Proverbs 23:24-35

TEXT Proverbs 23:24-35

24.

The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice;

And he that begetteth a wise child will have joy of him.

25.

Let thy father and thy mother be glad,

And let her that bare thee rejoice.

26.

My son, give me thy heart;

And let thine eyes delight in my ways.

27.

For a harlot is a deep ditch;

And a foreign woman is a narrow pit.

28.

Yea, she lieth in wait as a robber,

And increaseth the treacherous among men.

29.

Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions?

Who hath complaining? who hath wounds without cause?
Who hath redness of eyes?

30.

They that tarry long at the wine;

They that go to seek out mixed wine.

31.

Look not thou upon the wine when it is red,

When it sparkleth in the cup,

When it goeth down smoothly:

32.

At the last it biteth like a serpent,

And stingeth like an adder.

33.

Thine eyes shall behold strange things,

And thy 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 the mast.

35.

They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not hurt;

They have beaten me, and I felt it not:
When shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.

STUDY QUESTIONS OVER 23:24-35

1.

Did God feel this way concerning Jesus (Proverbs 23:24)?

2.

Is one's parents-' happiness another motivation for doing right (Proverbs 23:25)?

3.

How would a son give his heart to his father (Proverbs 23:26)?

4.

Is Proverbs 23:27 what the father was getting at in his previous statements?

5.

What does the harlot rob from a person (Proverbs 23:27)?

6.

Show how that each of the six things in Proverbs 23:29 befall a drinker?

7.

Comment on tarrying long (Proverbs 23:30).

8.

Is there any significance to red here (Proverbs 23:31)?

9.

Can sinners stay the outcome of sin (Proverbs 23:32)?

10.

Comment upon imaginative things seen by the drunkard (Proverbs 23:33).

11.

What is meant by Proverbs 23:34?

12.

What is the pathetic truth of Proverbs 23:35'S last statement?

PARAPHRASE OF 23:24-35

24, 25.

The father of a godly man has cause for joywhat pleasure a wise son is! So give your parents joy!

26-28.

O my son, trust my advicestay away from prostitutes. For a prostitute is a deep and narrow grave. Like a robber, she waits for her victims as one after another become unfaithful to their wives.

29, 30.

Whose heart is filled with anguish and sorrow? Who is always fighting and quarreling? Who is the man with bloodshot eyes and many wounds? It is the one who spends long hours in the taverns, trying out new mixtures.

31.

Don-'t let the sparkle and the smooth taste of strong wine deceive you.

32.

For in the end it bites like a poisonous serpent; it stings like an adder.

33.

You will see hallucinations and have delirium tremens, and you will say foolish, silly things that would embarrass you no end when sober.

34.

You will stagger like a sailor tossed at sea, slinging to a swaying mast.

35.

And afterwards you will say, I didn-'t even know it when they beat me up...Let's go and have another drink!

COMMENTS ON 23:24-35

Proverbs 23:24. Again the subject of parental joy comes up (see Proverbs 23:15; Proverbs 10:1; Proverbs 15:20). Jesus brought joy to His Father (Matthew 3:17; Matthew 17:5), and so have good children down through the centuries. Notice how that righteousness and wisdom bring joy and rejoicing just as unrighteousness and foolishness bring sorrow.

Proverbs 23:25. Proverbs 23:24 spoke of the joy of the father of a good child; this verse speaks of the joy of both the father and the mother. Much of a mother's time and life is wrapped up in her children, and she is ever ready to rejoice over every success and attainment of her children.

Proverbs 23:26. Since Proverbs 23:27 begins with the explanatory word for, this verse is introducing what that and later verses develop; namely, a solemn warning against the wicked, harlot woman (a subject to which earlier sections devoted much material: Proverbs 5:1-23; Proverbs 6:20-35; Proverbs 7:1-27). Notice, too, that the passages in Chapter s 5, 6, 7 are always introduced with a similar getting of the son's attention before beginning the actual material. This was to impress the son with what the father was saying.

Proverbs 23:27. She is given a double description, both of which resemble: a deep ditch and a narrow pit. She represents a danger to avoid. Proverbs 22:14 similarly says, The mouth of a strange woman is a deep pit; He that is abhorred of Jehovah shall fall therein. Since there is nothing to gain by falling into a deep ditch and a narrow pit, Proverbs 6:32 rightfully says, He that committeth adultery with a woman is void of understanding. Look at the dangers brought on by one's disregarding this warning: Proverbs 5:11; Proverbs 6:32-34; Proverbs 7:22-23; Proverbs 7:26-27.

Proverbs 23:28. She is out working her trade (Proverbs 7:12). Like a robber she does not lose an opportunity (Proverbs 7:13-21). One such person increaseth the sinners upon earth, here called the treacherous among men. Men who thus become unfaithful to wives might well be described as treacherous! Malachi shows that men who turn from the wives of their youth deal treacherously with them (Malachi 2:10; Malachi 2:14-16.

Proverbs 23:29. Six questions are raised that are answered in the next verse. From the consequences of drinking, the ancients suffered the same woes and sorrows as do moderns who imbibe. The drinker has woe in the physical problems brought on, in his social relations, in his finances, in his slavery to his habit, and in the punishment that awaits him (1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Galatians 5:19-21). The drinker has sorrow upon sorrow as does his family as a result of his drinking as do others whom he injures while intoxicated. The drinker knows contentions, for many fights take place at taverns. The drinker knows complaining, for he often complains of the way people treat him. The drinker has wounds without cause, for if he stayed sober, he would not get into the trouble he does. The drinker has redness of eyes, an outward commentary on the abuse that his body is inwardly suffering. Isaiah 5:11; Isaiah 5:22 also uses woe in warning against strong drink: Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that tarry late into the night, till wine inflame them!...Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink. So does Habakkuk 2:15: Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink.

Proverbs 23:30. The six questions raised in Proverbs 23:29 are quickly and bluntly answered here: those who drink intoxicants. Time and its meaning seem to mean nothing to a drunkard, for he will spend hours drinking with others until they are drunken, and then he will sleep it off and seem not to care that he should be at his job instead of in bed. The expression seek out shows that drinkers go forth to get their booze; it is something they must obtain because of the habit they have developed and the appetite they have for booze.

Proverbs 23:31. On red, Pulpit Commentary says, The wine of Palestine was chiefly red. Drinkers like the color; they like the sparkle in the glass; they like the taste. On going down smoothly, Pulpit Commentary: The wine pleases the palate, and passes over it without roughness or harshness. This verse is a commandment to keep away from wine to avoid even the temptation to drink, for to avoid drinking wine the verse says, Don-'t even look upon it. The only way to keep out of any bad habit is to stay as far from it as one can while depending upon God to help him.

Proverbs 23:32. No thinking person would ever start drinking if he considered the end of it. The booze companies don-'t tell him how it will end. The fellows who offer him his first drink and will laugh at him if he doesn-'t take it aren-'t thinking of drink's bitter end. But godly people are known for seeing what something produces, where it leads, and where it ends before they do it. Indeed wine biteth like a serpent, and it stingeth like an adder; yet the habit is far from dying out. Pulpit Commentary: Wine is like the subtle poison of a serpent, which affects the whole body, and produces the most fatal consequences. Septuagint: At the last he stretches himself like one stricken by a serpent, and the venom is diffused through him as by a horned snake.

Proverbs 23:33. A drunkard cannot trust his eyesight. Ever hear of a drunkard seeing two bridges before him and wondering which to drive over? And, oh, the foolish, the coarse, the vulgar, the wicked things that men say when drunkthings that embarrass polite society, that make youngsters laugh but angels weep!

Proverbs 23:34. As a drunkard's whole system pitches and tosses and finally results in vomiting. His reeling, staggering, and uncertainty are referred to in Isaiah 28:7-8: These reel with wine, and stagger with strong drink...All tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean. Imagine trying to sleep on top of a ship's mast! Such is comparable to a drunkard's physical feelings.

Proverbs 23:35. Pulpit Commentary: The drunken man has been beaten...but the blows did not pain him; his condition has rendered him insensible to pain. He has some vague idea that he has suffered certain rough treatment at the hands of his companions, but it has made no impression on him. He will not be able to remember what happened to him while he was drunk. When shall I awake? refers to the prolonged sleep that his drunkenness has brought on. And yet in spite of all the woes and the sorrows and other bitter consequences that such a life has brought to him, you can be sure of this: when he does wake up, he won-'t have any more sense than to go out and seek it again (Isaiah 56:12). What a tragedy!