AVOID ALCOHOL AND DRUG ABUSE

APRIL 27, 2014 

ALCOHOL’S DECEPTIVE POWER (PROVERBS 21:1; 23:19-21)

20:1 Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, And whoever is intoxicated by it is not wise.

23:19 Listen, my son, and be wise, And direct your heart in the way.

23:20 Do not be with heavy drinkers of wine, Or with gluttonous eaters of meat;

23:21 For the heavy drinker and the glutton will come to poverty, And drowsiness will clothe one with rags. 

VERSE 20:1: (from John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible)

·        Wine deceives a man

·        it overcomes him before he is aware

·        it promises him a pleasure which it does not give

·        excessive drinking gives him pain, and so mocks him

·        it exposes him to reproach and disgrace, and to mockery of others

·        is not on their guard

·        does not act wisely

VERSE 23:19:

·        Implied is to be wise and actively lead your affections toward the best course of life.

VERSE 23:20: 

“Be very careful of the company you keep, young man. Birds of a feather flock together. Evil companions produce evil manners. This is a special warning to the young people.”

Thru the Bible with J. Vernon McGee 

VERSE 23:21:

·        The drinking and the eating meat in an excessive manner results in drowsiness and will drain your ability to act in a responsible manner; thus, you are unable to work diligently to provide sufficiently for you and/or your family. 

ALCOHOL’S DESTRUCTIVE POWER (PROVERBS 23:29-30)

23:29 Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes?

23:30 Those who linger long over wine, Those who go to taste mixed wine. 

VERSE 23:29-30: 

"Solomon warns against drunkenness. Those that would be kept from sin, must keep from all the beginnings of it, and fear coming within reach of its allurements. Foresee the punishment, what it will at last end in, if repentance prevent not. It makes men quarrel. Drunkards wilfully make woe and sorrow for themselves. It makes men impure and insolent. The tongue grows unruly; the heart utters things contrary to reason, religion, and common civility. It stupifies and besots men.”

Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary 

ALCOHOL’S ADDICTIVE POWER (PROVERBS 23:31-35)

23:31 Do not look on the wine when it is red, When it sparkles in the cup, When it goes down smoothly;

23:32 At the last it bites like a serpent And stings like a viper.

23:33 Your eyes will see strange things And your mind will utter perverse things.

23:34 And you will be like one who lies down in the middle of the sea, Or like one who lies down on the top of a mast.

23:35 "They struck me, but I did not become ill; They beat me, but I did not know it. When shall I awake? I will seek another drink."  

VERSE 23:31: 

“The brief admonition (Pro_23:31) warns against the hypnotic impact of’ ’wine’ on those who crave it. There is no way that they can gaze at it without craving it.”

The Preacher’s Commentary 

VERSE 23:32: 

“All sin will be bitterness in the end, and this sin particularly.”

Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible 

VERSE 23:33: 

“…a drunken man, through the lunges and vapours that ascend into his brain, fancies he sees strange sights; he sees things double; imagines that he sees trees walk, and many such like absurd and monstrous things; … shall utter things contrary to sense and reason, contrary to truth and righteousness, contrary to chastity and good manners, contrary to their own honour and credit, contrary to God and men; the mouth then utters all that is in the heart, which it at other times conceals.”

John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible 

VERSE 23:34: 

“…a drunken man reels and tumbles about, just as a ship does at sea;”

John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible 

VERSE 23:35: 

“… being heavy with sleep through intemperance, and yet thirsty, is desirous of shaking off his sleep, that he may get to drinking again,”

John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible 

ALCOHOL’S DISTRACTIVE POWER (PROVERBS 31:4-5)

31:4 It is not for kings, O Lemuel, It is not for kings to drink wine, Or for rulers to desire strong drink,

31:5 For they will drink and forget what is decreed, And pervert the rights of all the afflicted. 

VERSE 31:4: 

“Some read: ‘nor for princes to say, Where is strong drink?’ The ‘strong drink’ Pro_20:1 was distilled from barley, or honey, or dates. “

Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible 

“It is not fit for them, it is very unbecoming them; it is dishonourable to them,”

John Gill’s Exposition on the Entire Bible 

VERSE 31:5: 

“The law of God by Moses, which the kings of Israel were obliged to write a copy of, and read over daily, to imprint it on their minds, that they might never forget it, but always govern according to it, Deu_17:18; or the law of their ancestors, or what was made by themselves, which through intemperance may be forgotten; for this sin stupefies the mind and hurts the memory, and makes men forgetful;”

John Gill’s Exposition on the Entire Bible 

ALCOHOL’S USE AS A SEDATIVE (PROVERBS 31:6-7)

31:6 Give strong drink to him who is perishing, And wine to him whose life is bitter.

31:7 Let him drink and forget his poverty And remember his trouble no more. 

VERSE 31:6: 

“It is supposed to have been in consideration of the injunction in the text that the ladies of Jerusalem provided for criminals on their way to the place of execution a drink of medicated wine, which might deaden the pain of suffering.”

The Pulpit Commentary 

“We cannot interpret Pro_31:6 and Pro_31:7 as a divine injunction, but rather as an admission that alcohol imparts a temporary stimulus to the despairing and the dying.”

Through the Bible Day by Day by F. B. Meyer 

VERSE 31:7: 

“The proper use of such drinks is to restore tone to feeble bodies and depressed minds.”

Jefferson, Fauset and Brown Commentary 

ADDENDUM: 

·        If we apply the principle found in these verses more broadly, we can see that anything that dulls our senses, distracts us and causes us to forget what God’s word tells us is as strong drink.

·        Things like:

o   Sports, hobbies, TV, movies, travel, etc.

·        We can get obsessive with the amount of time we devote to these things and get ourselves out of balance.

·        If we get out of balance with our lives then something is always shorted.

·        Perhaps our family, sleep, meditating on God’s word, attending church, etc. will be given less than they deserve and our life will be diminished greatly because we devote too much time to inconsequential things; things that are only temporal and not eternal.