"Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? Who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?"  Proverbs 23:29

Then the Bible answers its own question:  "They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine."  Proverbs 23:30

Notice with me the consequences of strong drink.

It brings "woe."  The word used here, "oy" in Hebrew, means "a passionate cry of grief or despair."  It is believed to come from the basic root word "avah," which means "to wish for" something.  Thus ... wine and similar drinks do not produce real joy or happiness, nor do they satisfy one's inner longings!  They leave you still "wishing" for something else!

"Sorrow" ("aboy," pronounced ab-o'-ee) expresses an exclamation of pain!  It indicates uneasiness.  This precise word is only used here in all the Bible.  It is thought to come from a "root" word that means "to be willing" or "to consent."  This may even imply a sexually permissive context.  A lot of immorality has been practiced under the influence of alcohol.

"Contentions," also translated as "brawling" in the King James Bible, means "filled with strife."  See Proverbs 21:9 and 25:24.  Strong drink does not produce as much harmony as we are told!  Notice our noun is plural here too ...lots of fighting!

"Babbling" is "siyach" and means talking or complaining!  Excessive words! Remember Proverbs 10:19, which says:  "In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise."  Wow!  Generally speaking, the more you talk ... the more you sin!  And drinkers often talk too much!

"Wounds" are just bruises.  We are being taught that a drunk man often is hurt or injured as a result of his stupor.  Unnecessarily hurt! 

And "redness," another hapax legomenon, means "dullness" also.  One's eyesight can be effected by his or her drinking.

Count them.  There are six in all!  Six consequences of being intoxicated.  The by-products of strong drink!

No wonder Paul wrote  to us Christians:  "And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit."  Ephesians 6:18

These verses sure say a lot for the Bible position of total abstinence!

"Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise."  Proverbs 20:1

Sometime during the holidays the subject will surface!

I mean the subject of drinking ... consuming alcoholic beverages.

When it does ... do mention some of its consequences!

                                                                                 --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

Problems, according to Proverbs 23:29, like woe and sorrow and contentions and babblings and wounds and even redness of eyes accompany strong drink! 

And so far we haven't even considered the guilt associated with booze ... since its use is a violation of God's Word.

Here's how Solomon describes drinkers.  At least how he does so in Proverbs 23:30.  "They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine."

To "tarry long" means to delay, to defer, to hesitate, to sit up late or to be slack.  In this context it pictures a man who sits and drinks and then drinks some more! "Achar" is the Hebrew word here and it means to loiter or to procrastinate.

The noun for wine is "yayin" and this word means "to effervesce" or "to bubble!"  It is describing fermented wine.

For proof, the first use of the word in the Bible is associated with Noah.  After the Flood we are told concerning him:  "And he drank of the wine ("yayin"), and was drunken ...."  Genesis 9:21

The verb "go" translates "bo," a key Hebrew verb that occurs over 2500 times in the Bible.  It means "to come" or "to go."  This poor man in our verse, whether he is coming or going, is looking for strong drink!

And the verb "seek" ("chaqar" in Hebrew) means to search out or to examine or to investigate.  He is craving the stuff!

And the term "mixed wine" is "mimsak" in Hebrew and means liquids that are commingled (such as wine with water) or a substance mixed with another substance (like wine with spices).

Generally speaking this type drink would be less intoxicating, being mixed with water for example.  Yet it is still forbidden for the Christian!

At Christmas some companies have office parties.  If there's going to be drinking there ... it would be a good place to avoid!

Paul said:  "come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty."  2nd Corinthians 6:17-18

Folks, wait all you want before the Lord your God, trusting and believing on Him with all your heart.

But don't tarry before a glass of wine or a can of beer or any other kind of strong drink!

That would be unwise.  Proverbs 31:4 tells us:  "It is not for kings, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink." 

Hey you all, live like a king!  After all, you are a ... "Child of the King!"  Of the King of Kings, the Lord Jesus Christ!

Abstain!

                                                                              --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

Anger, lust, covetousness, stealing and a host of other such spiritual "enemies" are condemned in the Word of God.

Those things tend to "take over" a Christian's thoughts and emotions and dictate to him or her sinful things.

The Lord wants His Own people to be "controlled" by the Holy Spirit!

Listen to Scripture.  "And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit."  Ephesians 5:18

We are to be "led" by the Spirit of God, not these other things!  "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God."  Romans 8:14

Of the many enslaving sins that exist in this old world, drunkenness is certainly near the top of the list!

So much so that Paul specifically targeted it in Ephesians 5:18, which I quoted a few seconds ago.

The verb "drunk" there means intoxicated.  "Be not drunk with wine."

I know the old argument.  It goes like this:  "If I don't get 'drunk,' it's permissible to drink ... at least socially!"

No, friend, it is not!

We are to abstain from the very presence of evil!

If it takes 10 glasses of wine to make one intoxicated (having no idea how many, I'll just guess) ... 1 glass means you are 10% inebriated! 

Christian, God does not want you to be dominated by any such thing, not even partially!

He wants to literally be "in all your thoughts!"  Listen to the Psalmist's description of an ungodly man:  "The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts."  Psalm 10:4

Proverbs 23:31 plainly says:  "Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright."

That settles the issue, right there!

Wine, "yayin" in Hebrew, is the fermented kind.  "Yayin" means to bubble, to effervesce!  "Red," the noun "adam" in Hebrew, has connotations of Adam, the first man on earth ... who also fell into sin!  "By one man (Adam) sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned."  Romans 5:12

This form of "adam" is used only ten times in the Bible, once in Isaiah 1:18.  "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."

Red wine ... red sins!

They are compatible!

No matter the color of that brew ... stay away from it my Christian friend!

And the word "color" in "Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright" is the common Hebrew noun for "eye!"  That's right!  "Ayin" literally means "eye" and figuratively means one's "mental or spiritual faculties."  Wine has "eyes?"  Wine has an "appearance? Wine has a "presence?"  Oh, yes!

Jesus once, in Matthew 7:22, spoke of those who had an "evil eye."  Wine's spiritual character is such.  "Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise."  Proverbs 20:1

This word for "color" also ("ayin") means a fountain.  Looking out over the landscape, one sees a fountain or an artesian well out there!  It's bubbling out pure clean refreshing waters!  Well, wine is like a fountain too!  But it's bubbling out something else, sin and rebellion!

"When it moveth itself aright!"

The verb "moveth" is just "halak" and means to walk back and forth!  Wine is on a spiritual journey!  It is leading folks astray, away from the plan of God!

And the adverb "aright" (in Hebrew = "meyshar") means equally or evenly.  It describes what the world calls a "smooth" tasting or evenly balanced concoction! 

Yes, Solomon here is describing strong drink!

And what are we do do about it?

Don't even "look" on it!

Again ... "Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright."

The verb "look" means gaze upon or to inspect!

If you don't so much as look at it, sure would be hard to drink it!

Stay away from wine or whiskey or beer or brandy or sherry or rum or anything else along that line!  Things that can control you!

Instead be dominated, be "guided" by the sweet clean Holy Spirit of God!  "Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth." That verb "guide" means "to lead" someone up the "road!"  ("ago" = to lead and "hodos" = road)

Yes, the whole tenor of Scripture is against the use of strong drink!

                                                                                           --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

Scripture elsewhere mentions that sin on occasion might have some temporary and fleeting "pleasures" for the flesh.  "By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season."  Hebrews 11:24-25

In Hebrew "at the last" is the word "achariyth" and means the end, the hindermost, or the latter part of something.  However twice in the King James Bible it is translated as "reward!"  Yes, wine has a reward ... a "snake bite" of a reward!  (See Proverbs 24:14 for an example of "achariyth" being expressed as "reward.")

The verb "biteth" is great!  It literally means "to strike with a sting."  "Nashak" is rendered as "bite" 14 of its 16 occurrences in the Bible.  But the other two times it is "usury," exorbitantly high interest rates!  To drink booze is like borrowing money at 50% APR! There will be a payback!  And it will be excessive!   See Exodus 22:25 for a view of "usury."  Sin costs more than we first realize!

"Serpent" ("nacash") is derived from a root verb that means "to hiss."   And all 31 times it is used in the Bible it is translated just as it is here ... "serpent."

Strong drink also "stingeth like an adder."

This verb, "parash," means to scatter or to separate!  It is rendered as "to declare" and "to show" several times too!  Liquor will "show itself" eventually!  And you will be looking at one ugly thing! 

This enemy of man's soul will "distinguish" itself ... as a venomous reptile!

That which should "scatter" mankind here actually "draws" him ... gathering him for the "kill!"

And an "adder" is a term used for the "viper," an extremely poisonous species of snake.  The root of our word ("tzsephoniy") means "to extrude" or to "stick out" something, here the serpent's tongue!  Is that snake mocking us dumb humans?  I know strong drink does!

Humanly speaking, there was no cure for a viper's bite.  Not in Solomon's day!  But I do remember once in Numbers 21 the Lord provided a remedy ... for the bites of poisonous serpents!  A brass pole with a serpent attached!  A symbol of the Cross of Jesus where God became man and Jesus became sin for us!  Read 2nd Corinthians 5:21 if you have any doubt.  Those snake-bitten Israelites who believingly "looked" at that pole ... lived to tell about it!  Those who did not ... died in the wilderness!

This same Jesus is still the Antidote for the "adder bite" of liquor!

It's the Christmas Season now.  Too many parties will be held, drinking parties! 

Christian friends, stay away from them!

You had just as well step into a snake pit!

                                                                                --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

Solomon, in Proverbs 23, has been discussing strong drink, particularly wine.

He has mentioned some of its side-effects:  woe, sorrow, contentions, wounds and redness of eyes.

He has forbidden its use for the godly man or woman.

He has graphically described its "latter end," biting its victim just like a poisonous snake would do!

And now, in today's "focus" verse, the Holy Spirit lists two things that are always associated with drunkenness.

"Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things."  Proverbs 23:33

These two things just come with drinking!

Sexual improprieties and loud talking senseless mouths!

The verb "behold" (in Hebrew = "raah") means to look carefully or to inspect something or someone.  In this context that means gazing far too long at some so-called "pretty" woman!

And the term "strange women" translates one little noun, "zur."  It means foreign or strange ... and is framed here as a feminine adjective.  So the teaching is this:  a man drinking his wine will ultimately notice and observe and desire and then sexually touch a woman!    As you already know, in Proverbs the immoral woman, the harlot, is usually designated as "the strange woman."

Loose sex is associated with booze!

Listen to Proverbs 22:14 describe this situation:  "The mouth of strange women is a deep pit: he that is abhorred of the LORD shall fall therein."

Here is the "strange woman" at work:  "And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart. She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house: now is she without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner. So she caught him, and kissed him, and with an impudent face said unto him, I have peace offerings with me; this day have I payed my vows. Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee. I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt.  I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves."

Maybe drinking, among other things, lowers one's inhibitions ... but for sure, it leads to trouble ... particularly sexual trouble!

Now ... the interesting thing is that many other so-called versions of Scripture change this concept of "strange women" to just that of "strange things!"

Look at two or three of them:  "Thine eyes shall behold strange things, And thy heart shall utter perverse things."

"Your eyes will see strange sights and your mind imagine confusing things."

And ... "You will see hallucinations, and you will say crazy things."

Do you see what this does to the meaning of the Text?

It disassociates sexual license with strong drink, two things that historically and Scripturally have had linkage for ages!

There are big differences between "strange women" and "strange sights" and "hallucinations!"

This matters!

Give me a Bible that accents the dangers of sin, not minimizing its pitfalls!

Yes, real Scripture often links drinking and various sexual escapades!

Listen to Habakkuk 2:15.  "Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness!"

This man got his friend drunk so that he could look on his nakedness!  What perversion ... again associated with booze!

Watch Paul link drunkenness and wild partying.  "Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God."  Galatians 5:21

Here they are again ... "And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play. And the LORD said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves."  Exodus 32:6-7

Proverbs 23:33 is true.  If intoxicated ... "Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things."

The verb "utter" just means to speak or to say.  It's "time sense" here is that of on-going habitual action!  Constant blabbering! 

He's now drunk and speaking words that are "twisted" (the root meaning of the word) and far removed from God's accepted standards of speech.  "Perverted" would be a similar English term.

No telling what a man might say (or a woman) who has been long at the wine!

And words ... can be expensive!

They have a way of being repeated!  "Curse not the king, no not in thy thought; and curse not the rich in thy bedchamber: for a bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter."  (Ecclesiastes 10:20) Have you ever heard the expression "a little bird told me?" 

Today ... we've seen two of the hundreds of reasons not to drink!  Reasons to stay sober ... not to touch the stuff!

1. Because of one's sexual purity!  And ...

2. Because of one's desire to speak responsibly!

Both are worthy goals!

What's happened to preaching against booze?

The old-timers used to strongly stand against alcoholic beverages!

Why is the pulpit so silent any more?

God told Isaiah the Prophet:  "Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins."  Isaiah 58:1

Pretty good advice ... yet for today.

                                                                                  --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

The Book of Proverbs says this to a drinking man:  "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." Proverbs 23:34

When inebriated, one's judgment can be so clouded that a man just might think he can walk on the water!  Maybe even recline and take a nap ... out in the ocean! That's what "lying down in the midst of the sea" means!

Perhaps this is telling us that he has lost his sense of presence!  He does not even know where he is!  Anywhere would make a good bed.  "Let's go to sleep" he thinks! 

By the way, in the previous verse he has spend time with a harlot ... partly as a result of his drinking!  I would say this:  just as well lay down out in the middle of the sea as to lay down with an immoral woman!  Both decisions will ultimately lead to the same place, the grave!

Interestingly, the Hebrew word for "sea" is also their word for the "west."  Why? Because the only sea that little nation knew was to the west of their country, the Mediterranean.

Next our verse tells the drinking person that he or she just might try to climb to the top of a ship's mast (rising from the middle of the deck, the tallest pole on board, to which the largest sails and ropes are attached) and there sleep a while!

Here again, inhibitions are lost.  Fear of heights is gone!  Clear thinking has been abandoned!  And if it's a woman involved in this scenario, modesty is certainly disregarded as she climbs that rigging.  All these are dangerous conditions.

Again I say this: drinking dulls one's senses.

Even state governments know this.  Why don't some so-called Baptists know it?

Notice I said "Baptists," not true Christians!

You see, according to Scripture, "drunkards" will not go to Heaven!  "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God." Here in 1st Corinthians 6:9-10 Paul is quite plain!

Listen to me today.

I am not going to sit around and argue about this drinking issue.

The whole tenor of Scripture is that a Believer is to be Spirit filled!  And the result of the Holy Spirit's control of one's life is again and again said to be (among many other good things) "temperance, a sound mind and discretion!"  These traits all demand sensible thinking.  They require serious mindedness.  They exclude drunkenness!

Friends, encourage those around you this Holiday season to give themselves to the Lord ... not to strong drink!

Again Paul the Apostle counsels us:  "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."   Romans 12:1,2

You can't both obey these verses ... and drink booze too!  The two conditions are mutually exclusive.  One must yield oneself either to be under the Lord's control ... or under the control of his or her liquor!

Maybe that's partly why Ephesians 5:18 is in the Bible.  "And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit."

Stay away from strong drink!

Don't "touch" it!

Solomon says don't even "look" at it!  "Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright."

Amen!

                                                                                 --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

The verb "stricken" means to be smitten, wounded or even slain!  This is a potentially deadly situation here!

But notice that this poor man, in a drunken stupor, does not realize the extent of his injuries!  "Sick" (in Hebrew = "chalah") can mean weak or sore as well as sick!

"I was attacked, but not hurt" he brags! 

In reality he might be seriously impaired!

The parallel verb "beaten" means broken ... as with a hammer! 

Again this occurs with no apparent suffering on the winebibber's part!

His senses are so dulled he cannot feel much of anything!

It all seems like a dream to him!  Therefore he asks, "When shall I awake?"

Naturally after such a traumatic experience this man will never repeat his mistake!

Wrong!

He immediately says, "I will seek it again."

The verb for "seek" here is "baqash" in Hebrew and means to request or to desire or even to beg for something!

The verb is a Piel imperfect in form.  That means the action being depicted is intensive and vigorous!  Dramatic!  Also it is on-going action!  Habitual! 

This man is "hooked" on alcohol!

This verbs describes behavior that is unacceptable for a follower of Jesus Christ!

Nothing is to have sway over his or her life except the Holy Spirit of God!

The Christian may have habits all right.

But drinking wine and the like is not one of them!

Bible reading and study is!

Prayer too!

Church attendance!

Godly living as well!

In Titus 2:3, where Paul is teaching various age groups in the Church how to live for Christ, he requires the aged women not to be "given to much wine."  That verb "given" is in Greek "douloo."  In it you can readily see their word for slave, "doulos!"  Do not be enslaved to strong drink!

I remember as a lad my Dad for several years was Sunday School Director at the Church we attended.  Once a lady became a teacher to a class of young people.   It eventually became common knowledge that she had been drinking ... not water either!  Booze!  I'll never forget how Daddy and the good Pastor went to her and removed her from her teaching position.  Now she was not a drunkard.  Just social drinking was involved!  But that's wrong too!  There was no way the Church was going to allow such a person to lead that class of youngsters!

Brother Bagwell, how very mean that was!

No Sir!

Or no Mam as the case may be!

That was the right thing ... indeed the only thing that could be done Biblically! 

You Baptists who may be taking exception to what I'm saying today had better go back and read (much less the Bible) your Church Covenant!

In it we all promise "to abstain from the use of intoxicating beverages!"

I say a hearty "Amen!"

Better yet, let's let Paul settle the issue.  I quote him from 1st Corinthians 5:11.  "But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat."

Pretty plain, isn't it?

                                                                               --- Dr. Mike Bagwell