For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.
The verse groups the drunkard, the glutton, and the indolent together, teaching that indulgence and idleness lead to poverty and that drowsiness clothes a person with rags. Drunkenness and gluttony bring material want, and the sleepy indolence that goes with them leaves a person in rags. The warning about gluttony covers overeating as well as drunkenness. Gluttony is excessive eating, eating beyond what the body can use, which is intemperance and sin even when the food itself is wholesome.
Such overeating burdens the digestive organs and exhausts the vitality of the body. It weakens the brain and intellect, leaving a person languid and dull-minded, stupid and good for little. Eating more in this way gives less nourishment than a moderate amount eaten regularly. Rich food may gratify the taste but harms the whole person, injuring the physical, mental, and moral faculties and bringing sickness and ruin.
Children taught or allowed to eat whatever and whenever they choose can be trained into gluttons. They may develop dyspepsia early, harm their health, and lose and sacrifice mental and physical vigor. In this application the focus is on appetite and vigor, without further explaining poverty and rags. The glutton shows how indulgence encouraged by faulty upbringing and defective education weakens self-control and leaves a person governed by impulse and unable to resist temptation. The harmful results of gluttony and drinking stand alongside tobacco use as evidence of the evils of appetite. People weakened by self-indulgence are in danger of overeating when the appetite is restored, even on plain, nourishing food, and the verse cautions against that gluttony.
The verse groups the drunkard, the glutton, and the indolent together, teaching that indulgence and idleness lead to poverty and that drowsiness clothes a person with rags. Drunkenness and gluttony bring material want, and the sleepy indolence that goes with them leaves a person in rags. The warning about gluttony covers overeating as well as drunkenness. Gluttony is excessive eating, eating beyond what the body can use, which is intemperance and sin even when the food itself is wholesome.
Such overeating burdens the digestive organs and exhausts the vitality of the body. It weakens the brain and intellect, leaving a person languid and dull-minded, stupid and good for little. Eating more in this way gives less nourishment than a moderate amount eaten regularly. Rich food may gratify the taste but harms the whole person, injuring the physical, mental, and moral faculties and bringing sickness and ruin.
Children taught or allowed to eat whatever and whenever they choose can be trained into gluttons. They may develop dyspepsia early, harm their health, and lose and sacrifice mental and physical vigor. In this application the focus is on appetite and vigor, without further explaining poverty and rags. The glutton shows how indulgence encouraged by faulty upbringing and defective education weakens self-control and leaves a person governed by impulse and unable to resist temptation. The harmful results of gluttony and drinking stand alongside tobacco use as evidence of the evils of appetite. People weakened by self-indulgence are in danger of overeating when the appetite is restored, even on plain, nourishing food, and the verse cautions against that gluttony.