Please Stop "Wining", Samson
In 1869, a British-born Methodist minister, Thomas Bramwell
Welch, developed a method to pasteurize grape juice to stop fermentation. Yes, that Welch. He was a member of Wesleyan Methodist
Connexion, a group which opposed intoxicating liquors, including communion
wine. These Methodists were teetotalers
and temperance advocates, and figuring out how to keep the communion wine
alcohol-free was akin to their Holy Grail.
Welch was undoubtedly quite pleased with the Nazarite vow, recorded in
Judges 13.
Now see to it that you DRINK
no WINE or other FERMENTED DRINK and that you do not EAT
anything UNCLEAN. You WILL
BECOME PREGNANT and have a son whose HEAD is NEVER to BE
TOUCHED by a RAZOR because the boy is to be a NAZIRITE, DEDICATED
to God from the WOMB. He will
take the lead in DELIVERING Israel from the hands of the Philistines.’
Judges 13:4-5
Drinking (SHATHAH) and eating (AKHAR) were the word topics of our two most recent posts. Let’s talk about what not to drink: wine and fermented drink.
The word for wine is YAYIN (יַיִן), a word as much fun to say as wine is to drink. (Sorry, Mr. Welch. We are not teetotallers. But then, neither was Jesus.) You can find YAYIN 150 times in the Hebrew Bible, and its use runs the gamut of debauched to celebratory, which ought not to surprise you if you have any experience with wine and wine drinkers.
The first
recorded Biblical use of YAYIN is the story of Noah after he and his family
left the Ark. G-d has just established
what’s come to be known as the Noahic Covenant, and Noah – “a man of the soil”
or ground (ADAMAH) – plants a vineyard, resulting in a harvest. Scripture obviously leaves part of the story
out (the harvest, grape processing, and subsequent fermentation of those
grapes) because the next verse is something that goes awry.
When he drank some of
its WINE, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent.
Genesis 9:21
The story of Lot
and his daughters in Genesis 19 is also a cautionary tale of what wine abuse
can lead to (and the story is very high cringe). For obvious reasons, then, Scripture offers
warnings about wine. It can also
symbolize G-d’s judgment, as in this Psalm:
In the hand of
the Lord is a cup
full of foaming WINE
mixed with spices; he pours it
out, and all the wicked of the earth
drink it down to its very dregs.
Psalm 75:8
On the other
hand, wine is connected with positive aspects.
Melchizedek brought wine, along with bread, to celebrate the victory over
the Five Kings.
Then Melchizedek king
of Salem brought out bread and WINE. He was priest of God Most High…
Genesis 14:18
In the TORAH,
wine is integral to religious ceremony and worship.
With the first lamb
offer a tenth of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with a quarter of a hin of
oil from pressed olives, and a quarter of a hin of WINE as a drink
offering.
Exodus 29:40
With each lamb for the
burnt offering or the sacrifice, prepare a quarter of a hin of WINE as a
drink offering.
Numbers 15:5
Ziba brought the fleeing King David wine to refresh him and his
men as they journeyed through the wilderness:
The king asked
Ziba, ‘Why have you brought these?’ Ziba answered, ‘The donkeys are for
the king’s household to ride on, the bread and fruit are for the men to eat,
and the WINE
is to refresh those who become exhausted in the wilderness.’
2 Samuel 16:2
Wine is mentioned
with other inebriants, as in Judges 13.
WINE is a mocker and BEER a
brawler; whoever is led astray by them is not wise.
Proverbs 20:1
It is not for kings, Lemuel – it is not for kings to
drink WINE, not for rulers to crave beer… Let BEER be for
those who are perishing, WINE for those who are in anguish!
Proverbs 31:4,6
If a liar and deceiver
comes and says, “I will prophesy for you plenty of WINE and BEER,”
that would be just the prophet for this people!
Micah 2:11
The
word translated in these passages as “beer” is the same Hebrew word we have in
Judges 13, translated as “fermented drink”: SHEKHAR (שֵׁכָר). It is a noun used 23 times in the Hebrew
Bible. It is derived from the verb SHAKHAR
(שָׁכַר), which is used 19
times and means “to be drunk”. So the
noun is something that gets you drunk.
Could it be beer? Beer was quite
common in the Ancient Near East. And so
were distilled spirits. We do not really
know what SHEKHAR is, except that it is intoxicating. And SHEKHAR, like YAYIN, has both positive
and negative associations in the Text.
The accompanying drink
offering is to be a quarter of a hin of FERMENTED DRINK with each lamb. Pour out the drink offering to the Lord at the sanctuary.
Numbers 28:7
Use the silver to buy
whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine, or other FERMENTED DRINK, or
anything you wish. Then you and your
household shall eat there in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice.
Deuteronomy 14:26
No longer do they drink
wine with a song; THE BEER is bitter to its drinkers.
Isaiah 24:9
So are wine and fermented drinks good or bad? The answer appears to be “yes”. Or perhaps it’s “no”. In other words, like any tool that is, in and of itself, benign, morality depends on the humans who use the tool.
While we can appreciate the good intentions of temperance advocates, such as Thomas Bramwell Welch, even Jesus Himself seems to endorse wine drinking. His first recorded miracle, after all, is turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana. And on the night He was betrayed, He drank wine (lots of wine, as is traditional at Passover – no wonder the Disciples were sleepy).
