Through fictional or perhaps real figures, a mother teaches wisdom to her son. These are not two ordinary characters, but a mother who wisely instructs her son, the king. This mother, who might be Wisdom personified by the author, provides her son with guidance more suitable for an ideal king than for an actual one.
We should not take too seriously the advice that encourages the poor and oppressed to drink alcohol and liquor so they can forget their sorrows and suffering! Without understanding this mother’s advice, many employers and political leaders often get the poor drunk to keep them from causing problems by ‘forgetting their sorrows’; would God support that? On the contrary, we need to have a clear conscience that allows us to fill ourselves more and more with the word of God, which embodies justice, and in solidarity with our fellow human beings, we unite in the struggle to claim our rights.