29 Who hath wo? who hath sorrow? Who hath contentions? who hath plaint? Who hath wounds without cause? Who hath redness of eyes? 30 Those tarrying by the wine, Those going in to search out mixed wine. 31 See not wine when it showeth itself red, When it giveth in the cup its colour, It goeth up and down through the upright. 32 Its latter end—as a serpent it biteth, And as a basilisk it stingeth. 33 Thine eyes see strange women, And thy heart speaketh perverse things. 34 And thou hast been as one lying down in the heart of the sea, And as one lying down on the top of a mast. 35 'They smote me, I have not been sick, They beat me, I have not known. When I awake—I seek it yet again!'
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Proverbs 23:29-35
Commentary on Proverbs 23:29-35
(Read Proverbs 23:29-35)
Solomon warns against drunkenness. Those that would be kept from sin, must keep from all the beginnings of it, and fear coming within reach of its allurements. Foresee the punishment, what it will at last end in, if repentance prevent not. It makes men quarrel. Drunkards wilfully make woe and sorrow for themselves. It makes men impure and insolent. The tongue grows unruly; the heart utters things contrary to reason, religion, and common civility. It stupifies and besots men. They are in danger of death, of damnation; as much exposed as if they slept upon the top of a mast, yet feel secure. They fear no peril when the terrors of the Lord are before them; they feel no pain when the judgments of God are actually upon them. So lost is a drunkard to virtue and honour, so wretchedly is his conscience seared, that he is not ashamed to say, I will seek it again. With good reason we were bid to stop before the beginning. Who that has common sense would contract a habit, or sell himself to a sin, which tends to such guilt and misery, and exposes a man every day to the danger of dying insensible, and awaking in hell? Wisdom seems in these chapters to take up the discourse as at the beginning of the book. They must be considered as the words of Christ to the sinner.