Alcoholism in the Bible: The Wisdom of King Solomon

King Solomon writes in Proverbs (Mishlei) ch. 23:

29. Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has wounds without cause? Who has bloodshot eyes?

30. Those who sit late over wine, those who come to search for blended wine.

31. Do not look at wine when it is red; when he puts his eye on the cup, everything seems to be fine.

32. Ultimately, it will bite like a serpent, and sting like a viper.

33. Your eyes will see strange women, and your heart will speak pervertedly.

34. And you shall be like one lying in the middle of the sea and like one lying at the top of a mast.

35. [He claims]: "They struck me but I was not injured; they beat me but I did not feel it. When will I awaken? I will continue; I will seek it again."

What do you suppose it means in verse 29 when King Solomon describes the one who drinks as one "who has wounds without cause"? The commentaries say that he gets himself hurt while he's drunk and doesn't understand what happened.

I can understand that. But as an alcoholic in recovery, the verse speaks to me a little differently. To me, it's not talking about what happens when he's drunk. It's talking about why he must drink; why he'd rather face the humiliation and pain of excessive drunkenness than the pain of life.

To be sober is to get hurt. With pain like that, who wouldn't drink? And do you know what the cause of his wounds is?

Who has woe?
Who has sorrow?
Who has strife?
Who has complaints?

Who has wounds without cause?