Alcohol in The Bible
I discovered a neat article on Wikipedia about alcohol in The Bible. Here are some interesting facts about alcohol in The Bible. I grabbed a few paragraphs you can read below, to read the entire Wiki page, there is a link at the end of the post. Here are some excerpts from the article. What do you think?
Alcohol References
Alcoholic beverages appear in the Hebrew Bible, after Noah planted a vineyard and became inebriated. In the New Testament, Jesus miraculously made copious amounts of wine[1] at the marriage at Cana. Wine is the most common alcoholic beverage mentioned in biblical literature, where it is a source of symbolism,[2] and was an important part of daily life in biblical times. Additionally, the inhabitants of ancient Israel drank beer, and wines made from fruits other than grapes, and references to these appear in scripture.[5]
Biblical literature displays an ambivalence toward intoxicating drinks, considering them both a blessing from God that brings joy and merriment and potentially dangerous beverages that can be sinfully abused.[6][7][8][9] The relationships between Judaism and alcohol and Christianity and alcohol have generally maintained this same tension, though some modern Christian sects, particularly American Protestant groups around the time of Prohibition, have rejected alcohol as evil. The original versions of the books of the Bible use several different words for alcoholic beverages: at least 10 in Hebrew, and five in Greek. Drunkenness is discouraged and not infrequently portrayed, and some biblical persons abstained from alcohol. Alcohol is used symbolically, in both positive and negative terms. Its consumption is prescribed for religious rites or medicinal uses in some places.
Alcoholic content
Yayin and oinos (which in the Septuagint also often translates most of the Hebrew words for alcoholic beverages listed above)[2][88] are commonly translated “wine”, but the two are also rarely, and perhaps figuratively or anticipatorily,[89] used to refer to freshly pressed non-alcoholic juice. For this reason, prohibitionist and some abstentionist Christians object to taking the default meaning to be fermented beverages,[citation needed] but there is a broad consensus that the words did ordinarily refer to alcoholic beverages.[6][90][91][92][93][94][95][96]
While the wines drunk in the times depicted in the Hebrew Bible were not diluted with water, after the conquest of Palestine by Alexander the Great the Hellenistic custom of diluting wine had taken hold such that the author of 2 Maccabees speaks of diluted wine as “a more pleasant drink” and of both undiluted wine and unmixed water as “harmful” or “distasteful.”[97]
Biblical References
The many biblical references to alcoholic beverages are both positive and negative, real and symbolic, descriptive and didactic.[98] Both archaeological evidence and written records indicate the significant cultivation of grapes in ancient Israel and the popularity of wine-drinking. The production capacity apparent from archaeological remains and the frequent biblical references to wine suggest that it was the principal alcoholic beverage of the ancient Israelites.[99]
A disputed but important passage is Proverbs 31:4–7. Some Christians assert that alcohol was prohibited to kings at all times, while most interpreters contend that only its abuse is in view here.[103][104][105][106] Some argue that the latter instructions regarding the perishing should be understood as sarcasm when compared with the preceding verses,[107] while others contend the beer and wine are intended as a cordial to raise the spirits of the perishing,[105][106] while some suggest that the Bible is here authorizing alcohol as an anesthetic.[108] Moreover, some suggest that the wines that Jesus was offered at his crucifixion were also intended as an anesthetic.[105][109]
Medicinal Uses
Alcohol was used in ancient times for various medicinal ends, and the Bible refers to some of these practices. It was likely used as an anesthetic to dull pain, and many interpreters suggest that it was in this capacity that wines were offered to Jesus at his crucifixion.[105][109]
In the Parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus tells a story about a man from Samaria who assists an injured man by, among other things, pouring oil and wine on his wounds. Oil mixed with wine was a common remedy in the ancient world to cleanse wounds and assuage their pain.[136]
Paul advises Timothy that he should not drink water only, but should use a little wine for the sake of his stomach and frequent infirmities. Some have suggested this advice is particularly in reference to purifying low quality drinking water,[137] while others suggest it was simply intended to help his digestion and general sickliness.[138] Abstentionists generally regard this passage as a positive example of abstention from wine and see Paul’s instructions as exceptional and purely for the sake of health, while other interpreters suggest that Timothy was “upright in his aims” but here guilty of an “excess of severity”[2][139] or that he felt inappropriately bound by a Hellenistic custom that younger men should not drink.[140]
Understanding the Bible as having no positive references to alcohol
There are some who interpret certain passages in the Bible as not referring to alcohol, arguing that all positive references to “wine” in Scripture refer to non-alcoholic beverages and all negative references speak of alcoholic beverages. Advocates of this view, called the “two-wine” position, argue that the Greek and Hebrew words rendered “wine” in most English versions are generic terms for fruit juices; context determines if the beverage in view is alcoholic or not. The fact is pointed out that even in earlier stages of the English language, such as in 1611 when the King James Version was translated, “wine” could refer to non-alcoholic beverages as well as alcoholic ones.[141] The two-wine view is dominant in conservative Christian fundamentalism and is also found in evangelicalism. For example, Dr. Robert Teachout, a fundamental Baptist seminary professor, argued for this position in his doctoral dissertation The Use of “Wine” in the Old Testament.[142] Separatist Baptist support for a Biblical total abstinence position is widespread.[143] Other sources for this view include the Purified Translation of the Bible, where extensive footnotes are used to promote the idea, and the 19th century Temperance Bible Commentary.[144]
Interesting article, you can see it in it’s entirety at the link below.
