THIRTY SAYINGS OF THE
WISE
SAYING NUMBER EIGHTEEN
“Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has
complaints? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes? Those who linger
over wine, who go to sample bowls of mixed wine. Do not gaze at wine when it is
red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly! In the end it
bites like a snake and poisons like a viper. Your eyes will see strange sights,
and your mind will imagine confusing things. You will be like one sleeping on
the high seas, lying on top of the rigging. “They hit me,” you will say, “but
I’m not hurt! They beat me, but I don’t feel it! When will I wake up so I can
find another drink?”” (Proverbs 23:29–35, NIV)
Wisdom addresses those who “linger over wine”. “The sage gives a vivid picture of the one
who drinks too much: he raves on and on, picks quarrels and fights, poisons his
system with alcohol, gets bloodshot eyes, loses control, is confused, is unable
to speak clearly, imagines things, and is insensitive to pain.”[1]
Most (not all) Christians would find no support in the Bible
for total abstinence. Having said that
excessive use of alcohol, drunkenness is a contravention of God’s will (“Do
not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the
Spirit,” (Ephesians 5:18, NIV)). The
Wise Person is one who does not “linger” over wine. What does linger mean? The Tanakh, the Septuagint version of the
Hebrew Bible was translated into English and reads this way: “Those whom
wine keeps till the small hours, Those who gather to drain the cups.”
(Proverbs 23:30, Tanakh). So again the idea is over-indulgence.
The metaphors of the author are profound. One is to treat wine as he or she would treat
a poisonous snake. The venomous bites
are stupefying and slowly killing. Like a person in a boxing ring, the blows are slowly dulling the senses
rendering the person incapable of even judging that they are incapacitated.
This form of self-abuse is so deceptive that the morning brings search for more
drink.
Proverbs 23:34 (NIV) reads, “You will be like one sleeping on the high seas, lying on top of the rigging.” “This is a notoriously unstable place to stay: the comparison is either to the staggering gait of the drunk person, or to the nausea he will feel (as uncontrollable as seasickness).”[2]
The warning and the wisdom in this passage relates to the
allure of alcohol. “Do not gaze at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in
the cup, when it goes down smoothly!” (Proverbs 23:31, NIV). The metaphor may seem unrelated, but I recall
hearing a judge speak to a person just convicted of dangerous driving. The judge reminded the offender to keep in
mind that they are driving a lethal weapon.
That is a sobering metaphor. Likewise
the inspired author is reminding us that to pick up a glass of alcohol one is
holding a venomous snake; one is stepping into the ring with a skilled boxer;
and one is balancing precariously on the rigging of a sailing vessel.
Unless one is trying to be possessively defensive the wisdom
seems obvious, when the question is posed this way: Why would you do that? Modern medicine categorizes alcoholism as a
disease. To do so clouds the issue. Excessive, over-indulgent drinking of alcohol
is self-abuse, dishonoring our bodies and our God.
The drinking of alcohol is small quantities are not
prohibited by the Bible. “However, due
to the biblical concerns regarding alcohol and its effects, due to the easy
temptation to consume alcohol in excess, and due to the possibility of causing
offense and/or stumbling of others, it is often best for a Christian to abstain
from drinking alcohol.”[3]
[1] Expositor's Bible Commentary, The, Pradis
CD-ROM:Proverbs/Exposition of Proverbs/IV. The Sayings of the Wise
(22:17-24:34)/A. Thirty Precepts of the Sages (22:17-24:22), Book Version:
4.0.2
[2] Crossway Bibles. (2008). The ESV Study Bible
(p. 1175). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.
[3] https://www.gotquestions.org/sin-alcohol.html
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