Dec 23 – Today from Proverbs 23 we look at verses 31 & 32
"Do not gaze at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly! In the end it bites like a snake and poisons like a viper."
This proverb is not a statement against drinking wine. Wine was, in fact, considered a sign of God’s blessing in the Old Testament. Jesus turned water into wine as His first miracle. Wisdom sets her table with wine. Paul instructed Timothy to take a little wine for the sake of his stomach. There is no Biblical prohibition for drinking wine, but there is strong admonition against drunkenness. The line of delineation between the two is found in purpose and in moderation.
Wine is not meant for use as an end to itself. Its purpose is not for ‘getting drunk’. The Teacher highlights this purpose in the previous verse. He calls it "lingering over wine" and "sampling mixed bowls of wine." Here, there is no other element in purpose save that of drinking wine. Perhaps the student could make the argument of desiring to be a ‘wine connoisseur’. Such a connoisseur studies the color of the wine, the effervescence, the smoothness of the body – all the things described in verse 31. "Be careful," warns the Teacher. A true connoisseur simply develops a discriminating taste. He understands that fine wine is meant to complement fine food. He does not ply his skill simply to drink wine.
Besides complementing a meal, wine taken in moderation has proven to show some benefits to good health – particularly in keeping arteries pliable and clean. Even modern medical studies will back this up. I don’t know what ailed Timothy’s digestive system, but apparently Paul thought a moderate amount of wine would prove to be helpful there as well. None of this is to condone drunkenness.
About the only passage of scripture that implies license for drunkenness is for the purpose of alleviating pain. In Proverbs 31 King Lemuel’s mother taught him that drunkenness was not for people who carried responsibilities of leadership. She said "Give beer to those who are perishing, wine to those who are in anguish." Even today we sedate those who are in extreme anguish and are dying. But, unless you are in a situation that requires the drastic measure of sedation, you have no Biblical license to get drunk.
Since Nov 08
About Me
- Ken
- While mentor-ing a couple of young men late in the year 2001 , I told them that if they agreed to read a chapter of Proverbs each week-day as a part of their devotions, I would choose one verse from the chapter and share a meditation by email. They agreed. I continued to write the meditations at my desk in my home for the next two and a half years. They began to forward them to their friends and I received requests from those friends to be placed on the email list. My personal email bundle was to about eighty people. Many of those people forwarded them to friends all over the country – and some over the world. Only the Lord knows how extensive the writings traveled. I am not a professional writer, and each meditation was spun off in a relatively short period of time during my own personal devotions in the morning. In April of 2004 I assembled 366 of the meditations into a calendar year. As I now bring up the Proverb of the Day to send on to my friends, I am surprised at how fresh each of them is to my own heart – and often how they speak to me in a completely different way than when I first wrote them. . . . . Ken Sweers
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