Bridges on Proverbs 20:1
 
 
Charles Bridges on Proverbs 20:1
 
 1 
 2 
 3 
 4 
 5 
 6 
 7 
 8 
 9 
 10 
 11 
 12 
 13 
 14 
 15 
 16 
 17 
 18 
 19 
 20 
 21 
 22 
 23 
 24 
 25 
 26 
 27 
 28 
 29 
 30 
 
1.  Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.
 
THE history of the world from the days of Noah (Genesis 9:21) proves, that the love of wine and strong drink is a most insidious vice. The wretched victims are convinced too late, that they have been mocked and grievously deceived. Not only does it overcome them before they are aware, but it promises pleasures which it can never give. And yet so mighty is the spell, that the besotted slave consents to be mocked again and again, till “at last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.” (Chapter 23:29-32.)
Its raging power degrades below the level of the beasts. The government of reason is surrendered to lust, appetite, or passion.† Ahasuerus, with his merry heart, shewed himself most irrational.† The conqueror of the East murdered his friend. All is tumult and recklessness. The understanding is gradually impaired.† “The heart uttereth perverse things.” (Chapter 23:33.) Other sins of the same black dye follow in its train,† often hurrying into the very jaws of destruction.† Surely then whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.
Humbling indeed is it to human nature, to see, not only the mass of the ignorant, but splendid talents, brutalized by this lust; that which was once “created in the image of God,” now sunk into the dregs of shame! Yet more humbling is the sight even of God's own people “wallowing in this mire.” The examples of Noah and Lot are recorded (Genesis 19:33), not as a laughing-stock to the ungodly, but as a beacon to the saints. “Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall.” (1 Corinthians 10:12.) Even an Apostle had practically learnt, that his security lay not in the innate strength of his principles, but in the unceasing exercise of Christian watchfulness. (Ib. 9:27.) “Take heed to yourselves” — is the needful warning of our Divine Master — “lest your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and so that day come upon you unawares. Be not drunk with wine” — said the great Apostle — “wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit.” (Luke 21:34. Ephesians 5:18.)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Genesis 9:21
21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.
 
 
Proverbs 23:29-32
29 ¶ Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? 30 They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine. 31 Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. 32 At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. {an...: or, a cockatrice}
 
 
Footnote:
1 Samuel 25:36. Isaiah 56:12. Hosea 7:5.
 
 
1 Samuel 25:36
36 ¶ And Abigail came to Nabal; and, behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king; and Nabal's heart was merry within him, for he was very drunken: wherefore she told him nothing, less or more, until the morning light.
 
Isaiah 56:12
12 Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and to morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant.
 
Hosea 7:5
5 In the day of our king the princes have made him sick with bottles of wine; he stretched out his hand with scorners. {bottles...: or, heat through wine}
 
 
Footnote:
Esther 1:10-12.
 
 
Esther 1:10-12
10 ¶ On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, and Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, the seven chamberlains that served in the presence of Ahasuerus the king, {chamberlains: or, eunuchs} 11 To bring Vashti the queen before the king with the crown royal, to shew the people and the princes her beauty: for she was fair to look on. {fair...: Heb. good of countenance} 12 But the queen Vashti refused to come at the king's commandment by his chamberlains: therefore was the king very wroth, and his anger burned in him. {by his...: Heb. which was by the hand of his eunuchs}
 
 
Footnote:
Isaiah 28:7. Hosea 4:11. Plato determines that not only old men, but drunkards, come to childhood. — De Legibus, I.
 
 
Isaiah 28:7
7 But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.
 
Hosea 4:11
11 Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart.
 
 
Proverbs 23:33
33 Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things.
 
 
Footnote:
Genesis 19:33. Isaiah 5:11, 12, 22, 23. See the fine description, 1 Esdras 3:13-24.
 
 
Genesis 19:33
33 And they made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.
 
Isaiah 5:11, 12, 22, 23
11 Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them! {inflame: of, pursue} 12 And the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the LORD, neither consider the operation of his hands. 22 Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink: 23 Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!
 
See the fine description,
1 Esdras 3:13-24
Invalid reference; 1 Esdras 3 has only 13 verses & these do not match the point being made(?).
 
 
Footnote:
2 Samuel 13:28. 1 Kings 16:8-10; 20:16. Jeremiah 51:39, 57. Daniel 5:1-4. Nahum 1:10.
 
 
2 Samuel 13:28
28 Now Absalom had commanded his servants, saying, Mark ye now when Amnon's heart is merry with wine, and when I say unto you, Smite Amnon; then kill him, fear not: have not I commanded you? be courageous, and be valiant. {have...: or, will you not, since I have commanded you?} {valiant: Heb. sons of valour}
 
1 Kings 16:8-10
8 In the twenty and sixth year of Asa king of Judah began Elah the son of Baasha to reign over Israel in Tirzah, two years. 9 And his servant Zimri, captain of half his chariots, conspired against him, as he was in Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza steward of his house in Tirzah. {steward...: Heb. which was over} 10 And Zimri went in and smote him, and killed him, in the twenty and seventh year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned in his stead.
 
1 Kings 20:16
16 And they went out at noon. But Benhadad was drinking himself drunk in the pavilions, he and the kings, the thirty and two kings that helped him.
 
Jeremiah 51:39, 57
39 In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the LORD. 57 And I will make drunk her princes, and her wise men, her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men: and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.
 
Daniel 5:1-4
1 ¶ Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand. 2 Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, might drink therein. {father: or, grandfather} {taken: Chaldee, brought forth} 3 Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem; and the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, drank in them. 4 They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone.
 
Nahum 1:10
10 For while they be folden together as thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry.
 
 
Genesis 19:33
33 And they made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.
 
 
1 Corinthians 10:12
12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
 
 
1 Corinthians 9:27
27 But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.
 
 
Luke 21:34
34 And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.
 
Ephesians 5:18
18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;