunkards go to blows upon the most frivolous accounts; fight with one another for no reason at all, and get themselves beaten and bruised for nothing;
who hath redness of eyes? the drunkard has, inflamed with wine or strong drink; which, drank frequently and to excess, is the cause of sore eyes, as well as of weakening the sight; or, however, leaves a redness there, and in other parts of the face, whereby those sons of Bacchus may be known: so it is observed (p) of Vitellius the emperor, that his face was commonly red through drunkenness. Hillerus renders it, "blackness of eyes"; such as comes from blows received; taking the word to be of the same signification with the Arabic word which so signifies: this agrees with the preceding clause; and is countenanced by the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions.
(n) "cui egestas", Montanus, Amama; "cuinam penuria", Vatablus. (o) "loquacitas", Pagninus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Mercerus; so the Targum. (p) Sueton. Vita ejus, c. 17.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 29. Who hath wo?] I believe Solomon refers…
Verse 29. Who hath wo?] I believe Solomon refers here to the natural effects of drunkenness. And perhaps אוי oi, which we translate wo, and אבוי aboi, which we translate sorrow, are mere natural sounds or vociferations that take place among drunken men, either from illness, or the nauseating effects of too much liquor. As to contentions among such; babblings on a variety of subjects, which they neither understand nor are fit to discuss; wounds, got by falling out about nothing; and red eyes, bloodshotten with excess of drink, or black and blue eyes with fighting; - these are such common and general effects of these compotations, as naturally to follow from them. So that they who tarry long at wine, and use mixed wine to make it more inebriating, (see Pr 9:2,) are the very persons who are most distinguished by the circumstances enumerated above. I need scarcely add, that by wine and mixed wine all inebriating liquors are to be understood.
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 23:29-30. Who hath wo? — From the sin…
Pro 23:29-30. Who hath wo? — From the sin of lewdness, he proceeds to that of drunkenness, which frequently accompanies it. As if he had said, If thou intendest to avoid such filthy practices, avoid intemperance; the lamentable effects of which are so many, that it is a hard matter to enumerate them. For who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? — If thou considerest who they are that run themselves into all manner of mischief; that are never out of danger, but are engaged in perpetual quarrels, disturbing the neighbourhood where they live by their noise, tumult, and fighting; who hath babbling? — The sin of much and impertinent talking, or clamour and confusion, usual among drunkards; who hath wounds without cause? — Wounds received, not in the defence of his country, but for frivolous causes, and on slight occasions; who hath redness of eyes — Which men, inflamed with wine, are very apt to have. They that tarry long at the wine, &c. — Thou wilt find they are such as are so in love with wine, that they neither willingly stir from it, nor content themselves with the ordinary sort, but make a diligent search for the richest and most generous kinds; they that go to seek mixed wine — Wine mixed with divers ingredients, to make it strong and delicious. Hebrew, ממסךְ, mixture, mixed drinks of several sorts suited to their palates.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles Bridges 1846 · Public Domain A warning was lately given against keeping company with…
A warning was lately given against keeping company with sensualists. (Pro 23:20-21 .) Here it is enforced by the most graphical delineation of the sin in all its misery, shame, and ruin. It is the drunkard’s looking-glass! Let him see his own face. Let it be hung up in his cottage. Fix it in the alehouse. Could he go there? The picture is drawn with such a vividness of coloring! ’No translation or paraphrase can do justice to the concise, abrupt, and energetic manner of the original.’†1 Drunkenness is a time of merriment. But what must be the stupefying insensibility, that can find a moment’s joy, with such an accumulation of woe!†2 Every sin brings its own mischief. But such woe! such sorrow! in all its multiform misery! who hath it? The brawls and contentions over the cup;†3 the babbling words of pollution;†4 the wounds, often to murder,†5 without cause; the redness of eyes, shewing the effect of liquor on the countenance; the impure appetites that are kindled; the infatuation almost incredible — this is sensuality in all its wretchedness.
Whence this world of woe and sorrow? It is the curse of indulged will. Not satisfied with their healthful refreshment, many will "add drunkenness to thirst." (Deu 29:19 .) They continue long, "from morning to night, till wine inflame them." (Isa 5:11 .) They go to seek the mixed wine, its strongest and most inebriating drink.†6
Read full note →
Wisdom’s voice therefore is — Avoid the allurements of sin. Often has a look, harmless in itself, proved a fearful temptation.†7 Look not therefore at the wine when it is red. Its very color; its sparkling transparency in the cup; the relish with which it moves itself aright, ’or goes down pleasant’†8 — all tend to excite the irregular appetite. Crush it in its beginnings, and prove that you have learnt the first lesson in the school of Christ — "Deny yourself."†9 Whatever be its present zest, at the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. (Compare Pro 20:17 .) Did it bite first, who would touch it? Did Satan present the cup in his own naked form, who would dare to take it? Yet it comes from his hand as truly, as if he were visible to the eyes. If poison was seen in the cup, who would venture upon it? Yet is the poison less dangerous, because it is unseen? The adder’s sting, is concealed, yet most fatal. The cup of sparkling wine becomes "a cup of fearful trembling in the hands of the LORD." (Compare Joe 1:5 .)
Seldom does any sensual indulgence come alone. One lust prepares the way for others. The first step is sure to lead onwards. The poor deluded victim cannot stop when he pleases. Drunkenness opens the door for impurity.†10 The inflamed eye soon catches fire with strange women; and who knoweth what the end may be? Loathsome indeed is the heart of the ungodly laid bare. Drink opens it as far as words can do; and through the organ of the tongue it does indeed utter perverse things.†11 ’Blasphemy is wit, and ribaldry eloquence, to a man that is turned into a brute.’†12
But the delirium is the most awful feature of the case. The unhappy victim, having lost all will and power to escape, sleeps quietly amid dangers as imminent, as lying down in the midst of the sea, or upon the top of the mast.†13 Nay — even the senses seem to be stupefied. Stricken and beaten he may be. But "his heart is as a stone,"†14 and he thanks his drunkenness, that he felt it not. Therefore "as the dog to his vomit, the fool returns to his folly,"†15 craving fresh indulgence — When shall I awake? I will seek it yet again. More senseless than the brute who satisfies nature, not lust; so lost to shame; his reason so tyrannized over by his appetite, that he longs to be bound again, and only seeks relief from his temporary awakening to a sense of his misery, by yielding himself up again to his ruinous sin. (Jer 2:25 .)
Oh! how affecting is the thought of the multitude of victims to this deadly vice in every age and clime, and among all ranks of society! Perhaps there is no sin which has not linked itself with it; while the unconsciousness in the act of sin only serves, not to palliate the guilt, but to increase the responsibility.
While we see the whole nature so depraved in taste, so steeped in pollution — we ask — "Is anything too hard for the LORD?" Praised be his name for a full deliverance from the captivity of sin, and of all and every sin, even from the chains of this giant sin.†16 The mighty, though despised instrument is "Christ crucified; the power of God, and the wisdom of God." (1Co 1:23-25 .) It is this, which when vows, pledges, and resolutions — all have failed; works secretly, yet most effectually; imparting new principles, affections and appetites. The drunkard becomes sober; the unclean holy; the glutton temperate. The love of Christ overpowers the love of sin. Pleasures are now enjoyed without a sting (for no serpent, nor adder is here) and the newly-implanted principle transforms the whole man into the original likeness to God — "Whatsoever is born of God doth not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. He that is begotten of God keepeth himself, an that wicked one toucheth him not."†17
Footnotes:
†1 Scott in loco. Compare Bp. Hall.
†2 ’Agmen malorum colligit, quæ ebrietas secum trahit.’ - Lavater. ’Nemini fermè certius ingentia imminere pericula, tam quoad facultates atque famam, quam ipsam quoque valetudinem, vitam, atque animæ salutem, neminem etiam subjacere adeo Sp. S. imprecationibus, quam hominem temulentum.’ - Geier.
†3 Pro 20:1. 1Ti 3:3 . Compare Hor. Od. iii. 21.
†4 Dan 5:4.
†5 2Sa 13:28 . 1Ki 16:9-10 ; 1Ki 20:16-20 .
†6 Pro 9:2 , note. Homer describes his celebrated Helen, as mixing exhilarating ingredients in the bowl, to revive the spirits. Odyss. ^. 219-229.
[The "note" (above) refers to a previous footnote found in middle of the first paragraph of his comments on Pro 9:2: (reproduced in part below: see the red cross.)]
" ,,, She hath killed her beasts, mingled her wine with the choicest spices,† and plentifully furnished her table. ,,, "
That footnote reads:
Bishop Lowth remarks the difference between the Classics and the Hebrews. The one by mingled wine understand wine diluted with water; the other intend wine made stronger by spices, or other exhilarating ingredients. Note on Isa 1:22 . Compare Pro 23:29-31 . Song of Son 8:2 .
†7 Gen 3:6; Gen 39:7 . Jos 7:21 . 2Sa 11:2 .
†8 Holden. Compare Song of Son 7:9 .
†9 Mat 16:24. Augustine gives an instructive example of his mother’s nurse. Confess. ix. 8. See also George Herbert’s excellent advice in his well-known poem - The Temple.
†10 Gen 19:32. Compare Jer 5:8 . Eze 16:49-50 . Hos 4:18 . Rom 13:13 . 1Pe 4:3 .
†11 Psa 69:12. Hos 7:5 . The libertine poet praises the inspiring excitement of wine to the genius of poesy. - Hor. Ep. i. 19.
†12 Lawson in loco.
†13 Isa 28:7-8. Hos 4:11 . Compare Pro 31:4-5 .
†14 1Sa 25:36-37 .
†15 Pro 26:11. Isa 56:12 .
†16 Joh 8:34-36. 1Co 6:10-11.
†17 1Jn 3:9 ; 1Jn 5:18 . See an affecting evangelical pleading with this case in that valuable manual, Jowett’s Christian Visitor.
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 Whose father. St. Jerome has read ab avi, instead…
CHAPTER XXIII.
Whose father. St. Jerome has read ab avi, instead of abo, (Calmet) which is an interjection, (Bochart) alas! or it means, "trouble." Septuagint, "drunkenness," (Chaldean; Calmet) or "sorrow." (Protestants) --- Falls. Septuagint, "hath sorrows." Hebrew, "babbling," (Protestants; Haydock) or discontents of mind. (Calmet) --- Cause. Drunkards often fall upon their best friends, as Alexander did on Clytus. (Menochius)
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 This picture is often sadly realized now.
This picture is often sadly realized now.
mixed wine--(Compare Pro 9:2; Isa 5:11).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 29. woe … sorrow] Lit. oh!… alas!
29. woe … sorrow] Lit. oh!… alas!
babbling] Rather, contentions, as the same Heb. word is rendered in Pro_18:19; the quarrelsomeness of the man in drink, leading to pugnacity, and so to “wounds without a cause.”
Read full note →
redness] Comp. Gen_49:12, where however the word is used of the effect of wine on the eyes in a good sense. The LXX. have here τίνος πελιδνοὶ (bloodshot) οἱ ὀφθαλμοί; suffusio oculorum, Vulg. Some however render the word darkness here (R.V. marg.), and dark or dark-flashing (in contrast to the white teeth) in Genesis.
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 (29) Wounds without cause?—Which might have been avoided, and…
(29) Wounds without cause?—Which might have been avoided, and which serve no good end.
Redness of eyes?—Rather, dimness.
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 Vers. 29-35. Here follows a mashal ode or song…
Vers. 29-35. Here follows a mashal ode or song on the subject of drunkenness, which is closely connected with the sin mentioned in the previous lines.
Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? Hebrew, lemi oi, lemi aboi, where oi and aboi are interjections of pain or grief. So Venetian, tini ai tini feu ; Revised Version margin, Who hath Oh ? who hath Alas? The Vulgate has stumbled at the second expression, which is an apax legomenon , and resolving it into two words, translates, Cujus patri vae? Contentions; the brawling and strife to which drunkenness leads. (Pro_20:1) Babbling; jyci (siach) is rather "meditation," "sorrowful thought" showing itself in complaining, regret for lost fortune, ruined health, alienated friends. Others render "misery,....penury." St. Jerome"s foveae is derived from a different reading. The LXX has kriseiv , "lawsuits," ahdiai kai lescai , "disgust and gossipings." Wounds without cause; wounds which might have been avoided, the result of quarrels in which a sober man would never have engaged, Redness of eyes. The Hebrew word chakIi-luth is commonly taken to mean the flashing of eyes occasioned by vinous excitement. The Authorized Version refers it to the bloodshot appearance of a drunkard"s eyes, as in Gen_49:12, according to the same version. but Delitzsch, Nowack, and many modern commentators consider that the word indicates "dimness of sight," that change in the power of vision when the stimulant reaches the brain. Septuagint, "Whose eyes are livid (pelidnoi )?" The effects of intemperance are described in a well known passage of Lucretius, "De Rer. Nat.," 3:475, etc. "Denique, cor hominum quota vini vis penetravit Acris, et in venas discessit diditus ardor, Consequitur gravitas membrorum, praespediuntur Crura vacillanti, tardescit lingua, madet mens, Nant oculei; clamor, singultus, jurgia gliscunt.
Read full note →
We may refer to the article in Jeremy Taylor"s "Holy Living" on "Evil Consequents to Drunkenness," and to Ecclus. 34 (31):25, etc.
Vers. 29-35. The perils of drunkenness.
I THE IMMEDIATE EXTERNAL EFFECTS. (Vers. 29, 30) Trouble, quarrels, violence, deformity. "No translation or paraphrase can do justice to the concise, abrupt, and energetic manner of the original." "Oh that men should put an enemy in their mouths to steal away their brains! that we should with joy, revel, pleasure, and applause, transform ourselves into beasts!
II THE ULTIMATE CONSEQUENCES. (Ver. 32) It "bites like a serpent, and spits poison like a basilisk." This is the course of all sin; like Dead Sea fruits that tempt the taste, and turn to ashes on the lips. It is the "dangerous edge of things," against which men have to be on their guard. The line between use and abuse is so easily passed over. Corruptio optimi pessima.
III THE EFFECT ESPECIALLY ON THE INTELLIGENCE. (Vers. 33-35) The mind falls into bewilderment, and sees double or awry. The victim of intoxication is indeed "at sea," and like one sleeping on the very verge of danger and sudden death. In a spiritual sense he is drunk who does not perceive the great danger of his soul, but becomes more secure and stubborn under every chastisement. (Jer_5:8) It is the dreadful insensibility depicted by yet. 35 which imitates the thought and speech of the drunkard which is among the worst consequences of the vice. "The sight of a drunkard is a better sermon against that vice than the best that was ever preached upon the subject." "He who hath this sin, hath not himself; whosoever doth commit it, cloth not commit sin, but he himself is wholly sin" (Augustine). J.
Vers. 29-35 (with vers. 20, 21). Drunkenness.
A most striking picture is given as here of the manifold evils of this great curse. In a few strokes Solomon brings before us most, if not all, of its painful and pitiable consequences. Their name is legion, for they are indeed many.
I THE CONTEMPT OF THE SOBER. (Ver. 20) The very word "drunkard," or "wine bibber," is indicative of the deep disregard in which the victim of this vice is held by sober men.
II POVERTY. (Ver. 21) It is striking and surprising how soon men of large means are brought down to straitness of circumstance, and even poverty itself. It is what they spend on this craving, and what they lose by its ill effects upon them, that drag them down.
III PHYSICAL DETERIORATION. (Ver. 29) Dissipation soon tells on a man"s personal appearance; he shows by his garments, and still more by his countenance, that he is mastered by that which he puts into his mouth. Vice means ugliness.
IV CONTENTIOUSNESS. (Ver. 29) We need all our powers in good balance to control ourselves so that we are not provoked to the hasty word and to the lasting quarrel. But the man who is excited by wine is in the worst possible condition for ruling his spirit and commanding his tongue. He is likely enough to speak the sentence which is followed by the blow, or, what is worse, the long continued feud.
V IMPURITY. (Ver. 33) The excitement of the intoxicating cup has had much to do with the saddest departures from the path of purity and honour; with the entrance upon the road of utter ruin.
VI INFATUATION. (Vers. 34, 35) The drunkard is seen by his friends to be sinking and falling; in his circumstances, his reputation, his health, his character, he is palpably perishing. Those who really love and pity him warn him with earnest remonstrance, with affectionate entreaty, but it is of no avail. He acts with as much infatuation as would a man who made a bed of the waves or the top of a mast. After he has been stricken and has suffered, he goes back to his cups, and is stricken and suffers again.
VII THE AGONY OF REMORSE. "At the last it biteth like a serpent," etc. The sting of remorse which a man suffers when he awakes to a full sense of his folly is something pitiful to witness, and must be far more terrible to endure. The man suffers a penalty which is worse than bodily torture; it is the just punishment in his own soul for his folly and his sin. In one sense it is self-administered, for it is the stern rebuke of conscience; in another sense it is the solemn and strong condemnation of the Supreme.
VIII BITTER BONDAGE. Worse, if possible, than the sting of remorse is the sense of helpless bondage in which he finds that he is held. "At the last" is a tyranny which the evil habit, the strong craving, exercises over the man"s spirit. He knows and feels his humiliation and loss; he essays to escape; he strives, he writhes to become freed; but he tries in vain; he is "holden with the cords of his sins"; (Pro_5:22) he is a poor, miserable captive, the slave of vice.
Such are the consequences of departure from sobriety. It is the first step which is the most foolish and the most avoidable. When a certain stage is reached, restoration, though not impossible or impracticable, is very difficult. Let all men, as they love their soul, keep well within that boundary line that divides sobriety from intemperance. Moderation is good; abstinence is better, for it is safer, and it is kinder to others. "Look not" on the tempting cup; turn the eyes to purer and nobler pleasure. C.
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 They that tarry long at the wine; they that…
Pro_23:29-35
They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.
Read full note →
The woes of the drunkard
The ugly sketch given here should be enough to warn all young people against tampering with a vice which may make it a portrait of them. The questions, six in number, fall into three pairs, which deal respectively with the mans feelings of discomfort, his relations with others, and his physical sufferings. Who is the original of this foul picture of degradation and misery? The answer is keenly sarcastic. It is the man who lingers long over the wine. The loss of the power of self-control is indicated in the term. If we would only realise the afterwards of any vice, we should turn from it with dread. The misfortune is, that we do not look an inch beyond the present pleasure. Note three degrading effects of drunkenness.
1. The effect in deceiving the senses and lowering the moral tone.
2. The common sense, the instinct of self-preservation, ordinary prudence, and the sense of the fitness of things, are suspended.
3. The last piece of degradation is given, for greater liveliness of impression, in the form of the drunkards own soliloquy. He feels himself all over as he begins to rouse from his tipsy sleep, and pities himself that he has been so badly handled. He is waking, but he is not yet himself. As he staggers back into consciousness, the first thing that he thinks of is a renewal of his debauch. The awful tyranny of the evil habit, which has become a diseased second nature, is only too well known. (A. Maclaren, D.D.)
Returning from evil ways
The first difficulty in the way of return for the intemperate, who have got on the wrong tack, is the force of moral gravitation. It is easier to go down than it is to go up. The next thing is the power of evil habit. If a man wants to return from evil practices, society repulses him. How may these obstacles be overcome?
1. Throw yourself on God.
2. Quit all your bad associations.
3. Seek Christian advice. If you have a Christian friend, go to him. (T. De Witt Talmage, D.D.)
Against intemperance
As implied in this passage this indicates the tendency of human nature.
1. The moral degradation of intemperance. It is the destruction of everything manly and noble in human nature.
2. The physical degradation. Corruption in the heart works out its marks upon the face and in the manners. A distinguished German authority has given the scientific degradation resulting upon the generations succeeding the victim of the drink habit.
3. The social degradation. Intemperance as an evil reaches the state. Nine-tenths of the crimes of society result from, or are abetted by, drink. This theme is a warning. Directly and indirectly, the appeal is made to all who come within the sound of its voice. (D. O. Mears.)
Drunkenness
I. The evils of drunkenness.
1. Sorrow (Pro_23:29). Drink has probably broken more hearts than any other thing. It is taken to drown sorrow, but, alas! it creates it.
2. Folly. Babbling--a profanation of the sacred gift of speech, and as such is to be avoided (1Ti_6:20).
3. Disease. Wounds. Look in at the hospitals. Read the medical reports.
4. Disfigurement. Redness cf the eyes.
5. Waste of time. Tarry long.
6. Dissatisfaction. Yet again (Pro_23:35). Drink creates an insatiable appetite for itself.
7. Insensibility. Felt it not (Pro_23:35). The nerves of the drunkard are benumbed, and natures monitors are impaired. Physical insensibility is followed by moral insensibility (Eph_4:19).
8. Uncleanness. Drink fires the passions, and gives the strange women (Pro_23:33) their best opportunities.
9. Exposure to danger (Pro_23:34).
II. The remedy for drunkenness (verse31). It is very simple. Abstain from strong drink--dont even look at it. Temptation sometimes enters through the eye. But beyond and above all look to Jesus for deliverance from this and every other form of evil. (H. Thorne.)
Pleasant vices dangerous
Gas is a great spoiler of the air; but it has the merit of giving timely warning of the danger by the horrible smell which accompanies its escape. This smell is perceptible when there is only one part in a thousand parts of air; becomes very offensive when the proportion Isa_1:1-31/750 or 1/500, and is almost insupportable as the proportion increases. If the gas has escaped from a crack in the pipes, and been allowed to mingle with the air in which a free circulation by ventilation is possible, so that the proportion of gas amounts to 1/11, it explodes on the introduction of a candle. But the reason why this catastrophe so seldom occurs is because the smell of gas is so utterly offensive that the evil demands and receives proper attention long before it reaches danger point. This fact illustrates very well a great truth in the moral world, namely, that when evil is offensive in itself its danger to the community is slight. In exact ratio to the pleasantness of vice is the danger to be apprehended from it. (Scientific Illustrations.)
A temperance topic
1. The use of intoxicating drinks is financially unbusinesslike. It keeps men in poverty, and they keep their families is the deepest want.
2. It destroys self-respect.
3. It defiles the body.
4. It destroys life.
5. It enfeebles the mind.
6. It breaks down the will.
7. It obliterates heart and conscience.
8. It destroys souls. Let us use our every influence to correct this evil. (G. B. F. Hallcock.)
On the sin of drunkenness
I. The causes which lead to it.
1. Example. Seeing others in this state, and imitating them without being aware of the results which will follow.
2. Evil associations. We cannot be too careful in selecting our associates.
3. Afflictions of a peculiar kind, especially mental, and those produced by disappointment.
4. The ease with which liquor is procured.
II. Some of the evils attendant upon drunkenness.
1. Babbling. Owing to temporary deprivation of the use of reason.
2. Contentions. The man acts like a madman.
3. Wounds without cause.
4. Redness of eyes.
III. The consequences resulting from this sin. Woe and sorrow.
1. From the consumption of his property.
2. From the loss of his reputation.
3. From the decay of his health.
4. From the injury done to his family.
5. From the loss of his immortal soul.
IV. The duty of avoiding the sin of drunkenness. Think not that it will do you good, but reflect on the consequences to which it leads, so abominable in the sight of God, so injurious to yourselves and those around you, and so hateful in the estimation of all those who truly reflect. (E. Miller, M.A.)
Drunkenness
The Bible considers intemperance in all its phases, and shows that, with all other sins, it springs from a sinfulness which is common to mankind, and shows that the true remedy for it, as for all sins, lies in the deliverance Divinely provided for the sinfulness which is their root.
I. The drunkards condition is described. Woes and sorrows, strifes and anxieties, wounds and diseases, deadened perceptions and a destroyed will, mingle in this awful picture. Here is disclosed a general wreck of manhood.
1. Physical evils. Alcohol vitiates the blood and fills it with poisonous humour. The changes produce gross and enfeebled bodies, diseases of the heart, lungs, and other organs, and a constant waste of physical powers.
2. Mental evils. Alcohol directly affects the brain. It creates an unnatural brilliancy of intellect. But this brief advantage is purchased at the cost of the mind itself. Other effects on the mind seriously deteriorate a mans progeny. Drink destroys not only the mind of the drunkard, but also the mind of his offspring.
3. Moral and spiritual evils. Drunkenness inflames the passions. It leads to contentions. It is the great cause of crime. It destroys self-control and thus overthrows the citadel of manhood.
II. The steps by which men become drunkards. Alcohol is first taken in its simplest, as wine, beer, cider. At first it is taken only occasionally, and at the invitation of others. Literature lends its voice to enticing temptations. Those who allow themselves to acquire the habit of drinking make that which they hate a part of themselves.
III. The way to avoid being a drunkard. Let alcohol alone. Keep in view that the woes of drink come from an indulgence that was moderate in the beginning. No temptation to drink is more dangerous than that which makes it a sign of good-fellowship. Total abstinence is the only safe ground to stand upon. But the Christian will do more than hold himself in safety. The Christian must give all the weight of his influence, by example, word, and action, as a Christian, a neighbour, and a citizen, against this evil. (Monday Club Sermons.)
Against intemperance
I. The delusiveness of this sin. Call no pleasure pleasurable until you have asked what the cost is to be.
II. The traits of disposition resulting from wine-drinking.
1. The drunkard is contentious.
2. He is a discontented man.
3. He loses his mind.
4. He is a reckless man.
III. The results of drinking are in part suggested.
1. The speech of the drunkard is bad.
2. The body is harmed by drink.
3. The drunkard tends to become possessed of all evil desires.
IV. This way of living becomes permanent. In its origin drunkenness is but an episode; in its conclusion it is a character. What a man does once he tends to do again.
1. This permanence is shown in the deliberateness of the drunkards full-grown folly.
2. And so the habit fastens itself more and more firmly upon him, until at last, even when he is grovelling in the lowest depths, he still calls ever for more of that which has brought him there. The more a man drinks, the more he does not want to stop. (D. J. Burrell.)
The woes of the drunkard
Is it not Shakespeare himself who says, by the mouth of the disgraced and ruined Cassio, O thou invisible spirit of wine, if thou hast no name to be known by, let us call thee Devil? What does drink cost in human misery? Ah, how can I tell you? Can I count the leaves of the forest, or the sands upon the shore? And the sounds of this misery are like the sighing of the leaves of illimitable forests, and the plashing on the shores of unfathomable seas. For it is the horrible fact that the drink which we, as a nation, are drinking, not from the necessities of thirst, but from the mere luxuries of appetite--drink often adulterated with the vilest and most maddening ingredients--yes, this rubied and Circean cup which we sip, and smile while it is converting thousands of our brethren into swine--this subtle, serpentine, insidious thing which we cherish in our bosoms, and laugh and play with its brightness, while it is stinging thousands of our brothers into raging madness--costs us millions of money, myriads of criminals, thousands of paupers, thousands of ruined women, hundreds and thousands of men and women goaded by misery, into suicide and madness, with every blossom in what might have been the garland of their lives blighted as by a furys breath. (Dean Farrar.)
Safety imperceptibly passed by the drinker
Who can detect the line of demarcation that separates the colours of the rainbow, where the yellow tint blends into the deep orange colour, and that deep orange colour into the deeper red! What mind, however disciplined or practised, can tell the line of demarcation that shades off the varying sentiments of men, and separates the schools of theological opinion? And if the human eye, aided by the most powerful lenses, cannot discern any line of demarcation in the tints of the rainbow, and the skilled theologian cannot pronounce as to where or what is the dividing line between one school of theology and another, how can we expect the dulled, darkened, blunted brain of the drinker to be able to detect that imperceptible line in his progress, at one side of which is safety, and beyond it danger? Or, suppose he could, would it be ethically right for a man to push forward designedly to the furthest verge where he supposed that moral innocence merged into guilt and sin? The rainbow tints may indeed thus meet and blend; phases of thought and opinion may shade off into each other; but it surely can never be that moral innocence and moral guilt could ever stand in such close proximity together as that the one should merge into the other. (R. Maguire.)
The warning against intemperance
We should mind this warning against the serpent of intemperance, because--
I. Its sting is a costly sting.
II. Its sting is an injurious sting.
III. Its sting is a disgraceful sting. (R. Newton, D.D.)
The drink serpent
Drink is like the serpent--
I. Because it is poisonous. Alcohol is primarily a brain-poison, but there is not a tissue nor an organ of the body which it does not injure.
II. Because it is subtle (Gen_3:1). As a rule men glide into drunkenness unconsciously to themselves. Probably the drunkard is the last person to know that he has become such.
III. Because it is like the devil. In the Scriptures the serpent is the symbol of Satan. Drink, like the devil, leads men into all kinds of sin. The connection of drink with unchastity is set forth in this passage. (G. A. Bennetts, B.A.)
Description of drunkenness
An inferior master in the art of moral painting gives us a just picture of drunkenness in these words. Drunkenness is a distemper of the head, a subversion of the senses, a tempest of the tongue, a storm in the body, the shipwreck of virtue, the loss of time, a wilful madness, a pleasant devil, a sugared poison, a sweet sin, which he that has, has not himself, and he that commits it, doth not only commit sin, but is himself altogether sin. (George Lawson, D.D.)
The drunkards picture
1. His sensual indulgence.
2. His offensive garrulousness.
3. His bloodshot face. The habits of the man come to be marked by their effects upon his looks.
4. His wretched condition.
5. His easy temptability. He is ripe for the crimes of adultery, falsehood, blasphemy, and other enormities.
6. His reckless stupidity.
7. His unconquerable thirst. However bitter his reflections upon his awaking, and his remorse, his thirst remains unquenched. (D. Thomas, D.D.)
Woes of intemperance
The Assyrians had a fancy that, if a demon saw his own face in a mirror, he could not bear the ugly sight, and would vanish. Unfortunately, vicious men are not so easily frightened, for many a drunkard knows perfectly what a degraded creature he has made himself, and yet is not restrained. But the photograph may deter others from beginning so suicidal a course. The appeal to consequences may not be the highest, but it is legitimate, and ought to be powerful with all rational beings. The consequences here appealed to are exclusively personal ones, there being no reference to the drunkards miserable homes, to wrecked family blessings, nor even to blasted prospects, and the havoc wrought by drink in pauperising and bringing to rags. What it does to the man himself in body and soul is the portrait painters theme here. The torrent of questions with which he begins brings out the mental discomfort and bodily mischief consequent on intoxication. The two questions in verse 29B repeat the substance of the three in A. Complaining seems to include woe and sorrow, and wounds without cause are the natural results of the contentions equally without cause. According to the best and most recent authorities, the bodily symptom here noticed is dulness, not redness, of eyes, the glazed, unperceiving stare so sadly well known as a sign of intoxication. There are far more grave physical consequences of the habit than that--shattered nerves, shaking hands, knotted livers--but the painter here is thinking rather of the act than of the habit. His answer to his questions comes with emphasis, and has a dash of sad irony in it. What an epitaph for a man: He was a connoisseur in wines; he did not know much about science or history or philosophy or theology or art or commerce or morality, but he was a perfect master at blending whisky! A solemn warning follows the etching of the drunkard, which is bitten in on the plate with acid. The wine appeals to the sense of sight, as it gleams in golden cup or crystal goblet, and it appeals also to the sense of taste as it goeth down smoothly. But it is not done with when it is swallowed, and, like all delights of sense, it has an afterwards which is not delightful. Violent delights have violent ends. In Pro_23:33 we see him in the height of his excitement; in Pro_23:34, in the stupor that follows; in Pro_23:35, in his waking. The first stage is marked by hallucinations and a torrent of vile speech. Thine eyes shall behold strange things, by which are meant the absurd delusions of the drunkard. Imagination is stimulated, and the senses befooled, by the fumes; the man reels about in a world of his own creating, which has nothing corresponding to it in reality. There is a still more terrible meaning possible to this part of the picture, though probably not the one intended--namely, the frightful visions accompanying delirium tremens, which dog the drunkards steps, and drive him into paroxysms of terror. Further, his loss of self-control is signalised by the loose speech in which the rank heart pours itself out in perverse things. There is a strange and awful connection between intoxication and foul words from the depths of the evil treasure of the heart. The second stage is that of collapse and stupor. The excitement, of course, ends in that, and the drunkard flings himself down anywhere, utterly careless of danger, and utterly unconscious of his surroundings. He is like a man that lieth down in the midst of the sea, neither a comfortable nor a safe bed, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast, where there is neither room to lie, nor security as the ship rolls, and the uneasy couch rolls still more. He sleeps out his heavy slumbers, and, when he does, he discovers for the first time the bruises and wounds which he has received. But these do not curb the tyrannous appetite which brought them on him. Undeterred by them, he wishes for the complete return of sober consciousness, only that he may renew his debauch. Christs solemn saying, Whoso committeth sin is the slave of sin, has no more tragical exemplification than in the miserable drunkard, who can no more resist the craving for drink than he can stop Niagara. (A. Maclaren, D.D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain Pro_23:30. Mixed wine—i.e., wine mixed with strong spices.
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Pro_23:30. Mixed wine—i.e., wine mixed with strong spices.
Read full note →
Pro_23:31. When it giveth his colour, etc., literally, “When it showeth its eye.” This may refer to its brightness, or to the head, or pearl of the wine. “When it moveth itself,” etc., rather “when it glideth down with ease.”
Pro_23:33. Strange women, rather “strange things.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Pro_23:29-35
THE DRUNKARD’S PICTURE
I. The drunkard is an entire inversion of man as God intended him to be. God made man’s mind to rule his body, but the drunkard’s bodily appetites rule his mind. God gave man an intellect to guide his actions; He intended the various limbs of his body to be the servants of his will, and to obey the dictates of his reason. But the drunkard not only gives up all his spiritual and intellectual power to his body, but all his other bodily powers to the rule of one sense—that of his palate. Men who are not awake to their spiritual and mental needs might be expected to have as much regard for their animal wants, and to be as careful to avoid bodily suffering as the brute creation. But it is not so with the drunkard—although nights and days of privation and suffering are often the fruits of an hour’s drinking, he voluntarily undergoes the former in order to enjoy the latter. Not only is conscience and reason and heart sacrificed to his mouth, but every other bodily sense is made to serve the one sense and every other part of the body to suffer, that one part may be gratified if but for a moment.
II. He is an entire inversion of what we might expect even a fallen man to be. Looking at man as he is when he lives for this world only, he is generally alive to his own immediate temporal interests and careful to avoid in the future what has brought him suffering in the past. But it is not so with the slave to drink. If only wife and children had to lead lives of misery and his own life was a constant round of even animal enjoyment, the drunkard’s career would not be such an unaccountable infatuation. Human selfishness would be sufficient to account for it. But who suffers like the drunkard himself? The wise man enumerates some of his miseries—woe, grief, contentions and wounds without cause, the stings of remorse, the disordered brain, and entire loss of consciousness and of power to defend one’s own life and property—this is the drunkard’s heritage. And in the intervals between his madness he knows it and drinks to the dregs the bitter cup of bodily and mental misery that must always follow the immoderate use of the wine cup. And yet his language is “I will seek it yet again.” The child that has been burnt dreads the fire, but the poor drunkard scarred from head to foot with the marks of the flames, seems with all his other losses to have lost also the natural instinct of self-preservation and the power of learning anything from the great teacher—experience.
III. A consideration of the strength and nature of the drunkard’s chain should lead all to shun that which enslaved him. When we consider what havoc intoxicating drink has wrought, it is marvellous that men do not turn from it with loathing; that they are not afraid to play with so deadly, and yet so treacherous an enemy to mankind. When the sailor knows that there is a treacherous whirlpool in the ocean, which has engulfed a thousand noble vessels, he is careful to give it a wide berth, to keep far beyond the outermost ring of the current. But the habit of men in general seems to be to try how near they can come to this moral and social gulf of death, without being drawn beneath the waters. The experiment is fraught with deadly peril, and is often a fatal one. Solomon’s advice is to ensure safety, by not even “looking upon the wine when it is red.”
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
There is mention made of a monk at Prague, who having heard at shrift the confessions of many drunkards, wondered at it, and for experiment would try his brain with this sin, and accordingly stole himself drunk. Now, after the vexation of three sick days, to all that confessed that sin he enjoined no other penance than this: “Go and be drunk again.” Surely his meaning was like that of Seneca, that drunkenness was a torment and affliction to itself.—Spencer.
Drunkenness is a special water at the devil’s banquet. This sin is a horrible self-theft … Thieves cannot steal lands, unless they be Westminster Hall thieves, crafty contenders that eat out a true title with a false evidence; but the drunkard robs himself of his lands. Now he dissolves an acre, and then an acre, into the pot, till he hath ground all his ground at the malt quern, and run all his patrimony through his throat. Thus he makes himself the living tomb of his forefathers—of his posterity. He needs not trouble his sick mind with a will, or distrust the fidelity of executors.—T. Adams.
Pro_23:29. The best that can come of drunkenness is repentance—that fairest daughter of so foul a mother—and that is not without its woe, and alas! its sorrow and redness of eyes with weeping for sin.—Trapp.
Pro_23:31. He that would avoid the commission of sin must avoid the occasion of sin. If we would not fall down the hill we must beware of coming near the brow of it. Keep thee far from an evil matter. When the wine laughs in thy face then shut thine eyes lest it steal into thine heart. A guest may easily be kept out of the house at first, but if once entertained it is hard to turn him out of doors. When the governor of a fort once comes to parley with the enemy that besiegeth him there is great fear that the place will be surrendered.—Swinnock.
Pro_23:33. One remarkable peculiarity of this chapter is the junction and alternation of these two kindred sins. There they stand, like two plants of death, each growing on its own independent root, and nourished by the same soil, but cleaving close to each other by congeniality of nature, and twisted round each other for mutual support.… The alliance, so generally formed and so firmly maintained between drunkenness and licentiousness, is a master-stroke of Satan’s policy. It is when men have looked upon the deceitful cup, and received into their blood the poison of its sting, that their eyes behold “strange women;” and when they have fallen into that “narrow pit,” they run back to hide their shame, at least from themselves, in the maddening draught.—Arnot.
Pro_23:34. The passage is interesting, as showing what Psa_104:25-26; Psa_107:23-30, also show, the increased familiarity of the Israelites with a sea life.—Plumptre.
It is very foul weather in which a drunkard saileth. For as St. Ambrose speaketh, the multitude of lusts in him do raise a great tempest, which toss his mind to and fro, sailing as it were in the narrow sea of his body, so that he cannot be pilot to itself.… But that which maketh the drunkard’s case worst of all is this: it is a shipwreck of the body only which in a tempest is feared, but he maketh shipwreck of his soul if repentance be not a plank of safety to him.—Jermin.
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.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain Pro 23:29 - Pro 23:35.
Proverbs
THE PORTRAIT OF A DRUNKARD
Read full note →
Pro 23:29 - Pro 23:35.
This vivid picture of the effects of drunkenness leaves its sinfulness and its wider consequences out of sight, and fixes attention on the sorry spectacle which a man makes of himself in body and mind when he ‘puts an enemy into his mouth to steal away his brains.’ Disgust and ridicule are both expressed. The writer would warn his ‘son’ by impressing the ugliness and ludicrousness of drunkenness. The argument is legitimate, though not the highest.
The vehement questions poured out on each other’s heels in Pro 23:29 are hot with both loathing and grim laughter. The two words rendered ‘woe’ and ‘sorrow’ are unmeaning exclamations, very like each other in sound, and imitating the senseless noises of the drunkard. They express discomfort as a dog might express it. They are howls rather than words. That is one of the prerogatives won by drunkenness,-to come down to the beasts’ level, and to lose the power of articulate speech. The quarrelsomeness which goes along with certain stages of intoxication, and the unmeaning maudlin misery and whimpering into which it generally passes, are next coupled together.
Then come a pair of effects on the body. The tipsy man cannot take care of himself, and reeling against obstacles, or falling over them, wounds himself, and does not know where the scratches and blood came from. ‘Redness of eyes’ is, perhaps, rather ‘darkness,’ meaning thereby dim sight, or possibly ‘black eyes,’ as we say,-a frequent accompaniment of drunkenness, and corresponding to the wounds in the previous clause. It is a hideous picture, and one that should be burned in on the imagination of every young man and woman. The liquor-sodden, miserable wrecks that are found in thousands in our great cities, of whom this is a picture, were, most of them, in Sunday-schools in their day. The next generation of such poor creatures are, many of them, in Sunday-schools now, and may be reading this passage to-day.
The answer to these questions has a touch of irony in it. The people who win as their possessions these six precious things have to sit up late to earn them. What a noble cause in which to sacrifice sleep, and turn night into day! And they pride themselves on being connoisseurs in the several vintages; they ‘know a good glass of wine when they see it.’ What a noble field for investigation! What a worthy use of the faculties of comparison and judgment! And how desirable the prizes won by such trained taste and delicate discrimination!
In Pro 23:31 - Pro 23:32 weighty warning and dehortation follow, based in part on the preceding picture. The writer thinks that the only way of sure escape from the danger is to turn away even the eyes from the temptation. He is not contented with saying ‘taste not,’ but he goes the whole length of ‘look not’; and that because the very sparkle and colour may attract. ‘When it is red’ might perhaps better be rendered ‘when it reddens itself,’ suggesting the play of colour, as if put forth by the wine itself. The word rendered in the Authorised Version and Revised Version ‘colour’ is literally ‘eye,’ and probably means the beaded bubbles winking on the surface. ‘Moveth itself aright’ {Authorised Version} is not so near the meaning as ‘goeth down smoothly’ {Revised Version}. The whole paints the attractiveness to sense of the wine-cup in colour, effervescence, and taste.
And then comes in, with startling abruptness, the end of all this fascination,-a serpent’s bite and a basilisk’s sting. The kind of poisonous snake meant in the last clause of Pro 23:32 is doubtful, but certainly is one much more formidable than an adder. The serpent’s lithe gracefulness and painted skin hide a fatal poison; and so the attractive wine-cup is sure to ruin those who look on it. The evil consequences are pursued in more detail in what follows.
But here we must note two points. The advice given is to keep entirely away from the temptation. ‘Look not’ is safe policy in regard of many of the snares for young lives that abound in our modern society. It is not at all needful to ‘see life,’ or to know the secrets of wickedness, in order to be wise and good. ‘Simple concerning evil’ is a happier state than to have eaten the fruit of the tree of knowledge. Many a young man has been ruined, body and soul, by a prurient curiosity to know what sort of life dissipated men and women led, or what sort of books they were against which he was warned, or what kind of a place a theatre was, and so on. Eyes are greedy, and there is a very quick telephone from them to the desires. ‘The lust of the eye’ soon fans the ‘lust of the flesh’ into a glow. There are plenty of depths of Satan gaping for young feet; and on the whole, it is safer and happier not to know them, and so not to have defiling memories, nor run the risk of falling into fatal sins. Whether the writer of this stern picture of a drunkard was a total abstainer or not, the spirit of his counsel not to ‘look on the wine’ is in full accord with that practice. It is very clear that if a man is a total abstainer, he can never be a drunkard. As much cannot be said of the moderate man.
Note too, how in all regions of life, the ultimate results of any conduct are the important ones. Consequences are hard to calculate, and they do not afford a good guidance for action. But there are many lines of conduct of which the consequences are not hard to calculate, but absolutely certain. It is childish to take a course because of a moment’s gratification at the beginning, to be followed by protracted discomfort afterwards. To live for present satisfaction of desires, and to shut one’s eyes tight against known and assured results of an opposite sort, cannot be the part of a sensible man, to say nothing of a religious one. So moralists have been preaching ever since there was such a thing as temptation in the world; and men have assented to the common sense of the teaching, and then have gone straight away and done the exact opposite.
‘What shall the end be?’ ought to be the question at every beginning. If we would cultivate the habit of holding present satisfactions in suspense, and of giving no weight to present advantages until we saw right along the road to the end of the journey, there would be fewer failures, and fewer weary, disenchanted old men and women, to lament that the harvest they had to reap and feed on was so bitter. There are other and higher reasons against any kind of fleshly indulgence than that at the last it bites like a serpent, and with a worse poison than serpent’s sting ever darted; but that is a reason, and young hearts, which are by their very youth blessedly unused to look forward, will be all the happier to-day, and all the surer of to-morrow’s good, if they will learn to say, ‘And afterwards-what?’ The passage passes to a renewed description of the effects of intoxication, in which the disgusting and the ludicrous aspects of it are both made prominent. Pro 23:33 seems to describe the excited imagination of the drunkard, whose senses are no longer under his control, but play him tricks that make him a laughingstock to sober people. One might almost take the verse to be a description of delirium tremens. ‘Strange things’ are seen, and perverse things {that is, unreal, or ridiculous} are stammered out. The writer has a keen sense of the humiliation to a man of being thus the fool of his own bewildered senses, and as keen a one of the absurd spectacle he presents; and he warns his ‘son’ against coming down to such a depth of degradation.
It may be questioned whether the boasted quickening and brightening effects of alcohol are not always, in a less degree, that same beguiling of sense and exciting of imagination which, in their extreme form, make a man such a pitiable and ridiculous sight. It is better to be dull and see things as they are, than to be brilliant and see things larger, brighter, or any way other than they are, because we see them through a mist. Imagination set agoing by such stimulus, will not work to as much purpose as if aroused by truth. God’s world, seen by sober eyes, is better than rosy dreams of it. If we need to draw our inspiration from alcohol, we had better remain uninspired. If we desire to know the naked truth of things, the less we have to do with strong drink the better. Clear eyesight and self-command are in some degree impaired by it always. The earlier stages are supposed to be exhilaration, increased brilliancy of fancy and imagination, expanded good-fellowship, and so on. The latter stages are these in our passage, when strange things dance before cheated eyes, and strange words speak themselves out of lips which their owner no longer controls. Is that a condition to be sought after? If not, do not get on to the road that leads to it.
Pro 23:34 adds another disgusting and ridiculous trait. A man who should try to lie down and go to sleep in the heart of the sea or on the masthead of a ship would be a manifest fool, and would not keep life in him for long. One has seen drunken men laying themselves down to sleep in places as exposed and as ridiculous as these; and one knows the look of the heavy lump of insensibility lying helpless on public roads, or on railway tracks, or anywhere where the fancy took him. The point of the verse seems to be the drunken man’s utter loss of sense of fitness, and complete incapacity to take care of himself. He cannot estimate dangers. The very instinct of self-preservation has forsaken him. There he lies, though as sure to be drowned as if he were in the depth of the sea, though on as uncomfortable a bed as if he were rocking on a masthead, where he could not balance himself.
The torpor of Pro 23:34 follows on the unnatural excitement of Pro 23:33, as, in fact, the bursts of uncontrolled energy in which the man sees and says strange things, are succeeded by a collapse. One moment raging in excitement caused by imaginary sights, the next huddled together in sleep like death,-what a sight the man is! The teacher here would have his ‘son’ consider that he may come to that, if he looks on the wine-cup. ‘Thou shalt be’ so and so. It is very impolite, but very necessary, to press home the individual application of pictures like this, and to bid bright young men and women look at the wretched creatures they may see hanging about liquor shops, and remember that they may come to be such as these.
Pro 23:35 finishes the picture. The tipsy man’s soliloquy puts the copestone on his degradation. He has been beaten, and never felt it. Apparently he is beginning to stir in his sleep, though not fully awake; and the first thing he discovers when he begins to feel himself over is that he has been beaten and wounded, and remembers nothing about it. A degrading anaesthetic is drink. Better to bear all ills than to drown them by drowning consciousness. There is no blow which a man cannot bear better if he holds fast by God’s hand and keeps himself fully exposed to the stroke, than if he sought a cowardly alleviation of it, softer the drunkard’s fashion.
But the pains of his beating and the discomforts of his waking do not deter the drunkard. ‘When shall I awake?’ He is not fully awake yet, so as to be able to get up and go for another drink. He is in the stage of feeling sorry for himself, and examining his bruises, but he wishes he were able to shake off the remaining drowsiness, that he might ‘seek yet again’ for his curse. The tyranny of desire, which wakes into full activity before the rest of the man does, and the enfeebled will, which, in spite of all bruises and discomforts, yields at once to the overmastering desire, make the tragedy of a drunkard’s life. There comes a point in lives of fleshly indulgence in which the craving seems to escape from the control of the will altogether. Doctors tell us that the necessity for drink becomes a physical disease. Yes; but it is a disease manufactured by the patient, and he is responsible for getting himself into such a state.
This tragic picture proves that there were many originals of it in the days when it was painted. Probably there are far more, in proportion to population, in our times. The warning it peals out was never more needed than now. Would that all preachers, parents, and children laid it to heart and took the advice not even to ‘look upon the wine’!
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain v. 29. Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow, or…
v. 29. Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow, or grief? The Hebrew notes the moaning by giving the sighs Ah! and Alas! Who hath contentions? being most easily involved in quarrels. Who hath babbling? said of senseless mutterings and mouthings. Who hath wounds without cause? inflicted in drunken brawls. Who hath redness of eyes? the characteristic bloated, bleary, and flushed condition of the face which marks the drunkard and the habitual drinker.
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 General Information:
General Information:
These verses continue the "thirty sayings" (Proverbs 22:20).
Read full note →
Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has fights? Who has complaining? Who has wounds for no reason? Who has bloodshot eyes?
The writer uses these questions to prepare the reader for the point he is about to make about a particular type of person. He does not expect an answer to each question. Your language may have a different way of introducing a lesson. AT: "Listen to me while I tell you what kind of person has woe, sorrow, fights, complaining, wounds for no reason, and bloodshot eyes." (See: Rhetorical Question)
bloodshot eyes
"eyes red, like the color of blood"
Those who linger over wine, those who try the mixed wine
These words answer the questions in verse 29 and describe people who drink too much wine.
linger over wine
spend much time drinking wine and so drink much wine (See: Euphemism)
the mixed wine
Possible meanings are 1) different wines mixed together or 2) other drinks that are stronger than wine.
translationWords
woe
wine
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 23:29-35 Saying 18: This extended saying portrays the foolishness…
23:29-35 Saying 18: This extended saying portrays the foolishness of the person who overindulges in alcohol (see 20:1).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.