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Have A Drink, Eve
Proverbs 23:31-32 has a warning against drinking – “Don’t gaze at wine because it is red, because it gleams in the cup and goes down smoothly. In the end it bites like a snake and stings like a viper.”
The wise man goes on and gives another warning in v.33 – “Your eyes will see strange things, and you will say absurd things.”
There is nothing new in these observations. They are as modern as they are ancient. But I wonder if they are even more ancient than we are thinking:
- “Don’t gaze at the wine” – Eve saw the fruit was “delightful to look at” (Genesis 3:6).
- “Goes down smoothly” – ““The woman saw the tree was good for food” (Genesis 3:6).
- “It bites like a snake” – “The serpent deceived me and I ate” (Genesis 3:13).
- “Your eyes will see strange things” – “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked” (Genesis 3:7).
- “You will say absurd things” – “The woman you gave to be with me” (Genesis 3:12).
I can’t prove the Proverb writer was reframing the original sin’s narrative into his warnings. But what I don’t need to prove is that sin keeps repeating itself in these familiar, ancient, and modern forms:
- Sin looks pleasant.
- Sin feels nice.
- In the end it hurts.
- It causes us to see things contrary to God’s will.
- It even leads to saying absurd things like, “God is at fault”.
Think about Adam and Eve the next time someone offers you a drink. That may be exactly what Solomon was thinking too!
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