THIRTY
SAYINGS OF THE WISE
SAYING
NUMBER FOURTEEN
“Listen, my son, and be wise, and set your heart on the
right path: Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on
meat, for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in
rags.” (Proverbs 23:19–21, NIV)
In Deuteronomy
21:18–21 (NIV), we read:
18 If
someone has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and
mother and will not listen to them when they discipline him, 19 his
father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the
gate of his town. 20 They shall say to the elders, “This son of ours
is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a glutton and a
drunkard.” 21 Then all the men of his town are to stone him to
death. You must purge the evil from among you. All Israel will hear of it and
be afraid.
Breaking the Fifth Commandment (““Honor your father and
your mother, as the Lord your God
has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you
in the land the Lord your God is
giving you” (Deuteronomy 5:16, NIV)) brought the violator to the knees of
capital punishment. This was indeed very
serious. In this proverb there is a warning that “… combines fears of gluttony
and laziness; the “drowsiness” may come from the wine or simply from love of
sleep.”[1]
“The "drunkard" (sobe'e-yayin) and the
"glutton" (zolale basar) represent the epitome of the lack of
discipline.”[2] The
author prophecies that this kind of person will eventually come into poverty. Drinking,
debauchery and laziness are symptoms though – symptoms of a lack of discipline,
which itself is symptomatic of a deeper problem. There is also the need for a different
mentality from the “son” in the face
of peer pressure.
As
Richard Baxter explains, “Gluttony is a sin so exceedingly contrary to the love of God: it is
idolatry. It hath the heart which God should have . . . because that love, that
care, that delight, that service and diligence which God should have, is given
by the glutton to his belly and to his throat.”
The essence of the problem is to love food, to love alcohol and to love the attention of others. It is the breaking of the whole Law (“’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Luke 10:27, NIV)). “Moderation and self-control are but the by-products of proper delight and joy in God, which is the work of the Spirit who shows us Jesus as our all-satisfying treasure” – Matt Wallace.
The
solution, of course, is the Gospel. The
irresponsible son needs to see Jesus, who lived a life of self-control and
perfect moderation, dying for the glutton and drunkard. That is what these sins
deserve before God’s tribunal—death. As an idol, gluttony and drunkenness
deserve to be cursed and removed from his holy presence. Though without sin,
Jesus became the gluttonous/drunkard on the cross. By faith in Jesus Christ, the undisciplined
son becomes (no longer a gluttonous drunk) a child of God; and his sin is
placed on Christ who forgives it all. Now his relationship is based on the
reality of God’s approval; and he no longer needs the approval of men.
Also by God’s
grace, the Christian is given the indwelling Spirit of God who provides the will and the ability to be self-disciplined. He is also
enabled by the ongoing promises contained in God’s Word, e.g., “For the
Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good
thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.” (Psalm 84:11,
NIV)
“To
persevere, the soul will need constant reliance on Jesus' gospel through deep
community, daily feeding on the gospel, reliance on the Spirit’s work,
preaching, and worship to keep the all satisfying splendor of God before our
wandering appetites.” Matt Wallace.
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