Proverbs 23:34

Midst of the sea. Literally, “heart of the sea.” The picture is often taken to be that of a man trying to sleep in a world that seems to be heaving and turning like a confused sea. Some have referred it to the dragged sleep that finally comes to the drinker. He sinks down into a coma not far removed from death, with every faculty drowned in alcohol, as inert and helpless as a lifeless body floating on the waves of the sea.

Mast. Heb. chibbel, a word that occurs only here. Its meaning is uncertain. If it designates the mast or the cradle where the lookout sits, it vividly pictures the sickening dizziness of the drunken and the many dangers to which he is unconsciously exposed.

The LXX translates the second clause, “and as a pilot in a great storm.” This translation points to the impaired judgment of the intoxicated.