Here you have a forthright description of the alcoholic. You can see him staggering across the street, with bloodshot eyes and bruises from a fight. Tomorrow he will wonder where his headache and his bruises have come from. Yet he will search for another drink, as alcohol rules his life and gives him no day off.
Scripture does not forbid all enjoyment of wine (see Genesis 27:28; Psalm 104:15; Ecclesiastes 9:7; Isaiah 55:1; John 2:1–11; 1 Timothy 4:4–5; 1 Timothy 5:23). Yet Scripture also warns over and over again against the abuse of wine and against drunkenness. Drunkards are found among all ranks and classes (see Isaiah 28:1, Isaiah 28:7). Scripture describes drunkenness not as a disease, but as a sin. Drunkards will not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:10; Galatians 5:19–21; Ephesians 5:18). Therefore, what is first needed in the case of drunkenness is not healing, but repentance.
It is probably not for nothing that this group of proverbs was placed directly after a warning against the prostitute. Alcohol abuse and immorality commonly go hand in hand. Moreover, they normally occur in the late evening or nighttime—as implied by Proverbs 23:30. We should guard against the tempting atmosphere that can be created by late-night festivities and socializing (see Isaiah 5:11; 1 Thessalonians 5:7).
Wine may promise much (Proverbs 23:31), but in the end it “bites like snake” (Proverbs 23:32). The sad condition of a drunkard (or a drug addict) is sketched in Proverbs 23:33–35: one loses touch with reality, one misses out on the good things in life, one’s life is endangered like that of a person sleeping on an open ship. These proverbs address an unspeakable tragedy that, sadly, is all too common in all parts of the world.
See also Proverbs 20:1, Proverbs 21:17, and Proverbs 31:4–9.
29 Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes?