Proverbs 23:29 Commentary and Bible Study

This string of questions is almost presented as a riddle, but the answer is obvious and it is put this way to show the foolishness of addiction to alcohol, as an example of the harm that comes from handing ourselves over to the power of any sin. Here we have a description of the consequences, the pathetic marks of falling. What a warning to us. ‘Who hath woe?’ – groanings, regrets. ‘Who hath sorrow?’ – within. ‘Who hath contentions?’ – arguments. ‘Who hath babbling?’ – talking to yourself is the best way of understanding the original word. ‘Who hath wounds without cause?’ – this could be speaking of accidents, tragedies without number, all self-induced. ‘Who hath redness of eyes?’ – either as a result of weeping or that tell-tale drained look, as though one has been up all night, of the hangover of the heavy drinker. ‘They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.’ Here is what to the drinker presents itself as a source of great pleasure, but the reality is that it is a source of discomfort, impoverishment, social harm, and damage to health. Which of the two ways of looking at this addiction is more accurate? The first is a pleasure that is over in a moment; the second continues long afterwards. While the first is in view, the drinker says this is what he wants, but when the second takes over he wishes he had By extension, this is also about falling into all these other problems, about addictive things in general.