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Commentary on Proverbs 23 verses 29–35
Solomon here gives fair warning against the sin of drunkenness, to confirm what he had said, Pro 23:20.
I. He cautions all people to keep out of the way of temptations to this sin (Pro 23:31): Look not thou upon the wine when it is red. Red wine was in Canaan looked upon as the best wine, it is therefore called the blood of the grape. Critics judge of wine, among other indications, by the colour of it; some wine, they say, looks charmingly, looks so well that it even says, "Come and drink me;" it moves itself aright, goes down very smoothly, or perhaps the roughness of it is grateful. It is said of generous strong-bodied wine that it even causes the lips of those that are asleep to speak, Sol 7:9. But look not thou upon it. 1. "Be not ruled by sense, but by reason and religion. Covet not that which pleases the eye, in hopes that it will please the taste; but let thy serious thoughts correct the errors of thy senses and convince thee that that which seems delightful is really hurtful, and resolve against it accordingly. Let not the heart walk after the eye, for it is a deceitful guide." 2. "Be not too bold with the charms of this or any other sin; look not, lest thou lust, lest thou take the forbidden fruit." Note Those that would be kept from any sin must keep themselves from all the occasions and beginnings of it, and be afraid of coming within the reach of its allurements, lest they be overcome by them.
II. He shows the many pernicious consequences of the sin of drunkenness, for the enforcement of this caution. Take heed of the bait, for fear of the hook: At the last it bites, Pro 23:32. All sin will be bitterness in the end, and this sin particularly. It bites like a serpent, when the drunkard is made sick by his surfeit, thrown by it into a dropsy or some fatal disease, beggared and ruined in his estate, especially when his conscience is awakened and he cannot reflect upon it without horror and indignation at himself, but worst of all, at last, when the cup of drunkenness shall be turned into a cup of trembling, the cup of the Lord's wrath, the dregs of which he must be for ever drinking, and shall not have a drop of water to cool his inflamed tongue. To take off the force of the temptation that there is in the pleasure of the sin, foresee the punishment of it, and what it will at last end in if repentance prevent not. In its latter end it bites (so the word is); think therefore what will be in the end thereof. But the inspired writer chooses to specify those pernicious consequences of this sin which are present and sensible.
1.It embroils men in quarrels, makes them quarrel with others, and say and do that which gives others occasion to quarrel with them, Pro 23:29. He asks, Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow? Who has not, in this world? Many have woe and sorrow, and cannot help it; but drunkards wilfully create woe and sorrow to themselves. Those that have contentions have woe and sorrow; and drunkards are the fools whose lips enter into contention. When the wine is in the wit is out and the passions are up; and thence come drunken scuffles, and drunken frays, and drunken disputes over the cups; many a vexatious ruining law-suit has begun thus. There is babbling, quarrels in word and the exchanging of scurrilous language; yet it rests not there: you shall have wounds without cause, for causes are things which drunkards are in no capacity to judge of, and therefore they deal blows about without the least consideration why or wherefore, and must expect to be in like manner treated themselves. The wounds which men receive in defence of their country and its just rights are their honour; but wounds without cause, received in the service of their lusts, are marks of their infamy. Nay, drunkards wound themselves in a tender part, for they have redness of eyes, symptoms of an inward inflammation; their sight is weakened by it, and their looks are deformed. This comes, (1.) Of drinking long, tarrying long at the wine, and spending that time in drunken company which should be spent in useful business, or in sleep, which should fit for business, Pro 23:30. O the precious hours which thousands throw away thus, every one of which will be brought into the account at the great day! (2.) Of drinking that which is strong and intoxicating. They go up and down to seek wine that will please them; their great enquiry is, "Where is the best liquor?" They seek mixed wine, which is most palatable, but most heady, so willingly do they sacrifice their reason to please their palate!
2.It makes men impure and insolent, Pro 23:33. (1.) The eyes grow unruly and behold strange women to lust after them, and so let in adultery into the heart. Est Venus in vinis - Wine is oil to the fire of lust. Thy eyes shall behold strange things (so some read it); when men are drunk the house turns round with them, and every thing looks strange to them, so that them they cannot trust their own eyes. (2.) The tongue also grows unruly and talks extravagantly; by it the heart utters perverse things, things contrary to reason, religion, and common civility, which they would be ashamed to speak if they were sober. What ridiculous incoherent nonsense men will talk when they are drunk who at another time will speak admirably well and to the purpose!
3.It stupefies and besots men, Pro 23:34. When men are drunk they know not where they are nor what they say and do. (1.) Their heads are giddy, and when they lie down to sleep they are as if they were tossed by the rolling waves of the sea, or upon the top of a mast; hence they complain that their heads swim; their sleep is commonly unquiet and not refreshing, and their dreams are tumultuous. (2.) Their judgments are clouded, and they have no more steadiness and consistency than he that sleeps upon the top of a mast: they drink and forget the law (Pro 31:5): they err through wine (Isa 28:7), and think as extravagantly as they talk. (3.) They are heedless and fearless of danger, and senseless of the rebukes they are under either from God or man. They are in imminent danger of death, of damnation, lie as much exposed as if they slept upon the top of a mast, and yet are secure and sleep on. They fear no peril when the terrors of the Lord are laid before them; nay, they feel no pain when the judgments of God are actually upon them; they cry not when he binds them. Set a drunkard in the stocks, and he is not sensible of the punishment. "They have stricken me, and I was not sick; I felt it not: it made no impression at all upon me." Drunkenness turns me into stocks and stones; they are scarcely to be reckoned animals; they are dead while they live.
4.Worst of all, the heart is hardened in the sin, and the sinner, notwithstanding all these present mischiefs that attend it, obstinately persist in it, and hates to be reformed: When shall I awake? Much ado he has to shake off the chains of his drunken sleep; he can hardly get clear of the fumes of the wine, though he strives with them, that (being thirsty in the morning) he may return to it again. So perfectly lost is he to all sense of virtue and honour, and so wretchedly is his conscience seared, that he is not ashamed to say, I will seek it yet again. There is no hope; no, they have loved drunkards, and after them they will go, Jer 2:25. This is adding drunkenness to thirst, and following strong drink; those that do so may read their doom Deu 29:19, Deu 29:20, their woe Isa 5:11, and, if this be the end of the sin, with good reason were we directed to stop at the beginning of it: Look not upon the wine when it is red.
By the mention of redness of eyes—a sign of death—it is made clear that the wine-bibber is already dead to the Word and to reason. It declares his death to the Lord. If one forgets the motives that prompt him to seek the true life, he is dragged down to corruption. With good reason, then, the Educator, in his concern for our salvation, sternly forbids us, “Do not drink wine to drunkenness.”
“Who has woe? Who has sorrow?” For whom is there distress and darkness? For whom eternal doom? Is it not for the transgressors? For those who deny the faith? And what is the proof of their denial? Is it not that they have denied their own confession? And when and what did they confess? Belief in the Father and in the Son and in the Holy Ghost, when they renounced the devil and his angels and uttered those saving words. What fit title, then, has been discovered for them, for [these former] children of light to use? Are they not addressed as transgressors, as having violated the covenant of their salvation?
Since you are the presbyters and deacons of Christ, you ought always to be sober, both among yourselves and among others, so that you may be able to warn the unruly. Now the Scripture says, “The men in power are passionate. But let them not drink wine, lest by drinking they forget wisdom and are not able to judge aright.” Wherefore, [the bishops] and the presbyters and the deacons are those of authority in the church next to God Almighty and his beloved Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. We say this, not that they are not to drink at all, otherwise it would be to the reproach of what God has made for cheerfulness, but that they not be disordered with wine. For the Scripture does not say, “Do not drink wine”; but what says it? “Drink not wine to drunkenness.” .
Since you are the presbyters and deacons of Christ, you ought always to be sober, both among yourselves and among others, so that you may be able to warn the unruly. Now the Scripture says, “The men in power are passionate. But let them not drink wine, lest by drinking they forget wisdom and are not able to judge aright.” Wherefore, [the bishops]27 and the presbyters and the deacons are those of authority in the church next to God Almighty and his beloved Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. We say this, not that they are not to drink at all, otherwise it would be to the reproach of what God has made for cheerfulness, but that they not be disordered with wine. For the Scripture does not say, “Do not drink wine”; but what says it? “Drink not wine to drunkenness.”
Understand this, brethren, that every drunkard who has made drinking a habit will have leprosy within, in his soul, because the soul of the drunkard is known to be such as the flesh of the leper is seen to be. Therefore one who wishes to free himself of the sin of drunkenness, where not only his soul is killed but even his body is weakened, should drink merely as much as suffices. If he is unwilling to observe this rule, he will be hateful to God and an object of reproach to people.
People who want to be like this try miserably to excuse themselves. They say, My friend will be unpleasant if I do not give him as much as he wants to drink when I invite him to a banquet. [But I say to you,] Do not have a friend who is willing to make you displeasing to God, for he is both his own enemy and yours. If you make yourself and someone else intoxicated, you will have a man as your friend but God as an enemy.
To whom wounds without cause? etc. Wounds without cause, because many, filled beyond measure with wine, have received wounds in their limbs out of fear, which they have endured for no cause; weakening of the eyes, because the immoderate drink of wine produces darkness to many physical sights and blindness of inner senses.
To whom quarreling? To whom a pitfall? Quarreling, because he who is rendered impotent of senses by drunkenness cannot maintain the harmony of peace; a pitfall, because he who cannot distinguish between good and bad, as if captivated in mind, does not tremble in falling into the mire of vices everywhere. And the drunkard often falls into that pitfall; about which it was premised: For a deep pit is the harlot; and a narrow well, the alien.
Woe to whom? Woe to whose father? He asks, while disputing, for what crimes of men the greatest punishment from the Lord is reserved. And he himself responds through reasoning, that without any doubt, it is to those who, through drunkenness, fall into excess. To whom, he says, is woe? To whose father is woe? Woe is named as eternal destruction. About which the Lord says: Woe to the one through whom scandal comes (Matt. XVIII). And this father of whom is woe imminent, he either names the man from whom someone receives the example of wicked deeds to sin externally, or certainly the devil, who pours the poison of pestilent suggestion into the heart internally. About whom it was said to the Jews: You are of your father the devil, and you wish to do your father's desires (John VIII).
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SUMMARY
Proverbs 23:29 opens with a series of six poignant rhetorical questions, each meticulously probing the origins of profound misery and societal disorder: "Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?" This verse serves as a dramatic and arresting overture, painting a vivid and progressively deteriorating portrait of the devastating consequences of intemperance, particularly excessive alcohol consumption, thereby setting the stage for the explicit and sobering warning that unfolds in the subsequent verses. It masterfully challenges the reader to confront the root causes of such widespread suffering and dysfunction, implicitly but powerfully pointing towards the destructive nature of folly, lack of self-control, and the inevitable harvest of ruin.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Proverbs 23:29 masterfully employs several potent literary devices to achieve its profound and memorable impact. The most prominent is the extensive use of Rhetorical Questions, a series of six interrogatives that do not anticipate an immediate verbal answer within the verse itself. Instead, they are meticulously designed to provoke deep introspection, moral inquiry, and to lead the listener or reader to an inescapable conclusion, which is then explicitly revealed in the subsequent verses (Proverbs 23:30-35). This technique generates a powerful sense of mystery, urgency, and direct address, drawing the audience deeply into the inquiry. Anaphora is also evident in the repeated "Who hath," which initiates each question, creating a rhythmic, insistent, and memorable litany of woes. This repetition not only emphasizes the comprehensive and pervasive nature of the suffering described but also builds a cumulative sense of dread and inevitability. Furthermore, the verse utilizes highly effective Vivid Imagery by painting a concrete and progressively deteriorating picture of the physical, emotional, and social degradation associated with intemperance. From the internal "woe" and "sorrow" to the external "contentions," "babbling," "wounds," and "redness of eyes," this concrete and sensory imagery makes the consequences tangible, relatable, and deeply impactful, significantly enhancing the proverb's persuasive power and warning.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Proverbs 23:29, by meticulously cataloging the miserable consequences of intemperance, profoundly underscores a fundamental biblical truth: human choices have predictable and often devastating outcomes within God's moral order. The chaos, suffering, and degradation described are not random misfortunes but the direct and inevitable fruit of folly, particularly the profound lack of self-control. Theologically, this verse speaks powerfully to the concept of moral cause and effect within God's divinely established creation, where adherence to wisdom leads to flourishing and shalom, while foolishness leads inexorably to destruction and discord. It highlights the immense value God places on self-discipline, prudence, clear-mindedness, and responsible stewardship of the body and mind. It starkly contrasts the self-destructive path of excess with the path of righteousness, which honors God and promotes holistic human well-being. Implicitly, it also points to the fallen nature of humanity, prone to desires and appetites that, when unchecked, lead to sin and its pervasive, destructive consequences, demonstrating the inherent brokenness that requires divine intervention.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Proverbs 23:29 stands as a timeless and unflinching mirror, inviting us to deeply examine the true sources of disorder, distress, and degradation in our own lives, families, and communities. While its immediate and primary focus is on the perils of drunkenness, its underlying principles are expansive and extend to any area where a profound lack of self-control leads to destructive outcomes—be it in our speech, consumption habits, management of anger, use of technology, or the nature of our relationships. The verse challenges us to recognize the often subtle, yet inexorable, progression from internal dissatisfaction and unchecked desire to outward conflict, relational breakdown, and physical or spiritual decay. It urgently calls for a sober, honest assessment of our habits, appetites, and desires, prompting us to actively cultivate wisdom and rigorous self-discipline as essential pathways to genuine peace, flourishing, and a life of integrity. True wisdom, as illuminated here, involves not merely avoiding obvious vices but actively pursuing a life marked by moderation, clear thinking, healthy boundaries, and relationships built on respect and truth, understanding profoundly that our choices have far-reaching and often irreversible implications for ourselves, our loved ones, and our witness in the world.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
What is the main message of Proverbs 23:29?
Answer: The main message of Proverbs 23:29 is to dramatically introduce and vividly highlight the severe, multifaceted, and inevitable consequences of intemperance, particularly chronic drunkenness. Through a series of penetrating rhetorical questions, it masterfully paints a progressively deteriorating picture of the misery, conflict, physical degradation, and social shame that inexorably follow a persistent lack of self-control. This verse acts as a powerful preamble, setting the stage for the explicit and detailed warning against lingering over wine found in Proverbs 23:30-35. Fundamentally, it teaches that folly leads to profound suffering, while wisdom is the pathway to well-being and order.
Is this verse only about alcohol abuse?
Answer: While the immediate literary context of Proverbs 23:30-35 clearly and explicitly links these described woes to excessive alcohol consumption, the profound principles articulated in Proverbs 23:29 possess a much broader and universal application. The verse uses the specific, tangible example of drunkenness to powerfully illustrate the overarching biblical truth that any unchecked appetite, uncontrolled desire, or destructive behavior—whether related to food, anger, lust, gossip, or materialism—can ultimately lead to similar "woes," "sorrow," "contentions," "babbling," "wounds without cause," and various forms of physical or spiritual degradation. It serves as a comprehensive warning against all forms of intemperance and folly that disrupt personal peace, undermine spiritual vitality, and fracture societal harmony.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Proverbs 23:29, with its stark and unflinching depiction of the chaos, self-inflicted suffering, and pervasive degradation caused by human folly and sin, finds its ultimate answer, reversal, and profound fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus Christ. The "woe," "sorrow," and "wounds without cause" cataloged in this proverb are the universal symptoms of a humanity alienated from God, enslaved by sin, and living according to its own destructive desires. Christ, however, is the very embodiment of true divine wisdom, as declared by Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:30. He came not to inflict wounds, but to heal them, bearing our "sorrows" and being "wounded for our transgressions" and "bruised for our iniquities" (as prophesied in Isaiah 53:5). Where human folly leads to "contentions" and incoherent "babbling," Christ offers the profound reconciliation of God with humanity and a new language of grace, enabling believers to be "filled with the Spirit" rather than with wine, as exhorted in Ephesians 5:18. He delivers us from the self-destructive cycle of sin and its bitter fruits, offering not merely a cessation of woes but the abundant life of peace, joy, self-control, and eternal purpose found only in Him (John 10:10). Through His redemptive work, our "redness of eyes" from degradation is transformed into the clear vision of a life lived for His glory, empowered by His indwelling Spirit to walk in true wisdom, righteousness, and the beautiful fruit of self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).