Bird's-eye view
The book of Proverbs is intensely practical, and this verse is a prime example of its straightforward, cause-and-effect wisdom. Solomon here draws a sharp contrast between two kinds of love, two kinds of lives, and two ultimate destinations. On the one hand, there is the life devoted to the immediate gratification of the appetites, a life that "loves pleasure." On the other is the life of discipline and foresight. The former path leads inevitably to poverty, while the latter is the prerequisite for wealth. This is not a condemnation of pleasure itself, for God gives us all things richly to enjoy (1 Tim. 6:17). Rather, it is a solemn warning against making pleasure the central object of our affections. It is a warning against a disordered love. The man who makes a god of his belly will find that his god is a demanding and expensive one, one that will ultimately consume all his substance and leave him destitute, both financially and spiritually.
This principle runs straight through Scripture. The prodigal son "squandered his property in reckless living" (Luke 15:13) and soon found himself longing to eat pig food. The rich man in the parable feasted sumptuously every day and ended up in torment, begging for a drop of water (Luke 16:19-24). The issue is not the having of things, but the loving of them. When the love of created comforts eclipses the love of the Creator, the result is always ruin. This proverb, then, is a call to rightly ordered loves, to a life of self-control that flows from a heart that treasures Christ above all. It is only when we find our chief pleasure in God that we are safe to enjoy the lesser pleasures He provides.
Outline
- 1. The Inevitable Consequence of Hedonism (v. 17a)
- a. The Nature of Disordered Love: "He who loves pleasure"
- b. The Guaranteed Outcome: "will become a poor man"
- 2. The High Cost of Luxury (v. 17b)
- a. The Specific Appetites: "He who loves wine and oil"
- b. The Unattainable Goal: "will not become rich"
Context In Proverbs
Proverbs 21 is a collection of standalone aphorisms that contrast the righteous and the wicked, the wise and the foolish. Verse 17 fits squarely within this pattern. It follows a warning against wandering from the way of understanding (v. 16) and precedes a statement about the wicked being a ransom for the righteous (v. 18). The surrounding verses paint a picture of a world governed by God's moral order, where choices have real and predictable consequences. The love of pleasure is presented not as an isolated character flaw but as part of the broader profile of the fool, who devours his resources (Prov. 21:20), refuses to labor (Prov. 21:25), and ultimately comes to ruin. This proverb is one of many in the book that connects diligence, self-control, and foresight with prosperity, and laziness, self-indulgence, and short-sightedness with poverty (e.g., Prov. 10:4; 13:4; 20:13).
Clause-by-Clause Commentary
He who loves pleasure will become a poor man;
The first clause sets up the fundamental principle. The key word here is "loves." The Bible does not teach a grim asceticism. The Psalmist declares that at God's right hand are "pleasures forevermore" (Ps. 16:11). God created a world full of textures, tastes, and sounds for our enjoyment. The problem is not pleasure, but the love of pleasure. It is a question of ultimate allegiance. When a man's heart is set on pleasure, when it becomes the thing he pursues, demands, and organizes his life around, he has made it an idol. This is the essence of hedonism. And hedonism is expensive. It is a constant chase for the next thrill, the next experience, the next comfort. This kind of love is insatiable; it always wants more. The man driven by it will always spend more than he has, sacrificing his future on the altar of the present moment. He is a fool because he eats his seed corn. Poverty is the natural, logical, and divinely ordered consequence of this disordered love. He becomes poor not by accident, but by appointment.
He who loves wine and oil will not become rich.
The second clause parallels and specifies the first. "Wine and oil" are representative of the good life, of feasting and luxury in the ancient world. They were staples of celebration and comfort. Again, wine is a gift from God that "makes glad the heart of man," and oil makes his face shine (Ps. 104:15). There is nothing inherently sinful about them. The issue, once more, is the love of them. The man described here is the connoisseur of creature comforts, the one who lives for the feast. He is the glutton and the drunkard, whom another proverb warns will come to poverty (Prov. 23:21). The phrase "will not become rich" is a powerful understatement. It's not just that he will fail to accumulate wealth; it's that the entire trajectory of his life is set against it. His appetites consume his capital. Every dollar that could be invested, saved, or used productively is instead poured out in pursuit of a fleeting sensation. He is on a treadmill of indulgence, and that treadmill leads directly away from lasting substance. This is a spiritual law with direct physical consequences. A man cannot serve both God and mammon, and he certainly cannot serve God and his own belly and expect to prosper in any meaningful sense.
The Gospel Connection
This proverb diagnoses a deep-seated human problem: our tendency to love the gift more than the Giver. This is the very heart of idolatry. We were created to find our ultimate pleasure in God, but in our fallen state, we seek it in created things. The gospel does not solve this problem by telling us to stop seeking pleasure. Instead, it redirects our search. C.S. Lewis famously said that our problem is not that our desires are too strong, but that they are too weak. We are "half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us."
Christ offers a joy that is infinitely greater and ultimately cheaper than the fleeting pleasures of the world. He invites us to a feast that truly satisfies, to drink living water so that we will never thirst again (John 4:14). The man who "loves pleasure" is trying to quench an infinite thirst with finite, leaky cups. The Christian, by contrast, has been given access to the fountain of all true pleasure. When our hearts are satisfied in Him, we are liberated from the tyranny of our appetites. We can then receive wine and oil and all of God's other good gifts with thanksgiving, enjoying them for what they are without making them into what they are not. The cross is where God condemned our sinful flesh (Rom. 8:3), breaking the power of our disordered loves. Through faith in Christ, we are set free from the slavery of chasing pleasure and are made rich in the only way that truly matters, rich toward God (Luke 12:21).
Application
The application of this proverb is sharp and practical. We must all examine our loves. What do we spend our time, money, and mental energy on? Is our life oriented around the next vacation, the next purchase, the next fine meal? Or is it oriented around the kingdom of God and His righteousness?
This requires a life of discipline and self-control, which are fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5:23). It means budgeting our money, stewarding our time, and bridling our appetites. It means choosing the deferred gratification of saving and investing over the immediate gratification of consumption. This is not about legalism; it is about wisdom. The wise man builds his house on the rock, thinking about the future. The foolish man, the lover of pleasure, builds on the sand, thinking only of today.
Finally, we must cultivate a greater love for God. The only way to drive out the love of lesser pleasures is with the love of a greater one. We must steep our minds in Scripture, gather with the saints for worship, and discipline ourselves for the purpose of godliness. As we taste and see that the Lord is good (Ps. 34:8), the cheap thrills of the world will lose their luster. We will learn to hold God's gifts with an open hand, receiving them with gratitude but finding our true and lasting treasure not in the gifts, but in the Giver.