Strong Drink

Some time ago this paper carried a letter to Dear Abby about a person who justified his heavy drinking by saying that the Bible approved of giving a person intoxicating drink to drown his sorrow and lessen his pain. Abby responded that indeed the Bible did give such direction. She quoted Proverbs 31:6-7: “Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts. Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.” Then Abby observed: “However, since the Bible was written, we have learned that not everyone can handle “strong drink,” and for those who cannot, I recommend the National Council on Alcoholism.”

Abby’s Bible literacy is appalling. Had she read Proverbs 23:29-35 she would have discovered the following: “Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Those who linger long over wine, those who go to taste mixed wine. Do not look on the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly; at last it bits like a serpent, and stings like a viper. Your eyes will see strange things, and your mind will utter perverse things. And you will be like one who lies down in the middle of the sea, or like one who lies down on the top of a mast. They struck me, but I did not become ill; they beat me, but I did not know it. When shall I awake? I shall seek another drink.” Abby said that since the Bible was written we have learned that not everyone can handle “strong drink.” The fact is, folks have not yet learned what the Bible does say about alcohol! Only fools drink it (Proverbs 20:1)!

Now, what about Proverbs 31:6-7? That verse, like one in 1 Timothy 5:23, permits the consumption of alcohol in small amounts for medicinal purposes, but in no way does it justify drunkenness or social drinking. Alcohol was used then in the way that a doctor uses a sedative today to calm a person who has had a traumatic experience, or administers morphine to relieve pain. But clearly the Bible does not justify drunkenness or the indiscriminate use of intoxicating drink.

“Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise” (Proverbs 20:1).

— Roger