Meditationen am Gnadenstuhl: Proverbs 23:29-35 A Father’s Advice About Drinking

Friday, April 28, 2023

Proverbs 23:29–35

[29] Who has woe? Who has sorrow?

Who has strife? Who has complaining?

Who has wounds without cause?

Who has redness of eyes?

[30] Those who tarry long over wine;

those who go to try mixed wine.

[31] Do not look at wine when it is red,

when it sparkles in the cup

and goes down smoothly.

[32] In the end it bites like a serpent

and stings like an adder.

[33] Your eyes will see strange things,

and your heart utter perverse things.

[34] You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea,

like one who lies on the top of a mast.

[35] “They struck me,” you will say, “but I was not hurt;

they beat me, but I did not feel it.

When shall I awake?

I must have another drink.” (ESV)

A Father’s Advice III—Regarding Drinking

v.29-35 These seven verses comprising one proverb is a series of rhetorical questions forming a riddle. They begin from the general and proceed to the specific leading us to the answer—the habitual drinker. The riddle describes someone who craves alcohol but does not necessarily describe an alcoholic. For the purposes of this teaching, it does not have to have reached that point yet, for it is a warning to someone who is misusing drink and making it an important part of his life. Looking at the wine "when it is red" refers to drinking undiluted wine. In the ancient world, it was common to dilute strong drink with water. It was rare to drink it undiluted, and one that habitually drank undiluted wine was looked down upon. The Wise father is warning against serious drinking for the sole purpose of becoming intoxicated. Wine gives the drunk glazed eyes (v.29), and the drink has its own sparkle (v.31). The wine goes down smoothly but comes back up with a bite like that of a poisonous snake (v.32). The Wise father describes the effects of intoxication—one sees things that are not there, and one says things one should not, and under normal circumstances would never, say (v.33-34), This proverb ends with a quote from the drunk that is darkly humorous—he was physically assaulted, but he did not know it. Yet he cannot wait to go back for more. This entire proverb is a thought-provoking poetic masterpiece against substance abuse.