Tag: Wine

Revisiting Wine and Gladness

~ Bob Hayton ~ 2 Comments

It’s been six years since I posted my thoughts on wine, in one of my most read posts. In “Wine to Gladden the Heart of Man”: Thoughts on God’s Good Gift of Wine I traced out the connection that I believe the Old Testament makes between wine and joy, and why I think that indicates that enjoying a glass of wine is permissible (and even recommended) for a Christian.

Over the years since, I’ve further developed and fine-tuned my position on this controversial topic. And I’ve appreciated anew the position of many that drinking wine should be avoided for various wisdom issues related to interacting with our culture. But my basic position still stands. I believe that Scripture praises wine, with it’s joy-producing qualities (a relaxed, calmed mind and uplifted heart) as a good gift from God for mankind. God gave us this for our good, but like many of God’s other gifts (food, sex, etc.) we abuse it and suffer the consequences. We can enjoy the gift of wine without sinfully abusing it and becoming intoxicated (or drunk). Drunkenness is sin, not a disease; but Christians can responsibly enjoy wine without getting drunk (which is sinful and wrong). I have never come close to being drunk, but I have learned to appreciate the gift of wine.

I bring this up because over at Sharper Iron last week, Aaron Blumer posted a response to my article. His post is titled “The True Gladness of Wine,” and takes dead aim right at my central thesis. I respect his careful argumentation and clear position. He is gracious and fair, and he agrees with the majority of scholarship in holding that the vast majority of the instances where the word wine is used in Scripture is referring to alcoholic wine. But I don’t believe he successfully undercuts my primary thesis which I will summarize below. I’m only now responding on my blog, but I have participated in the comments on his post. You can read the 100+ comments over there and follow the whole exchange (which has been more charitable and instructive compared to other such comment threads). Before I proceed with the rest of this post, however, I want to stress that in over 1,000 published posts here at Fundamentally Reformed, this will be only the 10th post devoted to the topic. This isn’t the most important topic facing the church at large and I refuse to make it my hobby horse of choice. Still, from time to time I do discuss the issue because it is important. And everyone should take time to think through their position on this matter.

Rather than rehashing the back and forth from Sharper Iron, or summarizing and then critiquing Aaron’s post, I thought I would just detail here the connection between wine and joy, and why I think that the joy produced by wine is related to the alcoholic properties of wine. My primary point is that God teaches us that the alcoholic properties of wine were intended to be a blessing (which can be abused in violation of God’s will for us).

Wine and Joy

Before I begin, I want to stress that the evils of drunkenness are too large and real to be ignored and I agree that abstinence is one very reasonable way of dealing with that. But for me, it was Scripture’s teaching on wine which compelled me to pick up a glass and experience the joy of wine first hand. I felt like I was denigrating a God-created substance through my views on it and my cultural taboo that I held about it–I was placing reason and experience above Scripture. Everyone needs to think through this for themselves, and my liberty should not require others to partake of wine. But let me try to show why I think the teaching of Scripture on wine and gladness is so persuasive an argument for drinking wine in moderation.

Consider the following verses:

Wine and Gladness

But the vine said to them, ‘Shall I leave my wine that cheers God and men and go hold sway over the trees?’ (Judges 9:13)

You cause the grass to grow for the livestock and plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food from the earth and wine to gladden the heart of man, oil to make his face shine and bread to strengthen man’s heart. (Ps. 104:14-15)

Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do. (Eccl. 9:7)

Bread is made for laughter, and wine gladdens life, and money answers everything. (Eccl. 10:19)

The wine mourns, the vine languishes, all the merry-hearted sigh. (Isaiah 24:7, see also vs. 8-11 and Is. 16:10)

Then Ephraim shall become like a mighty warrior, and their hearts shall be glad as with wine. Their children shall see it and be glad; their hearts shall rejoice in the LORD. (Zechariah 10:7)

Drunkenness and a Merry Heart

And when their hearts were merry, they said, “Call Samson, that he may entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison, and he entertained them. They made him stand between the pillars. (Judges 16:25)

And Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he was holding a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal’s heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk. So she told him nothing at all until the morning light. In the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone. (1 Sam. 25:36)

Then Absalom commanded his servants, “Mark when Amnon’s heart is merry with wine, and when I say to you, ‘Strike Amnon,’ then kill him. Do not fear; have I not commanded you? Be courageous and be valiant.” (2 Samuel 13:28 )

On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha and Abagtha, Zethar and Carkas, the seven eunuchs who served in the presence of King Ahasuerus, (Esther 1:10)

While they are inflamed I will prepare them a feast and make them drunk, that they may become merry, then sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake, declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 51:39)

There are a host of additional passages and verses that establish a connection between wine and joy, and loss of wine and loss of joy. My original post details those. What the second set of verses above establish, however, is that a merry heart is specifically connected with drunkenness. There is a specific kind of joy or merriness that is organically caused by wine. So wine and joy don’t just go together like peas in a pod (in that culture without lots of healthy beverage choices), instead there is a causal connection between wine and joy. The wine is causing people to have a merry heart in a particular sort of way.

1 Sam. 25:36 and Jeremiah 51:39 are most clear in establishing this connection. But I argue that a full-blown merry heart (complete with drunken stupor) does not have to result from “drink[ing] your wine with a merry heart.” In fact, Ps. 104:15 again takes center stage in this. God gave wine specifically to “gladden” our hearts. It causes merriment to happen. A relaxed and uplifted spirit, which is the experience of drinking wine after just a few sips, certainly is a joyous thing. And this is why wine is connected with feasting in Scripture and in so many other medieval (and older) cultures. Festal joy and festal drink go hand in hand. Yes there is joy that isn’t caused by the wine, but the wine adds its own joy. This is why (I believe) the joys of harvest and good food go together with wine often in some of the joy passages. But more than merely joy at the harvest or joy from the food is in view. The wine gives a joy of its own which enhances the entire experience.

So I posit a causal role for wine. Wine causes merriness (the sort that is displayed by drunken people, as well as other sorts of merriness). And this very merriment-inducing quality is what God praises. It is in this light that we should read the passages in the first list, like Judges 9:13 and Ps. 104:15.

Wine in Bible times

My thesis is aided by the general consensus that fermented wine was definitely being partaken of in the Bible times. In the OT, we don’t see evidence of wine being diluted (see Is. 1:22), that came about only later. Later, Greek and Roman cultures praised diluted wine and Jewish culture eventually followed suit. Yet even with diluted wine, the average ratio would put the alcoholic content at around 2.5 or 3.5% (by comparison the average beer sold has between 3.2 and 4% alcoholic content). But with all the passages above, my point here is that fermented drink was definitely in view. For more on this point, see my post “Isaiah 16:10 and the Two-Wine Theory.”

Additional Points

Before I conclude, consider three final points.

First, there are a few passages which speak clearly of alcoholic wine in one verse, and a few verses later wine is referred to in a positive light. Nothing indicates we should assume that the wine was different in the case of the alcoholic variety and the variety which is praised. In 1 Sam. 1:14, Eli tells Hannah to “put your wine away from [her]“. But in vs. 24, Hannah brings wine with her on her trip back to Shiloh. Nothing indicates that the wine Hannah brought would be different than the wine Eli thought she was drinking earlier. In 1 Sam. 25:18, Abigail serves wine for David and his men, then later in verses 36-37 Nabal is drunk with wine. Nothing in the context would lead us to think the drink David and his men received was different from that which made Nabal drunk. The difference of course is Nabal immoderately drank the wine, whereas David and his men didn’t. Joel 1:5, 10 is another similar passage.

Second, Scripture clearly praises alcoholic wine. Isaiah 25:6 is definitely referring to alcoholic wine when it indicates that such wine will characterize the blessings of Christ’s future kingdom: “And in this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all people a feast of choice pieces, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of well-refined wines on the lees. (NKJV) “. “Wines on the lees” is translated in most modern versions as “well-aged wine”.

Third, Nehemiah when describing what supplies were given to him as Judean governor, mentions all kinds of wines. Nothing indicates that he did not partake of them. And the context is one of approval, as he is writing inspired Scripture. Here is the passage: “Now what was prepared at my expense for each day was one ox and six choice sheep and birds, and every ten days all kinds of wine in abundance. Yet for all this I did not demand the food allowance of the governor, because the service was too heavy on this people.” (Neh. 5:18 ) So if there is two kinds of wine, this passage indicates Nehemiah partook of both.

I think the preponderance of evidence is in favor of my conclusion – which the majority of the church down through the ages has also held to. I conclude that the moderate enjoyment of alcoholic drinks is something God has intended for our good. God gave wine to man for our good and for the temporary relief of stress and other health benefits that it brings – and to give us the joy that we have when we drink good wine with good friends and people. This festal joy was God’s gift to man and God designed all of this when he created the natural fermentation process and the gift of wine.

If you want to read more on this topic, I’d encourage you to peruse my other posts on wine. And if you’re brave, you can dig through all the comments (there’s quite a few debates preserved there).

Wine and the Christian

~ Bob Hayton ~ 2 Comments

Tim Archer just finished up a good series on wine and the Christian. He tries his best to present the entire teaching of Scripture on the topic as he reviews all the pertinent Scriptural passages briefly.   His series in effect, presents a bird’s eye view of the issue, in a non-combative, irenic way. I encourage you to check it out.

He does quote one of my posts, in the series, and he also links to a few of my previous posts on this thorny issue. So of course this bodes well for his series!

Check out his twelfth post, which includes links to all the previous ones. You can click here to see some helpful links on the subject too. Feel free to peruse my previous posts on this issue as well.

To Drink, Or Not to Drink

~ Bob Hayton ~ 9 Comments

I was swept away (again), into a fundamentalist feud over alcoholic drink. My ears perked up when I came across a humorous post on teetotaling. I figured that the issue was a current hot button topic at Sharper Iron, and so I went digging.

Turns out, Shelton Smith (The Sword of The Lord) and Robert Sumner (The Biblical Evangelist) rival editors of influential fundamentalist periodicals, have both recently decried a new book from BJU press on the alcohol question. I haven’t read Randy Jaeggli’s book The Christian and Drinking: A Biblical Perspective (he’s a prof at BJU), but from what I am reading at Sharper Iron, he defends an abstentionist position in a biblically defensible way. He is careful with the text and so believes Jesus actually drank alcoholic wine, albeit perhaps with less punch then is available today.

His honest treatment of Scripture is too much for the hard line fndamentalists to swallow. They view his book as only doing lip service to a temperance policy. The alarm must be sounded.

So I’ve had my nose in a few threads over at Sharper Iron, discussing this hot issue. I’m not so much discussing the book, as the merits of a moderationist position. You can find my position outlined in this forum post. And I detail the different discussion thread links, in a forum post over at our own Transformed by Grace forum site.

I’ve had quite a few interesting posts concerning wine on my blog in years past.   Click on the wine cateogory for the full list, but here are a few of my favorites:

Melchizedek's Supper: Bread, Wine and a Blessing from the Prefigured Christ

~ fundyreformed ~ 37 Comments

breadwineMelchizedek is a mysterious Old Testament figure. He appears on the stage out of nowhere, it seems. Then he jumps right back into obscurity.

If you’re unfamiliar with the story, you can read it in Genesis 14:17-24. Abram and his army of servants and allies, defeated an invading army and rescued the people and possessions of Sodom, his nephew Lot among them. After this surprising victory, Melchizedek appears on the scene with bread, wine and a blessing. After blessing Abram and God, he receives a tenth of all the spoils from Abram’s hand. Then that’s it. He’s gone.

We do know a few other things about him. His name means king of righteousness, and he was the king of Salem (which means peace). He’s also referred to as a priest of God Most High. Ps. 110 speaks of Christ being a “priest forever after the order of Melchizedek” and Hebrews 7 builds on that.

For the purposes of my post, it’s clear that Melchizedek is a type of Christ (see Heb. 7:3). He is a Priest-King, and Jesus is the Prophet-Priest-King. Considering that God knew all along that Melchizedek was a type of Christ, and since God orchestrates all of history, including the events of Genesis 14, I think there is something for us to learn here from Melchizedek’s bringing bread and wine to Abram.

I was reading the 8th portrait of Christ in Bob Beasley’s book 101 Portraits of Jesus in the Hebrew Scriptures, when I was struck by this simple line, “He [Melchizedek] brings bread and wine, elements we use in the Lord’s Supper.” Melchizedek brought bread and wine, like in the Lord’s Supper. So I thought, what does this teach me about the Lord’s Supper? The answer might seem too simple and obvious but I think it is quite important.

The Lord’s Supper is a blessing that Jesus brings to us. It isn’t just a rite to be observed, but Jesus, comes to us bringing bread and wine. He blesses us through the meal He shares with us. As Melchizedek blessed Abram along with the bread and wine He shared with him, so Christ blesses us as we partake of holy communion.

The supper, after all, is Christ’s idea, His ordinance for His church. He says the elements represent His body and we should remember Him as we eat of it. In previous posts on the Lord’s Supper, I’ve shown how the idea of sharing a meal with God is behind the Lord’s Supper in part. I mentioned before that Wayne Grudem highlights Ex. 24:9-11 and Deut. 14:23-26 as examples of God’s eating with men. Perhaps this story of Melchizedek foreshadows those meals as well.

In the Supper, all the blessings we get come from Christ. Ultimately the bread and wine come from Him as well. This coming Sunday we’ll partake of the Lord’s Supper at my church, and I am eager to receive a blessing from the hand of Christ my Melchizedek. A blessing given through my enjoyment of the joy of wine, and the sustenance of bread. May Jesus be ever more my blessing, my joy, and my life’s sustenance. Amen!

Proverbs 23 And a Universal Prohibition of Alcohol

~ fundyreformed ~ 33 Comments

Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Those who tarry long over wine; those who go to try mixed wine. Do not look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly. In the end it bites like a serpent and stings like an adder. Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart utter perverse things. You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, like one who lies on the top of a mast. “They struck me,” you will say, “but I was not hurt; they beat me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake? I must have another drink.”
(Prov. 23:29-35)

This post is a second response to some arguments put forth in the comments of my recent review of Kenneth Gentry’s book God Gave Wine: What the Bible Says about Alcohol. It has been alleged that the verse highlighted above, in light of the surrounding verses, serves as an absolute, universal prohibition of drinking fermented wine. If one is not to look at it, he must not drink it. The argument claims “when it is red” refers to the alcoholic properties of fermented wine, some of the effects of which are red eyes, or  a red face. As I noted in an earlier post, this view depends on a two-wine theory, that when Scripture refers to wine, the context must help us determine if fermented or non-fermented wine is in view. So  Prov. 23:31  clearly denotes the wine as alcoholic, and forbids us to look at (and by implication to drink)  alcoholic wine.

The claim that Prov. 23:31 is a universal prohibition of drinking alcohol makes the verse say too much. And I intend here  to put forth why this verse should not be taken as a universal prohibition of alcohol.

The Immediate Verse

Looking at the immediate verse at hand, it’s important to note a couple things. First, it does not state “do not drink whine when it is red…”. It says “do not look at wine when it is red…”. To the alcoholic, who is intimately described in these verses, the admonition would be not to consider the pleasant effects of alcohol, its color, sparkle, and the smoothness of the drink as it goes down one’s throat. Don’t look to those, but remember the misery it causes for you, as you don’t know how to stop and when to say “enough”. For the one who is not yet a drunk, we should not look at the pleasing aspects of wine as something which should make us seek more and yet more. We must remember how easily the drink can steal our senses and leave us in the condition of a drunk, so we must be careful in how we drink.

One may think I’m reading into the verse a bit, as I draw out application. However, going from “look not”, to “drink not”, is also reading into the verse. The verse is poetic in nature, and it communicates meaning in  relation to  the whole section it is in. The clear point of the section is do not become drunk. Avoiding any taste of alcohol, may be one way to avoid drunkenness. It is certainly important for those already given to abusing wine. But for many, total abstinence is not the best way to avoid the drink, rather learning how to enjoy wine in moderation is.

Secondly, the verse itself says “when it is red” not “when it is alcoholic”. I know that redness, a few verses earlier is a sign of the inebriation caused by the drink. But often wine is referred to as “blood”, the “blood of the grape”. In communion it represents blood. Scholars agree that the wine most commonly drunk at that time in Palestine, was red. Furthermore, the rest of the verse parallels the “when it is red” expression and builds on it: “when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly.” If “when it is red” is to delimit this to only fermented wine, how would the additional descriptions strengthen that purpose? They seem rather to just be describing some of the pleasant characteristics of the drink, and its redness is certainly alluring and beautiful. It seems best to read the redness as a pleasant thing about this drink, but of course I don’t hold to the two-wine theory so I believe the drink here  is definitely fermented as it always is in Scripture.

Proverbs on Wine

If we backed up and looked at the whole context of Proverbs’ teaching on wine, we’d notice two important things.

1) Proverbs is concerned with drunkenness as a sin which is to be avoided. Drunkenness leads one to poverty (23:20-21), clouds one’s judgment (31:4-5), promotes brawling (20:1), leads to personal injury (23:29) and promotes perverseness (23:33). It certainly should be avoided. Along this line of thinking, note that Proverbs is concerned with drunkenness, not just the drinking of wine. When Lemuel is counselled against drinking (Prov. 31:4-7), the context clearly indicates that the loss of judgment is the point for the admonition. Again for drunkards, they ought not look on the wine. Why? Lest they become deceived again and sin in drunkenness again. Wine is a mocking brawler, and the one deceived by it isn’t wise. Using wine is fine, but letting it use you isn’t. My statements might seem like I’m reading my view into this here, but remember all the points yet to come. Drunkenness is the aim of Proverbs, and indeed of Scripture, as Eph. 5:18 counsels us to not be drunk with wine. It does not say “do not drink wine”.

2) Proverbs does more than just warn against wine. It presents wine as a good thing. In Prov. 3:9-10, one of the blessings of  honoring the Lord  is “then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine”. Later when wine is said to be a brawler (20:1), a natural and normal reading should lead us to think the same  substance mentioned in 3:9 is warned about in 20:1, since we can abuse it and become drunk by it. That is a simple way of understanding the two passages. Saying a different drink is in view in the two passages is a strained understanding, based on a faulty idea of the word.

In Prov. 9:1-5, the personified Wisdom is seen as mixing her wine, and she counsels us to “Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed”. Mixing wine is always seen in OT  Scripture as strengthening the alcoholic level of the drink (see our passage, 23:30) or as mixing in another flavor with the wine. In the Old Testament, water was never mixed with the wine in a favorable way. Watery wine was a bad thing, not a normal thing (see Is. 1:22, and especially Adam Clarke’s commentary on that verse). So  fermented wine is clearly in view in Proverbs  9:5. The objection may be that this is just an allegory, a parable —  Wisdom doesn’t come to us and offer wine. But how could something that in itself is forbidden,  be used in a positive context in such a way as to be enticing us to come and listen to Wisdom?

A final positive use of wine in Proverbs is found in 31:6-7. After Lemuel is counselled against the use of wine, lest he become drunk and dull his senses. The perishing and “those in bitter distress” (ESV) are the ones who are to “drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more”. Tremper Longman in his commentary on Proverbs mentions that these verses could serve to entice Lemuel not to drink, since drink is said to be for the lower classes. Even granting that argument, still the text allows, nay encourages, some to drink. Certainly medicine is in view, but more than that. The drink can be used in a comforting way. Jeremiah 16:7 refers to the “cup of consolation” given to mourners. In conjunction with Prov. 31:7 and Jer. 16:7, ISBE cites Jewish tradition indicating wine was traditionally offered to the bereaved after a funeral at the meal of comforting.

So, looking at the overall teaching of Proverbs, it makes sense to understand Prov 23 as teaching against the error of drunkenness, even as it does not expressly forbid any use of alcoholic drinks.

Universal-Seeming Statements in Proverbs

Another avenue in evaluating this claim takes us to the “universal”-ness of Prov. 23:21. It seems like a definitive prohibition of looking at wine. But Proverbs often  offers general maxims and truth statements, rather than universal truths. There are often exceptions  with the rules Proverbs declares. This is not to say that no Proverbs  teach universal truths, but the genre of the Proverb often leads to a general truth being stated. For instance, Prov. 10:4 says “a determined hand makes rich”. This is generally true, but what about someone inheriting a fortune? Or what about those with determined hands who nevertheless are in debt for circumstances outside their control? Proverbs demands us to appreciate its genre and pay attention to the context when commands are given.

Along these lines, taking an example from Prov. 23 itself is very helpful. Prov. 23:4 states definitively: “Do not toil to acquire wealth; be discerning enough to desist.” But as Gentry observes: “the Lord grants his obedient people ‘the power to make wealth’ (Deut. 8:18 ) and promises economic abundance for covenant faithfulness (Deut. 28:1-14; Gen.13:2; Job 1:1-3). We must understand Proverbs 23:4 contextually. He warns against a wholesale thirst, a driving ambition to gain wealth, which is much like the alcoholic who gives his life over to a wholesale thirst for alcoholic drink.” (p. 96). Prov. 23 offers another example with vs. 9: “Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the good sense of your words.” Elsewhere Proverbs admonishes fools, and even says we should answer a fool (26:5). So clearly this does not universally prohibit speaking in the hearing of fools. Similarly, Prov. 23:31 can be understood contextually to be applicable for those contemplating or taken over by the sin of drunkenness. Nowhere else does Scripture exemplify or make clear that even looking at wine is a sin. It seems best for all the considerations above to not conclude that Prov. 23:31 is a universal declaration forbidding all use of wine.

The Greater Context of Scripture on Wine

Finally, in the larger context of Scripture, wine and other alcoholic drinks are clearly permitted. In my last post on this topic, I show how wine and joy are connected, and the connection is specifically due to the alcoholic nature of the drink. Yet the joy of wine is a God-given gift (Ps. 104:15). Neh. 5:18 shows that all kinds of wine were lawfully enjoyed by Nehemiah. Is. 25:6 puts forth well-aged wine (certainly alcoholic) as a blessing of God. It describes the future kingdom of Christ as an age blessed with an abundance of this wine. Deut. 14:26 uses the term shekar, translated almost universally as “strong drink” (clearly referring to its alcoholic nature), and encourages God-fearing Israelites to drink this with joy before God. Since Scripture permits the lawful, use of wine, and since it clearly forbids its abuse (Eph. 5:18), we must conclude that Prov. 23 cannot be advocating a total abstinence from wine for all people in all times. Instead, it is warning against the misuse of this God-given drink.