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. [See Trapp on “Pr 23:32”] Wine is a comfortable creature, (Judges 9:12) one of the chief lenitives of human miseries, as Plato calls it; but “excess of wine” (1 Peter 4:3) 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 Isa 28:1 1Sa 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. [See Trapp on “Pr 23:29”] St Paul very fitly yoketh together drunkards and railers. (1 Corinthians 6:9) 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.
Ver. 2. The fear of a king is as the roaring of a lion.] See Proverbs 16:14 19:12.
Ver. 3. It is an honour for a man to cease from strife.] To stint it rather than to stir it; to be first in promoting peace and seeking reconciliation, as Abraham did in the controversy with Lot. Memento -said Aristippus to Aeschines, with whom he had a long strife— quod cum essem natu maior, prior te accesserim. Remember, said he, that though I am the elder man, yet I first sought reconciliation. I shall well remember it, said Aeschines, and while I live I shall acknowledge thee the better man, because I was first in falling out, and thou art first in falling in again. But every fool will be meddling.] Or, Mingling himself with strife; he hath an itching to be doing with it, to be quarrelling, brabling, lawing. Once it was counted ominous to commence actions and follow suits. Now nothing more ordinary, for every trifle, treading upon their grass, or the like. This is as great folly as for every slight infirmity to take physic. Plutarch, de Cohib. Ira. Laer., lib. ii. Caesar, Com.
Ver. 4. The sluggard will not plough by reason of the cold.] So the spiritual sluggard either dreams of a delicacy in the ways of God, which is a great vanity; or else, if heaven be not to be had without the hardship of holiness, Christ may keep his heaven to himself. The young man in the gospel went away grieved that Christ required such things that he could not be willing to yield to. (Matthew 19:22) The Hebrews have a common proverb among them: He that on the even of the Sabbath hath not gathered what to eat, shall not at all eat on the Sabbath; meaning thereby that none shall reign in heaven that hath not wrought on earth. “Man goeth forth,” saith the Psalmist, “to his work, and to his labour until the evening.” (Psalms 104:23) So till the sun of his life be set, he must be working out his salvation. “This is to work the work of him that sent us,” as our Saviour did. Which expression of “working a work”: notes his strong intention upon it, as “to devise devices,” (Jeremiah 18:18) notes strong plotting to mischief the prophet. So “with a desire have I desired,” &c.; (Luke 22:15) “yea, how am I straitened, till it be accomplished” (Luke 12:50) Lo, Christ thirsteth exceedingly after our salvation, though he knew it should cost him so dear. Is not this check to our dulness and sloth?
Ver. 5. Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water.] See Proverbs 18:4. As the red rose, though outwardly not so fragrant, is inwardly far more cordial than the damask rose, being more thrifty of its sweetness, and reserving it in itself; so it is with many good Christians. But a man of understanding will draw it out.] And surely this is a fine skill to be able to pierce a man that is like a vessel full of wine, and to set him a running.