Pro 21:17 | KingComments | STEP | The love for “joy” and “wine and oil” is a love for these things in itself, without a connection to God. It is about someone who belongs to the group of people about whom Paul says they are “more lovers of their own pleasure than of God” ( ). We may certainly enjoy all kinds of earthly blessings that God has given us. But if we forget that we owe everything to Him and our lives revolve only around earthly things, there comes lack of spiritual life and lack of spiritual riches. Joy in the sense of flat entertainment, having a lot of fun every day, is a hollow form of life. This life is seen as the highest good by the world around us. ‘Enjoyment’ is the key word. You come across it in numerous advertisements. Delicious food and drink, music, sports and entertainment in all variations are supposed to give a feeling of joy. However, it is the crackling of thorns from which warmth comes very briefly when set on fire, but whose fire is extinguished in no time. Then it is over and out with the warmth. Wine and oil here symbolize luxurious living and as stand-alone causes of joy ( ). If these things are pursued, they lead to a life of self-indulgent enjoyment, which in turn leads to spiritual poverty. He who focuses on living in luxury will seek less and less fellowship with God in reading the Bible and praying. He will become spiritually impoverished. He who pursues luxury will also begin to neglect other responsibilities, such as attention and care for wife and children. It also has something to say to us Christians. We can be so focused on the joy of faith that we forget its Source. It becomes being joyful for and in joy. However, joy is never a mere phenomenon, but flows from the Source from Whom can be drawn. You do encounter this in certain churches where joy and the ‘Spirit’, of Whom the oil is a picture, occupy an excessive place. The result, then, is always the poverty spoken of here.

‏ Proverbs 21:17

He Who Loves Pleasure, Wine and Oil

The love for “joy” and “wine and oil” is a love for these things in itself, without a connection to God. It is about someone who belongs to the group of people about whom Paul says they are “more lovers of their own pleasure than of God” (2Tim 3:4). We may certainly enjoy all kinds of earthly blessings that God has given us. But if we forget that we owe everything to Him and our lives revolve only around earthly things, there comes lack of spiritual life and lack of spiritual riches. Joy in the sense of flat entertainment, having a lot of fun every day, is a hollow form of life. This life is seen as the highest good by the world around us.

‘Enjoyment’ is the key word. You come across it in numerous advertisements. Delicious food and drink, music, sports and entertainment in all variations are supposed to give a feeling of joy. However, it is the crackling of thorns from which warmth comes very briefly when set on fire, but whose fire is extinguished in no time. Then it is over and out with the warmth.

Wine and oil here symbolize luxurious living and as stand-alone causes of joy (Amos 6:6). If these things are pursued, they lead to a life of self-indulgent enjoyment, which in turn leads to spiritual poverty. He who focuses on living in luxury will seek less and less fellowship with God in reading the Bible and praying. He will become spiritually impoverished. He who pursues luxury will also begin to neglect other responsibilities, such as attention and care for wife and children.

It also has something to say to us Christians. We can be so focused on the joy of faith that we forget its Source. It becomes being joyful for and in joy. However, joy is never a mere phenomenon, but flows from the Source from Whom can be drawn. You do encounter this in certain churches where joy and the ‘Spirit’, of Whom the oil is a picture, occupy an excessive place. The result, then, is always the poverty spoken of here.