Proverbs 31:5

Pro 31:5 Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted.

Ver. 5. Lest they drink and forget the law.] Drunkenness causeth forgetfulness (hence the ancients feigned Bacchus to be the son of forgetfulness), and stands in full opposition to reason and religion: when the wine is in, the wit is out. Seneca saith, that for a man to think to be drunk, and yet to retain his right reason, is to think to drink rank poison, and yet not to die by it. {a}

And pervert the judgment, &c.] Pronounce an unrighteous sentence: which when Philip king of Macedon once did, the poor woman whose cause it was, presently appealed from Philip now drunk, to Philip when he should be sober again. The Carthagenians made a law that no magistrate of theirs should drink wine. The Persians permitted their kings to be drunk one day in a year only. Solon made a law at Athens that drunkenness in a prince should be punished with death. See Ecc 10:16-17.

{a} Plutarch in Sympos.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Verse 5. Lest they drink, and forget the law] When they should be administering justice, they are found incapable of it; or, if they go into the judgment-seat, may pervert justice.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

5. of any of the afflicted] “Heb. of all the sons of affliction,” A.V. and R.V. marg.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Lest they drink, and forget the law,.... The law of God by Moses, which the kings of Israel were obliged to write a copy of, and read over daily, to imprint it on their minds, that they might never forget it, but always govern according to it, Deu 17:18; or the law of their ancestors, or what was made by themselves, which through intemperance may be forgotten; for this sin stupefies the mind and hurts the memory, and makes men forgetful;

and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted; a king on the throne, or a judge on the bench, drunk, must be very unfit for his office; since he must be incapable of attending to the cause before him, of taking in the true state of the case; and, as he forgets the law, which is his rule of judgment, so he will mistake the point in debate, and put one thing for another; and "change" (g) and alter, as the word signifies, the judgment of the afflicted and injured person, and give the cause against him which should be for him; and therefore it is of great consequence that kings and judges should he sober. A certain woman, being undeservedly condemned by Philip king of Macedon, when drunk, said,

"I would appeal to Philip, but it shall be when he is sober;''

which aroused him; and, more diligently examining the cause, he gave, a more righteous sentence (h).

(g) "mutet", Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Mercerus, Cocceius, Gejerus, Michaelis; "demutet", Schultens. (h) Valer. Maxim l. 6. c. 2. extern. 1.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Poor. Solon condemned to death, at Athens, the prince who should get drunk; and the Areopagites excluded from their assembly a judge who had dined in a tavern. (Laertius 1.; Atheneus xiii. 2.)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Forget the law; the laws of God, by which they are to govern themselves and their kingdoms.

Pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted; which may easily be done by a drunken judge, because drunkenness deprives a man of the use of reason; by which alone men can distinguish between right and wrong, and withal stirs up those passions which incline him both to precipitation and partiality.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

5. Lest they — Rather, he.

Drink,… forget… law — מחקק, (mehhukkak,) that which is prescribed, the statute applicable to the particular case. The reasons here given for rulers, judges, princes, etc., abstaining from intoxicating drinks, are very similar to those given to the priests in Lev_10:10-11. No drunkard should be intrusted with authority or rule, either in civil, military, or ecclesiastical affairs. Property, character, life, and the immortal interests of the soul, are too precious to be committed to the decisions of a man whose intellect is at all beclouded by the fumes of alcohol. For a biblical example of kingly drunkenness, See 1Ki_16:9.

These verses should not, perhaps, be construed as containing a positive prohibition of wine and other strong drinks, even to Lemuel, any more than the caution in the third verse against giving his strength to women is to he considered as a prohibition of marriage. The object of the language was probably to guard him against excess in the gratification of his appetites. But, on the other hand, whatever may have been the implied limitations of the self-denial commended, it remains true, as a matter of fact, that the great danger lies in too much rather than in too little indulgence; and that, so far as the use of intoxicating drinks is concerned, the general rule is, that he who uses them least, or not at all, is the safest. For, as shown elsewhere, (Pro_23:29, et seq.,) the habit of using these beverages is insidious, and ever tending to greater and greater strength and greater danger of excess. Moreover, the sacred word is not without commendations of total abstinence, as in the case of the Rechabites, (Jer_35:6-7; 1Ch_2:55,) and the superior excellence of total abstinence is implied in the case of the Nazarites and others. When we come to the new dispensation, though the drinking of wine and strong drink is not prohibited in form, but, on the contrary, has the seeming sanction of our Saviour and his apostles, as pertaining to a Christian man’s liberty, yet, when from any cause that liberty becomes an occasion of stumbling to others, it is most imperatively obligatory upon us to abstain totally from the exercise of it. The principle is broadly laid down by the apostle, (Rom_14:20-21,) “All things [all kinds of food] indeed are pure; [in themselves they are not ceremonially unclean to the Christian;] but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence. It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.” While, therefore, a Christian may not always feel himself under obligations to abstain from wine for his own sake, either because it is directly prohibited or is injurious to him, he may, nevertheless, feel himself obliged to practise self-denial for the benefit of others and the general good. Most Christian men in this country feel that this is no time to give the sanction of their example to a custom so terribly fruitful of evil as is the use of intoxicating beverages.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

This gives a reason for the warning. Lest they drink, and forget the Law. That which has been decreed, and is right and lawful, the appointed ordinance, particularly as regards the administration of justice. Septuagint, "Lest drinking, they forget wisdom." And pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted; literally, of all the sons of affliction; i.e. the whole class of poorer people. Intemperance leads to selfish disregard of others" claims, an inability to examine questions impartially, and consequent perversion of justice. Isaiah (Isa_5:23) speaks of intoxication as inducing men to "justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him."

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

what was made law What is written in the Torah—and surely the tradition that is committed to memory.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.