Proverbs 20:1

Wine [is] a mocker, strong drink [is] raging,.... Wine deceives a man; it not only overcomes him before he is aware, but it promises him a pleasure which it does not give; but, on the contrary,

Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. Wine is a mocker. Wine makes those who drink it mockers of God and of men.

CHAPTER 20 Wine is a mocker; wine immoderately drunk makes men mockers or scoffers at God and men. Compare . Strong drink is raging; makes men full of rage and passion. Is not wise; is a fool, or a madman, because he depriveth himself of the use of his reason.

Proverbs 20:1 Wine [is] a mocker, strong drink [is] raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.Ver. 1. Wine is a mocker, &c.] For, first, it mocks the drunkard, and makes a fool of him, promising him pleasure, but paying him with the stinging of an adder, and biting of a cockatrice, Proverbs 23:32. Wine is a comfortable creature, one of the chief lenitives of human miseries, as Plato calls it; but "excess of wine" is, as one well saith, Blandus daemon, dulce venenum, suave Teccatum; quam qui in se habet, se non habet; quam qui facit, non facit peccatum, sed totus est peccatum. That is, a fair spoken devil, a sweet poison, a sin which he that hath in him, hath not himself, and which he that runs into, runs not into a single sin, but is wholly turned into sin. Secondly, It renders a man a mocker, even one of those scorners, for whom judgments are prepared, as Solomon had said in the foregoing verse. See Hosea 7:5 Isaiah 28:1 1 Samuel 25:36-38 Abigail would not tell Nabal of his danger till he had slept out his drunkenness, lest she should have met with a mock, if not with a knock. Strong drink is raging.] All kinds of drink that will alienate the understanding of a man and make him drunk, as ale, beer, cider, perry, metheglin, &c. Of this Pliny cries out, Hei, mira vitiorum solertia inventum est quemadmodum aqua quoque inebriaret. Portentosum sane potionis genus! quasi non ad alium usum natura parens humane generi fruges dedisse videatur. So witty is wickedness grown now, that there is a way invented to make a man drunk with water; a monstrous kind of drink surely! as if dame Nature had bestowed grain upon us to such a base abuse. St Paul very fitly yoketh together drunkards and railers. And whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.] For when the wine is in the wit is out. They have a practice of drinking the Outs, as they call it - all the wit out of the head, all the money out of the purse, &c. - and thereby affect the title of roaring boys, by a woeful prolepsis (doubtless), here for hereafter. Decepit ebrietas Lotum quem Sodoma non decepit. μαλακτικον. οινοφλυγιαι. Lib. xiv., cap. ult.

XX. (1) Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging—i.e., producing these effects in those who subject themselves to their power.

CHAPTER XX Against wine and strong drink. We should avoid contentions. The sluggard. The righteous man. Weights and measures. Tale-bearers. The wicked son. The wise king. The glory of young men. The beauty of old men. The benefit of correction. NOTES ON CHAP. XX Verse 1. Wine is a mocker] It deceives by its fragrance, intoxicates by its strength, and renders the intoxicated ridiculous. Strong drink] שכר shechar, any strong fermented liquor, whether of the vine, date, or palm species.

1. a mocker] Rather a scorner, Proverbs 1:22, note. raging] Rather, a brawler, R.V. In each case the thing is personified in its victim. The drunkard in his cups becomes impious towards God and quarrelsome towards his neighbour. is deceived] erreth, R.V., reeleth, R.V. marg.

“Wine” and “strong drink” are personified as themselves doing what they make men do. The latter (see Leviticus 10:9 note) is here, probably, the “palm-wine” of Syria.

1. A mocker — μφ, (lets.) Of this word Gesenius says, that it means a frivolous and impudent person, who sets at naught and scoffs at the most sacred precepts and duties of religion, piety, and morals.