Proverbs 31:6 - Exposition

There are cases where strong drink may be properly administered. Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish ( Job 29:13 ; Job 31:19 ). As a restorative, a cordial, or a medicine, wine may he advantageously used; it has a place in the providential economy of God. "Use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities," was St. Paul's advice to Timothy ( 1 Timothy 5:23 ). It is supposed to have been in consideration of the injunction in the text that the ladies of Jerusalem provided for criminals on their way to the place of execution a drink of medicated wine, which might deaden the pain of suffering. This was the draught rejected by Christ, who willed to taste the full bitterness of death. The Septuagint has, "to those that are in sorrow;" so the Vulgate, maerentibus, but this makes the two clauses tautological. Wine unto those that be of heavy hearts ( Job 3:20 ). "Wine," says the psalmist, "maketh glad the heart of man" ( Psalms 104:15 ). Says Homer, 'Iliad,' 6.261—

"Great is the strength

Which generous wine imparts to wearied men."

"Wine," says St. Chrysostom ('Hom. in Ephes.,' 19), "has been given us for cheerfulness, not for drunkenness. Wouldest thou know where wine is good? Hear what the Scripture saith, 'Give wine to them, etc. And justly, because it can mitigate asperity and gloominess, and drive away clouds from the brow" (comp. Ecclesiasticus 34:25 (31) , etc.).