(with Proverbs 23:20, Proverbs 23:21)
Drunkenness
A most striking picture is given as here of the manifold evils of this great curse. In a few strokes Solomon brings before us most, if not all, of its painful and pitiable consequences. Their name is legion, for they are indeed many.
I. THE CONTEMPT OF THE SOBER. (Proverbs 23:20.) The very word "drunkard," or "wine bibber," is indicative of the deep disregard in which the victim of this vice is held by sober men.
II. POVERTY. (Proverbs 23:21.) It is striking and surprising how soon men of large means are brought down to straitness of circumstance, and even poverty itself. It is what they spend on this craving, and what they lose by its ill effects upon them, that drag them down.
III. PHYSICAL DETERIORATION. (Proverbs 23:29.) Dissipation soon tells on a man's personal appearance; he shows by his garments, and still more by his countenance, that he is mastered by that which he puts into his mouth. Vice means ugliness.
IV. CONTENTIOUSNESS. (Proverbs 23:29.) We need all our powers in good balance to control ourselves so that we are not provoked to the hasty word and to the lasting quarrel. But the man who is excited by wine is in the worst possible condition for ruling his spirit and commanding his tongue. He is likely enough to speak the sentence which is followed by the blow, or, what is worse, the long continued feud.
V. IMPURITY. (Proverbs 23:33.) The excitement of the intoxicating cup has had much to do with the saddest departures from the path of purity and honour; with the entrance upon the road of utter ruin.
VI. INFATUATION. (Proverbs 23:34, Proverbs 23:35.) The drunkard is seen by his friends to be sinking and falling; in his circumstances, his reputation, his health, his character, he is palpably perishing. Those who really love and pity him warn him with earnest remonstrance, with affectionate entreaty, but it is of no avail. He acts with as much infatuation as would a man who made a bed of the waves or the top of a mast. After he has been stricken and has suffered, he goes back to his cups, and is stricken and suffers again.
VII. THE AGONY OF REMORSE. "At the last it biteth like a serpent," etc. The sting of remorse which a man suffers when he awakes to a full sense of his folly is something pitiful to witness, and must be far more terrible to endure. The man suffers a penalty which is worse than bodily torture; it is the just punishment in his own soul for his folly and his sin. In one sense it is self-administered, for it is the stern rebuke of conscience; in another sense it is the solemn and strong condemnation of the Supreme.
VIII. BITTER BONDAGE. Worse, if possible, than the sting of remorse is the sense of helpless bondage in which he finds that he is held. "At the last" is a tyranny which the evil habit, the strong craving, exercises over the man's spirit. He knows and feels his humiliation and loss; he essays to escape; he strives, he writhes to become freed; but he tries in vain; he is "holden with the cords of his sins" (Proverbs 5:22); he is a poor, miserable captive, the slave of vice.
Such are the consequences of departure from sobriety. It is the first step which is the most foolish and the most avoidable. When a certain stage is reached, restoration, though not impossible or impracticable, is very difficult. Let all men, as they love their soul, keep well within that boundary line that divides sobriety from intemperance. Moderation is good; abstinence is better, for it is safer, and it is kinder to others. "Look not" on the tempting cup; turn the eyes to purer and nobler pleasure.—C.
Proverbs 22
Proverbs
Proverbs 24
Proverbs 23 - proverbs-23 - worlddic.com