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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}
33. Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things.
34. Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast. {the midst...: Heb. the heart of the sea}
35. They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again. {I felt...: Heb. I knew it not}
A warning was lately given against keeping company with sensualists. (Verses 20, 21.) Here it is enforced by the most graphical delineation of the sin in all its misery, shame, and ruin. It is the drunkard's looking-glass! Let him see his own face. Let it be hung up in his cottage. Fix it in the alehouse. Could he go there? The picture is drawn with such a vividness of coloring! ‘No translation or paraphrase can do justice to the concise, abrupt, and energetic manner of the original.’† Drunkenness is a time of merriment. But what must be the stupefying insensibility that can find a moment's joy with such an accumulation of woe!† Every sin brings its own mischief. But such woe! such sorrow! in all its multiform misery! who hath it? The brawls and contentions over the cup;† the babbling words of pollution;† the wounds, often to murder,† without cause; the redness of eyes, shewing the effect of liquor on the countenance; the impure appetites that are kindled; the infatuation almost incredible — this is sensuality in all its wretchedness.
Whence this world of woe and sorrow? It is the curse of indulged will. Not satisfied with their healthful refreshment, many will “add drunkenness to thirst.” (Deuteronomy 29:19.) They continue long, “from morning to night, till wine inflame them.” (Isaiah 5:11.) They go to seek the mixed wine, its strongest and most inebriating drink.†
Wisdom's voice therefore is — Avoid the allurements of sin. Often has a look, harmless in itself, proved a fearful temptation.† Look not therefore at the wine when it is red. Its very color; its sparkling transparency in the cup; the relish with which it moves itself aright, ‘or goes down pleasant’† — all tend to excite the irregular appetite. Crush it in its beginnings, and prove that you have learnt the first lesson in the school of Christ — “Deny yourself.”† Whatever be its present zest, at the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. (Compare chapter 20:17.) Did it bite first, who would touch it? Did Satan present the cup in his own naked form, who would dare to take it? Yet it comes from his hand as truly as if he were visible to the eyes. If poison was seen in the cup, who would venture upon it? Yet is the poison less dangerous because it is unseen? The adder's sting, is concealed, yet most fatal. The cup of sparkling wine becomes “a cup of fearful trembling in the hands of the LORD.” (Compare Joel 1:5.)
Seldom does any sensual indulgence come alone. One lust prepares the way for others. The first step is sure to lead onwards. The poor deluded victim cannot stop when he pleases. Drunkenness opens the door for impurity.† The inflamed eye soon catches fire with strange women; and who knoweth what the end may be? Loathsome indeed is the heart of the ungodly laid bare. Drink opens it as far as words can do; and through the organ of the tongue it does indeed utter perverse things.† ‘Blasphemy is wit, and ribaldry eloquence, to a man that is turned into a brute.’†
But the delirium is the most awful feature of the case. The unhappy victim, having lost all will and power to escape, sleeps quietly amid dangers as imminent as lying down in the midst of the sea, or upon the top of the mast.† Nay — even the senses seem to be stupefied. Stricken and beaten he may be. But “his heart is as a stone,”† and he thanks his drunkenness that he felt it not. Therefore “as the dog to his vomit, the fool returns to his folly,”† craving fresh indulgence — When shall I awake? I will seek it yet again. More senseless than the brute who satisfies nature, not lust; so lost to shame; his reason so tyrannized over by his appetite, that he longs to be bound again, and only seeks relief from his temporary awakening to a sense of his misery, by yielding himself up again to his ruinous sin. (Jeremiah 2:25.)
Oh! how affecting is the thought of the multitude of victims to this deadly vice in every age and clime, and among all ranks of society! Perhaps there is no sin which has not linked itself with it; while the unconsciousness in the act of sin only serves, not to palliate the guilt, but to increase the responsibility.
While we see the whole nature so depraved in taste, so steeped in pollution — we ask — “Is anything too hard for the LORD?” Praised be his name for a full deliverance from the captivity of sin, and of all and every sin, even from the chains of this giant sin.† The mighty, though despised instrument is “Christ crucified; the power of God, and the wisdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:23-25.) It is this, which when vows, pledges, and resolutions — all have failed; works secretly, yet most effectually; imparting new principles, affections and appetites. The drunkard becomes sober; the unclean holy; the glutton temperate. The love of Christ overpowers the love of sin. Pleasures are now enjoyed without a sting (for no serpent, nor adder is here) and the newly-implanted principle transforms the whole man into the original likeness to God — “Whatsoever is born of God doth not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. He that is begotten of God keepeth himself, an that wicked one toucheth him not.”†
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