PROVERBS 23: 29-35
A DRINKER TURNED DRUNK
[Proverbs 23:19-21]
This Proverb gives the picture of a drinker of alcoholic beverages. The father, talking to His son (v.15), passes from the sin of uncleanness to that of drunkenness because they are closely related. To wallow with wantonness in the mire of forbidden sensuality, man, created in the image of God, first desensitizes and brutalizes himself by intoxication.
The passage asks questions, calls for observations, and gives answers. It gives a description of the attractions as well as the effects of wine. It gives us a warning along with the condition of the drunkard and his own befuddled statements. Drinking is suppose to be characterized by happiness and merriment, but it is overshadowed by woes or problems, "Sorrows of the heart."
The proverb pictures the lure of drink and its final result (CIT). Every sin brings its own mischief or reaping. Let the one who drinks to enjoy life see himself here in the descriptions of this passage and turn from his sin before his sin turns on him.
I. OBSERVATION REQUESTED, 29-30.
II. WINE'S ENTICEMENTS, 31.
III. ALCOHOL'S RESULTS, 32-34.
IV. A DRUNKARD'S TESTIMONY, 35.
Israel was a wine-producing country. In the Old Testament, winepresses bursting with new wine were considered a sign of blessing (3:10). Wisdom is even said to have set her table with wine (9:2,5). But the Old Testament writers were alert to the dangers of wine. It dulls the senses; it limits clear judgment (31:1-9); it lowers the capacity for control (4:17); it destroys a person's efficiency (21:17). To drink wine as a means of self-indulgence, or as an escape from life is to misuse it and invite the consequences of the drunkard.
Verse 29 presents us with questions that calls for observation and answer. "Who has woe (problems)? Who has sorrow (heartache)? Who has contentions (strife)? Who has complaining (anxiety)? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes?"
These six questions give us all the information we need to determine who is being described. The first two questions give his wretched condition.
Who has [literally in Hebrew "to whom is"] woe ["trouble]? Who has sorrow? The very means of the drinkers pleasure "biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder" (29:32). His woe is great. He has the woe of ill health. Alcohol poisons the blood (cardiovascular disease, malabsorption, peptic ulcers), saps the constitution (heart disease, nutritional deficiencies, polyneuropathy, dementia), and aids diseases (cirrhosis of the liver, pancreatitis, epilepsy, kidney disorders). The drinker has the woe of poverty. [Alcohol dependence and alcohol abuse cost the United States an estimated $220 billion in 2005. This dollar amount was more than the cost associated with cancer ($196 billion) and obesity ($133 billion)]. Drink debilitates one for the duties by which subsistence for himself and his family can be obtained. [Causes failure to complete job, school, or home responsibilities.] He has the woe of social contempt. [Social skills are significantly impaired in people suffering from alcoholism due to the neurotoxic effects of alcohol on the brain, especially the prefrontal cortex area of the brain. The social skills that are impaired by alcohol abuse include impairments in perceiving facial emotions, prosody perception problems and theory of mind deficits; the ability to understand humor is also impaired in alcohol abusers.] His wife and children are ashamed of him, his neighbors and sober friends soon loath and avoid him. He has the woe of moral remorse. In his sober moments if his conscience is not yet seared he realizes his plight.
The next two questions deal with his offensive behavior and vexing speech. Who has contentions (strife)? Who has complaining (babblings)?
When alcohol deadens the brain, the member of the body which James describes as "setting on fire the whole course of nature," is allowed to give full utterance to all the filthy, incoherent, ill natured, and ridiculous things that spring from the inebriate's heart.
In these babblings there may sometimes be some humorous expressions but more often ill natured and irritating "contentions". How many quarrels, fightings, and murders have grown out of a drinkers babblings. Drink supplies our police with labor, agendas our judges with cases, fills our jails with prisoners and our streets with filth.
The final two questions; "Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of (or bloodshot) eyes?" address the drinkers resulting physical condition. Look at drinkers face and nose, see the darkening and reddening caused by toxins and circulation problems. His vision dims and loses its power. Look at the body of those that stumble around with are needlessly inflicted ("without cause") cuts and bruises, the price paid for either losing motor coordination or picking fights with others. The habits of a person begin to mark their looks. The deteriorating poison is doing its damage passing to all parts of the body through the bloodstream. All these woes and sorrows are the curse of indulging corrupted self will.
Wine looks so pretty in the goblet. The commercials are so enticing. The jingles are so catchy. It seems so chic to have a drink in your hand. But it has a heavy price tag.
The answer as to who in verse 30 emphasizes the extent and intensity of the drinking bouts. "Those who linger long over wine, Those who go to taste mixed wine."
Here the one described in verse 29 is clearly indicated. Those who tarry in the evening with wine will have pain, woe and contention as their lot in life.
It is clear from this and other passages that the wines used in ancient Israel were intoxicating. Though not to the extent of modern wines with their advanced fermenting and drugging procedures. The drinker is not one who drinks the juice of grapes that God gave use for tasty refreshment. The one who lingers over potent drink seeks pleasure out of it. He or she pursues it initially as a source of enjoyment. He samples the variety of wines and then moves on to whiskeys to discover their effects. What an accurate picture of millions (America has more alcoholics then any nation on earth, 20 million) who assemble in taverns, bars, clubs, hotels and homes to linger over intoxicating drink.
With penetrating irony someone has penned this STRANGE ADVERTISEMENT as if they were written by the owner of a bar:
"Friends and neighbors, I am grateful for past favors and have supplied my store with a fine line of choice liquors. I must inform you that I shall continue to make drunkards and beggars for the respectable people of the community to support.
"My products will incite riot, robbery, and bloodshed. They will diminish your comfort, increase your expenses, shorten your life, and multiply fatal accidents. They will deprive some of life, others of reason, many of character, and all of peace.
"I will, however, accommodate you, the public. I must face the reality that I have a family to support, that the business pays, and that your attendance encourages it. I have paid for my license, and the business is legal! Please give me your patronage, for as you can see, I am a frank and honest man."
Millions give staggering evidence that this strange advertisement is all too true. Those who have been addicted to alcohol will be the first to agree with these words. They know all too well how powerless one can become when caught in its iron-fisted grip.
II. WINE'S ENTICEMENTS, 31.
The brief warning in verse 31 concerns the tempting effect and hypnotic impact of alcohol. "Do not look on the wine when it is red, When it sparkles in the cup, When it goes down smoothly."
We are warned or admonished not to even look on the alluring qualities of wine, for they are deceptive. Do not let its alluring hue, sparkle or promised pleasures attract you. Eyes can become greedy and here is a zip file ready to up load into your fallen desires. So Father Wisdom does more than counsel his son not to drink. He distinctly warns his son to turn his eyes from even looking at a glass of it. Don't touch it, don't even look at its advertisements!
How often what we call a harmless look has become a fearful temptation. Crush it in its beginnings. Learn the lesson of the cross and deny yourself. A Father should do what he can to persuade his children not to even look at alcoholic advertisements so that the temptation to drink will be the least possible.
I have never met an alcoholic who did not take his first drink. More than one out of every ten that do, become one. Avoid alcohol's enticement of beauty and taste. For the soothing comfort of alcohol is only temporary. Real relief comes from dealing with the cause of the anguish and sorrow and turning to God for peace. Don't lose yourself in alcohol; find yourself in God.
III. ALCOHOL'S RESULTS, 32-34.
Temptingly attractive at the beginning, drink becomes mind-muddling and life-bogging to those who succumb to its tasty poison. Verse 32, "At the last it bites like a serpent, and stings like a viper."
Here is wisdom's reality check. Drink is subtle like a serpent, which may look graceful and pretty as it lays coiled, but when it strikes its venom is deadly. Whatever the initial allurements of drink, its final outcome is fiendish. It's toxic, catatonic stupor eventually bits those who play with it. Like a viper its fangs are hidden, yet its strike is most fatal. It is poisonous and dangerous and not to be toyed with.
Verse 33 discloses the topsy-turvy, all-mixed-up delirium that results from intoxicating beverages. "Your eyes will see strange things, and your mind (heart) will utter (envision) perverse (confusing) things."
Another result is that your eyes and your heart will experience distorting effects and uninvited thoughts. Seldom does an indulgence come alone. It brings with it a host of demons. The door to the heart, mind and imagination that alcohol opens invites in other strange and perverse fiends.
These vile companions influence the now unrestraint, undisciplined, uncontrolled mind, filling it with perverse ideas and thoughts that the subconsciousness must deal with again and again later. Some of these perverse influences may become thoughts and then actions. Have you heard a drunk's talk & seen what he does? Detestable indeed is the heart of an ungodly man laid bare by drink.
Alcohol's delirium is aptly illustrated by a nautical scene in verse 34. "And you will be like one who lies down in the middle of the sea, or like one who lies down on the top of a mast."
Notice the drinkers reckless abandon. Notice the delirium and chaos that are let loose in his life. The victim's senses become so disturbed that he is unable to gain control over his faculties or clear his judgment.
The blinded brain and the numbed body takes him into dangerous places and circumstances and leaves him without the abilities to care for himself there. He becomes disoriented like a seasick storm tossed sailor in "midst of the sea." He is misguided into a predicament like being in the middle of a raging sea or atop a deadly precipice, or behind the wheel of two tons of steel, roaring down the road, and not only can he not do something about it, he doesn't even realize the danger he is in. The victim has lost all positive will and strength to escape and falls in a living or sleeping stupor amid emanate dangers and simply does not care. What a condition for a rational being to be enticed into.
IV. A DRUNKARD'S TESTIMONY, 35.
Verse 35 follows the drunk as he is pummeled and hammered, but becomes none the wiser for it. "They struck me, but I did not become ill; They beat me, but I did not know it. When shall I awake? I will seek another drink."
The drinker wakes up and knows nothing of what has occurred during the period of his intoxication. He knows not how he came to the terrible place or predicament where he now finds himself. And he does not have the desire to even get himself out. He finds himself stricken but he knows not by what. He finds himself beaten but does not know by whom because of the physical and mental blindness into which he has voluntarily stumbled.
He knows he needs to wake up and get out of his situation and condition even through all his stupor. He knows that he is doing is wrong and is hurting him and others and says that someday he will get out of it. Then he turns around and goes back to his drink or drugs. Alcohol or drugs have now seized the upper hand.
He has an unconquerable thirst and despite his remorse his burning thirst remains unquenched. And he goes and seeks relief in that very cup which is damning him. "As a dog returns to his vomit, he returns to his filth."
CONCLUSION
Every mariner on the sea of life should look at this picture of a drinker turned drunk and heed its warning. Do not put an enemy into your mouth, into your body to steal your brains and will to live. Let not its promise of pleasure allure you. It is poison. Avoid it as such. Though some say all things are lawful for the believer, not all things are wise (1 Cor. 10:23). Of the approximately twenty million alcoholics in America, probably no one set out to be one. Everyone thought he could handle it. [Courson, Jon: Jon Courson's Application Commentary: Vol 2: Psalms-Malachi. Nashville, TN : Thomas Nelson, 2006, S. 252.]
At a religious gathering, the question of wine was brought up. An influential DRINKING CLERGYMAN rose and made a vehement argument in favor of wine. When he had resumed his seat, a layman said, "Mr. Moderator, it is not my purpose in rising to answer the learned arguments to which you have just listened. My object is more humble, and, I hope, more practical. I once knew a father, of moderate means, who sent his beloved son to college to be educated. There his son became wild, but, after he returned to his father, the influence and prayer of his father actually reformed him. The father was overjoyed at the prospect that his cherished hopes were still to be realized. Several years passed, when, the young man having completed his professional study, and being about to leave his father to establish a business, was invited to dine with a neighboring clergyman distinguished for his hospitality and social qualities. At this dinner wine was introduced and offered to this young man, who refused. It was pressed upon him and again refused. This was repeated, and then young man was ridiculed. He was strong enough to overcome appetite, but could not resist ridicule. He drank and fell, and from that moment became a confirmed drunkard, and long since has found a drunkard's grave. "Mr. Moderator," continued the old man, with streaming eyes, "I am that father, and it was at the table of the clergyman who has just taken his seat, and my son I shall never cease to mourn." [Thomas, David. Book of Proverbs. Kregel. 1982. Grand Rapids. p. 588.]
If you or any one you know is trapped in such a hell hole that seems to have no way out because your whole life is steeped in this pollution, listen. I solemnly testify to you, "Is there anything too hard for the Lord?" His name be praised for He grants full deliverance from the captivity of sin, from any and every sin, even from the chains of this tyrant. The mighty instrument is "Christ crucified." By the dying to self, enabled by Jesus' death, comes new life and new power through living in the power of His resurrection. The drunkard can become sober, the drug addict can become clean (1 John 3:9; 5:18), as many today bear witness, to the glory and power of God.
ALCOHOLISM or problems with alcohol is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing.
[From Wikipedia] Drinking excessively year after year can cause a number of physical symptoms, including cirrhosis of the liver, pancreatitis , epilepsy , polyneuropathy , alcoholic dementia , heart disease, nutritional deficiencies, peptic ulcers and sexual dysfunction , and can eventually be fatal. Other physical effects include an increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease , malabsorption , alcoholic liver disease , and cancer . Damage to the central nervous system and peripheral nervous system can occur from sustained alcohol consumption. A wide range of immunologic defects can result and there may be a generalized skeletal fragility, in addition to a recognized tendency to accidental injury, resulting a propensity to bone fractures.
Misuse of alcohol can cause a wide range of mental health problems. Severe cognitive problems are common; approximately 10 percent of all dementia cases are related to alcohol consumption, making it the second leading cause of dementia. Excessive alcohol use causes damage to brain function, and psychological health can be increasingly affected over time.
Social skills are significantly impaired in people suffering from alcoholism due to the neurotoxic effects of alcohol on the brain, especially the prefrontal cortex area of the brain. The social skills that are impaired by alcohol abuse include impairments in perceiving facial emotions, prosody perception problems and theory of mind deficits; the ability to understand humor is also impaired in alcohol abusers.
Psychiatric disorders are common in alcoholics, with as many as 25 percent suffering severe psychiatric disturbances. The most prevalent psychiatric symptoms are anxiety and depression disorders. Psychiatric symptoms usually initially worsen during alcohol withdrawal, but typically improve or disappear with continued abstinence. Psychosis , confusion , and organic brain syndrome may be caused by alcohol misuse, which can lead to a misdiagnosis such as schizophrenia . Panic disorder can develop or worsen as a direct result of long-term alcohol misuse.
Alcohol dependence and alcohol abuse cost the United States an estimated $220 billion in 2005. This dollar amount was more than the cost associated with cancer ($196 billion) and obesity ($133 billion).
500,000 Americans who are dependent on alcohol are between the ages of 9 and 12.
More than one-half of American adults have a close family member who has or has had alcohol addiction.
In a study of more than 450 American alcoholics and 80 heroin addicts, it was found that the absent father is a very typical occurrence. In fact, according to this study, it is the rule rather than the exception.
