In this message we will consider more of the detailed precepts for man to live a proper human life. Each of these precepts is a gem in Proverbs.
Chapters twenty through twenty-nine contain many admonitions and teachings.
Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler; and whoever errs by it is not wise (20:1). He who loves pleasure will be a poor man; he who loves wine and oil will not be rich (21:17). Do not be among those who get drunk with wine, among gluttonous eaters of flesh; for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe them with rags (23:20-21). When you sit to eat with a ruler, consider carefully who is before you; and put a knife to your throat if you are a man of great appetite. Do not desire his delicacies, for they are deceitful food. Do not eat the bread of one who is envious, and do not desire his delicacies; for as he thinks within himself, so he is. He says to you, "Eat and drink"; but his heart is not with you. You will vomit up the morsel which you have eaten, and waste your pleasant words (vv. 1-3, 6-8). Verses 29 through 35 say, "Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions?/Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes?/Those who linger late over wine,/Those who go to seek out mixed wines. / Do not look upon the wine when it is red,/When it sparkles in the cup,/When it goes down smoothly;/In the end it bites like a serpent,/And stings like an adder./Your eyes will see strange things,/And your heart will utter perverse things;/And you will be like one who lies down while at sea,/Or like one who lies down at the top of a mast./They struck me, but I was not hurt;/They beat me, but I did not feel it;/When will I awake? I will seek another drink."
It is an honor for a man to keep away from strife, but every fool rushes headlong into it (20:3). Do not go out hastily to strive; otherwise what will you do in the end, when your neighbor puts you to shame? (25:8). For lack of wood the fire goes out, and where there is no whisperer, contention quiets down. As charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire, so is a contentious man to kindle strife (26:20-21). A fool utters all his anger, but a wise man holds it back. An angry man stirs up contention, and a furious man abounds in transgression (29:11, 22).