Chapter 20 contains thirty couplets spanning alcohol, work ethic, honesty in commerce, vengeance, divine oversight, and the seasons of life.
It opens with a warning about alcohol: wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging, and whoever is deceived by it is not wise. This is the book's clearest statement on drink , it is not neutral but actively deceptive.
Several couplets carry unusual weight. Most men proclaim their own goodness, but a faithful man , who can find? Self-promotion is universal; consistent reliability is rare. The just man walks in his integrity: his children are blessed after him , integrity is generational. Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out , wisdom is not always on the surface; it takes a skilled person to bring it up from another.
On moral purity: who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin? The question is rhetorical , no one can. This is the chapter's statement of universal sinfulness.
On commerce and deception: divers weights and measures are abomination to the LORD , the warning appears twice in this chapter. Bread of deceit is sweet to a man, but afterward his mouth is filled with gravel. Buyers say "it is nothing, it is nothing" and then boast of their bargain when they leave.
On vengeance: say not, I will recompense evil; but wait on the LORD, and he shall save you.
On divine omniscience: man's goings are of the LORD; how can a man then understand his own way? The spirit of man is the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly , the human spirit functions as God's lamp illuminating a person's interior life.
On the seasons of life: the glory of young men is their strength, and the beauty of old men is the grey head , each stage of life has its own form of honor.
Coming Up in Chapter 21
Next, Solomon weighs royal hearts, justice over sacrifice, and the vanity of treasure gained by lying tongues alongside the poverty that follows love of pleasure Chapter 21 contains thirty-one couplets and opens with one of the book's most direct statements about divine sovereignty over human power: the king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water , he turns.
