Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Those who tarry long over wine; those who go to try mixed wine. Do not look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly. In the end it bites like a serpent and stings like an adder. Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart utter perverse things. You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, like one who lies on the top of a mast. “They struck me,” you will say, “but I was not hurt; they beat me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake? I must have another drink.”
(Prov. 23:29-35)
This post is a second response to some arguments put forth in the comments of my recent review of Kenneth Gentry’s book God Gave Wine: What the Bible Says about Alcohol. It has been alleged that the verse highlighted above, in light of the surrounding verses, serves as an absolute, universal prohibition of drinking fermented wine. If one is not to look at it, he must not drink it. The argument claims “when it is red” refers to the alcoholic properties of fermented wine, some of the effects of which are red eyes, or a red face. As I noted in an earlier post, this view depends on a two-wine theory, that when Scripture refers to wine, the context must help us determine if fermented or non-fermented wine is in view. So Prov. 23:31 clearly denotes the wine as alcoholic, and forbids us to look at (and by implication to drink) alcoholic wine.
The claim that Prov. 23:31 is a universal prohibition of drinking alcohol makes the verse say too much. And I intend here to put forth why this verse should not be taken as a universal prohibition of alcohol.
The Immediate Verse
Looking at the immediate verse at hand, it’s important to note a couple things. First, it does not state “do not drink whine when it is red…”. It says “do not look at wine when it is red…”. To the alcoholic, who is intimately described in these verses, the admonition would be not to consider the pleasant effects of alcohol, its color, sparkle, and the smoothness of the drink as it goes down one’s throat. Don’t look to those, but remember the misery it causes for you, as you don’t know how to stop and when to say “enough”. For the one who is not yet a drunk, we should not look at the pleasing aspects of wine as something which should make us seek more and yet more. We must remember how easily the drink can steal our senses and leave us in the condition of a drunk, so we must be careful in how we drink.
One may think I’m reading into the verse a bit, as I draw out application. However, going from “look not”, to “drink not”, is also reading into the verse. The verse is poetic in nature, and it communicates meaning in relation to the whole section it is in. The clear point of the section is do not become drunk. Avoiding any taste of alcohol, may be one way to avoid drunkenness. It is certainly important for those already given to abusing wine. But for many, total abstinence is not the best way to avoid the drink, rather learning how to enjoy wine in moderation is.
Secondly, the verse itself says “when it is red” not “when it is alcoholic”. I know that redness, a few verses earlier is a sign of the inebriation caused by the drink. But often wine is referred to as “blood”, the “blood of the grape”. In communion it represents blood. Scholars agree that the wine most commonly drunk at that time in Palestine, was red. Furthermore, the rest of the verse parallels the “when it is red” expression and builds on it: “when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly.” If “when it is red” is to delimit this to only fermented wine, how would the additional descriptions strengthen that purpose? They seem rather to just be describing some of the pleasant characteristics of the drink, and its redness is certainly alluring and beautiful. It seems best to read the redness as a pleasant thing about this drink, but of course I don’t hold to the two-wine theory so I believe the drink here is definitely fermented as it always is in Scripture.
Proverbs on Wine
If we backed up and looked at the whole context of Proverbs’ teaching on wine, we’d notice two important things.
1) Proverbs is concerned with drunkenness as a sin which is to be avoided. Drunkenness leads one to poverty (23:20-21), clouds one’s judgment (31:4-5), promotes brawling (20:1), leads to personal injury (23:29) and promotes perverseness (23:33). It certainly should be avoided. Along this line of thinking, note that Proverbs is concerned with drunkenness, not just the drinking of wine. When Lemuel is counselled against drinking (Prov. 31:4-7), the context clearly indicates that the loss of judgment is the point for the admonition. Again for drunkards, they ought not look on the wine. Why? Lest they become deceived again and sin in drunkenness again. Wine is a mocking brawler, and the one deceived by it isn’t wise. Using wine is fine, but letting it use you isn’t. My statements might seem like I’m reading my view into this here, but remember all the points yet to come. Drunkenness is the aim of Proverbs, and indeed of Scripture, as Eph. 5:18 counsels us to not be drunk with wine. It does not say “do not drink wine”.
2) Proverbs does more than just warn against wine. It presents wine as a good thing. In Prov. 3:9-10, one of the blessings of honoring the Lord is “then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine”. Later when wine is said to be a brawler (20:1), a natural and normal reading should lead us to think the same substance mentioned in 3:9 is warned about in 20:1, since we can abuse it and become drunk by it. That is a simple way of understanding the two passages. Saying a different drink is in view in the two passages is a strained understanding, based on a faulty idea of the word.
In Prov. 9:1-5, the personified Wisdom is seen as mixing her wine, and she counsels us to “Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed”. Mixing wine is always seen in OT Scripture as strengthening the alcoholic level of the drink (see our passage, 23:30) or as mixing in another flavor with the wine. In the Old Testament, water was never mixed with the wine in a favorable way. Watery wine was a bad thing, not a normal thing (see Is. 1:22, and especially Adam Clarke’s commentary on that verse). So fermented wine is clearly in view in Proverbs 9:5. The objection may be that this is just an allegory, a parable — Wisdom doesn’t come to us and offer wine. But how could something that in itself is forbidden, be used in a positive context in such a way as to be enticing us to come and listen to Wisdom?
A final positive use of wine in Proverbs is found in 31:6-7. After Lemuel is counselled against the use of wine, lest he become drunk and dull his senses. The perishing and “those in bitter distress” (ESV) are the ones who are to “drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more”. Tremper Longman in his commentary on Proverbs mentions that these verses could serve to entice Lemuel not to drink, since drink is said to be for the lower classes. Even granting that argument, still the text allows, nay encourages, some to drink. Certainly medicine is in view, but more than that. The drink can be used in a comforting way. Jeremiah 16:7 refers to the “cup of consolation” given to mourners. In conjunction with Prov. 31:7 and Jer. 16:7, ISBE cites Jewish tradition indicating wine was traditionally offered to the bereaved after a funeral at the meal of comforting.
So, looking at the overall teaching of Proverbs, it makes sense to understand Prov 23 as teaching against the error of drunkenness, even as it does not expressly forbid any use of alcoholic drinks.
Universal-Seeming Statements in Proverbs
Another avenue in evaluating this claim takes us to the “universal”-ness of Prov. 23:21. It seems like a definitive prohibition of looking at wine. But Proverbs often offers general maxims and truth statements, rather than universal truths. There are often exceptions with the rules Proverbs declares. This is not to say that no Proverbs teach universal truths, but the genre of the Proverb often leads to a general truth being stated. For instance, Prov. 10:4 says “a determined hand makes rich”. This is generally true, but what about someone inheriting a fortune? Or what about those with determined hands who nevertheless are in debt for circumstances outside their control? Proverbs demands us to appreciate its genre and pay attention to the context when commands are given.
Along these lines, taking an example from Prov. 23 itself is very helpful. Prov. 23:4 states definitively: “Do not toil to acquire wealth; be discerning enough to desist.” But as Gentry observes: “the Lord grants his obedient people ‘the power to make wealth’ (Deut. 8:18 ) and promises economic abundance for covenant faithfulness (Deut. 28:1-14; Gen.13:2; Job 1:1-3). We must understand Proverbs 23:4 contextually. He warns against a wholesale thirst, a driving ambition to gain wealth, which is much like the alcoholic who gives his life over to a wholesale thirst for alcoholic drink.” (p. 96). Prov. 23 offers another example with vs. 9: “Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the good sense of your words.” Elsewhere Proverbs admonishes fools, and even says we should answer a fool (26:5). So clearly this does not universally prohibit speaking in the hearing of fools. Similarly, Prov. 23:31 can be understood contextually to be applicable for those contemplating or taken over by the sin of drunkenness. Nowhere else does Scripture exemplify or make clear that even looking at wine is a sin. It seems best for all the considerations above to not conclude that Prov. 23:31 is a universal declaration forbidding all use of wine.
The Greater Context of Scripture on Wine
Finally, in the larger context of Scripture, wine and other alcoholic drinks are clearly permitted. In my last post on this topic, I show how wine and joy are connected, and the connection is specifically due to the alcoholic nature of the drink. Yet the joy of wine is a God-given gift (Ps. 104:15). Neh. 5:18 shows that all kinds of wine were lawfully enjoyed by Nehemiah. Is. 25:6 puts forth well-aged wine (certainly alcoholic) as a blessing of God. It describes the future kingdom of Christ as an age blessed with an abundance of this wine. Deut. 14:26 uses the term shekar, translated almost universally as “strong drink” (clearly referring to its alcoholic nature), and encourages God-fearing Israelites to drink this with joy before God. Since Scripture permits the lawful, use of wine, and since it clearly forbids its abuse (Eph. 5:18), we must conclude that Prov. 23 cannot be advocating a total abstinence from wine for all people in all times. Instead, it is warning against the misuse of this God-given drink.