Pro 23:35 | KingComments | STEP | Immediately following the warning about harlotry in is a warning about drunkenness in . This subject has already been briefly addressed by the wise in . Drunkenness is closely related to harlotry ( ) and also easily leads to harlotry ( ). Vividly and imaginatively, the wise man paints the picture of someone who is drunk. He begins in with six questions, to which he gives the answer in . In he has some advice, while in he shows the consequences if his advice is not followed. In , he addresses his son directly. He concludes his description in with words that come from the mouth of the drunkard himself. The drunkard is one who cries “woe” and “sorrow” because he is miserable ( ). These cries can also refer to what he causes others, such as his family, by his drunkenness. The drink turns him into someone who seeks contention, a troublemaker. When he awakens from his intoxication, there is “complaining”, because he is miserable. The “wounds” he has, he has received during his drunkenness, either from a fight or from stumbling or bumping into something over and over again in his waddling gait. They are “wounds without cause”, because he would not have suffered those wounds had he not been drunk. Because of his drunkenness, he can no longer see clearly, for his eyes are bloodshot, making his vision blurry and double. The answer in to the six questions of is as brief as it is telling. Drunkards are described here as people “who linger long over wine” and “who go to taste mixed wine”. They do not drink a little glass with their food, but wine fills their existence. They continue drinking into the early hours. This includes tasting mixed drinks. This increases the drinking pleasure. Drunks know no time and no responsibility. They are people without a spine. The fact that they have to be at work on time the next day does not concern them. They don’t think about how things are at home. They are in a daze and unable to think about responsibilities. The father advises his son not to look at the wine “when it is red” ( ), that is, when the wine has a special attractiveness. This may be when you are going through an unpleasant period, or have to deal with a major disappointment. There may then be a special temptation from wine to drink from it. Therefore, the urgent advice is not to look at it. If you do, you will see how attractive it is. Your resistance to it will melt like snow in the sun. You will put the cup of wine to your mouth and experience how smoothly it goes down. But you must remember that the brief pleasure ends with the bite of a serpent and the sting of a viper ( ). You will “at last” be destroyed by it. No one indulges in wine when he thinks for a moment about what the end is. His fellow drinkers don’t tell him that. They offer him the first glass of wine. If he doesn’t take it, they laugh at him. Therefore, he takes the glass and drinks it. Indeed, it drinks easily and it tastes exquisite. It ends up demolishing his entire human dignity. In , the father addresses his son directly. He should be aware that drunkenness makes boundaries blur and easily leads him to harlotry and debauched talk ( ). His clouded brain no longer has the awareness that he is married. His eyes become eyes that see strange things or strange women, his eyes are full of adultery, and because he no longer has a sense of standards, he comes to the disgusting act of adultery. The language he utters is of the same perverse, disgusting content. Uninhibitedly, the most disgusting things come out of his mind. The drunken son will be utterly insensitive to what happens to him ( ). A drunkard does not know what he is doing, where he is and where he is going. He may find himself in the heart of the sea, in a heavy storm, but totally unaware that he could just drown. He is like a sleeper to whom nothing penetrates. Or he may find himself in the top of a mast, where he is swinging back and forth and can make a deadly fall, unaware of this danger. Again, he is like a sleeper to whom nothing penetrates. He saunters down the street and wallows in his own vomit without the slightest awareness of it ( ; cf. ). The drunkard knows he has been beaten, but he does not know by whom ( ). It has not made him sick or bound him to his bed. They even struck him with hard blows, but he felt nothing. How wonderful it is to be drunk! Anything can happen to you, but it doesn’t bother you at all. This life he wants to continue. He is incorrigible, he just wants to remain drunk and therefore numb to misery. Therefore, when he wakes up, he will again reach for his great comforter, the bottle ( ). What a tragedy!

‏ Proverbs 23:35

The Disastrous Consequences of Drunkenness

Immediately following the warning about harlotry in Pro 23:26-28 is a warning about drunkenness in Pro 23:29-35. This subject has already been briefly addressed by the wise in Pro 23:20-21. Drunkenness is closely related to harlotry (Rev 17:2) and also easily leads to harlotry (Pro 23:33). Vividly and imaginatively, the wise man paints the picture of someone who is drunk.

He begins in Pro 23:29 with six questions, to which he gives the answer in Pro 23:30. In Pro 23:31 he has some advice, while in Pro 23:32 he shows the consequences if his advice is not followed. In Pro 23:33-34, he addresses his son directly. He concludes his description in Pro 23:35 with words that come from the mouth of the drunkard himself.

The drunkard is one who cries “woe” and “sorrow” because he is miserable (Pro 23:29). These cries can also refer to what he causes others, such as his family, by his drunkenness. The drink turns him into someone who seeks contention, a troublemaker. When he awakens from his intoxication, there is “complaining”, because he is miserable. The “wounds” he has, he has received during his drunkenness, either from a fight or from stumbling or bumping into something over and over again in his waddling gait. They are “wounds without cause”, because he would not have suffered those wounds had he not been drunk. Because of his drunkenness, he can no longer see clearly, for his eyes are bloodshot, making his vision blurry and double.

The answer in Pro 23:30 to the six questions of Pro 23:29 is as brief as it is telling. Drunkards are described here as people “who linger long over wine” and “who go to taste mixed wine”. They do not drink a little glass with their food, but wine fills their existence. They continue drinking into the early hours. This includes tasting mixed drinks. This increases the drinking pleasure.

Drunks know no time and no responsibility. They are people without a spine. The fact that they have to be at work on time the next day does not concern them. They don’t think about how things are at home. They are in a daze and unable to think about responsibilities.

The father advises his son not to look at the wine “when it is red” (Pro 23:31), that is, when the wine has a special attractiveness. This may be when you are going through an unpleasant period, or have to deal with a major disappointment. There may then be a special temptation from wine to drink from it. Therefore, the urgent advice is not to look at it. If you do, you will see how attractive it is. Your resistance to it will melt like snow in the sun. You will put the cup of wine to your mouth and experience how smoothly it goes down.

But you must remember that the brief pleasure ends with the bite of a serpent and the sting of a viper (Pro 23:32). You will “at last” be destroyed by it. No one indulges in wine when he thinks for a moment about what the end is. His fellow drinkers don’t tell him that. They offer him the first glass of wine. If he doesn’t take it, they laugh at him. Therefore, he takes the glass and drinks it. Indeed, it drinks easily and it tastes exquisite. It ends up demolishing his entire human dignity.

In Pro 23:33-34, the father addresses his son directly. He should be aware that drunkenness makes boundaries blur and easily leads him to harlotry and debauched talk (Pro 23:33). His clouded brain no longer has the awareness that he is married. His eyes become eyes that see strange things or strange women, his eyes are full of adultery, and because he no longer has a sense of standards, he comes to the disgusting act of adultery. The language he utters is of the same perverse, disgusting content. Uninhibitedly, the most disgusting things come out of his mind.

The drunken son will be utterly insensitive to what happens to him (Pro 23:34). A drunkard does not know what he is doing, where he is and where he is going. He may find himself in the heart of the sea, in a heavy storm, but totally unaware that he could just drown. He is like a sleeper to whom nothing penetrates. Or he may find himself in the top of a mast, where he is swinging back and forth and can make a deadly fall, unaware of this danger. Again, he is like a sleeper to whom nothing penetrates. He saunters down the street and wallows in his own vomit without the slightest awareness of it (Isa 28:7-8; cf. Psa 107:26-27).

The drunkard knows he has been beaten, but he does not know by whom (Pro 23:35). It has not made him sick or bound him to his bed. They even struck him with hard blows, but he felt nothing. How wonderful it is to be drunk! Anything can happen to you, but it doesn’t bother you at all. This life he wants to continue. He is incorrigible, he just wants to remain drunk and therefore numb to misery. Therefore, when he wakes up, he will again reach for his great comforter, the bottle (Isa 56:12 ; Isa 5:11). What a tragedy!