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William
H. Shea
Former Associate Director
Biblical Research Institute*
Doesn't the Bible refer in a number of places to wine and strong drink?
Don't we quite often find people drinking alcohol in the Bible? Can't we
assume, then, that Scripture generally does not condemn drinking alcoholic
beverages?
It's true that we often find
people drinking alcohol in the Bible and that Scripture speaks of alcoholic
beverages, but we need to be careful not to read too much into a superficial
look at such texts. When our English Old Testaments refer to alcohol, they generally
use the words wine or strong drink. So any examination
of the Old Testament's attitude toward alcohol must take into account the
different Hebrew words translated into these two English terms.
The term strong drink presents
no major translation problems because only one Hebrew word, shekar,
lies behind it. But even so, the translation strong drink is more
general than it ought to be. Modern readers may well think of strong
drink as distilled liquor. But that is not what the Bible means by
the term shekar. Since the process of distilling alcohol did not
develop until around A.D. 500, the strongest alcoholic beverage people
could make in Bible times contained only 14 percent alcohol by volume,
approximately the maximum produced by natural fermentation. This fact tells
us that the scriptural term strong drink certainly gives us no
license to drink what we know today as hard liquor.
If distilled alcohol is not what
the Bible means by shekar, what does it mean?
Here is where ancient languages
related to Hebrew can be helpful. Documents written in cuneiform script
on clay tablets tell us that the Babylonians had an alcoholic beverage they called shikaru.
(Notice how similar this Babylonian word is to the Hebrew shekar. It
is actually the same word in two related Semitic languages.) Some of these clay
tablets tell how shikaru was made so we can easily determine what beverage
they are describing. From grain, the Babylonians made a mash which was allowed
to ferment. In other words, these tablets that speak about making shikaru are
talking about making beer! Since the Bible texts that use the word shekar are
referring to the same drink, they are talking about beer as well.
This is something extremely relevant
to our modern society. Here are Bible texts talking about beer-the
beverage that is so widely advertized on American TV and that is so widely
consumed by the American public.
And what view does the Bible
take of this beverage? A very dim and negative view indeed. Of 21 Old Testament
texts that mention shekar (beer), 19 strongly condemn it. The other
two texts present special cases (we'll discuss one of these later). The
New Testament mentions this same beverage only once and prohibits its use
by John the Baptist as he grew up.
To give something of the picture
these 19 Old Testament texts convey, let's look at what some of them say
about shekar: Leviticus 10:9 prohibits its use by a priest in ministry;
Numbers 6:2, 3 forbids Nazarites from drinking it; in Judges 13:3, 4 an angel
warns Samson's mother-to-be not to drink it during her pregnancy; in Deuteronomy
29:5, 6 God tells the Israelites that He did not provide this drink for them
in their wilderness wanderings.
There is also the interesting
story of Hannah. She went to the tabernacle at Shiloh and prayed so earnestly
about the fact that she was childless that the priest accused her of being drunk
with shekar. This she denied. See 1 Samuel 1:15.
The prophets of Judah in the
eighth century B.C. were especially vigorous in their condemnation of strong
drink, or beer. Isaiah mentions it eight times, and each reference is strongly
negative. He pronounces a woe upon those who drink it (Isa 5:11) and notes that
it would not bring mirth when God cursed the land (Isa 24:9). He points out that
beer causes staggering (Isa 29:9) and that false priests and prophets were two
groups who especially staggered from its effects (Isa 28:7). The prophet Micah
noted that the people wanted precisely this kind of leader-one
who would approve of its use (Mic 2:11). Proverbs 20:1 speaks of rage and
brawling as two of its side effects.
Thus we see an almost universal
condemnation of beer in the Old Testament. But what about Deuteronomy 14:22-28?
This text doesn't seem to fit the pattern; it seems to indicate that Israelites
could actually pay part of their tithe in beer! Some have seen in this a modern
license for beer-drinking.
First, we should carefully note
that Deuteronomy 14 is dealing with a special use under special circumstances.
The chapter takes up the subject of the tithe in verses 22 and 23. In a
later section, it speaks about what might be called "delayed tithe." It
is here that beer occurs as part of the "delayed tithe."
What is all this talking about?
Deuteronomy 14 identifies the
tithe as certain foods and drinks that the Israelite was to take to the
sanctuary located centrally in the nation. When the tithe was paid regularly
and on time, the products offered were to include newborn lambs and calves, freshly
pressed oil, new unfermented wine or grape juice (tirosh),
and grain. All these were fresh products that came from the harvest of
the new agricultural year.
But what was the Israelite to
do if for some reason he couldn't get to the sanctuary with these fresh
products? He was to make a substitution, and it is this substitution that verses
24-26 describe.
Verse 24 presents the problem:
that of an Israelite who was not able to get to the sanctuary on time.
Verse 25 presents the intermediate solution: he was to convert his tithe into
silver and retain the money until he was able to go to the sanctuary. Verse 26
gives the final step in presenting the delayed tithe. When he arrived at the
sanctuary, the Israelite was to purchase some of the same agricultural products
he should have brought earlier and eat the tithe meal before the Lord.
But the products he purchased
for the tithe meal must be mature to show symbolically that the tithe presentation
was late. Thus he did not present a lamb; he purchased a mature sheep for presentation.
He did not present a calf, but a mature ox. Instead of fresh grape juice (tirosh)
he presented yayin, wine that had
fermented with the passing of time. And he did not present grain; he presented
beer that had been made from grain. In each case, the delayed tithe meal consisted
of things chosen to correspond to and show the development of the agricultural
product which should have been presented originally. Although not readily apparent,
this actually involved an interest penalty since the ox would cost more than
a calf and the sheep more than a lamb.
Under these special circumstances,
the symbolic substitution of beer for the earlier grain when presenting
"delayed tithe" can by no means be taken as a license for unrestricted
recreational use of beer-either then or now. Especially when beer
is elsewhere condemned in the Old Testament.
When we turn to the subject of
wine in the Scriptures, we find two main words-tirosh which usually
refers to grape juice in its unfermented state, the way it comes from the
press as a new agricultural product, and yayin, a word with less
clear meanings.
In 30 of the 38 references to tirosh in
the Old Testament it is paired with grain and oil, or oil alone, as products
of the harvest used for tithe and taxes, etc. Three texts (Mic 6:15; Isa 62:8;
65:8) refer to tirosh as the product
of the grape; four texts (Prov 3:10; Joel 2:24; Mic 6:15; and Hos 9:2)
speak of tirosh as produced by pressing. Only one text (Hos 4:11) suggests
that tirosh may produce intoxication-and this text may
actually be referring to early fermentation or to the practice of mixing
new and old (fermented) wine.
Thus tirosh appears
to refer almost exclusively to unfermented wine or grape juice. But yayin,
the other main word that the Bible uses for wine, clearly means fermented
wine in most cases.
The Old Testament uses the word yayin some
140 times. Before dealing with specific texts, let's get a general overview of
its use in the Bible. By my count, the Bible presents yayin in a negative
light 60 times; in about 60 more cases it simply mentions it without making any
value judgment, and in only 17 references does it possibly say something positive
about it. Thus yayin, fermented
wine, is spoken of negatively much more often that it is positively.
On the negative side, first of
all, are the stories in which fermented wine produces bad results. Not many
(if any) historical narratives in the Old Testament mention a beneficial
outcome from the use of wine, but several end disastrously: the drunkenness
of Noah (Gen 9:21); Lot (Gen 19:32-35); Nabal (1 Sam 25:36, 37); Amnon
(2 Sam 13:28); Belshazzar (Dan 5:1-3); and Ahasuerus (Esth 1:1-10),
for example.
Isaiah (51:21); Jeremiah (23:9);
Hosea (4:11; 7:5); Joel (1:5); and Habbakuk (2:15) are among the Bible
prophets who point out the ill effects, both physical and moral, which intoxicating
wine produces.
Proverbs 23:29-35 describes wine's
immediate physical effects (red eyes and blurred vision), its immediate social
effects (strife and wounds), as well as the long-term results (woe and sorrow).
Elsewhere, the book of Proverbs refers to wine as producing poverty (21:17) and
violence (4:17). Isaiah adds that it deceives the mind (28:7), inflames a person,
and leads to forgetfulness of God (5:11, 12).
Those texts which point to certain
useful functions of wine should not be overlooked, but they should be placed
in perspective. Three texts (Ps 104:15; Eccl 9:7; 10:19) mention that wine can
make the heart glad and bring cheer. This indicates an awareness of the immediate
physiological effects of alcohol, but these texts need to be placed along side
the many other Bible statements mentioning its nonbeneficial long-term results.
Ecclesiastes 9:7 and 10:19 might
superficially appear to give approval for indulging in alcohol. In a bit
of ancient philosophy, Ecclesiastes 9:7 says, "Go, eat your bread with enjoyment,
and drink your wine with a merry heart; for God has already approved what
you do." RSV. It is a description of the author's search for those things
that bring meaning in life. This text is pointing out that man should be
content with certain common duties of life-including eating and
drinking, even wine. However, the book ends with the author's finding a
greater good to provide meaning in life-that man should fear God
and keep His commandments. See chapter 12:13. All the other experiences
in which the author tries to find meaning fade in significance beside this.
At least seven other Bible texts
which appear to speak favorably of yayin do so merely by means
of comparison; they are not speaking directly about wine itself. For example,
the Song of Solomon uses a comparison with wine four times (1:2, 4; 4:10;
and 7:9) to bring out the beloved's beauty. Hosea 14:7 uses the fragrance
of wine from Lebanon as a comparison. Proverbs 9:5, 6 uses wine figuratively
in talking about the "banquet of life" that wisdom provides. Amos 9:14
and Zechariah 10:7 use the merriment that wine creates as a figure of how
God's people will rejoice at the time of His final victory.
Wine was also used as a drink
offering in the temple service, just as we have seen that beer was used
in the presentation of delayed tithe. These drink offerings were poured out beside
the altar; they were not drunk by the priests.
Thus most of the texts which
mention wine favorably actually use it figuratively in comparisons. A few
speak of its immediate physiological effects. But by far the majority describe
its detrimental results-such as wicked acts committed in connection
with drinking wine. Isaiah, for example, associates wine with the taking
of bribes. See Isaiah 5:22, 23. Amos combines wine with profaning sacred
things. See Amos 2:8.
In summary, the writers of the
Old Testament raise four indictments against drinking wine. First, they
recognize its immediate adverse physical effects-redness of the
eyes, blurring of vision, staggering, and drunkenness in general. Second,
they recognize its long-term moral effects-various kinds of immoral
and unethical behavior along with the social results of such actions. Third,
they identify particular instances of such behavior and connect them with specific
persons. Fourth, because of its effects, they prohibit certain classes and specific
individuals from drinking any wine.
In contrast to this large negative
picture, about the only positive images the Bible gives of alcohol are three
texts that note alcohol can produce a state of levity (certainly a valid
physiological observation). The Bible writers also occasionally use wine
to draw some favorable comparisons in figures of speech. (Yet they also
use wine to symbolize some unfavorable comparisons as well. See the "wine
of wrath" in Psalm 75:8 and Jeremiah 25:15).
How then should we personally
relate to alcohol in view of the overall picture given in the Old Testament?
If one takes the whole picture into account and evaluates all the evidence, the
most reasonable conclusion is that the only safe course is complete abstinence
from alcohol in any form.
Scriptures quoted
from RSV are from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyrighted
1946, 1952 © 1971, 1973.
*Reprinted
from Signs of the Times, November 1988.
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