Proverbs 23

This is a great chapter. More verses are connected than in most of the chapters. Solomon explores great themes of virtue and vice, like gluttony, stinginess, greed, envy, drunkenness, and listening to parents. The first eight verses are a contrast between sitting at a king’s table and the warning against gluttony, about which we don’t hear much nowadays in the age of gastronomical pornography, and eating with a stingy man. Both scenarios have their dangers. Wisdom and knowledge will avoid both.

These verses play close to home:

¹⁷ Do not let your heart envy sinners,
    but always be zealous for the fear of the Lord.
¹⁸ There is surely a future hope for you,
    and your hope will not be cut off.

It is so easy for me to envy those who may or may not be “sinners,” but those who have what I do not, whether talents or riches or possessions. If we keep our focus on the future, and given other translations, that future is eternity, what we see in this life will always be kept in perspective. In fact, the more important and real eternity grows in us, the less important and real will this life seem. We won’t hold on to it so tightly as if this is all there will ever be.

The final seven verses are the story of the drunkard, one who lusts for the experience of intoxication, and its consequences. I have to quote them all because it so nails the true drunkard, the party animal who lives to party:

²⁹ Who has woe? Who has sorrow?
    Who has strife? Who has complaints?
    Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes?
³⁰ Those who linger over wine,
    who go to sample bowls of mixed wine.
³¹ Do not gaze at wine when it is red,
    when it sparkles in the cup,
    when it goes down smoothly!
³² In the end it bites like a snake
    and poisons like a viper.
³³ Your eyes will see strange sights,
    and your mind will imagine confusing things.
³⁴ You will be like one sleeping on the high seas,
    lying on top of the rigging.
³⁵ “They hit me,” you will say, “but I’m not hurt!
    They beat me, but I don’t feel it!
When will I wake up
    so I can find another drink?”

Is that great or what! The wise man learns from the consequences of his actions; the fool never does.

Tagged: Proverbs, The Bible