My opinion is that it has to do with following the Lords voice, perhaps. We see in revelation that the bottomless pit (a harlot is a deep pit in proverbs) is opened and the smoke causes the light to be blotted out (spiritual blindness IMO) and that it was a plague that God put on man because he wouldn't repent of his idolatry (love for money and politics).
We see in proverbs that those who linger long at the wine have contentions, and this refers to political and religious division, in my opinion. THe lions teeth are people who seek division rather than love and they devour each other because they love the world and their own denomination rather than the pure unpolluted truth. THis includes those who think like they love others, but have no understanding of what it really means..
Love isnt just a feeling, but its about giving up our lives on earth for our brethren. ITs about giving up our politics, materialism, and religious divisions which are the result of this blindness that plagues mankind.
Revelation 9:2 And he opened the bottomless pit, and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace. So the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit.
8 They had hair like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. 9 And they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots with many horses running into battle. 10 They had tails like scorpions, and there were stings in their tails.
20 But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. 21 And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.
Matthew 6:19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
The Lamp of the Body
22 “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! ..............(spiritual blindness)
Proverbs 23 Do not overwork to be rich;
Because of your own understanding, cease! .............(spiritual blindness)
5 Will you set your eyes on that which is not?
For riches certainly make themselves wings;
They fly away like an eagle toward heaven.
Hear, my son, and be wise;
And guide your heart in the way.
20 Do not mix with winebibbers, ........(refers to those who are blinded by love for the world)
Or with gluttonous eaters of meat;
21 For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, .......(spiritual blindness)
And drowsiness will clothe a man with rags.
23 Buy the truth, and do not sell it,
Also wisdom and instruction and understanding.
24 The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice,
And he who begets a wise child will delight in him.
25 Let your father and your mother be glad,
And let her who bore you rejoice.
26 My son, give me your heart,
And let your eyes observe my ways.
27 For a harlot is a deep pit, ........................ (harlot of Babylon)
And a seductress is a narrow well.
28 She also lies in wait as for a victim,
And increases the unfaithful among men.
29 Who has woe?
Who has sorrow?
Who has contentions?
Who has complaints? ...................(religious and political divisions)
Who has wounds without cause?
Who has redness of eyes?
30 Those who linger long at the wine, .......(spiritual blind lovers of the world)
Those who go in search of mixed wine.
31 Do not look on the wine when it is red,
When it sparkles in the cup,
When it swirls around smoothly;
32 At the last it bites like a serpent,
And stings like a viper................ (just like the tails of the locusts from the bottomless bit)
33 Your eyes will see strange things,
And your heart will utter perverse things.
34 Yes, you will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea,
Or like one who lies at the top of the mast, saying:
35 “They have struck me, but I was not hurt;
They have beaten me, but I did not feel it.
When shall I awake, that I may seek another drink?” ...........(spiritual blind)
Isaiah 29:9 Pause and wonder!
Blind yourselves and be blind!
They are drunk, but not with wine;
They stagger, but not with intoxicating drink.
10 For the Lord has poured out on you
The spirit of deep sleep,
And has closed your eyes, namely, the prophets;
And He has covered your heads, namely, the seers
14 And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says:
‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand,
And seeing you will see and not perceive;
15 For the hearts of this people have grown dull.
Their ears are hard of hearing,
And their eyes they have closed,
Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears,
Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn,
So that I should[a] heal them.’
16 But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; 17 for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.
18 “Therefore hear the parable of the sower:
1 John 2:27 But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will[a] abide in Him.