Pro 23:20-21 | KingComments | STEP | The father insistently warns his son not to be in the company of drunkards and gluttons ( ). These people know no measure. They represent a class of people characterized by a dramatic lack of self-control. They are spineless and characterless addicts. They are a company the son should avoid. If he befriends them, it will have a negative impact on his view of drunkenness and gluttony. By the way, excessive drinking and eating are often symptoms of deeper problems. Alcohol is known to be primarily a ‘solvent’. It is used to temporarily reduce or forget soul distress and tension (cf. ). The same is true of too much food. Problems do not drive out to God, but to drink and food. Drunks and gluttons shut God out of their lives. begins with the word “for”, meaning that now follows the motivation for the warning of the previous verse. The drunkard and glutton squander their money on their addiction. Their drinking and eating financially ruin them. They often put themselves deep in debt. They also drag their families along to the abyss. The intoxication in which they live continuously can be seen on them. They wear clothes “with rags” or “torn clothes” because every penny goes on drink or food and is not spent on repairing the clothes. We can apply the ‘torn clothes’ spiritually as well. Drunks and gluttons live a life with “tears”. First, it is a life with tears in the sense of a double life. As long as they can keep the addiction hidden, they live two lives, a life with two faces. But their whole life tears into countless shreds when they can no longer keep their addiction hidden. This happens when they can no longer do their job properly and are fired or when creditors come forward because they are no longer meeting their financial obligations.

‏ Proverbs 23:20-21

Bad Company

The father insistently warns his son not to be in the company of drunkards and gluttons (Pro 23:20). These people know no measure. They represent a class of people characterized by a dramatic lack of self-control. They are spineless and characterless addicts. They are a company the son should avoid. If he befriends them, it will have a negative impact on his view of drunkenness and gluttony.

By the way, excessive drinking and eating are often symptoms of deeper problems. Alcohol is known to be primarily a ‘solvent’. It is used to temporarily reduce or forget soul distress and tension (cf. Pro 31:6-7). The same is true of too much food. Problems do not drive out to God, but to drink and food. Drunks and gluttons shut God out of their lives.

Pro 23:21 begins with the word “for”, meaning that now follows the motivation for the warning of the previous verse. The drunkard and glutton squander their money on their addiction. Their drinking and eating financially ruin them. They often put themselves deep in debt. They also drag their families along to the abyss. The intoxication in which they live continuously can be seen on them. They wear clothes “with rags” or “torn clothes” because every penny goes on drink or food and is not spent on repairing the clothes.

We can apply the ‘torn clothes’ spiritually as well. Drunks and gluttons live a life with “tears”. First, it is a life with tears in the sense of a double life. As long as they can keep the addiction hidden, they live two lives, a life with two faces. But their whole life tears into countless shreds when they can no longer keep their addiction hidden. This happens when they can no longer do their job properly and are fired or when creditors come forward because they are no longer meeting their financial obligations.