GLUTTON; GLUTTONOUS

glut'-'-n, glut'-'-n-us (zalal, "to be lavish"; phagos): "Glutton" (from glut, to swallow greedily) is the translation of zolel from zalal, "to shake or pour out," "to be lavish, a squanderer." In Deuteronomy 21:20, "This our son .... is a glutton, and a drunkard," the word may mean a squanderer or prodigal; the English Revised Version has "a riotous liver." In Proverbs 23:21, "For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty" (following zole bhasar, "squanderers of flesh," the Revised Version (British and American) "gluttonous eaters of flesh"), "glutton" in the usual sense is intended; "a man gluttonous," "a gluttonous man" (the Revised Version) (phagos, "an eater," "a glutton") was a term applied to Christ in His freedom from asceticism (Matthew 11:19; Luke 7:34).

The Revised Version has "idle gluttons" (margin Greek, "bellies") for "slow bellies" (Titus 1:12); "gluttonous" "gluttons," for "riotous" (Proverbs 23:20; 28:7).

W. L. Walker

From the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Edited by James Orr, published in 1939 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.