October 11, 2007 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -

The following is from the new Advanced Bible Studies Series on the book of Proverbs, which is available from Way of Life Literature.

Proverbs 20:1; 23:20-21, 29-35; 31:2-7

1. THE WARNINGS ABOUT WINE IN PROVERBS ARE WARNINGS ABOUT WINE THAT IS INTOXICATING (Proverbs 23:30-31). It is wine that is fermented and its intoxicating power is improved. It is mixed wine, referring to wine that was mixed with spices and other things to make it more stimulating. It is wine that gives its color in the cup and that moves itself aright. Matthew Henry observes: “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. It is said of generous strong-bodied wine that it even causes the lips of those that are asleep to speak.” The average wine of Bible times was non-intoxicating or only very mildly intoxicating. Modern wines and beers, on the other hand, unquestionably come under the Bible’s description of “mixed wine,” not to speak of today’s powerful liquors. Norman Geisler observed: “Many wine-drinking Christians today mistakenly assume that what the New Testament meant by wine is identical to wine used today. This, however, is false. In fact, today’s wine is by biblical definition strong drink, and hence is forbidden in the Bible. ... Even ancient pagans did not drink what some Christians drink today” (Focus in Missions, September 1986). Robert Stein adds: “… to consume the amount of alcohol that is in two martinis today, by drinking wine containing three parts water to one part wine (a biblical ratio) a person would have to drink over twenty-two glasses [of common wine from Bible times]” (Ibid.).

2. ALCOHOLIC DRINK SHOULD BE AVOIDED BECAUSE IT IS A MOCKER AND A DECEIVER (Prov. 20:1).

The fact that alcoholic drink is a mocker and deceiver is an excellent reason for complete abstinence from alcoholic beverages. If a person determines to drink in “moderation,” he doesn’t know if the alcohol will deceive him and enslave him. Very few drunkards started out to be drunkards. The drunkard is a person who was deceived and captured. Alcoholic drink thus mocks men by enslaving them. It also mocks men by promising them what it cannot deliver (pleasure, happiness) and taking from them what they did not intend to give.

3. ALCOHOLIC DRINK SHOULD BE AVOIDED BECAUSE IT IS ASSOCIATED WITH MANY EVILS AND DANGERS (Prov. 23:19-35).

This passage begins with the father urging his son to hearken to his parents and to buy the truth and sell it not (Prov. 23:22-23). The father exhorts his son to “buy the truth” by bending his whole heart and strength and life to it and to “sell it not” for any of the Devil’s shallow, deceptive enticements. This is what will protect the person from the enticement of worldly activities and places that promote “social drinking,” such as modern dance parties, bars, nightclubs, and taverns.

a. The winebibber has poverty (Prov. 23:19-21). Proverbs counsels the young man to avoid the company of winebibbers and gluttons, because they produce poverty. It is certain that they produce spiritual poverty, and it is often that they produce financial poverty as well.

b. The winebibber has woe (Prov. 23:29). Many of the woes in society are caused by drinking: divorce, lost friendships, car and air crashes, disease, fightings, crime, child delinquency, teenage pregnancy, bankruptcy, suicide, and many other things.

c. The winebibber has sorrow (Prov. 23:29). This is such a sad but true statement. What sorrow he has! Sorrow because of a guilty conscience; because of lost opportunity; because of broken marriages and friendships; because of fall from social standing; because of loss of finances; because of the consequences of drunken driving; because of the loss of respect; because of rebellious children. Winebibbing thus leads to many suicides. One of my great uncles was a wealthy man who owned two bars and was a heavy drinker, and one day he drove up to a funeral home in his Cadillac, put a gun to his head, and killed himself.

d. The winebibber has contentions (Prov. 23:29). How many fights, how many broken marriages, how many broken friendships, how many stabbings and shooting and beatings have followed in the wake of drink?

e. The winebibber has babbling (Prov. 23:29). The drunk speaks nonsense and foolishness.

f. The winebibber has wounds without cause (Prov. 23:29). The drunkard can’t remember where he was or what he did and he doesn’t know how he got his wounds. He doesn’t remember the fight or the crash or the fall. My wife’s father crashed his car one night in Alaska when he missed a sharp turn after he had gone over a bridge. He was found staggering along the road and didn’t even know what had happened.

g. The winebibber has redness of eyes (Prov. 23:29). He is affected in his body. His eyes are affected; his kidneys are affected; his liver is affected; his heart is affected; his brain is affected.

h. The winebibber’s eyes behold strange women (Prov. 23:33). This is a powerful description of the immorality that is intimately associated with drinking. The winebibber’s inhibitions are weakened and he is attracted to loose women. It has been said that “wine is the oil of the fire of lust.”

i. The winebibber’s heart utters perverse things (Prov. 23:33), such as cursing and bitterness and blasphemy and filthy jokes.

j. The winebibber is careless and foolishly fearless (Prov. 23:34). He would lie down and sleep while floating in the midst of the sea or while lying on the top of the mast of a sailing ship a hundred feet above the deck. The drunkard drives cars and flies airplanes when he is intoxicated; he staggers along on a busy highway; he enters rough bars he would not otherwise enter; he challenges fierce men to a fight. I read about a drunkard who climbed into a wild animal cage and was mauled. The winebibber is careless in spending money. He is careless in morals. He is careless in running with the wrong crowd. He is careless in throwing away priceless relationships and precious friendships.

k. The winebibber doesn’t feel pain (Prov. 23:35). The drunkard is oblivious to the pain caused by his drunken folly until he wakes up from his stupor.

l. The winebibber is strangely enslaved (“when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again,” Prov. 23:35). Before one drunken episode is barely finished he wants to seek it yet again. Even when drink has ruined his health and destroyed his marriage and thrown away his career, he usually does not quit. “It is like a deep ditch and a narrow pit, which it is almost impossible to get out of; and therefore it is wisdom to keep far enough from the brink of it. Take heed of making any approaches towards this sin, because it is so hard to make a retreat from it, conscience, which should head the retreat, being debauched by it, and divine grace forfeited” (Matthew Henry).

4. SOLOMON’S MOTHER WARNED FERVENTLY AND LOVINGLY ABOUT WINE (Prov. 31:2-9).

a. She counseled that drinking is not for kings (Prov. 31:2-5, 8-9). It is a sad fact that most political leaders today are heavy drinkers. “We are told that every day in Washington there are many cocktail parties for our government officials. Republicans and Democrats both have this in common--the party membership doesn’t make any difference. It is tragic to have drinking men in high positions of government” (J. Vernon McGee). “The more important any man’s work is, he is the more obliged to be temperate in all things; and drunkenness, which is a damning sin in any person, is attended with prodigious aggravations in those men that dispense the mysteries of the gospel, or administer the public affairs of the nation” (George Lawson).

Drinking can cause one to give away his strength; it makes him weak and foolish (Prov. 31:3). It detracts from the authority of his position. It makes the individual foolish and careless. Drink has caused men to give away the secrets of their office. It has caused men in positions of authority to fail to act in a decisive and right and timely fashion during crises. Drink has weakened presidents and prime ministers and governors and military officers and judges and police captains. U.S. President George W. Bush recently recalled his drinking days and explained that it was faith in God that gave him the discipline to stop. He then made this statement, “I wouldn’t be president if I kept drinking. You get sloppy, can’t make decisions, it clouds your reason, absolutely” (“Bush tells biographer: ‘I do tears,’” Associated Press, Sept. 4, 2007).

Drinking can lead to immorality (Prov. 31:3). We have already seen this.

Drinking can lead to perversion of justice (Prov. 31:5). The one who drinks weakens his moral character and resolve and often associates with wicked men, and the Bible warns that evil communications corrupt good manners (1 Cor. 15:33).

b. She counseled that drinking is only for those who are perishing (Prov. 31:6-7).

She taught that alcohol can be used carefully for medicinal purposes, but it should not be used for recreation.

Proverbs 31:7 is spoken for effect and not as actual advice. The last thing the poor man needs is to be drunk. The wise mother is saying that wine cannot help anyone do right; it can only drown out reality and create an unreal and unwise state of mind.