Allison asks:
“Throughout the Bible, drunkenness and intoxication are condemned, and numerous examples are given where wine led to immorality.
(Noah in Genesis 9:21-27)
(Eph. 5:18 - "And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the spirit."
(Deut. 32:33- "Intoxicating wine is like the poison of serpents, the cruel venom of asps.")
However, the Bible also encourages wine for merry making and celebration, (Psalm 104: 15a-" Wine that makes glad the heart of man.")and for the purpose of relieving suffering. (Proverbs 31:6,7- "Give strong drink to him who is perishing, and wine to those who are bitter of heart. Let him drink and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.")
So my question is, where is the line to drunkenness? Is it when a man loses consciousness? or simply has his speech slurred? Why is wine encouraged for celebration (Jesus turning water to wine at the wedding feast), yet drunkenness and association with drinkers discouraged ("winebibbers"; Proverbs 23:20, NKJV)? Does Proverbs 31:6-7 hint that drunkenness is okay as long as it is to drown your sorrows?
You guys at CFA are awesome! Keep up the fabulous work. God bless!”
Interesting question! I had never thought about where the distinction lies between the Bible both forbidding and promoting the drinking alcohol. I will be focusing on the passages you mentioned in response to your question.
Does the Bible condemn wine?
Put directly, the Bible does not condemn wine, merely the excessive drinking of it. An applicable example is one that is used by 2nd Amendment activists to support their cause: “It isn’t the gun that kills people, but the criminal who uses the gun.” Similarly, “It isn’t wine that hurts people, but people who over-drink the wine.” On a basic level, we can see this to be the case otherwise (as pointed out) there wouldn’t be verses both for and against the drinking of wine. Also, you must remember God created grapes to produce wine just as much as He created apple trees to bring forth apples.
With that distinction clear, let’s move into the specific passages mentioned.
Noah in Genesis 9:21-27
This passage is very clear of that drinking too much wine can be a very, very bad thing. Noah became drunk and unfortunately did not realize he was naked while in his tent. Ham the father of Canaan found Noah like this, and though he was pleased or intrigued by the sight1, did report it to his brothers. The brothers (Shem and Japheth) then proceeded to walk backwards into the tent (thus keeping them from seeing their father’s state) with a garment and cover their father. Noah then awakes from his intoxication and proceeds to curse Canaan for his irreverent behavior and bless Shem and Japheth for their noble behavior.
This passage is quite clear that intoxication is not a good thing and graphically shows the consequences of becoming drunk. Before we move on, however, I want to point something out about the Hebrew used in this passage. Genesis 9:21 (KJV) states, “And he drank of the wine and was drunken and he was uncovered within his tent”. The word that is translated into the phrase “and was drunken” is the Hebrew word “וישכר” and is defined by Strongs Numbers as, “be filled with drink abundantly, be, make drunken, be merry. A primitive root; to become tipsy; in a qualified sense, to satiate with a stimulating drink or (figuratively) influence -- (be filled with) drink (abundantly), (be, make) drunk(-en), be merry. (Superlative of shaqah.)”
Now here is the key definition. The root word from which we get the above word is “shaqah” (in Hebrew: “שָׁקָה”). It is defined as, “A primitive root; to quaff, i.e. (causatively) to irrigate or furnish a potion to -- cause to (give, give to, let, make to) drink, drown, moisten, water. See shakar, shathah.” This means the root word from which we get the word used in Genesis 9:21 to describe Noah’s drunkenness means to drink in very excessive amounts. Look at the words used to describe what the word means: “to quaff” (which means to drink heartily), “to irrigate” (massive amounts of water being moved), drown (being surrounded by too much water)—all of this analysis makes a very good point: to be drunk (according to Hebrew) carries the idea of drinking far, far too much wine or beer. Not a little, not some, but a lot of wine or beer.
Ephesians 5:18
This passage states very clearly that a Christian should not get drunk. The Greek behind the word for “drunk” is very simple. The word used in this passage is “μεθύσκω” and it is defined by Strongs Numbers as, “A prolonged (transitive) form of methuo; to intoxicate -- be drunk(-en).” The base/root word from which we get this word is “μεθύω” which is defined as, “From another form of methe; to drink to intoxication, i.e. Get drunk -- drink well, make (be) drunk(-en).” The word then means to drink to the point of intoxication. I don’t think much more needs to be said here as this passage is very straightforward: getting drunk is wrong.
Deuteronomy 32:33
This passage is actually a little odd in that it’s not really talking about literal wine-drinking. The passage in context states (Deuteronomy 32:29-34, KJV):
“29O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end! 30How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had shut them up? 31For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges. 32For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter: 33Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps. 34Is not this laid up in store with me, and sealed up among my treasures?”
This is actually a part of Moses’ song that he recited to the Israelites and the specific part mentioning wine (as you can see) isn’t actually referring to literal wine. It is used metaphorically to refer to the depths of the evil of Israel’s behavior towards God.
Psalm 104:15a
This passage mentions that God has created wine. Psalm 104:14-15 (KJV) reads:
“14He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth; 15And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man's heart.”
The phrase “and oil to make his face to shine” is actually part of the description of the wine. As Albert Barnes (1798-1870) noted, wine “exhilarates the heart, so that the effect is seen on the countenance, making it more bright and cheerful than it is when anointed with oil.”2
This passage has some controversy actually. There is debate whether or not the definition of the Hebrew (and/or Greek word) for “wine” includes fermented wine. There is historical evidence to suggest that Scripture could be referring to simply unfermented grape juice. For this passage, specifically, however it doesn’t really matter. The passage merely records that God made wine (fermented or not)—it makes no judgment on whether or not man should drink wine.
Proverbs 31:6-7
This is the passage that will be the most controversial as it appears to be in favor of giving people wine. It states (KJV): “6Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts. 7Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.” The writer is teaching that when someone is dying or downcast to give them strong drink or wine. Now I believe this passage is clearly in support of giving a fermented drink to someone who is dying because of the definition of “strong drink” (“שֵׁכָר”) which is, “From shakar; an intoxicant, i.e. Intensely alcoholic liquor -- strong drink, + drunkard, strong wine.” Obviously, then, one should give an intoxicant to someone who is dying as it will lessen the pain that they are experiencing.
Though this passage does support giving an intoxicating drink to people in some cases, I’m not sure it builds a sufficient case for the Bible being in favor of drinking intoxicating wine in general. In light of that, here is what I’m going to do. With the massive amount of research I have done on this question recently, I am going to give you the answer to the question coming from both the angle of the Bible being against all intoxicating wine and the Bible allowing for intoxicating wine. I'm doing this simply because there is such a large division of belief on the subject.
The Bible Being Against Intoxicating Wine
There is a case to be made that all of the references about wine and Jesus were referring to unfermented grape juice and not fermented (and thus intoxicating) wine. Also, there is a lack of clarity on the usage of the Hebrew and Greek words for wine as to whether they mean exclusively fermented wine. Rather then dive deep into specific passages to show why this debate exists, I refer you to this article by Ph.D Samuele Bacchiocchi: http://www.biblicalperspectives.com/books/wine_in_the_bible/2.html. It explains in depth the arguments about the definition of the word for “wine” in both Hebrew and Greek.
Now, if the arguments are true, and the Bible is not in favor of any intoxicating drink, then the answer to the question is quite simple: any amount of wine is wrong. That should be very obvious and therefore nothing else need be said about it.
The Bible Allowing for Moderate Consumption of Intoxicating Wine
If the Bible does allow for intoxicating wine (to which I ascribe), the answer to the question relates back to the definition of the words for “drunk”. Remember they implied a massive amount of a substance being consumed or moved. That fact coupled with the fact that wine back then was very weak alcoholically compared to today, shows that “too much” is when you have literally done just that—consumed massive amounts of wine. Since wine is more potent today than it was in Biblical times, the answer is that wine shouldn’t be consumed in large quantities (this just now means don’t drink more than say 2-3 glasses as opposed to the 7 cups of Old Testament times). It is medically proven that each person’s level of wine consumption at which they become drunk varies, thus the line on “how much is too much” will vary somewhat with what a person’s tolerance level is.
Conclusion
I hope this answers you question adequately! I enjoyed researching the topic and I hope you found the answers satisfactory.
God bless,
Robert A. Rowlett